Why don't we (We will) have an LA Tiki Bar Room Crawl(In September)?

Tiki Ti
Tonga Hut
Tiki No
Puka Bar
Purple Orchid
Don the Beachcombers
Trader Vic's at Beverly Hills
Trader Vics at LA Downtown
Bahooka's
Damiens

What am I missing?

San Francisco has one each year and their list is a slightly less overwhelming.

Who knew posting about tiki could be so contentious?

[ Edited by: telescopes 2011-04-22 15:55 ]

It's not so much as who's in, it's who's going to front the money for a chartered bus (and be responsible for herding drunken cats) ??

Telescopes, I nominate you for that job. :D

On 2011-03-01 18:38, JOHN-O wrote:
It's not so much as who's in, it's who's going to front the money for a chartered bus (and be responsible for herding drunken cats) ??

Telescopes, I nominate you for that job. :D

As a school bus driver back in the 80's driving children with special needs, I might be qualified to drive the bus (lol) but.... I want to drink.

I think if we had real interest, it wouldn't be a problem to get a group of hardened tiki cats to commit to something like this:

Thursday: (the 405)

Dinner at Trader Vics LA
Beverly Hills Trader Vic
Purple Orchid

Friday: Hollywood

Dinner at Bahookas
Tiki No
Tonga Hut
Tiki Ti

Saturday: (The Beaches)

Cocktails at Puka Bar
Don the Beachcomber's with some type of show.

What do you think?

It's time to have an LA Tiki Bar Crawl. Who's In?

[ Edited by: telescopes 2011-03-01 18:49 ]

I had thought about doing one a few years ago,
but nobody wanted to help me.
So I dropped the idea.

Jeff(btd)

What do you think?

---

It's time to have an LA Tiki Bar Crawl. Who's In?

[telescopes 2011-03-01 18:49 ]

I like the idea of a LA Crawl. This is something that many of us have talked about doing for years. Yes, the chartering of the bus seems daunting, but it sounds like it could be a fun time.

I don't think I have time to be an organizer but I'd love to be an attendee.

Below is a modified version of your suggested schedule just to show some options. I'm sure a thousand tweaks would have to be done before we got something that everyone thought would work best. I tried to work in The Warehouse, Beachcomber's Cafe, and Royal Hawaiian. Also, I thought Bahooka's is a long hike away from the rest of the Friday events, so I made it the start and not the finish of the evening since Bahooka's closes at 10 and the other bars are open later.

THURSDAY on The West Side

Meet at Beverly Hills Trader Vics to lounge by the pool and have cocktails to start the day around 12:00 noon.
Late lunch at The Warehouse in Marina Del Rey at 2:00.
Cocktails at the Purple Orchid at 4:00.
Dinner at downtown Trader Vic's around 7:00 till 10:00 close.

FRIDAY in LA and Hollywood

Lunch at Bahooka's in Rosemead around 1:00.
Tiki Ti in Los Angeles for cocktails at 4:00.
Dinner at Damon's in Glendale around 6:30.
Tonga Hut in North Hollywood at 8:30.
Tiki No in North Hollywood at 10:00 till close.

SATURDAY at the Beaches

Park at Crystal Cove parking and take shuttle across PCH to Beachcomber Cafe for 11:30 breakfast.
Late lunch at the Royal Hawaiian at 2:30.
Cocktails at Puka Bar at 4:30.
Dinner at Don the Beachcombers at 7:00 till close.

[ Edited by: Trader Tom 2011-03-02 02:58 ]

On 2011-03-02 02:02, Trader Tom wrote:

What do you think?

---

It's time to have an LA Tiki Bar Crawl. Who's In?

[telescopes 2011-03-01 18:49 ]

I like the idea of a LA Crawl. This is something that many of us have talked about doing for years. Yes, the chartering of the bus seems daunting, but it sounds like it could be a fun time.

I don't think I have time to be an organizer but I'd love to be an attendee.

Below is a modified version of your suggested schedule just to show some options. I'm sure a thousand tweaks would have to be done before we got something that everyone thought would work best. I tried to work in The Warehouse, Beachcomber's Cafe, and Royal Hawaiian. Also, I thought Bahooka's is a long hike away from the rest of the Friday events, so I made it the start and not the finish of the evening since Bahooka's closes at 10 and the other bars are open later.

THURSDAY on The West Side

Meet at Beverly Hills Trader Vics to lounge by the pool and have cocktails to start the day around 12:00 noon.
Late lunch at The Warehouse in Marina Del Rey at 2:00.
Cocktails at the Purple Orchid at 4:00.
Dinner at downtown Trader Vic's around 7:00 till 10:00 close.

FRIDAY in LA and Hollywood

Lunch at Bahooka's in Rosemead around 1:00.
Tiki Ti in Los Angeles for cocktails at 4:00.
Dinner at Damon's in Glendale around 6:30.
Tonga Hut in North Hollywood at 8:30.
Tiki No in North Hollywood at 10:00 till close.

SATURDAY at the Beaches

Park at Crystal Cove parking and take shuttle across PCH to Beachcomber Cafe for 11:30 breakfast.
Late lunch at the Royal Hawaiian at 2:30.
Cocktails at Puka Bar at 4:30.
Dinner at Don the Beachcombers at 7:00 till close.

[ Edited by: Trader Tom 2011-03-02 02:58 ]

Wow! What an improvement! I really like this.

There are companies that provide bus, driver and host.

This is probably not the right one but an example of what's out there.

Big Red Bus

SATURDAY at the Beaches

Park at Crystal Cove parking and take shuttle across PCH to Beachcomber Cafe for 11:30 breakfast.
Late lunch at the Royal Hawaiian at 2:30.
Cocktails at Puka Bar at 4:30.
Dinner at Don the Beachcombers at 7:00 till close.

I'm guessing the reason for no crawl is that the above sounds like the normal Saturday in SoCal :o

Okay, here's what I've found so far-

A coach bus with 58 seats seems to run at the high side - $900 dollars for one day.

If 50 people signed up for a three day tour that would be 2700/50 = $54 dollars a person.

This seems reasonable for three days of hard crawling with a Sunday left to recuperate before the real grind of work starts.

Now - what is the most tiki hotel left...

On 2011-03-02 10:43, telescopes wrote:
Now - what is the most tiki hotel left...

Royal Hawaiian Motel
1632 La Brea Ave, Los Angeles

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=34046&forum=2

Good central location and reasonable rates !! :D

Now that I am thinking, we could have the bus stop at several "way-points" each day so that we can see the ghosts of tiki past.

On 2011-03-02 10:17, tikihai wrote:
SATURDAY at the Beaches

Park at Crystal Cove parking and take shuttle across PCH to Beachcomber Cafe for 11:30 breakfast.
Late lunch at the Royal Hawaiian at 2:30.
Cocktails at Puka Bar at 4:30.
Dinner at Don the Beachcombers at 7:00 till close.

I'm guessing the reason for no crawl is that the above sounds like the normal Saturday in SoCal :o

I would skip the Royal Hawaiian as Laguna Beach is a little too far away.

On 2011-03-02 12:31, telescopes wrote:
Now that I am thinking, we could have the bus stop at several "way-points" each day so that we can see the ghosts of tiki past.

On that note, some of those places are still bars that you can drink in. Example, Mar Vista Bowl (which used to house the Mai Kai room) and Fantasy Island (former Kelbo's). Are there any more ??

And just for argument's sake, you might want to add the Hawaiian Room in Bellflower to the agenda...

http://www.yelp.com/biz/the-hawaiian-room-bellflower

Good luck, I wanted to do a Frank Bowers dive bar crawl but no one was interested. :(

On 2011-03-02 12:58, JOHN-O wrote:
...

Good luck, I wanted to do a Frank Bowers dive bar crawl but no one was interested. :(

A bus is the key.

On 2011-03-02 12:58, JOHN-O wrote:

On that note, some of those places are still bars that you can drink in. Example, Mar Vista Bowl (which used to house the Mai Kai room) and Fantasy Island (former Kelbo's). Are there any more ??

And just for argument's sake, you might want to add the Hawaiian Room in Bellflower to the agenda...

I would add the Hawaiian Room, but pass on the others.

Can Oceanic Arts be added somehow?

On 2011-03-02 09:18, King Bushwich the 33rd wrote:
There are companies that provide bus, driver and host.

This is probably not the right one but an example of what's out there.

Big Red Bus

I've taken it. One can drink on the enclosed one.

On 2011-03-02 02:02, Trader Tom wrote:

What do you think?

---

It's time to have an LA Tiki Bar Crawl. Who's In?

[telescopes 2011-03-01 18:49 ]

I like the idea of a LA Crawl. This is something that many of us have talked about doing for years. Yes, the chartering of the bus seems daunting, but it sounds like it could be a fun time.

I don't think I have time to be an organizer but I'd love to be an attendee.

Below is a modified version of your suggested schedule just to show some options. I'm sure a thousand tweaks would have to be done before we got something that everyone thought would work best. I tried to work in The Warehouse, Beachcomber's Cafe, and Royal Hawaiian. Also, I thought Bahooka's is a long hike away from the rest of the Friday events, so I made it the start and not the finish of the evening since Bahooka's closes at 10 and the other bars are open later.

FRIDAY - on The West Side

Meet at Beverly Hills Trader Vics to lounge by the pool and have cocktails to start the day around 12:00 noon.
Late lunch at The Warehouse in Marina Del Rey at 2:00.
Cocktails at the Purple Orchid at 4:00.
Dinner at downtown Trader Vic's around 7:00 till 10:00 close.

FRIDAY in LA and Hollywood

Lunch at Bahooka's in Rosemead around 1:00.
Tiki Ti in Los Angeles for cocktails at 4:00.
Dinner at Damon's in Glendale around 6:30.
Tonga Hut in North Hollywood at 8:30.
Tiki No in North Hollywood at 10:00 till close.

SATURDAY at the Beaches

Park at Crystal Cove parking and take shuttle across PCH to Beachcomber Cafe for 11:30 breakfast.
Late lunch at the Royal Hawaiian at 2:30.
Cocktails at Puka Bar at 4:30.
Dinner at Don the Beachcombers at 7:00 till close.

[ Edited by: Trader Tom 2011-03-02 02:58 ]

I think some consolidation is in order because:

1. The bus can be only on Saturday;
2. Thurs is a school night;
3. Purple Orchid may have a band (if we ask nicely) and I feel bad about leaving there to go elsewhere;
4. Driving after a few drinks from Bev Hills to LA Live is not the best idea (or, it is past time for my luck to run out);
5. The Wharehouse is Nautical, but not Tiki; and
6. Sunday is a slow, short day to hit the beach & have hair of the dog, which ends early after the prior two nights of Tiki revelry

FRIDAY

Late lunch at downtown Trader Vic's 3 pm
Beverly Hills Trader Vics poolside cocktail & dinner 4- 7
Purple Orchid at 8- end

SATURDAY

Oceanic Arts for shopping 11 am (optional )
Meet & Lunch at Bahooka's in Rosemead 2 pm
Board bus @ 3:30 pm
Tiki Ti in Los Angeles 4 pm (Cash only)
Damon's in Glendale for dinner 6 pm
Tonga Hut in North Hollywood 8:30.
Tiki No in North Hollywood at 10:00 till close.

SUNDAY

Don the Beachcombers Lunch 2 pm
Puka Bar LBC 4 pm

I've done the Puka Bar to Purple Orchid to Tiki Ti to Trader Vic's Beverly Hills to Tonga Lounge to the old Lucky Tiki in one day before. It can be done.

On 2011-03-02 14:22, Rob Roy wrote:
I've done the Puka Bar to Purple Orchid to Tiki Ti to Trader Vic's Beverly Hills to Tonga Lounge to the old Lucky Tiki in one day before. It can be done.

We started out at Bev Hill's trader vic's, then to Purple Orchid, then to Puka Bar, then to Tiki Ti, Then to Tonga Hut, with a finish at Bahooka's. All in one day.

Whew! What a day that was.

I actually think you need the bus for three days - my thought is this is something out of town folks like myself would trek to LA in order to participate.

If we can get 50 people to say yes, then a bus ticket is less than 60 dollars away. Of course, you wouldn't have to participate for all three nights - but there are simply too many places to go and leaving one out would be heart breaking - Hence the idea of way-points. Events like the Mai Kai and even the San Francisco Tiki Bar Crawl all have Thursday events. For people who are out of town, you have to fly there on a Thursday in order to participate.

I am keeping in mind that Tiki Ti has limited space - this is a logistics problem that will have to be solved.

People like Sven would need to be invited to give "bus lectures" and no crawl would be complete without a few "house bands", i.e. Tikiyaki Orch. and the Martini Kings (and so many more that can be mentioned) playing at a few bars.

A location hotel for out of town guests will be truly important.

For me, the bottom line is the bus. And this is something easy to get. I am willing to help, but my logistical skills is limited to organizing field trips for elementary schools and hosting theme parties at my house.

First, do we have fifty tenative people or more? Can we look to September, October, or November? What is your preference.

[ Edited by: telescopes 2011-03-02 15:07 ]

On 2011-03-02 12:38, christiki295 wrote:

I would skip the Royal Hawaiian as Laguna Beach is a little too far away.

Maybe to walk, but here's what Mapquest says:

All these proposed stops are subject to personal preference, though.

I included The Warehouse, although it is a purely nautical bar/restaurant, because it is a REALLY COOL nautical bar/restaurant that makes a nod to Tiki with a few Dynasty Tiki mugs scattered amongst their barrel mugs. You proposed shopping at Oceanic Arts which is REALLY COOL but I left it out because it isn't a bar and this is a bar crawl. As many times as I request it, Bob and Leroy just won't serve me cocktails.

I think that logistics will warrant that you can't do everything, but it doesn't hurt to savor the possibilities at this stage when it doesn't cost us anything.

Trader Tom:

So aptly put. That's what this stage is absolutely about. The possibilities. Who knows what it will be? But let's dream. With the help of some people who know the lay of the land and have the connections, it wouldn't take much to arrange for a bus. Like I said, 50 people, 60 dollars, and it's done. All we need is a pick up and drop off place and the stops in between. The drinks we pay for ourselves, the food we pay for ourselves, and the bands.... well let's see what happens.

If I know there is interest, I'd be happy to call a bus. Or, even happier just to pay to go. I know Thursday isn't popular for lots of reasons, but, there are just too many places and I want to see them all.

On 2011-03-02 15:06, telescopes wrote:

I actually think you need the bus for three days - my thought is this is something out of town folks like myself would trek to LA in order to participate.

If we can get 50 people to say yes, then a bus ticket is less than 60 dollars away. Of course, you wouldn't have to participate for all three nights - but there are simply too many places to go and leaving one out would be heart breaking - Hence the idea of way-points. Events like the Mai Kai and even the San Francisco Tiki Bar Crawl all have Thursday events. For people who are out of town, you have to fly there on a Thursday in order to participate.

I am keeping in mind that Tiki Ti has limited space - this is a logistics problem that will have to be solved.

People like Sven would need to be invited to give "bus lectures" and no crawl would be complete without a few "house bands", i.e. Tikiyaki Orch. and the Martini Kings (and so many more that can be mentioned) playing at a few bars.

Good Points.
Yes, a bus every night would be necessary for any out-of-towners.
It would be a good idea for those who live here, too.

Tiki Ti opens at 4 pm, so I think going there when it opens would enable everyone to be there at the same time.

Luckily, Sven lives does live locally.

I like the west side idea but I'd switch out Trader Vic's Downtown for another day and replace it with Tony's on the Pier.

The West Side

Meet at Beverly Hills Trader Vics to lounge by the pool and have cocktails to start the day around 12:00 noon.
Late lunch at The Warehouse in Marina Del Rey at 2:00.
Cocktails at the Purple Orchid at 4:00.
Dinner at downtown Tony's on the Pier. around 7:00 till 10:00 close.

Why not just do one of these (3-4 places) one Saturday or Sunday a month? Until we've pretty much covered all of them.

On 2011-03-02 19:58, Bora Boris wrote:

Why not just do one of these (3-4 places) one Saturday or Sunday a month? Until we've pretty much covered all of them.

Dear Mr. Unreasonable:

Why... Because I am an out-of-towner who can only get away from my kids once in a blue moon. Also, because the whole idea of a crawl is to make an annual event for the world to enjoy.

Or, at least that would be my goal.

LA is the birth place of this thing we call tiki. For locals, it is a traditional fare that can be had like meat loaf from the wife. For others, it is like Mecca. or Jerusalem at Passover. Regardless, to see it all, do it all, in one week-end. The memories, the drinks, the food...

The Ohana...

Great suggestions though. I feel a tiki synergy about to happen...

You're right and this is your thread and even if you're only 107 miles away (I think) if you have kids then that changes everything. Hopefully the end result will be places worth seeing, a few off the beaten path and a lot of fun. :)

Hopefully, not my thread. I appreciate the kindness, but the dream of an LA Tiki Bar Crawl will be something that will be the hope of millions of tikiphiles all over the world. Or, in this case, at least 50 ready to party souls.

May DTB and TV rest peacefully in their graves.

On 2011-03-02 19:58, Bora Boris wrote:
I like the west side idea but I'd switch out Trader Vic's Downtown for another day and replace it with Tony's on the Pier.

I was at Tony's on the Pier just two Sundays ago, as I love the beach front location, the multi-colored floats and the take-home Mai Tai glass. This is a good idea.

In addition, the Ramada Limited Redondo Beach is cost effective - approximately $90+ nightly - and located walking distance to the beach:
http://www.ramada.com/Ramada/control/Booking/property_info?propertyId=13242

Purple Orchid is a much better place to end the evening as it is a great party as it has an abundance of Tiki, Tiki mugs, Tapa cloth, a great party ambience, spacious interior and, of course, beloved Dave & Rebecca.

How about:

FRIDAY

Tony's on the Pier - Redondo Beach 4 pm
Beverly Hills Trader Vics poolside cocktail & dinner 6:30 pm
Purple Orchid at 9 - end

SATURDAY

Oceanic Arts for shopping 11 am (optional )
Meet & Lunch at Bahooka's in Rosemead 2 pm
Board bus @ 3:30 pm
Trader Vics downtown 4 PM
Tiki Ti in Los Angeles 5 pm (Cash only)
Damon's in Glendale for dinner 6 pm
Tonga Hut in North Hollywood 8:30.
Tiki No in North Hollywood at 10:00 till close.

SUNDAY

Don the Beachcombers Lunch 2 pm
Puka Bar LBC 4 pm

[ Edited by: christiki295 2011-03-02 23:29 ]

Not to be a killjoy, but the biggest issue here has nothing to do with the itinerary. I've chartered buses before and in every instance, they required full payment several weeks in advance. So that means one of two things.

1. Someone needs to front the money and be willing to take the financial loss if they don't get a full head count (or if people flake out on their good faith RSVPs). Also you might want to calculate your break-even based on a 2/3rd's full bus just to be safe. You'd need to raise the price to $90 per person based on that.

2. Or... require pre-payment by each crawler (either Paypay or check). This is something that will need to be managed. Also if you can't get a full head count and need to pull the plug, reimbursements will need to be made. This will piss people off booking non-refundable airfare.

Unless someone is willing to step up to one of these, this whole thread is theoretical discussion. :(

It might be nice to get input by people who ran the Nor Cal Tiki crawl on lessons learned.

[ Edited by: JOHN-O 2011-03-03 08:45 ]

On 2011-03-02 22:37, JOHN-O wrote:
Not to be a killjoy, but the biggest issue here has nothing to do with the itinerary. I've chartered buses before and in every instance, they required full payment several weeks in advance. So that means one of two things.

$225 per hour.
If 50 guests pay approx $50.00, that should cover it.

http://bigredbus.com/buildyourown.html

If the fare for 3 days works out to be 54 bucks per person, I would required Paypal in advance an charge two ways; $65 for all 3 days and the option of $25 per day for single day passes. Hopefully the extra from the day passes will cover a possible small amount of ticket sales on the work night of Thursday. I would think, Friday and Saturday would sell out. Hope this helps.

What an excellent suggestion. What we need now are for people to say, "Ya, if such a thing were to be arranged, I'd be in." And then, maybe someone with some know how will see the interest and ...

On 2011-03-03 17:12, mrsmiley wrote:
If the fare for 3 days works out to be 54 bucks per person, I would required Paypal in advance an charge two ways; $65 for all 3 days and the option of $25 per day for single day passes. Hopefully the extra from the day passes will cover a possible small amount of ticket sales on the work night of Thursday. I would think, Friday and Saturday would sell out. Hope this helps.

I actually meant $50.00 for Saturday only, as the bus would be used from approximately 3:30 p.m., to approximately 11 p.m.

For the reasons set forth by John-O, I doubt a multi-day bus is feasible.

On 2011-03-03 12:44, christiki295 wrote:

On 2011-03-02 22:37, JOHN-O wrote:
Not to be a killjoy, but the biggest issue here has nothing to do with the itinerary. I've chartered buses before and in every instance, they required full payment several weeks in advance. So that means one of two things.

$225 per hour.
If 50 guests pay approx $50.00, that should cover it.

http://bigredbus.com/buildyourown.html

If you don't care what the bus looks like, you can save a lot.

According to:
http://www.busrates.com/results.php?bustype=1&state=CA&city=Los+Angeles

One could rent from Liberty Charter an 84 seat school bus (with tv and dvd player) for only $695 per day.
Even if you planned for only 50 passengers, for one day that would be only $13.90 per passenger. For three days that's only $41.70 per passenger.

Now when they say "day" I'm not sure what exactly that constitutes. Nevertheless, there do seem to be a lot of less expensive options when it comes to picking out the right bus.

Yup, Fast Deer charters will offer smaller buses (up to 35 people) for $85 a hour.

If this ain't happening then I'm going to poach Tony's and the Warehouse as choices for my planned Nautical bar (bus) crawl later this year.

Fastdeer Bus Charter
Driver included?
A restroom aboard the bus is a real good idea.
A stripper pole is not a real necessity

On 2011-03-04 09:35, King Bushwich the 33rd wrote:
A stripper pole is not a real necessity

WHAT?!!! Are you crazy?! Stripper pole is a MUST-HAVE!!!!

"If you build it they will come."

Bargoyle and I started off the Ohana event at Lake George with nothing more than a good idea and some friends who were willing to help make it work.

Traction. That's what this thread really needs. And I think it might be getting it. Imagine, a bus tour where tiki began. Isn't the Tiki Ti a type of Mecca? Doesn't Don the Beachcombers demonstrate that vintage tiki can thrive? Yes, the Mai Kai is a type of Taj Mahal and San Francisco does have Forbidden Island and Smuggler's Cove. But who has a neighborhood bar like the Tonga Hut? Who has experiments like Tiki No? Are who even has trans tiki joints like the Puka Bar and the Purple Orchid? Who has way points all over the city that indicate what tiki use to be, was and may once again be?

In the words of Randy Newman - LA - I Love it!

Telescopes, you seem rather passionate about having a bus crawl come together so why don't you just go for it and organize it? I know you are looking for some type of "guarantee" or commitment (you call it "interest") before you are willing to book/reserve a bus but that's not how it works. Realistically, you will need to take the financial risk and promote the hell out of the event so that you end up selling all the seats and don't take a bath.

Many years ago (2003, 2004, etc) I used to organize the OC Bus Crawl with Tiki Bong and others here. I also regularly attended the SF Bus Crawl yearly for years 2002 thru 2005. So I know how much work it is putting one of these together. Frankly, waiting for someone else to do all the work of booking the bus, scheduling the venues, booking the entertainment, negotiating the lodging, promoting the event, etc so you can simply buy a ticket and board the bus is kind of selfish. If you really want it to happen then make it happen.

**Poly-Pop ***

Bartender, make mine a glass of WATAHHH!!!!!

[ Edited by: polynesianpop 2011-03-04 23:11 ]

On 2011-03-04 08:02, JOHN-O wrote:
Yup, Fast Deer charters will offer smaller buses (up to 35 people) for $85 a hour.

If this ain't happening then I'm going to poach Tony's and the Warehouse as choices for my planned Nautical bar (bus) crawl later this year.

That is a much better idea. More likely to sell out as the cost is less, and also not as many tickets need to be sold.

On 2011-03-04 10:06, GROG wrote:

On 2011-03-04 09:35, King Bushwich the 33rd wrote:
A stripper pole is not a real necessity

WHAT?!!! Are you crazy?! Stripper pole is a MUST-HAVE!!!!

You haven't LIVED 'til you see GROG on a stripper pole. You may want to wash your eyes later, but at least you've LIVED!

On 2011-03-03 20:05, telescopes wrote:
What an excellent suggestion. What we need now are for people to say, "Ya, if such a thing were to be arranged, I'd be in." And then, maybe someone with some know how will see the interest and ...

Dude! Take the risk! Do it! Don't be Chicken! The only way it'll ever get done is to actually do it yourself, and the only way to be sure how to do it is to actually do it. Pick PolyPop's brains, pick Bong's brains, PM cheekyhalf, Terence Gunn, Melintur, Otto... anyone who's put on a crawl, Con or meet-up and send them a PM. People are happy to tell you how to do something like this, because the more people who put on a Crawl the more people who learn about Tiki, Exotica, fine Rum Drinks, carving, collecting, etc.

And the only way to make sure it gets done is to DO IT YOURSELF! So c'mon, if you really want to go on an LA Tiki Crawl, put it on!

If you really want to do this make it simple as possible,one day,pick-up spot around 3:00 sat. hit the happy hours,decide on a spot to break for dinner,after dinner the crawl begins in earnest four or five spots till 2:30 - 3:00.Great memory.

On 2011-03-05 15:46, cribe wrote:
If you really want to do this make it simple as possible,one day,pick-up spot around 3:00 sat. hit the happy hours,decide on a spot to break for dinner,after dinner the crawl begins in earnest four or five spots till 2:30 - 3:00.Great memory.

Makes sense. Easier logistics, and less of a risk for the investor.
(I say "investor" as whoever fronts the $$$ should get $ in return for taking on the risk.)

My thoughts for a one day:

Oceanic Arts for shopping 11 am (optional )
Meet & Lunch at Bahooka's in Rosemead 1:30 pm
Board bus @ 3:30 pm
Tiki Ti in Los Angeles 4:15 pm (Cash only)
LA Live Trader Vic's 6:30 Dinner
Beverly Hills Trader Vics poolside cocktail 8
Purple Orchid 10 end

The Hilton Doubletree is near the Purple Orchid and the beach, offers free LAX shuttle and would be a good
location for our out of town TCers. It is approx $100.00.

http://doubletree1.hilton.com/en_US/dt/hotel/LAXEGDT-DoubleTree-by-Hilton-Hotel-LAX-El-Segundo-California/index.do

The Travel Lodge, located down the street, is approx $80.00 and also has a free shuttle.
http://www.travelodge.com/Travelodge/control/Booking/property_info?propertyId=09496

They also allow a 1-night stay.
And, for a 2-night stay, Purple Orchid is an approx $7.00 taxi ride away, for those who want to go on Friday night, too.

[ Edited by: christiki295 2011-03-05 21:33 ]

On 2011-03-02 22:37, JOHN-O wrote:
It might be nice to get input by people who ran the Nor Cal Tiki crawl on lessons learned.

Okay, I'm willing to throw my hat into the ring, and help organize this idea/event, and/or give advice and observations from throwing the Tiki Central Tiki Crawls in the S.F. Bay Area.

Right off the bat, the first thing to know is that running a Tiki Crawl with a chartered bus on multiple days with bands and other hired entertainment is a break even situation - at BEST. I'm only working a part time gig right now (it was two part time gigs, but now it's down to one), so I can't afford to bear the financial responsibility of covering a tiki crawl's finances, especially if it's going to be in the red (which it most likely will be). Some costs can be covered by some sponsorship, which I could set up and secure, but it is much easier to obtain free stuff such as rum and juice for the bus, than it is to secure money, or get people to perform for free. And letting people know that the event that you are throwing isn't a "for profit" thing, that it's break-even at best, doesn't really help the matter, no matter how honest and noble your intentions are.

Second, if you have a bus for a good three days, say a Thursday-Friday-Saturday, then you will not sell all the available seats on all three days, especially on Thursday. People will tell you how you need extra seats on those days, because they are coming, and bringing so-and-so, but when it comes to everyone actually buying all those available seats, it's a different story. Plus, people are either broke from this economy, or can't risk getting hammered enough on a Thursday that they either show up hung over for work on Friday, or have to call in sick. And people do end up getting hammered on a tiki crawl.

Third, people can only really handle a good four stops per day on a crawl. No matter what they say, our experience in throwing extended tiki crawls for the past four or five years is that by 11pm or 12 midnight, people are DONE, and want to go back to their hotel. There will be a small handful of people that will make one last stop together until close to last call, but there is usually only around 5 or 6 of them on a consistent basis, everyone else is fast asleep at the anchor hotel by that point.

Fourth, you can't please everyone. You will hear constant criticism of "Why did you pick THIS place???" and "I wish you would have gone to THAT place instead!" "Why can't we go to that bar that is all themed about toilets?" or "Such-and-Such is the latest mixology rage, we should go there, even though it has nothing to do with Tiki". So be prepared for more than your fair share on that. You basically have to figure out itineraries for certain areas, and make the best fits for those areas.

Fifth, it should really only be you and one or two other people at most that helps plan out the itinerary. Too many cooks spoil the soup. If you have too many people that try to plan things out, then there will be disagreements, and perhaps compromises that you or others will regret later. If you have more than a couple of people help you out in planning an event like this, you better be sure that all of you will be on EXACTLY the same page. Hanford and Martin and I all got along well and communicated our wants and desires when planning out our Tiki Crawls, but we still had our squabbles and disagreements, though they were all pretty much very minor.

Sixth, You can't hit all the tiki bars in one day, or one weekend, even though we all would like to try! :) And Southern California is so large in scope as compared to the Bay Area, that some places would be spread really far apart from each other. I think a big part of the success of a bus chartered bar crawl is not spending hours on a bus, but instead having relatively short bus jaunts that lead to enjoyable stops at each location.

Seventh, the people throwing the crawl will not have time to enjoy it themselves. Ever see Otto and Baby running around like crazy addressing all kinds of issues at Tiki Oasis? It's kind of like that. No, it's EXACTLY like that. Just a few of the many items that you will have to deal with are making sure you have secured all the items for the goodie bags, handing them out, making sure that your bus driver knows how to get to each location, making sure that everyone starts settling up their tabs in time to catch the bus and not slow down the schedule, then herding them all into the bus in a timely fashion, etc., which gets harder and harder at each stop as people get more and more sloshed. Throw in the sale of an official tiki crawl mug to that mix, and all of the other additional things that it will require, and you will really have your hands full. Telescopes, I don't want to be a kill joy, but if your intentions are to throw this tiki crawl so you can hang out and catch up with your buddies, including friends from out of town that you haven't seen in a while, then you're probably not going to experience that. But if you know in advance what you're in store for, and are cool with that, then that's a different story. :wink:

Eighth, and final point for tonight, you are going to need several friends to help volunteer to keep things flowing smoothly. Not just one or two friends, SEVERAL. They are going to help you stuff goodie bags, make punch for the bus, carry heavy cases of water, hand out goodie bags, make sure people get name tags and wrist bands, check people in, sell mugs, break up skirmishes and non wanted amorous advances, and stay sober enough for the whole event each day to manage a bunch of fun lovin' tiki folks. Basically they are going to be your designated "Cat Herders". And they are going to wonder if it was worth the free bus ticket you comp'ed them to put up with all of that. Needless to say, they are going to have to be a good friend, and someone you can trust, and who can trust you.

So, that's a lot of food for thought. But it can be done. Jeff pinged me when he was thinking about throwing a Southern California Tiki Crawl. I thought he had a good idea, and had a good list of places. But it takes a lot of effort to coordinate such an event, especially when you figure how much work you will have to do for a break-even situation at best. I kicked the idea around with Boris a couple of years back, and even pitched to him the idea of "The Amazing Tiki Race", where we hit EVERY tiki bar in California in a weekend - with a designated driver or two, of course. Needless to say, Boris brought me to my senses on that one.

If you want any more info, or have any further questions, just let me know, and I'd be more than happy to answer them. I guess I could come on board to help things out, if it was wanted or needed. Okay, hope this info helped in some way! Cheers,
-Mai Tai

Mai Tai pointed out most of the same stuff we dealt with on the OC Bus Crawls too (that I was too lazy to type). Which I think pretty much answers the question posted in the title of this thread.

To add to his list, some of the things I remember most that he didn't post about was (a) getting the crowd on and off the bus within specific time constraints to keep it on schedule (and as the night wore on you couldn't always find everyone) and (b) hoping that no one would get sick and vomit on the bus or we would be charged a cleaning fee (or have to clean it up ourselves) because that extra fee would blow the budget. And remember, splitting the cost of the bus isn't the only thing -- you'll need to tip the bus driver as well as pay for bands, goodie bag items, food (if you are hosting anything at the starting/ending spot), etc. You get the point... (c) one last thing, not everyone will welcome you. Billy's at the Beach was not very happy that many of the crawlers tried to steal their Mai Tai glasses.

For Southern California, we tossed around a bus crawl for the LA area but realized (at the time) that the bars were just too far apart to make it work. That's why we only did them in OC - because the 3 bars, including the starting point (Bamboo Ben's shop, Royal Hawaiian, Billy's at the Beach and Sam's Seafood) were relatively close to one another. Today an LA Crawl might be feasible since Trader Vic's, Tiki Ti, Tonga Hut and Tiki-No are relatively close to each other (done in that order). But again, this is only one night. Start all over again for the west side and then again for OC. Remember all the points above -- you'll have to deal with them 3 days in a row.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not discouraging anyone from putting an event like this together. They're lots of fun (WAY more fun if all you have to do is buy a ticket and board the bus). As an organizer, they're a lot more work than you think.

**Poly-Pop ***

Bartender, make mine a glass of WATAHHH!!!!!

[ Edited by: polynesianpop 2011-03-06 11:25 ]

Very insightful feedback. Thank you Mai Tai and Poly Pop !!

Your candid responses may have scared off others, but I'm willing to volunteer. (I have excellent organizational skills and know how deal with whiners. :) ) My K-Town crawl was pretty successful with 25 people.

I propose one of the following plans, A or B:

Plan A. I'll take chief ownership of a LA Tiki bus crawl with the following Saturday itinerary:

1. 3:00-3:30pm - Meet the bus at LA Live in Downtown LA where there is ample secure parking.

2. 4:00pm - Arrive at Tiki-Ti where we drink in two shifts (if necessary) to accommodate the bar's small size. 2nd shift can drink at next door El Chavo which has a cool bar. After 45 minutes, we switch.

3. 5:30pm - Leave for Tonga Hut

4. 6:00pm - Arrive at Tonga Hut for Hiphipahula's shift !!

5. 7:30pm - Leave for Tiki No

6. 7:45pm - Arrive at Tiki No

7. 9:00-9:30pm - Leave for Trader Vic's DTLA

8. 10:00 - Arrive at Trader Vic's where we cut the bus loose. Since that's where all the cars will be at, people can stay as long as they want and sober up. There are also many hotels in the area.

I'm willing to front half the bus cost but I need a financial partner. If we go with a small bus (up to 30 people) then worst case exposure for each of us is a $350 loss (that's if NO ONE shows up) but would only be about a $100 loss if we fill up two-thirds of the bus. A full bus would be break-even. This is based on a $25 "ticket".

I can live with this financial exposure if someone else is willing to split the risk. If you think about it, it's like throwing your own Tiki party where you'd shell out at least that much out-of-pocket money anyway.

Anyone interested in helping out with the finances? (Christiki?, BigTikiDude?, PolyPop?, Boris?, Trader Tom?) Do it for Tiki !! FYI, I'm not doing this on my own.

Telescopes, here's YOUR big opportunity. :) And dude, don't say a 90-minute drive from Palm Springs isn't worth a 1-day itinerary. It sometimes takes me 90 minutes just to get to Don's in Monday night rush hour traffic.

Plan B. Here's my alternate plan for a Nautical Bar bus crawl (which is something I'd rather do). This one I'd be willing to pre-fund on my own since we'd only need a bus for about half the time. It would involve the following:

1. Chez Jay
2. Galley
3. Copa D'Oro (as a New Cocktailian ringer)
4. Warehouse
5. Tony's on the Pier (although this might be a little far in relation to the other Westside places).

So what do people think ??

(Update - We could also switch out TV for Purple Orchid but I'm not sure of the long term parking situation there.)

[ Edited by: JOHN-O 2011-03-06 21:33 ]