Smart gestured to our surroundings and asked the obvious question: “Why would we?” It’s true. These days they’ve pretty much given up on going to bars. Smart mixed his signature Mai Tai while we chatted, adding a secret ingredient-a dash of Austrian Stroh rum-with a flourish. Later in life, as an artist/musician enmeshed in LA’s punk rock scene in the ’80s, he hung out at tiki bars. Uhlenkott credits his tiki fascination with The National Geographic covers of Tahiti he saw as a boy. The result is the HaleKahiki (“Tahitian Room”), a 1950s-inspired tiki bar with a beautifully crafted rattan-paneled bar, glowing sconces and a charming volcanic mural painted by Uhlenkott set back into the wall. When they realized that tiki didn’t quite jive with Spanish Revival, they decided to transform the basement into the bar. “We’d been collecting tiki for years at flea markets and swap meets,” said Uhlenkott as he toured me through their home, clad in a Hawaiian shirt. Think decorative wrought iron and exposed ceiling beams alongside brightly colored handcrafted stair tiles (c/o Uhlenkott, of course), rich fabrics and retro kitchen appliances. With the help of Uhlenkott, an artist who specializes in tile work, he restored the house to reflect its 1930s roots. Smart, an Emmy-nominated animation director for SpongeBob SquarePants,bought the house in 1993. Kirsten sent me a few miles away to his friends Alan Smart and Michael Uhlenkott, who own a Spanish-style bungalow in Echo Park that once belonged to John Steinbeck’s brother (they still get the occasional piece of mail addressed to Henry Steinbeck). The bathroom door serves as something of a sign-in sheet, the white paint covered with Sharpied notes and drawings that say things like, “Coco is loco for Kirby’s Rumpus Room” and “Thanks for the memories! -Tiki Dean.” The low-ceilinged hut houses a ragtag collection of flowered furniture, random tiki mugs and a ridiculously small bar-you can practically feel the ghosts of countless tiki-fueled blackouts that have taken place within. That’s fine with him, though, as these days he tends to sip rum straight. He has a bar, but you’d be hard-pressed to make a drink on it it’s buried beneath a collection of mugs, lamps, salt-n-pepper shakers, stirrers and skulls. Called the “Indiana Jones of collecting” by his peers, he sipped green tea while leading me around his Silver Lake home. He links his tiki leanings to the familial lore that says he was conceived on an ocean freighter owned by his grandfather, which predisposed him to travel and an amalgamation of cultures. Kirsten grew up in Germany, but he became obsessed with the American appropriation of tiki when he moved stateside in the 1990s. But all seem to be linked by one thing: a youthful fascination with tiki.Ĭonsider Sven Kirsten, tiki historian and author of The Book of Tiki (not to mention a successful cinematographer by day). Some need a place for their lifelong tiki collections, while others long to play a greater role in this surprisingly vibrant community. A growing community of tiki devotees have been foregoing a night out in favor of a night in, and for good reason: many of them have spent years building authentic tiki bars in the confines of their own homes. 1886 at The Raymond in Pasadena dedicated much of last summer’s menu to tiki, setting some coladas afire while deconstructing others into spiked ice cream sundaes, replacing that ever-present straw with a spoon.īut there’s another mighty LA tiki movement much closer to home-literally. “Cuban Narnia” is packed solid on Tiki Tuesdays every single week. Acabar’s cocktail menu is organized by historical era tiki drinks get their own section. For those desiring a more modern take, cocktail bars all over town have found their own ways of bowing down to the deities. 1961) in Silver Lake can still transport a tired soul in need of an island vibe and tasty tropical drink. Angelenos lament the closings of tiki institutions such as Bahooka Family Restaurant and Kelbo’s, but a handful of old haunts still hold strong.
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