December TIki Trip SW

Howdy,

I am a long time lurker but first time poster. I have been collecting tiki mugs and such for a few years now. So to the meat and poi of it then. My wife and I will be driving from our home in Austin to visit her folks in San Diego this Christmas. Since we will be without our son (Grammie is flying out with him a little later) we have the chance to stop and enjoy some Tiki locations. I was already thinking Kon-Tiki in Tucson (on Dec 20th) and Trader Sam's in Anaheim (on Dec 21st). Any place else folks could recommend en'route. Any tips or ideas would be appreciated. Thanks.

Aloha Mbird! Between Anaheim and San Diego Is Hapa J’s in the seaside town of San Clemente. Not Tiki but the place has pretty good Hawaiian grinds and the Mai Tai’s are certainly not Trader Vics 1944 style but tasty nonetheless. The Bali Hai on Shelter Island in San Diego is not to be missed. Best to visit at dusk and watch the city light up as night darkens the bay. Just beautiful! I think that you might enjoy walking through the Crowne Plaza at hotel circle (also San Diego). It’s not as “tiki”as back in the day but still, imho interesting and the bartender Chris makes good drinks and has a more than fair knowledge of the hotels history. Pm me if you wish and I’ll give you more tips -I don’t wanna bore the pants off the TC’ers that live out here. We are so fortunate to have so much (never enough) tiki in SoCal.

Don the Beachcomber in Sunset Beach of course!
it is only a half hour away from Trader Sam's (traffic permitting)

In San Diego the Bali Hai is a must! Also quite a few places have Tiki Tuesday. For good stores to find mugs and rum there are Freaky Boutiki and Trader Morts. That is about it for San Diego. Let us know when you are here if you want some company, we are always looking for an excuse to go to Bali Hai.

Lots of great places in LA too. Tiki Ti, Tiki No and Tonga Hut are all not to be missed. Have a fun trip!

Definitely Bali Hai for architecture, tikis, tiki drinks and great food. The architecture of the hotel, Humphreys Half Moon and Suites, which is nearby, is also amazing. Trader morts liquor store is also nearby, worth swinging by to see the famous tiki outside.

Thanks everyone for the fantastic suggestions. I think we are going to add Don the Beachcomber to the list for sure. Has anyone here done the tour of Tiki Farm? I was also thinking about dropping them a line to see if anyone would be around on the 22nd of Dec. While in San Diego we will definitely stop in at Bali Hai again, just don't know exactly when yet.

Luna, (this is a little ot) I was wondering from you name if you are in the industry out there in San Diego? I am the art lead at Kingsisle Entertainment and it is always nice to meet other industry folk esp if they are into Tiki.:wink:

[ Edited by: Mockingbird 2013-09-25 07:07 ]

Yes, I have a couple of video game stores out here. Buy, sell trade repair everything retro and current gen console systems. :)

I will most likely need a Mai Tai around that time too.

[ Edited by: lunavideogames 2013-09-25 11:09 ]

Also as far as mugs go:

Bali Hai has 2
Wang's has a cool Yaniger mug
Ballast Point Brewery has 2 but I think only one is still on sale.

That is about it though. Bar Pink has a Pink Elephant from Munktiki, but it doesn't say their name on it and the High Dive has a couple Tiki Farm mugs that have their name on them, but are just regular Tiki Farm mugs. Both of these bars have Tiki Tuesday.

I already have the 2 Bali Hai mugs. As far as my collecting goes, I tend to stick more with historical stuff and venture out into others if I happen upon them and they are cheap or if I visit some place and have memories to attach. I tend to gravitate towards Trader Vic stuff the most as my love for tiki was re-born when my in laws bought me the Trader Vic's Tiki Party book back in 05. Although I think the love of it came from when I was a kid, we were stationed in Massachusetts and would go to Bali Hai on special occasions. Sorry got side tracked there a bit...anyhow, I don't know if this needs to go to another spot on TC or not but I have a Texas Tiki Week mug that I can bring out to trade if anyone might be interested, would definitely be something you wouldn't see that often on the west coast I would imagine :wink:

[ Edited by: Mockingbird 2013-09-26 07:58 ]