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McMenamin's in Tacoma, WA |
woofmutt
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 26, 2002
Posts: 2610
From: Seattilite Telstar
|  Posted: 2010-07-18 10:17 pm Permalink
"When contacting them, let's stress the fact that Tiki culture really is part of the Puget Sound area's history. Seattle, with its connection to Hawaii, Tacoma and the Navy town of Bremerton all had a slew of Tiki establishments and apartment complexes.
" -bigbrotiki-
And... The new McMenamins location in the old Elks Temple (565 Broadway) is more or less 2 blocks west and 6 blocks north of Tacoma's one time wonderful Tiki establishment The Islander/Clark's Islander (located at 11th and A).
On December 30, 1948, the Elks Temple at 565 Broadway opened its doors to members, wives and ladies to see the newly renovated building. The club room, very popular with the majority of the membership, was just one of the rooms that was completely redone. Everything - chairs, tables, floor coverings, light fixtures - was new and modernized. Even the billiard tables were completely overhauled. All the funiture was custom made in Tacoma. Tacoma News Tribune December 30, 1948 (from the Tacoma Public Library archives)
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Attribution is the sincerest form of flattery.
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JackLord
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jan 18, 2006
Posts: 163
From: Washington, DC
| Posted: 2010-07-19 11:21 am Permalink
I visited a couple of their joints when I was in Portland. I was impressed and recall thinking other chains could learn something from them, i.e. uniformity is not always an asset. I am not anti-Starbucks, but maybe they could vary their style now and then?
Anyway, I would nominate BigBroTiki as the Emissary. Show them how to do it correctly.
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woofmutt
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 26, 2002
Posts: 2610
From: Seattilite Telstar
| Posted: 2012-05-15 7:17 pm Permalink
Another thread got started about this project, The NW is getting a new tiki bar! so I figured I'd bump this one as it has more info and discussion in it.
According to this March 2012 article on the News Tribune site the projected opening date is Spring 2013.
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tikicoma
Grand Member (4 years) 
Joined: Jan 16, 2010
Posts: 458
From: wakinekona
| Posted: 2012-10-12 8:09 pm Permalink
So you know, construction starts in January, their construction crews are pre-leasing apartments for that month. But the big news is this, a week ago they met with the preservation committee and presented plans, nothing specific about a tiki bar in the paper but I found this online....
In the upper right corner you can see a "tiki bar cooler"
It looks like this is going to be the tiki bar! And it's not a small space. Also this room is in the interior of a lower level so it will be secluded from the outside world. I wonder how soon they'll be needing a bartender 
aloha, tikicoma
P.S. this along with Robertikis' post about overhearing the Mc brothers discussing building a Tacoma tiki bar makes me think this is actually going to happen!
[ This Message was edited by: tikicoma 2012-10-12 20:19 ]
[ This Message was edited by: tikicoma 2012-10-12 20:21 ]
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bigbrotiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 25, 2002
Posts: 11353
From: Tiki Island, above the Silverlake
| Posted: 2012-10-13 04:28 am Permalink
Tres cool, coma! It seems they are reviving the Tiki temple tradition of an interior waterfall feeding a river traversed by bridges, quite common in its heyday, and only recently ripped out of the Islands Restaurant in San Diego:
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Rum Balls
Grand Member (first year) 
Joined: Oct 04, 2004
Posts: 889
From: Portland, OR
| Posted: 2012-10-15 06:19 am Permalink
So, can Tacoma support 2 tiki bars?
http://www.tikiroom.com/tikicentral/bb/viewtopic.php?topic=43843&forum=2&1
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woofmutt
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 26, 2002
Posts: 2610
From: Seattilite Telstar
| Posted: 2012-10-15 08:39 am Permalink
"So, can Tacoma support 2 tiki bars?"
There's probably as much chance for it as any similar sized city. Anyone who hasn't spent some time in Tacoma in the past 10 years should set aside any negative impressions they might have about the City of Destiny. It's a cool city with a lot of creative people doing neat stuff and people who dig neat and cool stuff.
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bigbrotiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 25, 2002
Posts: 11353
From: Tiki Island, above the Silverlake
| Posted: 2012-10-15 09:10 am Permalink
The above floor plan also seems to put this one into a different league than the linked one.
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tikicoma
Grand Member (4 years)
Joined: Jan 16, 2010
Posts: 458
From: wakinekona
| Posted: 2012-10-15 10:53 pm Permalink
The short answer is yes. The McMemamins are known for seeing the value in historic buildings and turning them into successful venues featuring movies, quality music concerts and competitive food and drinks. They brew their own beer and its solid if not exceptional and their mixed drinks are good but not what I would call part of the craft cocktail movement, at least not at any of the five I've been to, they don't fail, at least not so far.
Tacoma Cabana on the other hand evolved from another smaller restaurant downtown that did well but they wanted to expand. After talking to and being aware of Jason Alexander from the web it seems he's about the craft cocktail movement and classic "tiki" drinks and this year competed in the Kona Mai Tai competition though he said he went out early. This town needs a good craft cocktail bar and their place is a bit more contemporary tropical than over the top tiki. The space they are in has had 2 or 3 joints fail quickly before them, but they were (I thought) pretty lame business models.
I can see them both succeeding but in the current economy all restaurant business is tough and very competitive.
So now you know more about the City of Destiny's bar scene than you ever wanted to.
aloha, tikicoma
"Tacoma, 185,000 alcoholics can't all be wrong!"
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