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Visit the official Tiki-Ti Website!

• What is Tiki Ti?
• Where is Tiki Ti & When is it open?
• The story behind Tiki Ti
• Tiki Ti etiquette: The Do's and Dont's of Tiki Ti
• The Drink Menu

Feel free to email me at Medina_Madness@att.net with comments or suggestions on how to improve this page.

Plain and simply, its a bar, but its not any ordinary bar. Tiki Ti specializes in tropical(Polynesian) drinks, and adds the perfect environment to enjoy these works of art. Tiki Ti's interior decor is very tropical. It's walls and ceiling are lined with bamboo and real bark paintings. The most intricate part of the interior is behind the bar, where you will find a waterfall and Tiki influenced paraphernalia. Some of these ornaments are baseball caps, license plates, masks, and several Tiki heads. I find something I haven't seen before every time I go. They don't serve beer, and they DO NOT accept credit cards or ATM cards.

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Tiki Ti is on Sunset Blvd. Between Hyperion and Hollywood Blvd. It is across the street from Acapulco's and next to KCET studios. It is open WED. - SAT. from 6pm to 1am. On Fridays and Saturdays they reach capacity, so get there early to avoid waiting in line.

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The following was taken from Los Angeles Tiki Tour, an article by Otto Von Stroheim, found in magazine 2 of Hollywood Highball Magazine:

A Polynesian drink cannot be properly enjoyed anywhere but at a Tiki bar. The Los Angeles landscape was once dominated by hundreds of Polynesian restaurants and bars. There were high profile Hollywood establishments catering to the stars such as The Seven Seas, Don the Beachcomber's, and Stephen Crane's Luau. Then there were blue collar, family-business type joints such as The Islander on La Cienega's old Restaurant Row, owner built and operated Kelbo's, and The Tikis luau-theme park.

Like dinosaurs before them these once popular oases have vanished without a trace and little historical record. A few post-50s suburban Tikimania temples have survived and in them we see reasons for their successful existence and hints to others demise.

Owner-operated, family business Tiki bars with a "regular", local crowd still exist and are the only way to experience a Polynesian cocktail. One of these is Tiki Ti. Friday & Saturday nights reach capacity. It's frequented by local and distant drinkers. Son and father team Mike and Ray Buhen have adapted to their changing neighborhood - one of the most popular drinks ("The Blood and Sand") was changed from Scotch to Tequila to accommodate new tastes.

Legend has it the Tiki Ti was opened in 1961 on a fluke by Ray who had worked for 25 years at Don the Beachcomber's and other Polynesian restaurants around L.A. So popular was Polynesian mixology at the time that Ray figured he'd open a bartending school to teach the trade. Instead, he happened upon a liquor license and opened his own bar in the style.

On the 70+ drink menu you'll find all the standards and several Tiki Ti originals. Two originals which Mike claims are the most popular drinks (and judging by the taste, it's no surprise) are "Ray's Mistake" and "Bayanihan" which means togetherness in Tagalog - Ray's Philippine dialect.

"What I like about this place is you can come any way," states Anna, a local. "You can come dressed up after dinner or in a tank with shorts."

Hollywood stars, possibly longing for Don the Beachcomber's glory days, frequent Tiki Ti: Brando in the 60s, Jack Palance in the 70s, Burt Reynolds and others. Nicholas Cage and his wife Patricia Arquette just came in last week.

Another customer and restauranteur, David, imparts this wisdom over an exotic creation. "Drinking has been a verboten subject, with mineral water bars replacing real bars. Drinking needs to be made fun again. Places like this with fish balls, Tiki trophies, nautical, and Hawaiian shirts are coming back in. It's cyclical. It's 1962 all over again!" Mike adds, "It was the 60s surf craze that kept it goin'. Things were different in the early 60s," implying that everyone was into going to Tiki bars. Some nights here you wouldn't think it has changed much.

Here are a couple of guidelines you should follow, when drinking at Tiki Ti, so you don't look like an idiot:

They do not accept credit cards or ATM cards.

So don't pull out your card and attempt to pay with it.

They do not serve beer.

So don't walk up to the bar and order beer.

When people yell, don't turn around and look at them funny.

Don't tell them to shut up either. There is a reason why they are yelling. See Blood & Sand on the drink menu for an explanation.

When you order a Blood & Sand

Don't call it a "Toro, Toro", "The Bull Drink", or anything else but a "BLOOD & SAND." DO NOT reach over the bar and touch the bull without permission. This is very disrespectfull.

Don't be afraid of yelling.

When everyone else is yelling "TORO, TORO", join in and don't be embarrassed.

If you're a novice drinker...

Do not inhale these drinks. You will find yourself in the bathroom having a bad time, or you'll wake up the next morning not knowing what happened the night before. You can barely taste the alcohol in some drinks, so you might be compelled to suck them down as if they were just made of juice.

Leave your attitudes outside

Everyone is there to enjoy themselves, and people are usually very nice, so don't walk in there thinking you own the place.

For a list of all the great Tiki Ti drinks see The Drink Menu