Whats on your Tiki Bucket List?

After having posted a moment ago in another thread. I got to thinking of a Tiki Bucket List of sorts. In the last year I have knocked off many of mine. Not too difficult of a list for many, though a bit difficult for me finding myself in the middle of our big Island in Austin.

Ive been able to hit up many Tiki Bars from the Tiki Ti out West to the Lost Lake in the North. As well ones closer to home such as the Lei Low in Houston. My visit to Oceanic Arts was second only to actually having a real Dole Whip.

I finally was able to see one of the Moai from the Aku Aku for myself in person. I would love to still find a Tiki Bob mug in the wild or any Ren Clark mug for that matter. As a lover of street art the idea of carving dead trunks in to gods appeals to me as well after seeing whats been done out East. Thoughts of repainting the Bob in San Francisco to original colors in the middle of the night has an air of a devilish good time.

Heck putting faces to names here would be great...

What are some of yours?

My list is humble but doable. I may have to add as others post.

• Tiki International Market Place
• Tour all the LA Tiki bars AND Oceanic Arts!!!
• Las Vegas for Frankies & Aku Aku Moai
• Florida for the Mai Kai

"Oh waiter, another cocktail please!!!"

[ Edited by: vampiressrn 2015-06-26 21:06 ]

Ok, i'll play along.

This is my third trip to the U.S. in 4 years and i have to say that i am extremely fortunate to have seen a lot of places and next week i'll be hitting the east coast and will be able to add to this list. On the bucket list are:

Three Dots and a Dash
Lost Lake
Hala Kahiki
Chef Shangri La's

All of the above places i will be most likely seeing and there are others planned along the way, but they are just bonuses. Below are the places i've seen on me previous trips. I have been to Tiki Oasis and The Hukilau and this year will being to Luau at the Lake and Tiki Oasis again.

CALIFORNIA

Smuggler's Cove
Forbidden Island
Trader Sam's Enchanted Tiki Bar
Trader Vic's - Emeryville
Trader Vic's - L.A. live (R.I.P.)
Bahooka (R.I.P.)
Don the Beachcomber
Tonga Hut Tiki Lounge
Tonga Hut -Palm Springs
Tiki-No of North Hollywood
Tiki Ti
Kona Club
Tonga Room and Hurricane Bar
Purple Orchid Tiki Lounge
Bali Hai
Ventiki Polynesian Dining & Cocktails

LAS VEGAS

Frankie's Tiki Room

ARIZONA

Kon Tiki Tucson
Hula's Modern Tiki Scottsdale
Hula's Modern Tiki Phoenix

FLORIDA

Mai-Kai Restaurant and Polynesian Show

TEXAS

Lei Low Bar

HAWAII

La Mariana Sailing Club
Tiki's Grill & Bar

AUSTRALIA (haha)

Tiki Lounge and Bar - Melbourne
The LuWOW
Hula Bula Bar
Devilles Pad

As far as those on my bucket list i wont get to see this trip, i too would like to attend an International Market Place, Tiki Caliente and Latitude 29. Unfortunately there was just no way i could fit Latitude 29 into this trip with the time and finance restrictions i had.

The only thing i'd really like to find in the wild, which i doubt very much i ever would in Australia, is a dinner plate from ANY defunct tiki restaurant. The problem is i'm too lazy to hunt through plates while i'm out thrifting so the chances of that happening are pretty slim.

Posted today by Swizzle;
"The only thing i'd really like to find in the wild, which i doubt very much i ever would in Australia, is a dinner plate from ANY defunct tiki restaurant. The problem is i'm too lazy to hunt through plates while i'm out thrifting so the chances of that happening are pretty slim."

Robbie, I have gone trough uncountable stacks of dinnerware at thrifts, yard sales, estate sales, etc. and never found a one. CeCe finally snagged one at the International Mrktplace at a quite reasonable price.
Later.

[ Edited by: nui 'umi 'umi 2015-06-13 23:08 ]

i've collected a lot of maori art and hope to visit new zealand after my wife retires.
a picture of gecko and me is in sven's latest masterpiece "tiki pop". a thrill i had not even dreamed of.
robbie, great list! you've hit a lot more american tiki establishments than this cali native!

Tiki Oasis
Tiki Caliente
Hukilau
NorCal Tiki Tour
Midwest Tiki Tour

1. Foundation Bar in Milwaukee
2. The mermaid bar that's in Montana
3. Swanky's home Tiki bar
4. Getting into the shuttered Chin-Tiki
5. Trader Vic's in Havana
6. Tonga Hut Palm Springs
7. The Kahiki (and yeah, I know I'm too late)

[ Edited by: JOHN-O 2015-06-14 23:33 ]

Swanky's home bar is great, and he make great drinks too.
The best bars would be Svens or kohalacharms as it would be like seeing parts of every
tiki joint ever in one spot.

The best time I ever had was going to the Kahiki at like 2:00 in the afternoon.
Had to go fight a worker's comp claim and it was near by so I stopped in.
The place was closed but I walked in and nobody was there I went to the bar and was looking at
all the stuff, it's weird how you can see better when nobody is there.
AND you could hear full well the fake rain and thunder, it was so peaceful.
Skip the bartender came from the back and we talked for a bit, it was very cool.
Few ever saw the Kahiki like that.

With that said, I want to go to Samoa or some other island where they make tapa and learn how
they do it.

That or go and visit some old person who ties fish floats and watch them do what they do.
Or maybe some rattan basket weaving pro.

Ohhh get tips from a headhunter on how to shrink heads, I got a need for THAT.

Want to learn that dying art stuff.

Sitting in a loud bar or a huge event with drunk crazies is kinda old news for me.
Done it many times.
But a sit down with a few people talking about how to do things, or the old days
of tiki is more my speed.

Mai Kai
Sven's house

Oh yeah !! My most sublime Tiki experiences have been:

1. Hala Kahiki
2. Sven's home Tiki Bar - Heck, the whole place is a Tiki museum.
3. Humuhumu's home Tiki bar.
4. Mai Kai.
5. BongoFury's and Murph's home Tiki bars (tie).
6. Mr. Smiley's home Tiki bar.
7. The Alibi.

Hilda,
Isn't the 417 club on your list?

My list changes as I learn about new things, but here's where I want to go as of now:

Bali Hai
Tiki Ti
Tonga Hut
Sven's house would be pretty great :)
Polynesian Cultural Center
Tiki Oasis

Gosh...my bucket list is simple...I just want to go back in time and spend one evening again at Kona Kai. A little time travel shouldn't be so hard to whip up, eh? Ha ha ha.

But if I'm forced to come back to reality (so boring!), then my immediate, attainable number one was Ohana Luau at the Lake, which is actually just a couple hours away. But by the time I got my act together, tix were sold out :cry:
Next year, I guess...

Other things on my list are:
-Three Dots and a Dash (my daughter lives in Chicago, but she won't be 21 for another year, so I might as well wait until she can come, too)
-Frankie's (Mostly to see BambooBen's famous handiwork!)
-Hukelau
-Tiki-Ti (I love that it's so tiny :) )
-Psycho Suzi's (my husband is a big rockabilly/psychobilly freak, so this is probably his #1)
-Mai-Kai

And now I have to go to Trader Sam's, Orlando. It wasn't very nice of them to open it up just a few days AFTER I came back from Disneyworld :P

And I'd actually like to get to experience Hawaii & the islands someday. Since I've been wanting to go since I was like a tiny peanut.

Hmmm...I think I better plan on living a good long life...

On 2015-06-14 19:16, JOHN-O wrote:
...
4. Getting into the shuttered Chin-Tiki
...
[ Edited by: JOHN-O 2015-06-14 23:33 ]

Hate to say it John-O.... but you're too late for that one too. They tore the building down in 2009. :( Marlin has a bunch of stuff in storage that I'd love to see brought back to life.