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Taboo Cove, Venetian, Las Vegas, NV (bar) |
christiki295
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Apr 09, 2003
Posts: 3616
From: LA-2547 mls east Hawaii &5500 Easter Is
|  Posted: 2005-01-06 8:06 pm Permalink
Quote:
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Bosko's Taboo Cove is gone forever. It's life was short, but that torch burned oh so brightly.
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I am devastated!
I can't handle Las Vegas discarding its tiki. Last time I was there I swung by Sunset Park to check out the Moai of the Lake, and, of course, went to Taboo Cove later that evening.
It had a curious mixture, a bride to be & her ladies in waiting, hip-hop types waiting for Venus to open and random tourists.
I never dreamed that would be my last visit.
The least they could have done was to donate the tiki to Kahunaville, across the street at TI.
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Digitiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jul 22, 2004
Posts: 749
From: L.A. baby!
| Posted: 2005-01-07 09:59 am Permalink
A sad thing indeed to hear of the passing of another Tiki place. But the distrubing new (if confirmed) is that the owner just chucked all that tiki artisanship in the trash.
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MEAN GENE
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jun 09, 2004
Posts: 385
From: San Diego
| Posted: 2005-01-07 10:27 am Permalink
That must make Bosko and many others sick.
Sorry I never made it over there to check it out.
_________________
www.fallingcocos.com
[ This Message was edited by: MEAN GENE on 2005-01-07 10:28 ]
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Digitiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jul 22, 2004
Posts: 749
From: L.A. baby!
| Posted: 2005-01-12 11:41 am Permalink
Mrs. Digitiki and I are heading over to Vegas for the 3-day weekend. Are there any tiki must-see's out there?...other than the Taboo Cove which is sadly no more.
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Kailuageoff
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 27, 2002
Posts: 1486
From: Honolulu Lounge,Lewes, DE
| Posted: 2005-01-12 1:14 pm Permalink
I went to Taboo Cove three times and was lucky enough to get in and enjoy the drinks and decor twice. The last time I was there I was on one of those lonely business trip when I happened to meet a S. Cal. surf artist that was into tiki. We had a great conversation about Bosko's art, mugs, exotica music, Hawaii, etc.
http://www.tikiroom.com/tikicentral/bb/viewtopic.php?topic=6002&forum=7&vpost=57206
That evening is a nice tiki memory. Mahalo to everyone who worked to create it.
KG
[ This Message was edited by: Kailuageoff on 2005-01-12 13:27 ]
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IcedTiki
Member
Joined: Jan 13, 2005
Posts: 6 | Posted: 2005-01-13 8:48 pm Permalink
Yes, so sad and disrespectful. Though I'm from L.A. I had been in there at least five times since it was open. One of the bartenders told me that they were doing it right for the first six months or so: playing exotica music on the p.a., and had a d.j. coming in to play exotica and Sixties rock music and had go-go dancers gyrating on the stage behind the bar! Sorry I missed that! I asked them about the decor and they did mention Bosko. The staff were nice enough but didn't seem to be rabid tikiphiles, or as you might say, "they just didn't get it." Everytime I talked to the bartenders, it seemed that they were slacking off on the whole concept more and more as time went by, and I walked out of there with a heavy heart every time. I knew its days were numbered, especially in Vegas, where since the late 80's everything gets a makeover every three years.
Glad I did drag some friends in there when I had the chance. Excuse me, I must go support Tiki-Ti right now by buying $100 worth of drinks.
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Satan's Sin
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jun 13, 2004
Posts: 729
From: Imperial Beach, CA
| Posted: 2005-02-12 11:42 am Permalink
Just got back from Vegas and I hereby confirm that the Taboo Cove was taken out to a ditch and shot in the back of the head and left for the buzzards ... or, as polite people say, has become "nonoperational."
Spoke with one of the bouncers, and his smirk when I inquired of any tiki artifacts or indeed any tiki info was as cruel and pitiless as a 26-year-old Congolese "general" preparing to slaughter all the inhabitants of a Belgian nunnery. So I left him to his meth and moral bankruptcy.
The "host" club of Taboo Cover -- Venus -- has also changed its name. I've already forgotten it. But, like, who cares?
Diagonally across the Strip, at the Bellagio, as I glumly walked back to my hotel, the fountain display suddenly erupted in timed explosions with Elvis Presley's immortal cover of "Viva Las Vegas!" Too magnificient for words. More magnificient than even Esquivel at his best. And I recalled that Elvis Presley's good friend Richard Nixon -- yes, the same man who wore black dress shoes to walk on the beach -- even he loved tiki bars. And yet, in this place of all places, tiki was ... well, it's with Elvis now.
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the75stingray
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 24, 2002
Posts: 446
From: Dayton, Ohio
| Posted: 2005-03-22 5:33 pm Permalink
I really need to check in here more often...
I was looking into the Taboo Cove as my best friend is out in Vegas right now and he wanted to swing in. Alas, too late.
Just goes to show that if you miis a day (or in my case a month) at TC, you miss a lot!
Very depressing story folks.
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Artiki
Tiki Centralite
Joined: Mar 19, 2004
Posts: 58
From: Birmingham, UK
| Posted: 2005-04-07 12:29 pm Permalink
Bringing this one back to the top.
Mrs Artiki and I just returned from Vegas after VLV. We went to the Venetian to find that Taboo Cove is now a nightclub called Vivid. It was shut but looks horrendous from the outside.
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TikiGoon
Tiki Centralite
Joined: Sep 09, 2003
Posts: 82
From: The Exotic Isle of Mar "Maryland"
| Posted: 2005-04-12 07:13 am Permalink
It just figures! I was SO looking forward to checking this place out. I leave Wednesday for Vegas and now the closest thing to Tiki I will be able to hit will be Margarittaville or Kahunnaville.(looks like they have some Bosko masks on the walls) Sad!
Well maybe I will checkout Sunset Park.
[ This Message was edited by: TikiGoon on 2005-04-12 07:16 ]
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rupe33
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Dec 08, 2004
Posts: 316
From: DC Metro Area (MD)
| Posted: 2005-04-27 1:52 pm Permalink
Here's a photo of "Vivid"... which as of 4/16/05 still did not appear to be open. The tiki stuff is indeed all gone...
http://flickr.com/photos/74188640@N00/11193089/
[ This Message was edited by: rupe33 on 2005-04-28 12:06 ]
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christiki295
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Apr 09, 2003
Posts: 3616
From: LA-2547 mls east Hawaii &5500 Easter Is
| Posted: 2005-04-27 8:14 pm Permalink
Any relationship to the film company by the same name?
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rupe33
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Dec 08, 2004
Posts: 316
From: DC Metro Area (MD)
| Posted: 2005-04-28 12:09 pm Permalink
It did not appear to be related to the film company... although in Vegas you never know! There was no adult industry decor that we could see, even peeking into the darkened windows.
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xpcdoojk
Member
Joined: Apr 08, 2002
Posts: 3
From: jc
| Posted: 2005-05-18 12:45 pm Permalink
I just ran across this thread, and am much saddened. Visited Venus and Taboo Cove in October 2003. Thought that the bartenders were hired to breath fire and did not have a clue about making Tiki drinks, but still I enjoyed a couple of hours by myself hanging out at Venus. Then went back with the wife and another couple and we got there and it was closed in January 2004. It was still there, but it was closed on like a Tuesday or Wednesday night. I thought to myself that this could not be a good sign.
jc
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hodadhank
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Dec 28, 2005
Posts: 1682
From: Mission Beach, CA
| Posted: 2006-03-09 10:51 pm Permalink
A few days ago, I was plodding through the Venetian on my way out of Sands convention center I noticed a familiar silouette in the doorway of the China Star... It was a Bosko faux lava Moai, and at it's base a sign reading "Don the Beachcomber's, Polynesian Cocktails and Pupu's!"
I ran in to see several large Bosko totems and a pair of seven foot tall Bosko masks on each end of the bar. Above the wall sconces were framed exotica LP cover from Quiet Village, Taboo, and Ritual of the Savage and on shelves above the door perhaps ten seemingly valuable mugs. I am guessing these items were salvaged from Taboo Cove and will end up in the new Don The Beachcomber's free standing building elsewhere later in the year.
I was a little alarmed however when the bartender told me that since all rights to DTB had been purchased the new owners were free to alter the classic drink recipes to "suit Vegas drinkers who want to quickly gulp drinks instead of slowly sip them". He told me Don's own Zombie recipe had already been altered because it was too strong to slam!
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