{"id":131764,"date":"2026-01-13T16:12:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-13T16:12:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/131764\/"},"modified":"2026-01-13T16:12:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-13T16:12:08","slug":"long-beach-tiki-bar-the-bamboo-club-has-new-owners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/131764\/","title":{"rendered":"Long Beach Tiki Bar The Bamboo Club Has New Owners"},"content":{"rendered":"

A look inside the seaside Polynesian paradise as it enters a new chapter<\/p>\n

Filled with bamboo, thatch and all manner of tropical fun, the Bamboo Clu<\/a>b in Long Beach has been a magnet for revelers looking for island escapism since 2019. The elaborate but cozy spot has been sold, but new owners say they aren\u2019t changing a thing.<\/p>\n

Twenty-five years ago, German-born cultural anthropologist Sven Kirsten<\/a> jump-started the revival of all things Polynesian pop with The Book of Tiki<\/a>. When the book was first released, only a handful of original clubs from the 1950s and 60s (most notably Tiki Ti<\/a> and Tonga Hut<\/a>) were still among the living. Today, dozens of tiki bars are churning out Mai Tais and Navy Grogs all over Southern California.<\/p>\n

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The Bamboo Club in Long BeachCredit: Photo courtesy Bamboo Club<\/p>\n

\u201cBamboo Club had great cocktails and regular events like a tiki market and live music,\u201d says Kirsten. \u201cFor the longest time they had these tiki-lite bar that were just serving tiki drinks that hung up palm leaf wallpaper and Cost Plus basket lamps and called it a tiki bar but the Bamboo Club (and the Royal Hawaiian<\/a> in Laguna Beach) hired good people to design and outfit them.\u201d<\/p>\n

The proper mix of tropical d\u00e9cor, tiki carvings and easy lighting is just as important as the right kinds of falernum and orgeat in creating an environment suitable for imbibing. \u201cBamboo Ben\u201d Bassham<\/a> of Huntington Beach and has art in his blood. His grandfather Eli Hedley started carving when he arrived in Southern California during the Great Depression. At one point, Hedley\u2019s work could be found everywhere from Disneyland to Las Vegas.<\/p>\n

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The Bamboo Club in Long BeachCredit: Photo courtesy Bamboo Club<\/p>\n

\u201cBamboo Ben is very prolific,\u201d Kirsten says. \u201cHe comes from tiki royalty. Eli Hedley was the original beachcomber who helped bring the flotsam and jetsam aesthetic to Southern California.\u201d<\/p>\n

Owner Jim Retson describes himself as a punk rock guy who likes dive bars. His club opened in the early 1960s as a beer bar called the Golden Spike. By the time Retson saw it, it was called Liquid Lounge, and the police had their eye on it. \u201cIt had become overrun with a crime element,\u201d Retson says. \u201cIt was in the process of being shut down.\u201d Retson and his partners, inspired by the closure of the nearby Don the Beachcomber<\/a>, decided to hire Bamboo Ben to bring it back\u2026 tiki style. A friend recommended Bamboo Ben and enthusiasts started showing up to watch the master in action.<\/p>\n

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\u201cPeople kept showing up saying \u2018We hear Ben is here,\u2019\u201d says Retson. \u201cThat\u2019s when I realized he was kind of famous. People were like \u2018Holy shit! He\u2019s a legend!\u2019\u201d Retson, who has a background in construction and was a union ironworker, pitched in with construction.<\/p>\n

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The Bamboo Club in Long BeachCredit: Photo courtesy Bamboo Club<\/p>\n

After serving up hundreds of live music shows, countless egg rolls and thousands of gallons of craft cocktails, Retson is ready to move on. \u201cMy youngest son is a junior in high school and once he leaves I\u2019ll have an empty nest,\u201d Reston says. \u201cI felt like, let\u2019s sell while it\u2019s popular and I can get some valuable time with my family.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n

When he found out that his friend Kevin Larsen, who had worked for wholesale liquor distributor Republic National Distributing Company, was interested in a bar, the pair struck a deal. \u201cThe new owner doesn\u2019t want to change it a bit,\u201d Retson says. \u201cSo it\u2019s not going anywhere.<\/p>\n

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The Bamboo Club in Long BeachCredit: Photo courtesy Bamboo Club<\/p>\n