{"id":383479,"date":"2026-07-23T05:36:59","date_gmt":"2026-07-23T05:36:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/383479\/"},"modified":"2026-07-23T05:36:59","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T05:36:59","slug":"tiki-texas-style-the-austin-chronicle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/383479\/","title":{"rendered":"Tiki, Texas Style \u2022 The Austin Chronicle"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Fire.\"<\/p>\n

Sparks fly and lights flicker as a volcano rumbles. The scent of burning cinnamon fills the air. And then there is applause.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the moment at which a Rum Barrel \u2013 one of the signature \u201cshow drinks\u201d at Tiki Tatsu-ya \u2013 has been delivered to an expectant and enthralled group, gathered under the watchful eye of the giant Tiki god in the underground grotto.<\/p>\n

Matt Williams, the general manager, is also keeping an eye on proceedings, like a ship\u2019s captain happily marooned on a beach you\u2019d never want to leave.<\/p>\n

To enter Tiki Tatsu-ya feels like an adventure to a Pacific paradise in a bygone era, one booked at the purely fictitious Aikawa Tropical Tours whose signs hang outside. Visitors descend through a cave, past a flowing waterfall, and into a room of mellow enchantments where every space is filled with details and wonder. As the guest is taken to their seat, the traditional Japanese greeting of Irasshaimase! comes from the bar, an homage to the roots of Tokyo-born founder Tatsu Aikawa. In one corner of the grotto, war clubs lined with animal teeth; in another, blown glass fishing floats. \u201cSometimes it feels like looking after a museum,\u201d Williams said. \u201cI\u2019m here more than any of our guests have ever been, and the interesting thing is that it\u2019s still impressive when you sit down at table and go, \u2018Oh my god, you can see the dragon tail.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"The \u201cSkeleton Cruise\u201d at Tiki Tatsu-ya Credit: Courtesy of Tiki Tatsu-ya \/ Drink design by Tony Canepa<\/p>\n

However, it\u2019s still a working bar and restaurant, and while the look is important, so are the drinks and the food. Plus there\u2019s that indefinable element \u2013 \u201cthe aloha spirit,\u201d Williams dubbed it. \u201cIn our version of it, it\u2019s Southern hospitality. Austin is constantly referred to as one of the friendliest cities in the country, and I think that shows in our space.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tiki Tatsu-ya is part of a new national wave of bars that celebrate the elaborate and fantastical traditions of Tiki, a midcentury American pop art movement that sprung out of a fascination with the cultures of the South Pacific. It\u2019s also far from the only place to serve Tiki drinks to Austinites. The Roosevelt Room has a dedicated Tiki section on its cocktail menu, the Long Goodbye has its summer Tiki Thursday pop-ups, while Nickel City is known for its Tiki-meets-dive-bar tendencies. For those prepared to appoint a designated driver, there\u2019s Hugman\u2019s Oasis on the River Walk in San Antonio, and the newly opened Sushi Tiki at the end of Fredericksburg\u2019s main street. Yet out of all of them, Tiki Tatsu-ya has become a destination bar for Tikiphiles nationwide. Mention its name at Strong Water in Anaheim or the Sunken Harbor Club in Brooklyn, and they\u2019ll nod approvingly. Williams said, \u201cTo be on people\u2019s radar as enthusiasts, that\u2019s pretty special.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tiki Tatsu-ya is also the epicenter of the growing Austin Tiki scene, one that brings together amateur and professional mixologists, artists, musicians, and interior designers. It\u2019s a big tent \u2013 or rather, a big Hale Wa`a, the traditional open-sided A-framed structure of Hawaiian architecture.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not often you can pinpoint the exact date that an art form was born, but you can with Tiki. December 5, 1933. That\u2019s when Prohibition officially ended, and Don\u2019s Beachcomber opened in the lobby of McCadden Hotel, just off Hollywood Boulevard. Owner and founder Donn Beach was a former deck hand who\u2019d gathered trinkets and ornaments during his time in Hawaii and the South Pacific, and when he moved to L.A. in 1931 he opened a prop house, leasing items from his collection to the movie studios for an air of authenticity. When Prohibition ended, he decided to open a bar that could become a permanent home for some of those decorations.<\/p>\n

Actually, Tinseltown legend has it that Beach had actually been running the bar as a speakeasy during Prohibition and merely quickly added the decorations he had on hand for showmanship. Beach had a flair for drama and wonder, and here was a chance to create what many see now as the world\u2019s first immersive bar experience. He installed equipment to simulate the sound of a tropical storm outside. On the food menu were Cantonese dishes reworked with local ingredients and a Polynesian twist. For the drinks, he crafted dozens of new cocktails where Caribbean rum \u2013 long seen as just something sailors drank \u2013 was the base spirit.<\/p>\n

That one bar became a model for a movement that became known as Polynesian or tropical. More Don\u2019s Beachcombers would open across the nation. Then there was Trader Vic, aka Victor Jules Bergeron Jr., who had his own branded chain; Stephen Crane\u2019s Kon-Tiki found inside Sheratons, and their rival Kona Kai in Marriotts; and, of course, dozens of smaller bars and restaurants across North America, including Texas.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Tiki,<\/p>\n

The truth is, there\u2019s no Tiki without the Lone Star State. Donn Beach, the godfather of the whole movement, was actually Ernest Raymond Beaumont-Gantt from Limestone County, a farming community about 100 miles south of Dallas. A noted fabulist, any truths of his actual life story were subsumed into the myth of Donn Beach, but the mythology and mixology of the aesthetic he created inevitably made it back to his home state.<\/p>\n

Over the three decades after Beach popped his first legal cork, Texas got its share of now-legendary Tiki bars and restaurants. Ren Clark\u2019s Polynesian Village in Fort Worth. Ports O\u2019Call in Dallas and Dobbs House Luau Room out at Love Field. The Balinese Room on Galveston, where vacationing stars would rub shoulders with the island\u2019s infamous rum runners and crime bosses, the Maceo brothers. And then there was the Lahala House, later known as Steak Island, in Austin. If you ever sat on the back terrace at Joe\u2019s Crab Shack, you were actually sitting on the remains of the artificial island constructed over what was then called Town Lake for this Polynesian-themed establishment where LBJ used to dine.<\/p>\n

\"\"The old Lahala House Credit: From the collection of Evan Boyle<\/p>\n

All of them are gone now, fading as tastes turned against Tiki and it became seen as chintzy and dated. A handful of bars still carried the banner, like Trad\u2019r Sam in San Francisco and Mai-Kai in Fort Lauderdale, while generations of families sang along with mechanical birds in Disneyland\u2019s Enchanted Tiki Room. Then in the 1990s and early 2000s began the first stages of a revival under the banner of Tiki. That\u2019s when Julie Perkins \u2013 better known as Aloha Julie \u2013 became fascinated by the look and flavors.\u00a0<\/p>\n

An interior designer by trade and training, she was drawn to the immersive nature of Tiki and collected every book and magazine on the topic she could, and soon connected with arguably the original Austin Tiki revival artist, Cindy Raschke, \u201cwho was into painting cars with hibiscus.\u201d Perkins recalled that, through Raschke, she was introduced to the broader national scene, attending her first Tiki weekend in Florida, and then building one of Austin\u2019s first modern Tiki backyard bars, \u201cand that seemed like the best and cheapest place to throw a party,\u201d she said. Those parties became the annual Texas Tiki Roundup, which ran between 2008 and 2016, \u201cwith vendors, musicians, someone doing fire hoops. There was even a burlesque show one time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Yet she acknowledges that Tiki\u2019s escapism isn\u2019t clear of controversy, and the scene has long faced the accusation that it\u2019s just a bunch of mainland Americans appropriating multiple Pacific cultures and turning them into a mishmash stripped of cultural significance. The very name Tiki comes from the name of the first man in M\u0101ori mythology, and the reduction of its symbols and rich history to bar decorations still causes anger in some quarters to this day. Tiki has even faced accusations that it was a way to sell American expansion into the Pacific, that it was basically one huge psy-op.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a conundrum that many in the scene take into account: that a rich subculture that they are helping preserve is built on borrowed lands. Perkins noted that modern Tiki is undeniably most heavily influenced by \u201cwhen the soldiers came back from World War II. They had been stationed on these islands, and they remembered what it was like and wanted to bring a bit of that back over here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yet contemporary Tiki has evolved beyond those roots to become its own pop art movement. Equally, since its early days the Austin scene only expanded, evolved, and become more interconnected, especially since she founded the Texas Tikiphiles Facebook group, and many members have taken the same next step as Perkins: building their own home Tiki bar.<\/p>\n

\"Ocean<\/p>\n

It\u2019s rum o\u2019clock at Humphrey\u2019s Hideout. Through bamboo slats you can watch waves break on the palm-lined beach. John Humphrey stands behind his bar, surrounded by artifacts that speak to lost nights on far horizons, and offers a glass of relaxation. Meanwhile, the bird calls and smooth piano jazz of Martin Denny\u2019s Exotica, the acknowledged soundtrack album of Tiki, drift from the turntable. \u201cA crazy work day, pop that on, and I\u2019m instantly transported,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

This is his little island paradise, but it\u2019s also just his living room in Hutto. Turn off the mood lighting and the waterfall in the corner, pull up the removable shutter over the TV, and it\u2019s back to being where his teenage kids play video games.<\/p>\n

When he was younger, in Charleston, South Carolina, Humphrey used to hang out at Voodoo Tiki Bar & Lounge, \u201cbut I just wanted the two-dollar beers,\u201d he said. When it came to Tiki, \u201cI just thought of Jimmy Buffett and Party City.\u201d Then one night at Tiki Tatsu-ya changed everything. \u201cThe music, the cocktails, and after that experience my view of what a Tiki bar was like was flipped on its head.\u201d<\/p>\n

Humphrey\u2019s Hideaway started as just the liquor cabinet and some decorations, but slowly grew like kudzu to blossom over the whole space, shaped by that beachcomber mindset that epitomizes Tiki. Alongside original pieces by his wife (\u201cmy art director\u201d) are recovered and repurposed items. The light shades are often handmade, thrift store finds like wicker baskets decorated with seashells or cloth from Hawaiian shirts. Humphrey holds out the perpetual dream of finding genuine Polynesian carvings or a vintage piece from Witco, aka Western International Trading Co., the furniture firm whose warm, heavy wood designs became the defining look of home Tiki. After all, thrifting is a big part of the hobby, \u201cand if I find something, all of a sudden everything on the wall has to shift.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Tiki home bar can often be a rough-hewn affair, deeply individual with a no-such-thing-as-wrong mindset. Yet that doesn\u2019t mean there aren\u2019t practical problems to be solved, and that\u2019s where historian and author Jayme Lynn Blaschke comes in. When he built his backyard poolside oasis in New Braunfels, dubbed the Lagoon of Mystery, he didn\u2019t have any resources to go on, and his only real background was watching Gilligan\u2019s Island and that one episode of The Brady Bunch. Then he started looking at tikicentral.com<\/a>, \u201cwhere it showed the home Tiki bars of Pixar Animation directors and Lucasfilm special effects guys, this incredible stuff, and so I stepped back, my eyes as big as saucers, and said, \u2018I need to up my game.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"John Humphrey at \u201cHumphrey\u2019s Hideout\u201d Credit: Richard Whittaker<\/p>\n

He turned his own learning experiences as \u201cthe blind man feeling around\u201d into an ongoing YouTube series, A Moment of Tiki<\/a>, where viewers can learn about everything from making your own seashell lampshades to repairing a rattan swivel chair, all while following his adventures at antique stores and estate sales. \u201cYou can\u2019t run down to Lowe\u2019s or Home Depot and grab some Lauhala matting,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen I started building my home bar, I didn\u2019t know where to start. \u2026 With A Moment of Tiki, I set out to document my experiences and how I progressed in building my home Tiki bar. As I\u2019ll tell anyone who\u2019ll listen, I made the mistake so you don\u2019t have to.\u201d<\/p>\n

His tutorials may be lighthearted, but they\u2019re also rooted in an appreciation of Tiki\u2019s indigenous roots. Blaschke praises and promotes the artistry of the Pacific nations that influence his work, from the Maori whakairo carvers to the tapa cloth weavers of Hawaii. \u201cYou go up through the Cook Islands, the Marquesas, each one has their own distinctive traditions that never cease to blow me away.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

He\u2019s also solved some specifically Texan problems. In the Midwest, many home Tiki bars are built in the basement, which are in short supply in Texas. On the plus side, the hotter weather means more outdoor Tiki bars, but also fireproofing all those natural fibers like palm frond thatching. And while a basement bar comes with a lot of pluses for running power, lighting, and even sound, there\u2019s something special about an outdoor bar. Blaschke said, \u201cOnce the sun goes down and I turn the lights on with the different colors, and I light the torches among the banana plants, and there\u2019s backlight coming from behind the palm trees, it takes on an otherworldly appearance. I\u2019ve had people say, \u2018We\u2019re not in Texas anymore.\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

While he\u2019s providing advice, Blaschke\u2019s not laying down holy Tiki law. While his own tastes turn toward the classic midcentury look, \u201cI\u2019m not a purist,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m not angered by people bringing new perspectives to it and adding new things, and introducing new elements.\u201d<\/p>\n

Creating home Tiki bars can open up new mediums to established artists. Monica Holbert, known on the scene as MakikoMoe, was already an illustrator and artist, and getting into Tiki meant learning new skills like how to patch Lauhala matting, woven from the dried leaves of the Pandanus tree, and freehand wood carving and routing. \u201cI could make sawdust all day,\u201d she laughed. Not only has she sold her work online in every medium from woodwork to insulated mugs but, like Laschke, she\u2019s also posted online tutorials. \u201cI got into a lot of it because I wanted it but couldn\u2019t find it. So, I would make it, and thought, well, maybe other people want this.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Karl and Monica (aka MakikoMoe) Holbert at \u201cVulcania\u201d Credit: Richard Whittaker<\/p>\n

In her own home, the application of those skills can be seen in one of the most unique home Tiki bars in Texas. For there lies Vulcania<\/a>, a collaborative project between Monica and her husband, Karl, and a tribute to the 1954 aquatic action classic 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Amid the classic Tiki decorations of bamboo and puffer fish, there are nods like a full-size model of Nemo\u2019s speargun and photos signed by the cast: The theming is so complete that they\u2019ve even added original cocktails like the Fog of War and 3\u00b0 Down to their home-printed menu. Karl explained, \u201cWhen I first got into the games industry, I was an environment artist, so I was like, \u2018I make rooms. I\u2019m literally a digital designer\/architect. We can do this, and it will be awesome.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe scary part,\u201d Monica added, \u201cis that he builds it digitally and then I have to make it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\u201cEverybody<\/p>\n

Part of the joy for Monica is that every home Tiki bar blows away expectations of Party City decorations and teeth-melting concoctions made of Bacardi and fruit punch. \u201cEverybody builds their own sanctuary. Seeing someone\u2019s home bar is like seeing their personality on display.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Tiki bar can also be a refuge for historical artifacts. For example, the doors to Vulcania were recovered from the Trader Vic\u2019s in Dallas. And in Caroline Roe\u2019s tiki bar, dubbed the Moai Ice House, there are lights and tables from the now-defunct Kahiki Supper Club in Columbus, Ohio, and the former Trader Vic\u2019s in Chicago, while the one window is a real porthole in a door reclaimed from a ship. Every inch under the purpose-built A-frame roof is covered with knickknacks and paraphernalia, from a carved replica of a drummer from the Enchanted Tiki Room to bamboo-framed dioramas commissioned from local artists and even an Ikea stuffed cuddly octopus. As for the bathroom, it is lined with black velvet portraits of Elvis, including a Holbert original of the King as a goat.<\/p>\n

\"\"Caroline Roe behind the bar at \u201cMoai Icehouse\u201d with boyfriend David Hill Credit: Richard Whittaker<\/p>\n

This is actually Roe\u2019s second home Tiki bar; the first was her old dining room back in Wisconsin. But when she moved to Austin she created the Moai Ice House, a refuge for a portion of her collection. The rest is on loan or passed on to other home bars around the city, \u201csold to friends, given to friends,\u201d Roe said.<\/p>\n

Roe\u2019s interest in Polynesian culture goes far beyond Polynesian Pop, as she sits on the board of the Easter Island Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to the preservation of Rapa Nui as a living language and culture. An ocean away from the Polynesian islands she adores, on a rainlashed Austin night she stands behind her home bar, its shelves stocked with a liquor and mixer selection that would be the envy of most professional mixologists. She rattles a shaker of Zombies in each hand, while her boyfriend, David Hill, helps prep the glasses. It\u2019s never just the drink: It\u2019s the right kind of ice, the right straw, the right garnishes and fruit. And of course, the mug.<\/p>\n

\"Every<\/p>\n

For many people, the defining aspect of Tiki is the Tiki mug. Or rather, Tiki mugs, plural. Mermaids, monsters, maoi, Tiki gods, pirates, explorers, hula dancers, and more, often designed for one specific drink but also meant to be displayed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Like so much about Tiki culture, the origins of the Tiki mug are shrouded in mystery, legend, and tall tales. The earliest bars served drinks in regular glasses, or sometimes in carved bamboo mugs or hollowed-out pineapples. There are those that say that the first purpose-crafted mug was 1949\u2019s Ruru & Weku, a literal mug with a handle, Tiki gods cast on both sides, part of Crown Lynn\u2019s New Zealand Wharetana souvenir range. Some will argue that doesn\u2019t count, that the first purpose-made ceramic barware was Trader Vic\u2019s shareable Scorpion Bowl. Others still will say that there\u2019s not really one original Tiki mug, but instead it was an idea everyone had at the same time.<\/p>\n

These days, there are thousands of mug designs, some produced by big firms and many handcrafted by artists, several of whom have set anchor in Austin. Some are modern twists on classic designs like the Suffering Bastard, with a slumped figure holding his head, or incorporate the unofficial mascot of the scene, smiling Tiki Bob. Others truly innovate, or incorporate non-Tiki elements into their design.<\/p>\n

Take the first mug ever designed by Grant Irvin, a professional chef and now the artist behind Freaky Deaky Tiki<\/a>, a take on Pan from Guillermo del Toro\u2019s Pan\u2019s Labyrinth. \u201cNot a traditional Tiki mug in any way,\u201d he said, \u201cbut I don\u2019t collect super-traditional mugs anyway.\u201d It was an experiment, the result of having too much time on his hands during COVID. He said, \u201cThe kids had some air-dry clay in the garage, and I went, \u2018You know what? I\u2019m bored, I wonder what it would be like to sculpt a Tiki mug?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Grant Irvin of Freaky Deaky Tiki, with the Zombie Creech mug Credit: Grant Irvin \/ Freaky Deaky Tiki<\/p>\n

After positive responses to his first few designs, Irvin has turned Tiki mugs into a second career, with a full pottery studio and kiln installed in his garage. While his more recent work has leaned toward themes of jungle adventure, he\u2019s made several mugs paying homage to his love of classic monsters like King Kong and the Creature from the Black Lagoon, and he sees that as fitting in with one aspect of Tiki, \u201cthat uneasy, jungle-y mystery, I have always enjoyed that aspect of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s something he shares with his friend and fellow local Tiki artist Steven Lewis of Slewis Curious<\/a>, whose latest mug design is the Corpse Flower. Modeled on the infamous gigantic stinking titan arum, it comes with a removable central component: a semi-decayed pilot, legs sticking upward, who met his foolish fate in the jungle. It\u2019s the latest component of a whole narrative that he\u2019s been setting out since his first mug, dubbed Drake\u2019s Jungle Jam. This\u00a0 introduced his cast of characters on the search for treasure and finding more than they bargained for. The success of the mugs has also been more than Lewis expected, earning enough of a reputation to receive commissions, including from Galveston\u2019s Pineapple Parlor Tiki speakeasy. With the Corpse Flower, word spread fast among collectors, leading to his fastest presale ever. \u201cIt\u2019s been a little overwhelming,\u201d he said. \u201cI made it, I posted it, and then I immediately got a thousand likes.\u201d<\/p>\n

The elaborate design of the Corpse Flower speaks to an important aspect of Tiki mugs: Gorgeous as one may be, you\u2019re gonna drink out of it. Irvin called it \u201cusable art\u201d but noted that there\u2019s always \u201ca balancing act\u201d in any design. \u201cIf there are features that you want to put into it that reduce the usability, then you just have to find the sweet spot.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Steven Lewis of Slewis Curious, with the Corpse Flower mug Credit: Steven Lewis \/ Slewis Curious<\/p>\n

The removable pilot is an extreme case study. When Lewis explained his idea to friends, \u201cEveryone said, \u2018You\u2019re going to make that ceramic and not resin?\u2019 and I was like, \u2018Yeah,\u2019 \u2018You know that\u2019s gonna break, right?\u2019 \u2018No, I\u2019m going to make it thick enough, and I\u2019m going to round the edges.\u2019 So there was a lot of research and development.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI won\u2019t make something just to make it,\u201d Lewis added. \u201cIt\u2019s got to have something to it.\u201d He puts that down to his previous career as an animator, leading him to develop a story that\u2019s summed up in a piece on non-ceramic art he\u2019s created: a map of his fictional character Sir William Drake<\/a>\u2019s misadventures with his doomed band of explorers that sets out all their ports of call and final destinations, each to be given their own mug. Tying back to his storytelling roots, Lewis is now working on a Patreon that will give subscribers access to exclusive items as well as the story of the expedition in its members\u2019 own words, \u201cso you\u2019ll get notes and postcards, and later on it will become lost journals.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Aloha Julie, that storytelling aspect goes right back to Donn Beach, an unreliable narrator who let his mutable biography spill into the story of his bar. \u201cHe really liked to make up things and create some entertainment and drama for everyone.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Emphasizing the storytelling elements has allowed each artist to chart their own route through the stormy waters between appreciation and appropriation. Irvin noted that he deliberately avoids anything too clearly influenced by Polynesian culture. \u201cIt\u2019s not the style of art I do anyway,\u201d he said. Instead, he creates something \u201cmore about fun, escapism, and sometimes that blended horror piece too.\u201d Similarly, Lewis\u2019 story of foolhardy explorers and their misadventures may be rooted in the now-dated pulp fiction and movie serials of pith-helmeted explorers, but any ill that befalls them is clearly of their own doing.<\/p>\n

Immersive visual storytelling is truly Tony Canepa\u2019s trademark: not just his own tales to tell, but creating complete narratives for Tiki bars and restaurants across the country, from mugs to bar mats, painted Mai Tai glasses, swizzle sticks, posters, and even printed matchbooks that tie in to the story they want to tell. If the experience of a bar is truly immersive, he said, \u201cyou want to visit 20 times and every single time you\u2019re soaking it all in.\u201d His work has appeared as far afield as the Inside Passage Seattle and, of course, at Tiki Tatsu-ya. Every time you sip on a Port Light, with its signature mug of an octopus crawling over a barrel, or pick up their distinctive foldout menu, with its drinks laid out as a journey from daytime light flavors to nighttime spiciness, you\u2019re touching Canepa\u2019s creations. He picked up a copy of one of his latest works, a menu for Hidden Harbor in Pittsburgh. \u201cThis is my magnum opus as far as menus go,\u201d he laughed. \u201cAt least until the next one.\u201d<\/p>\n

An award-winning advertising designer with clients including multiple AA and AAA baseball teams and several major breweries, Canepa\u2019s obsession with Tiki began in childhood, when his button-down, suit-wearing father returned from a business trip to Hawaii with a colorful Aloha shirt. \u201cImmediately on him coming home, I went, \u2018That\u2019s mine,\u2019 and I started wearing it. I would wear it to school and I wore it under my cap and gown for graduation.\u201d He had an equally life-changing experience when he moved to Las Vegas for college, just in time for the opening of Sin City\u2019s first Tiki bar in decades, Taboo Cove at the Venetian. \u201cThat was where I was like, \u2018Oh, I get all of this,\u2019 and then I was all-in.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"Tony Canepa, with menu art and drinkware designed for Tiki Tatsu-ya Credit: Tony Canepa \/ Tiki Tatsu-ya<\/p>\n

Over the years, he\u2019s seen the growth in both Tiki audiences and Tiki creatives, to the point now that there are \u201cmaster artists creating these drinkable art vessels.\u201d Canepa\u2019s style is unabashedly retro with a bright, aquatic and pastel color palette, so each mug and menu \u201clooks like a vintage piece, but when you look at it again it\u2019s brand-new.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Every artist has their own twist, with designs at every price point. Mass-produced mugs start at a few bucks, but the bigger, more ornate, limited-run pieces can run into the hundreds of dollars. Canepa said, \u201cAnytime someone says, \u2018Oh, I got one of your mugs or glasses,\u2019 that\u2019s the biggest compliment, because someone picked one up and said, \u2018I\u2019ve got to have that.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Yo<\/p>\n

But what\u2019s a Tiki mug if it\u2019s empty? Still gorgeous, but it\u2019s not fulfilling its true purpose. So while Tiki is filled with Pacific dreams, there\u2019s one core element that hails from a completely different ocean.<\/p>\n

The backbone of Tiki drinks is almost always Caribbean rum. Behind the bar at Tiki Tatsu-ya, Williams estimates that there are over 190 rums, some of them the only bottle of that particular expression in Texas, and each with its own subtly different flavor profile. And, as Donn Beach is purported to have said, whatever one rum can do, three rums can do better. Unlike most spirits, blending rums can layer the flavors, or meld to create new flavor combinations. \u201cRum is the most diverse spirit,\u201d Blaschke said. \u201cNeither one of these rums taste of strawberry on their own, but put them together and there\u2019s notes of strawberry.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"As<\/p>\n

But there\u2019s more to a Tiki drink than just a jigger of rum and some fruit juice. As Hill noted from the comfort of the Moai Ice House, if someone doesn\u2019t really know what they\u2019re mixing, \u201cit\u2019s going to be overly sugary, you\u2019re going to get a hangover. If they do it right, it\u2019s a work of art.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s real juice, it\u2019s decent rum,\u201d said Roe. \u201cThat\u2019s what it\u2019s all about.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Williams at Tiki Tatsu-ya, a great Tiki drink is \u201cescapism in a cup. It has got to be strong, and exotic in its own way. It can be exotic with just lemon and lime.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is where Irvin\u2019s mugmaking background takes a back seat to his culinary training, and his experience running cocktail programs kicks in. What defines a Tiki cocktail \u201cis a balance between acidity and spice that a traditional resort tropical drink will never even approach.\u201d And, as the teetotaler Canepa noted, that flavor profile means Tiki mocktails that are a lot more than just a few fruit juices sloshed over some ice.<\/p>\n

So where should the new traveler on the shores of Tiki start? For Irvin and his fellow mug artist, Lewis, the answer is simple: the classic Mai Tai, a mix of dark rum and light rum, orange cura\u00e7ao, orgeat and simple syrups, and fresh lime, as first crafted by Trader Vic in 1944. Irvin called it a barometer beverage, while Lewis compared it to trying the chips and salsa at a new Tex-Mex restaurant. \u201cIf the chips and salsa are good, then usually the food\u2019s going to be good.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

While Williams is a big fan of a Mai Tai, getting over those first-drink jitters is where having seasoned and passionate bar staff at Tiki Tatsu-ya matters. Because they can ask newcomers a simple question: What would you order if you weren\u2019t here? \u201cIt\u2019s going to look great, it\u2019s going to taste great, but let\u2019s get you something you\u2019re going to be excited about drinking. Oh, OK, you like whiskey sours. You might like a daiquiri with a smoky rum in it. You don\u2019t like Tiki drinks, you only like beer. OK, we\u2019ve got you.\u201d<\/p>\n

From there, the world is your giant clam. Post-Mai Tai, Lewis leans toward either a Zombie, with its Pernod tinge, or the grapefruit kick of a Navy Grog, both classics dating back decades. Blaschke\u2019s suggestion is that, anytime he visits a new bar, he\u2019ll go for the house\u2019s unique specialties. \u201cI want to know what their signature is.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

If that\u2019s still a little overwhelming, Lewis has crafted a novel solution, as suggested to him by Rich Furnari, co-owner of UnderTow in Phoenix, Arizona. The Chimp of Chance is a mug styled to look like an engraved ape skull, the eyes holding specially designed dice: roll \u2019em, and let the gods of good fortune pick your next drink for you. In a busy, stressful world, it\u2019s one less decision to make.<\/p>\n

\"\"The Chimp of Chance Credit: Steven Lewis \/ Slewis Curious<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

While its roots may be American, Tiki has become truly global. There are Trader Vic\u2019s on four continents and a thriving Tiki scene in Australia, while the Misfit Tiki Bar in the Norwegian city of Troms\u00f8, 200 miles within the Arctic Circle, proudly proclaims itself as the world\u2019s most northerly Tiki bar. At the Moai Ice House, Hill recounted a recent trip to Florian\u00f3polis, Brazil, where he found a Tiki bar. \u201cThey had surfboards with stuff written all over [them], they had some tikis, and the family was there, just playing music together. I walked in with my friends and said, \u2018We\u2019re hanging here with this family tonight.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

As for why there\u2019s such a resurgence right now, Lewis pointed to the double attractions of community and escapism as a major part of why Tiki is undergoing a resurgence right now. \u201cIt\u2019s the people, and the excitement that everybody has. It keeps everybody young.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Karl Holbert, that escapism is the spirit of Tiki he saw as a younger man, drinking out of a coconut at Bali Hai in Lynnfield, Massachusetts. \u201cIt was all about the stuck-up Don Drapers of the 1950s who wore a suit every day to the office, coming home and every weekend they could put on a fun shirt and have people over for a barbecue with some umbrellas in a drink, and it was a luau. It felt exotic and it felt relaxed, and everything that work wasn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTiki\u2019s great for forgetting the outside world,\u201d Roe added. \u201cEspecially where I\u2019m from, where there can be three feet of snow outside and you\u2019d never know, sitting in a nice, warm Tiki bar, drinking the drinks.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also a scene with multiple points of entry and no gatekeepers. \u201cIf you have a classic lei and a Hawaiian shirt, you can join the party,\u201d Canepa said. \u201cSome people enter through the cocktail door, some people enter through the music door. Some people, it\u2019s the clothing. Some people, it\u2019s the home bar.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

As Aloha Julie concluded, \u201cIt\u2019s not just the drinks. It\u2019s not just the art. It\u2019s everything, and everybody fits in.\u201d<\/p>\n

This article appears in July 24 \u2022 2026<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A note to readers:\u00a0Bold and uncensored,\u00a0The Austin Chronicle\u00a0has been Austin\u2019s independent news source for over 40 years, expressing the community\u2019s political and environmental concerns and supporting its active cultural scene. Now more than ever, we need your support to continue supplying Austin with independent, free press. If real news is important to you, please consider making a donation of $5, $10 or whatever you can afford, to help keep our journalism on stands. <\/p>\n

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