Home Tiki Bars

LA/OC,

Hi all, I am organizing a small, 40 person tiki bus crawl in the greater LA area. It's for friends and co-workers, and I am in search of an impressive tiki backyard to be used as one of the three stops along the bus crawl route. We've done this crawl 3-4 times before, and have always visited only bars (Tis, Tiki No, Tonga Hut, Puka, Tvics @ Staples, ect.) but now we'd like to show our participants what an awesome, well-executed tiki backyard can look like.

The hypothetical plan would have us arriving at the backyard on the early evening of May 31, staying for 1-2 hrs, then loading up the bus and heading to our next stop (likely an OC tiki bar such as Don's or Disney). While at the residence, we'd like to bring in a qualified bartender to pour a seleccted drink.

We are all adults, in our 30s and would attempt to treat any backyard with due respect. Oh, and we love legit LA tiki.

If anyone knows of any such backyards please email me:
Brian Vance: [email protected]

Date: Sat., May 31
Location: Begins and ends in midtown Los Angeles

Is this you?

I could be proven wrong but this might be a tough request.

Hosting a busload of strangers in your home and yard who have no afiliation with tiki social groups or freinds of freinds would be an imposition.

While many of us with home bars do enjoy hosting large groups every once in a while, they are usually people we know either through facebook, tiki central, and recurring tiki events (oasis, caliente, etc).

The people that show up that we dont know are usually freinds of the people we invited.

Hosting a group usually involves an out of pocket expense at least $200 or more.

Having a room full of people up close and personal with all of your rare and expensive collectibles could end badly with an unknown crowd (theft, breakage, etc). Ive seen too many beer tour busses at the local breweries with some rather careless and rude patrons on board.

Dont get me wrong, I think what you are trying to do is really cool but might be a lot to ask of someone who doesnt know you.

watch me be wrong... oh well

It seems this may be a group of "Amateur Drinkers" :lol: :lol: :lol: & a :drink:

I have to agree with Monkeyman. Asking a group of strangers into your home is not something most of us would do. Not that Tikiphiles are not a friendly group of people, but it is not what a home crawl is about.

I think you would be best to stick to your previous venue with stops at local Tiki Bars. Maybe you will run into some of the locals and get to know folks then. Have fun and stay safe.

i already contact this guy and gave him all your home addresses and said you wouldn't mind them stopping by. i told them no need to knock, just let yourself in the yards and have a good time. Take plenty of pictures and help yourself to a free tiki mug of their choice from your collections on their way out the door. no need to thank me, just doing my part to help bring the tiki community together.

[ Edited by: Tipsy McStagger 2014-04-25 05:35 ]

Tipsy, that was so generous of you to do. I'm sure everyone will have a great time and the souvenir mug is such a great idea! :)

Was anyone else freaked out by this line in the original post???
"We are all adults, in our 30s and would attempt to treat any backyard with due respect."
Attempt? Really??

• Dale

If you are showing up to the bars you mentioned with 40 or so people I really hope you are courteous enough to call the bar ahead of time to let them know.

Sure its a bar so the amount of people coming in and out fluxuates but based on when your crawl is those bars may not have enough staff (as in only 1 bartender/1 barback) to accomodate their regular nightly crowd and an extra 40 inebriated people based on what that bar sees on a typical-fill in whatever night you are going.

A quick call could also set you up with an easy drink special made just for your group.

Just my opinion

Oh and as far as backyard bars I think Bongofury's place or even Murph's could accomodate 40+ strangers...but don't tell them I suggested it! :)

Vigidy, it definitely doesn't hurt to ask and see if there are any takers. If not, you'll probably get lots of suggestions. It's cool that you're organizing a tiki crawl like that and I wish you luck on it. Sandradee's suggestion about giving the locations a heads up is a good one, as the Tiki Ti is already small as it is and is generally packed and keeps peculiar hours. Trader Vic's at LA Live closed down recently and The Bahooka closed down last year, so the landscape has changed a bit. You obviously have an interest in Tiki and I hope you stick around. I would offer you my home, but I'm not in the OC and my back yard is already filled with some auto and motorcycle restoration projects.