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Extolling the virtues of the basement tiki bar |
uncle trav
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Apr 27, 2005
Posts: 1532
From: Kalamazoo
|  Posted: 2009-11-30 1:26 pm Permalink
It's cold enough to freeze the coconuts off a brass Tiki up here. For those of us who make anchor in Polynesian ports far north of the line where the heartiest palm trees sway it's that time of year again. Thank the Tiki gods for the basement home bar. Six long months of rum induced hibernation are ahead but a Tiki bar in the basement makes it a little easier. I'm not sure if this is purely a Mid-Western thing but it sure was a mid-century thing. Basement home bars and rumpus rooms took of in early 1950's suburbia. You want escapism? The basement Tiki lounge has it, warm, grotto like with low ceilings and nice and dark. No windows to see all that white stuff flying around outside this time of year. This time of year I have more guest over for cocktails it seems. Friends come in from the cold and head down the stairs, through the beaded curtain where dim mood lighting cold cocktails and exotica music are always on the menu. I think they want an escape from cabin fever and a drink mixed by a guy in an aloha shirt when it's ten degrees outside helps. My home bar may not have thatch on the walls yet and it still has a white drop ceiling (I know, I know) but it does have a twelve foot bar and shuffleboard built into the floor all original 1950's built. The basement home bar, the next best thing to a plane ticket to warmer climes in this part of the world this time of year. Thanks for letting me rant and to to all fellow TC members in the snow....hunker down.. bundle up and revel in glory that is the basement home bar.
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"Anyone who has ever seen them is thereafter haunted as if by a feverish dream" Karl Woermann
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Bongo Bungalow
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Aug 20, 2007
Posts: 1227
From: Indiana
| Posted: 2009-11-30 1:30 pm Permalink
I'm in the same outrigger as Trav! Snow expected... but the warm glow of the lava lamp as it reflects off a Mai Tai helps!
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bigtikidude
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Aug 10, 2004
Posts: 8262
From: Anaheim,Ca.
| Posted: 2009-11-30 1:42 pm Permalink
got some rain on Sat while I was hanging out in San Diego,
a pretty good downpour on the drive up Sat evening.
hit Oceanside and it cleared up.
pretty chilly out on sat night, when hanging out, after the show
at Don the Beachcomber.
but right now its 78* outside. and not a cloud in the sky.
I keep waiting for winter to really show up here.
yes we're spoiled here in So. Cal.
Jeff(btd)
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aloha.taboo
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jan 08, 2006
Posts: 169
From: Grand Rapids, MI
| Posted: 2009-11-30 1:45 pm Permalink
I've been slowly plotting my own basement tiki bar for quite a while. Unfortunately, money always gets in the way! But now, I've got carpet and paint taken care of, I just have to install some additional outlets, put in some shelves and build the bar!
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Slacks Ferret
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Oct 02, 2003
Posts: 1175
From: Calgary
| Posted: 2009-11-30 3:34 pm Permalink
Amen to that sediment.
I just looked out the window and couldn't see the house across the street because of blowing snow. Wish my bar was done.
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Beach Bum Scott
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Oct 28, 2008
Posts: 304
From: The Ranch in CO
| Posted: 2009-11-30 3:36 pm Permalink
Reading this makes me want to go home to mine... dim the lights, mix a MaiTai and play the latest Quiet Village podcast .
[ This Message was edited by: Beach Bum Scott 2009-11-30 15:38 ]
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Big Kahuna
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Apr 11, 2007
Posts: 1908
From: SoMass
| Posted: 2009-11-30 5:25 pm Permalink
We're on borrowed time, around here. It snowed like hell on October 15, but it's been 50's & 60's since I got back from Vegas. I had the '59 out, yesterday. The forecasters are threatening snow soon & the guys in my car club are coming over, Saturday night, to help design the bar. I really despise winter, but it'll be warm in the Mauna Kai Lounge!
PS: This thread needs pics!
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MadDogMike
Grand Member (3 years) 
Joined: Mar 30, 2008
Posts: 6412
From: The Anvil of the Sun
| Posted: 2009-11-30 6:43 pm Permalink
Oh, a basement... that house-sized bonus room just begging to be a tiki bar. Our watertable is about 4 feet below the surface, if I had a basement it would be filled with salty, brackish water. When I put my fiberglas septic tank in, I dug the hole with a backhoe and it promply filled with stagnant water. I put the tank in the hole and it floated! I had to take a hose and fill it with water to sink it so I could cover it up  But I digress, this is a thread about basement tiki bars.
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leleliz
Grand Member (first year) 
Joined: Sep 02, 2008
Posts: 1981
From: NorCal
| Posted: 2009-11-30 6:51 pm Permalink
yeah damn snow..damn snow..damn snnn....er....i feel for ya guys.
having to turn the heater on when it gets in the 50s is a real pain!
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Big Kahuna
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Apr 11, 2007
Posts: 1908
From: SoMass
| Posted: 2009-11-30 7:55 pm Permalink
Bite me, Liz! 
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Brandomoai
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 05, 2008
Posts: 310
From: Edmonton, AB, Canada
| Posted: 2009-11-30 8:41 pm Permalink
Where I live (along with Sweet Daddy Tiki and Tikiville) is probably the highest latitude of any TC member. I look forward to spending much of our 6-month winter (the first in our new home) down in the still un-named pirate's grotto, sipping hot buttered rum by the fireplace with my wife and baby (no rum for baby). I grew up with some classic rumpus room/home bars at my parents', grandparents', aunts and uncles', etc. and I'm proud to carry on the tradition! Here's to the basement tiki bar!
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Brandomoai
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 05, 2008
Posts: 310
From: Edmonton, AB, Canada
| Posted: 2009-11-30 8:45 pm Permalink
Quote:
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On 2009-11-30 18:51, leleliz wrote:
yeah damn snow..damn snow..damn snnn....er....i feel for ya guys.
having to turn the heater on when it gets in the 50s is a real pain!
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Hey Liz,
You know, -40 degrees is where Fahrenheit and Celsius meet. That's also how cold it can get here in January. Try to wrap your head around that! At least it's a dry cold...
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Kon-Hemsby
Grand Member (8 years) 
Joined: Sep 17, 2003
Posts: 1225
From: Andover, England
| Posted: 2009-12-01 01:00 am Permalink
In the UK I can shelter in mine from the rain and cold. And that does me just fine.
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Sweet Daddy Tiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jul 20, 2003
Posts: 1026
From: Edmonton
| Posted: 2009-12-01 01:23 am Permalink
Quote:
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On 2009-11-30 20:41, Brandomoai wrote:
Where I live (along with Sweet Daddy Tiki and Tikiville)
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I do not live with Brandomoai and Tikiville.
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-Sweet Daddy T.
Because crap doesn't buy itself.
blog
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Dr. Zarkov
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 07, 2008
Posts: 289 | Posted: 2009-12-01 06:44 am Permalink
We live in Virginia and years ago when I was in Chicago on business I had dinner with an old college friend who had previously lived in Maryland, New Mexico and Los Angeles. After we finished dinner and were standing on the sidewalk saying our goodbyes, she grabbed me by the lapels and in despair declared: "You don't know what it's like to live here; your winter is only six weeks long!" She later married a guy and they lived in the Upper Penninsula of Michigan! Later they moved to L.A., where I am sure she is much happier now.
The Beauteous and Talented Elinor and I were visiting Elinor's family over Thanksgiving in Oakland, where it was chilly and sunny most of the time. Here in Virginia it seems like we've had one day of rain for every day of sun this year. I told Elinor that at this rate we might as well be living in Seattle.
As for a cosy basement Tiki lounge to ride out the winter, check these photos of ours: http://www.flickr.com/photos/drzarkov/
Also, (shameless plug alert) tomorrow while you are seeking shelter from the storm, be sure to listen to my radio show, Dr. Zarkov's Tiki Lounge, which is broadcast every Wednesday, 5-6 P.M. Eastern Time, on Fairfax Public Access/WEBR Radio, and can be heard on the Internet at: http://www.fcac.org/webcasting/webcast.htm
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