CONCERN: The Tiki Lounge (Tahiti) Is Being Remodeled

I attempted to go to the Tiki Lounge at Tahiti Resturant last Saturday to get my tiki fix as I was not at Oasis (hosting Mother's Day brunch), but I was dismayed to find the Tiki Lounge and Tahiti closed.

The telephone message states that they are closed for remodeling and I fear the renovation will not add any more tikis.

Please drop them a line to try and save my favorite tiki bar.

Email: [email protected]
tahitiresturant.biz
323.651.1213

Thank you

[ Edited by: christiki295 on 2003-05-17 19:57 ]

Hi Chris Tiki,

I live in the LA area too and love Tahiti. I dropped them an email stating not to remove any tikis --especially the fireplace. I also made a suggestion that they should serve their drinks in a tiki mug, or even have a custom made tiki mug by tiki farm.

I urge all LA tikiphiles to please do the same.

The Monitors

I know from a good restaurant source that the restaurant was up for sale. It was very cheap considering. The business is almost none since the big mega project opened across the street and it took a lot of business from them. It may not re-open or someone purchased it and is doin remodeling. I will try and find out - Maybe they will keep it the same and just change the large picture of Hawaii to a Large Tahitian mural. That alway bugged me in the restaurant and the menu's

Well here's to staying positive, closing as summer approaches seems like a poor decision, hopefully these changes are for the better :-?

MM

OMG...I hope Tiki Baron is wrong, but he has a good point about the whole closing right before summer thing.

The Monitors

If we're lucky they'll just take the T.V showing sports out of the bar!

Someone recently purchased Damon's in Glendale. If Tahiti is closing, hmmm.

Spy-tiki:

Anything we should now about Damon's, or is ownership merely changing hands?

Pacific Andy:

Thank you for in the information, even if it is distressing news.

I look forward to your informed update.
Could you disclose the new owner?

I've heard the purchase of Damon's in Glendale is a positive one. The new owner is REALLY into tiki and plans to go full-scale Polynesian Pop on it. There are currently no tikis there however, per Chiki Tiki there may be some new ones coming soon.

Chiki -- did I say too much? :wink:

P.S. take my comments with a grain of salt. This is only a rumor....

**Poly-Pop ***

[ Edited by: PolynesianPop on 2003-05-17 16:04 ]

Thank you, Poly-Pop, for that ray of sunshine regarding Damon's in an otherwise gloomy outlook for the Tiki Lounge.

Possibly Chikitiki can get the (new?) owners of the Tiki Lounge (Tahiti) to see the light.

Just make sure he can use Damon's on his tikidiablo site.

Gave Damon's a call and the official answer is that it is still for sale and there is no buyer.

There had beem some rumblings in Glendale about the cranky union waitresses being worried about their job status. The locals are worried because they don't want another rug shop or Kabob place.

(To be fair, there is one little two foot tiki by the cash register.)

If you're in the area, Lunch is from 11-3.30 Sunday-Friday. Dinner is 4-9:30 Sun-Thurs; 4-11:00 Fri; and 3:30-11:00 Sat.

Hopefully the Chikitiki rumor is true. It could use an injection of real tiki spirit!

I know somebody that wants to buy the place. Great guy and very into tiki. I know if he buys Damons, He'll do it right. I can't commit to any other info though.

Still trying to find out if it was sold, but I think they are just closing it. Not good news. From what I heard they only wanted to sell it for something like $300k. Hell the bar alone is worth that.

It would be a tragedy to lose this place. Damon's is good sized place. One can imagine live entertainment, tikis galore, and god knows what else. It's always been a slap in the face to tiki-philes because of the unrealized potential. (In the old days, it was a block away and was supposed to be pretty good) When I arrived here in the 80's it was just a steak house full of elderly patrons and reeked of cigarettes.

Glendale is a funny place. Used to be a sleepy little Mayberry kind of place. Never really gonna be "cool", but it has a nice proximity to "cool". Jax jazz clup is a few doors up from Damon's, the Bigfoot Lodge is ten minutes away, and The Derby's just over the hill as are Hollywood and Downtown L.A.

Wild idea, but there must be some
restarauteurs and potential investors on these boards. Whadda ya think?

well, i never liked the restaraunt "tahiti" anyway!, to ritzy and no ribs!. the bar had great potential. the bartenders when i was there seemed to have no interest in their work , and too many youngsters and beer!. now if damons got purchased by someone with a true love of tiki, that work!. but they better serve ribs damnit!. if you all are left homeless this summer, please drive east on sunset to the tiki-ti and join us for the best drinks and vibe around!

Chikitiki:

Maybe you can convince your friend to purchase Tahiti if the deal can't be done on Damon's (just so long you request ribs to be added to the primarily seafood menu to placate Twowheelintiki).

Los Angeles is such a large city to only rely upon Tiki Ti, which even though a wonderful OG tiki bar, it still is just the size of a postage stamp and I don't like spending 1/4 to 1/2 of my time outside in line.

There are far too few tiki bars currently to have even one perish.

My heart becomes sick by looking at the 11 pages of closed tiki bars listed in the Tiki Roadtrip (most of which were located in the greater LA area).

I was only half kidding about restarauteurs and potential investors. Let's start something! I Don't know the first thing about it, but someone must. How 'bout it?

I do have a friend that is deep in the restaurant business. His problem with Tahiti is the location with the Grove being next door. I been trying to get info on the sale info. I will get back with it. Hey I have a few bucks to add to the pot. How about a Tiki Central Owned restaurant?

Pacific Andy:

I'm not a restauranteur, and while I presume there is a valid financial reason why Tahiti closed, I would think the proximity of the Grove\Farmer's Market and theaters would attract potential patrons.

Of the Grove's 3 restaurants (in my opinion), only Madame Wu's would qualify as a destination restaurant. The french bistro and Cafe Marmalade are pleasant enough and have tasty cuisine, but neither are worth an immediate trip back, unless your arms are full of shopping bags, whereas the seafood cusine and South Seas tiki ambience of Tahiti would warrant repeat visits.

However, what does your friend predict?
Is the unique tiki decor and the 3rd Street restaurant row location (Linq, Sushi Roko, Cava) make it an attractive option for purchase and reopening?

Regarding a TC owned tiki restaurant, I'll take out a 2nd mortgage on my condo to pitch in!

I was actually thinking about Damon's as a potential project. I agree Tahiti is a nice litle set up, but with that shopping center and the other buzillion restaurants in the area, not to mention that there isn't any parking over there, it's probably time to say aloha.

Damon's however has plenty of parking, nothing like it nearby and it sounds like it may be facing extinction as well.

The proposed Tiki cartel is a great idea. Who better than Tiki Centralites to get it right? We could salvage decor from all of the Polynesian pits whos ships have sailed (like the fireplace at Tahiti or the wasted tikis at the Tonga Hut). A labor of South Pacific love.

[ Edited by: spy-tiki on 2003-05-21 11:19 ]

All we need is about.........3 million bucks for Damon's.

Then again, maybe we could just have a barbecue in someone's backyard....

I would love to support a Tiki Central member owned place... what a dream!!!

Actually I doubt that the Grove's opening is what drove Tahiti down. They teach in Marketing 101 that businesses actually tend to thrive more when they have conmpetition nearby - i.e. the premise that when people think pet stores - they think "hmmm there are 3 pet stores in that mall... i'll go there as opposed to the mall where they only have 1.'

Our experience at the restaurant was that the food was just ok and a bit high-priced and so it was not at the top of our repeat list. Also, the bar did not give me a warm and fuzzy vibe - maybe it was the music or sports tv? So although there was a lot of potential for making it into a 'real' hang ala tiki ti - it seemed like a faux one.

Whatever happens - i hope that the animated hula girl neon sign is salvaged - it was a highlight on the Museum of Neon Art Tour.

Futuragirl:

I could not agree with you more regarding the hula girl neon sign. It is bright, colorful and radiant. Happily, it is still there waiting to be relit.

Also remaining are the two moai sentinels on the roof.

I also agree with you that the entrees were all in the low to high 20s, but unfortunately that is not atypical. However, the pupu menu in the the lounge was reasonable.

I think the primary difference of the Tiki Lounge and Tiki Ti is that it did not have the bar energy, like Tiki Ti, but was more of a sitting lounge, more closely resembling Trader Vic's.

IF remodeling does occur, I would not mind if the bar was moved down stairs or, best of all worlds, doors were placed in the wall separating the patio to bring the outside in, which would be most appropriate for a tiki bar.

I also appreciate your marketing analysis. With that neighborhood being somewhat of a destination for the cocktail seeking crowd, El Carmen, Cava, EB's at Farmer's Market, I (obviously from the # of posts) am hopeful that a future owner will invest in that theory and the Tiki Lounge will get a new lease on life.

[ Edited by: christiki295 on 2003-05-23 00:54 ]

Just wondered if anyone had any recent info. Did they have the auction? Anyone score the tikis? That sort of thing.

The neon sign whent to a private collector. I read this in Los Angeles magazine earlier this month.