"tiki bar" news and stories

With the renewed interest in classic cocktails over the past decade, it wasn't uncommon to get a little attitude from some bartenders -- whether in hip urban establishments or honky tonk bars -- if you ordered piña colada ("the blender is broken"), a Mai Tai, or any other foofy drink that traditionally comes in a funky mug with a fruit salad garnish. Not anymore. Tiki drinks and all their gewgaw are back in full swing.

In the early 30's, Ernest Raymond Beaumont Gantt figured out how to make some money with his interest in Polynesian culture. He named his place Don the Beachcomber (and later even changed his own name to Donn Beach), becoming quite the entertainer and host at his restaurant bar. Legend has it that he ran a water hose on top of his tin roof to mimic the sound of rain so customers would keep chatting and drinking. With over 80 drinks to his credit, he is the father of the tiki cocktail craze that lasted for decades. With copy cats galore attempting to make a profit off his concept, many of the liquor bottles at the Beachcomber bar were replaced with ones labeled with cryptic letters and numbers to keep the recipes as secret as possible.

California's Victor Bergeron built on the Beachcomber's success. His tiki entertainment empire became known as Trader Vic's. His books Trader Vic's Book of Food and Drink (1946) and the Bartender's Guide by Trader Vic (1947) are worth adding to your library.

Another legendary American drinking/dining outpost is under threat of demolition. San Francisco's Tonga Room, located in the Fairmont Hotel, may be forced out after more than seven decades of pushing Mai Tai and pu-pu. It seems the tower of the Fairmont in which the Tonga and its adjacent Hurricane Bar located is slated for redevelopment into condominiums. Plans for the new construction do not include the restaurant.

No definitive word has been said, but blogs and forums are buzzing over the developments and petitions are circulating to save the tiki landmark. Now, some may say that the Tonga's food is somewhat meh or the drinks are overpriced, but who can argue with an indoor rainstorm? Or an indoor lagoon with a band floating on a little raft playing luau music? Multi-headed goddesses and a buffet in a canoe?

The Tonga underwent a big-budget renovation only last year, so it seems silly to tear it down now but, hey, it also seems silly to build luxury condos during a real estate downturn.

Tiki has long been a beloved sub-genre of American culture, revered by those who love retro, irony, carved wooden heads, eccentric glassware and powerful, fruity drinks. All these things come together at the tiki hourse of worship: The tiki bar. Yet tiki bars are few and far between, with many having been torn down or stripped of their grandeur--only a few beloved relics like San Francisco's Tonga Room, Los Angeles' Tiki Ti and Tuscon's Kon Tiki remain.

But there's a new tiki in a town that rides its own undercurrent of retro and irony. Las Vegas now hosts the planet's only 24-hour tiki bar: Frankie's Tiki Room, which offically opens today, December 4.

Frankie's is a lovingly crafted example of authentic tiki style, with woven palm thatching, carved wooden chairs and blowfish lamps, along with one-of-a-kind art and design by tiki titan Bosko and space-age bachelor pad painter Shag, among others.

But, of course, no tiki bar is a true tiki bar without an extensive selection of fruity, sugary, unexpectedly powerful drinks. The menu at Frankie's Tiki Hut goes all out, offering classic rum-and-pineapple tropical beverages like the Mai Tai and the Zombie made with original Don the Beachcomber recipes. There is also an abundance of specially-created cocktails like the Mojito-esque Bearded Clam, the clover-and-hazelnut spiced Jonas Grumby and the Bombora Blast, which combines 151-proof rum with guava-flavored energy drink. The menu categorizes drinks, with a rating of two to five skulls indicating strength, from pleasant libation to lethal concotion. Given the deceptively sweet nature of tiki drinks, it's a big help.

In 1934, a former bootlegger opened a 27 seat bar on McFadden place in Hollywood, California. This tiny little bar launched the career of one of the world's greatest bartenders and set in motion an unprecedented 30 year fad that influenced music, fashion, restaurant and hotel design and, of course, drinking.

That bartender was Ernest Raymond Gantt, or as he was better known, Donn Beach. That bar, Don the Beachcomber's, ushered in the Tiki era and provided the template for every Tiki bar to follow.

Walking into a Tiki bar at the height of its craze had to have been a surreal experience, as you moved straight from the Eisenhower era stylings of conservative suburbia into a darkened place draped in fisherman's nets, Polynesian masks, exotic music and most importantly, some of the craziest drinks ever invented.