Tiki Bars 2018

I visited 34 tiki bars in 2018, up from 25 in 2017. It’s helpful that 14 of these are in pretty easy driving distance, and very much a blessing that there are so many great tiki bars in the greater Bay Area (there are even a few good ones, like the Tonga Room, that I didn’t visit in 2018).

At Trader Vic's in Emeryville for Real Mai Tai Day
At Trader Vic's in Emeryville for Real Mai Tai Day

The most-visited tiki bar was The Kon-Tiki in Oakland, the bar that’s most convenient to travel to (thank you 12th Street BART Station). I am not sure I’ll be able to get to 34 again in 2019 but I still enjoy visiting new tiki bars and “crossing them off the list”.

Tiki Bars 2018
Jan 19 Damon’s (1)
Feb 13 The Kon-Tiki (2)
Feb 18 Forbidden Island (3)
Feb 18 Trader Vic’s Emeryville (4)
Feb 19 Tiki Tom’s (5)
Mar 3 Devil’s Reef (6)
Mar 3 Tacoma Cabana (7)
Mar 19 Pagan Idol (8)
April 1 Tambu Lounge (9)
April 1 Trader Sam’s Grog Grotto (10)
April 4 Tiki Room Restaurant and Bar (11)
April 4 Tiki Tolteca (12)
April 5 Beachbum Berry’s Latitude 29 (13)
April 21 Billy’s at the Beach (14)
April 21 Purple Orchid Tiki Lounge (15)
April 22 High Roller Tiki Lounge (16)
May 20 Hula’s Island Grill and Tiki Bar (Santa Cruz) (17)
May 20 The Reef Bar / Pono’s Hawaiian Grill (18)
May 26 Jungle Bird (19)
June 30 Smuggler’s Cove (20)
July 15 The Alibi (21)
July 15 Hale Pele (22)
July 17 Navy Strength (23)
July 22 Luau Lounge (24)
July 25 Last Rites (25)
July 28 Trader Sam’s Enchanted Tiki Bar (26)
August 4 Hula Hoops (27)
August 25 Tiki Pete’s (28)
November 10 Hukilau (29)
November 17 Hula’s Island Grill and Tiki Room (Monterey) (30)
December 17 The Zombie Village (31)
December 29 Tiki-Ko (32)
December 31 Jan & Dean’s Tiki Lounge (33)
December 31 The Royal Hawaiian (34)

Top Songs of 2018

Here’s my annual list based on play counts from iTunes. This year I listed to 1938 different songs, with the highest totals coming from Exotica or Surf bands. I listened to the Franz Ferdinand album a lot when it was released early in the year, but this was not one of their better albums.

Pleased to see “El Atacor!” and “Mr Moai’s Mash” at the top of the list, as I thought these were the two best songs this year. Videos are shown below, and the Moai video in particular is pretty incredible.

Song Artist Album Plays
El Atacor! Tikiyaki 5-0 Tone Control 17
Mr. Moai’s Mash Jason Lee and the R.I.P. Tides Monsters and Mai Tais 16
Taboo Tikiyaki 5-0 The Exotic Sounds of Tikiyaki 5-0 – EP 14
Sidewinder Tikiyaki 5-0 Tone Control 14
Always Ascending Franz Ferdinand Always Ascending 13
Elenor Bigsby Tikiyaki 5-0 Tone Control 13
Sit Next to Me Foster the People Sacred Hearts Club 12
Lotus Eater Foster the People Sacred Hearts Club 12
Song of Delilah Tikiyaki 5-0 The Exotic Sounds of Tikiyaki 5-0 – EP 12
Leave The Gun… Tikiyaki 5-0 Tone Control 12
The Ipcress Fil Tikiyaki 5-0 Tone Control 11
The Quiet Surf Tikiyaki 5-0 Tone Control 11
Miserlou The Tikigraphs Tikigraphs 10
Supernova Tikiyaki 5-0 The Exotic Sounds of Tikiyaki 5-0 – EP 9
Exotic in Blues The Tikiyaki Orchestra Idol Worship and Other Primitive Pleasures 9
S.H.C. Foster the People III – Single 8
Lazy Boy Franz Ferdinand Always Ascending 8
Paper Cages Franz Ferdinand Always Ascending 8
Feel the Love Go Franz Ferdinand Always Ascending 8
Slow Don’t Kill Me Slow Franz Ferdinand Always Ascending 8
Ride Or Die (feat. Foster the People) The Knocks Ride Or Die (feat. Foster the People) – Single 8
Sway The Tikigraphs Tikigraphs 8
Girl From Ipanema The Tikigraphs Tikigraphs 8
Return to Orchid Isle The Tikiyaki Orchestra Idol Worship and Other Primitive Pleasures 8
Esplanade The Tikiyaki Orchestra Idol Worship and Other Primitive Pleasures 8