The Tamesis
Since the day I stumbled upon Latitude 29 (and returned twice more on the same trip), I’ve come to appreciate the powerful appeal of this subculture. First, an immersive environment is crucial. “Ideally, when you walk into a tiki bar, it’s like walking onto a movie set,” says Garret Richard, chief cocktail officer at Sunken Harbor Club and co-author of tropical standard. This idea has been a key pillar from the beginning. “Twain installed a hose on the tin roof of his Hollywood location and turned it on at night to trick his customers into thinking it was raining outside,” Smugglers’ Cove owner Martin Kite told me. Nearly a century later, this desire for escapism has not faded, and immersive experiences are prevalent in all walks of life. “You’ll see bars designed to look like spaceships or train dining cars or crashed airplanes; all of these places are trying to transport guests to somewhere else,” said documentary filmmaker Alex Lamb tiki donn. “In a lot of ways, this goes back to Donn Beach’s original goal of providing people with more than just a drink, but an experience.”
The cocktail itself deserves its own discussion. While many of the trendy drinks of our time rely on minimal ingredients, achieving complexity through layering is a hallmark of tiki cocktails. A return to fresh juices, house-made syrups and evocative spices creates cocktails that are both bold and balanced. (A recent drink order at Sunken Harbor Club mixed Martinique rum with absinthe amaro and falenum—heaven!) While rum is the focus of most tiki menus, other spirits are starting to enter the conversation. “Modern recipes for today’s new tiki bars use different base liquors,” explains Berry, “more gin and whiskey, cachaca, pisco, tequila and mezcal to keep up with modern tastes.”
So what brings me back? Ultimately, the thrill of being transported to another reality while tasting something special. It would be easy to dismiss the concept of tiki as kitsch, but after researching the historical and cultural context of the genre, I was eager to learn (and taste) more. Tiki’s origins are rooted in colonialism and imperialism, but with this resurgence, insensitive imagery is giving way to reimaginings of immersive experiences.
Here’s a quick guide on where to order your next tropical cocktail.
4427 Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90027
“Tiki-Ti has been family-owned since 1961. The specialty here is Ray’s Mistake, a secret recipe that regulars (myself included) have been trying to figure out for decades. If you’re not driving, try the Jaws, which bites like a shark.” — Jeff Berry
100 Second Avenue, New York, NY 10003
Calling itself a “tropical hellscape,” this sinister tiki bar serves tropical classics in a gothic setting, complete with an eight-foot-tall altar and stuffed bats.
650 Gough Street, San Francisco, CA 94102
Named one of the World’s 50 Best Bars, this San Francisco tiki bar feels like the belly of a pirate ship and features more than 1,300 rum varieties.
