The BIG size glass floats on Bourbon St.

One of the tourist shops on Bourbon Street... somewhere between Jean Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop and Toulouse, has the BIG, good quality glass floats in various colors at only $30. They are marked $50, but ask the owner for $30 and he'll give it to you.
These are just as good as the ones I've paid $80 each for on ebay (except that the rope was slightly thicker on the $80 ones... this is still thick rope though- the others are really too thick and detract from the beauty of the glass).
Anyway, I got a nice big red one to go with my green and blue back home :)

BTW - after going to all the great "obituary cocktail" bars the BEST sezerac and Pimm's cups are actually to be had at The Alpine on Chartres by VANCE - the head bartender. He has 12 years of experience and nice bars from LA to NY and is one of those guys who really enjoys talking about his art - really rare. He actually muddles the cucumber into his massive Pimm's Cup, and his Mohito with giant wads of fresh mint is to die for. The cocktails are 2 for 1 from 4 to 7pm.

The Alpine
620 Rue Chartres
504-523-3005

[ Edited by: kahukini on 2003-05-21 01:59 ]

This guy seems to have a huge supply at a much lower price on ebay.

http://cgi6.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewSellersOtherItems&userid=weence&include=0&since=-1&sort=3&rows=25

$22-30 is good for that, though I can't verify quality from the pic. Add $15-20 S&H :)

I'm no expert on glass floats but I heard that large red glass floats are rare. Is this true?

Mahalo in advance for your input.

Aloha,

STEN

Show Me The Moai!

[ Edited by: stentiki on 2003-05-21 18:52 ]

Maybe 'vintage' red glass floats are harder to find, but there's a shop in Shoreline Village in Long Beach (Pirate's Cove, I think it is...) where they sell the big 16" diameter floats in all colors - including red - for $35.00. They're new floats, but they come with big, thick sisal/jute ropes and look really nice. If I'm not mistaken, there's a trio of these floats (possibly from the same place or supplier) hanging up at the Purple Orchid.

However, be careful that none of your Coco Joe's statuettes fall off your bar on to one, 'cause it'll still break into many pieces and cause you to keep the rope but put one of Bax's TikiCentral beachballs in it instead. Not that I'd know from experience or anything...

Hey Doc,

Thanks for the info. I actually heard this from the woman who works at Oceanic Arts. I'm sure she meant vintage, but I had not seen many red floats around.

One more question for the knowledgeable - besides the normal wear you would expect on the rope and float, is there any other way to tell if it's vintage?

Mahalo.

kahukini I won a 8" colbalt blue one on ebay for $16 and the S&H was $10.89. Now I'll try for the red. :)

What, are you saying I don't know when something's a good deal at $30 when I see it? I bought %50 of the stuff in my tiki bar off of ebay and was in some way disappointed in half of it. 8" is the medium size. I'm talking about the BIG size.

But it doesn't matter unless you're taking a trip to new orleans this summer.

[ Edited by: kahukini on 2003-05-24 21:41 ]

I hear the green ones make you horny.

Kahukini,
Did you find the Alpine "too modern"?

The Carousel in the Monteleone or the Sazerac in the Fairmont have such an aura and history about them.

Did you go to any offbeat places that stood out?

On 2003-05-24 21:35, kahukini wrote:
What, are you saying I don't know when something's a good deal at $30 when I see it? I bought %50 of the stuff in my tiki bar off of ebay and was in some way disappointed in half of it. 8" is the medium size. I'm talking about the BIG size.

But it doesn't matter unless you're taking a trip to new orleans this summer.

Do you mean ME? Not my style to belittle about such things, just trying to inform of alternatives. Truth is that the cost in these is mostly in the shipping, since they are probably made in South East Asia for peanuts. Your's are a nice buy if they are the 'big 12 inch' ones and you're in Nawlins, but most of us will probably avoid that steambath this summer :wink:

Be happy, it's Tiki :)