Tiki Tuesday: Tiki Oasis

Where to begin with Tiki Oasis? It was a whirlwind weekend of learning, shopping, and of course drinking! Located at the Crowne Plaza hotel (formerly known as the Hanalei Hotel) in sunny San Diego, California, Tiki Oasis was the one event we were looking forward to all summer long! As first timers we weren’t sure what to expect, but it surely was everything we hoped it would be and more!

Between all the shopping at the Tiki Oasis Marketplace, we saw talks about the history of Tiki in San Diego and Tijuana, which left us wishing we could go back in time to see what the scene was really like back in the day. We were also able to catch a detailed presentation on how to build a home tiki bar! From construction materials, to final decor touches, we learned all abut what makes the best home bars. It gave us so much inspiration and many great ideas!

Later in the weekend we had the pleasure of seeing Charles Phoenix’s Retro Slideshow. It was centered around the architecture of Las Vegas in the early years with all its gambling halls, restaurants, showrooms, swimming pools, and electrifying neon signs that made them pop culture icons.

Another great symposium we attended was The New Traditionalist, where Garret Richard uses cutting-edge science to revive Tiki’s forgotten cocktails and explains the process he endures behind the bar to craft the perfect “new traditional” drink!

Our trip would not have been complete without a Tiki Bar Tour of San Diego. Our fist stop was the Grass Skirt hidden away in a Poke shop, we walked through a freezer door that led us in to the one of the coolest bars we’ve been to. The neon lights, the pineapple skulls, and the colorful whimsey of it all, added such a unique perspective to what some of our favorite more traditional Tiki Bars. We’ll go in to further detail in next weeks Tiki Tuesday.

Just outside the convention center, Tiki Oasis puts together a car show. Some of the coolest vintage cars and even some that have been transformed in to mobile tiki bars!

The final stop on our long week end in San Diego was at False Idol. Another hidden Tiki Bar within a restaurant. Covered wall to wall with Bosko carvings and the warm glow of the colorful glass fishing float lighting. The drinks were soooo good, we accidentally had one too many.

What we ordered: Ube Bae (coconut, pineapple, ube, and toasted rice with light rums), Tradewinds (aged and black rums, apricot liqueur, coconut cordial, and lemon), and a classic Navy Grog.

We always have a blast when we go to San Diego! Really glad we made the trip out for the 2019 Tiki Oasis. Met some new friends, connected with old, and got a lot of inspiration for the future of Tiki Collective!

---