Blame my sporadic posting on an especially jet-setting July. We just got back from New York, but earlier this month we were lucky enough to spend a week in Hawaii on the island of Kaua’i.

Even looking back at my own photos I can hardly believe how beautiful it was. From the Kalalau Valley (above) and the Na Pali Coast to Waimea Canyon to Hanalei Bay, the landscape was so varied and breathtaking.

I knew there would be some tiki sightings on the trip, but I hadn’t expected them to start with the resort we were staying at. Everyday a couple local vendors would set up by the plantation-style main building of The Westin Princeville, and on our first day there happened to be a tiki carver.

He was mostly whittling away, much to the fascination of passing children, but I thought it was an interesting juxtaposition when he started working on his iPad. In addition to tikis in many sizes, he also had carvings of turtles, whales, an octopus and other sea creatures.

An intricately detailed (and heavy!) war club with rope and feathers caught my eye, but I decided to think about it instead of purchasing it on the spot. Of course, when I came back the next day he had already sold it. I later saw some of his carvings for sale at Havaiki Oceanic and Tribal Art, but more on that soon.

While we were in Kauai we did some souvenir shopping in Hanalei, stopping first at Ching Young Village. On the other side of the highway are the Hanalei Center shops, including Havaiki Oceanic and Tribal Art and the vintage store Yellowfish Trading Company. (That area is more picturesque as the boutiques are housed in restored historic buildings.)

But Ching Young Village has its fair share of nice shops too, such as Hanalei Strings & Things (where Mr. Baseball bought me a uke!), Robin Savage Gifts & Gourmet, and the one I’m featuring in this post: Aloha from Hanalei.

The New York Times travel section included it in a great article from a couple years ago about shopping on Kauai, “Hawaiiana, Beyond the Hula Doll.” Aloha from Hanalei has a cozy tiki hut vibe with bamboo, thatch and surfboards on the walls, plus a few tikis and run-of-the-mill tiki masks.

You’ll find an interesting and varied selection of wares, from locally made soaps to Hawaiian salt and spices to vintage aloha shirts to framed Hawaiiana sheet music like “Drowsy Honolulu Moonlight.” Like several other stores we visited, they also stocked typical tiki items like salt and pepper shakers, magnets and figurines.

The purple Ku on this tiki photo album was on the cusp of what I’d classify as an ugly tiki, but I liked the natural materials on the cover. I don’t recall seeing this particular tiki scrapbook before, but there are somewhat similar ones for sale on Amazon.

I was also pleased to see they sell tiki postcards from Brad Parker a.k.a. Tiki Shark, who resides in Kailua-Kona. (I’ve mentioned his awesome “Monsters on Vacation” paintings on this blog before, and he just had another show at La Luz de Jesus gallery that I’ll be writing about at some point.)

We were staying nearby in Princeville, so we had a few opportunities to hang out in Hanalei and do the tourist stroll. But if you have limited time on the North Shore, your two must-dos should be browsing at Havaiki Oceanic and Tribal Art and drinking at Tahiti Nui. (More on them soon.)

Why did the wild chicken cross the road? To get to Havaiki!

Aloha from Hanalei
Ching Young Village
5-5190 Kuhio Hwy.
Hanalei, HI 96714
808-826-8970

In Hawaii, where cheap souvenir tikis can be found everywhere, Havaiki is a diamond in the rough. This Hanalei gallery, named after the legendary homeland of Polynesians, specializes in traditional art from the Oceania region and points beyond.

In 2002, Jim Punter and his wife, Vicki, left their home on the Virgin Islands and for five years sailed around the South Pacific, buying and trading for art directly with villagers. Their goal was to open a gallery on Kauai, which is overseen by Dylan Thomas, a native of South Africa who was first mate on that epic voyage. He’s a delight to talk with (especially with that accent!) and a wealth of information about the collection.

Some visitors compare browsing in the store to like being in a museum. I especially like the little room decorated like a hut with a bamboo and thatch entrance.

A wide array of items are for sale, including carved tikis of various sizes, war clubs, shields, masks, paddles, walking sticks and tapa cloth, plus handcrafted jewelry. They also have an online store and a Facebook page where they post photos of the latest acquisitions.

Dylan continues to make trips to the South Pacific to stock up on artifacts, but a growing part of the gallery’s wares come from local artists in Hawaii. In fact I’m quite sure that these tikis were made by the carver I saw over at the Westin Princeville.

A lot of work and care has been put into curating the selection, which is something to account for when looking at the prices. There are some budget buys among the big-ticket items, though.

If you find the island weather too humid and your shorts too constricting, you can purchase your own koteka, hand-woven from natural fibers by the Asmat people in Papua New Guinea. Just tie one of these “penis gourds” around your waist and you’re ready to go…or you could just display it in your house.

One of my favorite pieces was this modern reproduction of a Dayak Kliau (shield) from East Kalimantan, Borneo. The description says it would have been used against blowpipe attacks and the “curvilinear designs convey fierceness and preservation of vital energies.”

Havaiki Oceanic & Tribal Art is located among the stores in the Hanalei Center, conveniently just down the street from the Tahiti Nui tiki bar. The shop is not immediately visible from the highway — it’s in a cottage-like building behind Bubba’s Burgers. You should see a couple tikis mounted on tall poles signaling you’re headed in the right direction.

Havaiki Oceanic & Tribal Art
5-5161 Kuhio Hwy. (Hanalei Center)
Hanalei, Kauai, HI 96714
808-826-7606

Related Posts:
Aloha from Hanalei, Ching Young Village Shops, Hanalei
Tiki Carver at the Westin Princeville, Kauai
Tahiti Nui Tiki Bar, Hanalei

Tahiti Nui Restaurant & Cocktail Lounge in Hanalei has the distinction of being, to my knowledge, the only tiki bar on the North Shore of Kauai. (Although, that’s about to change with the opening of Tiki Iniki in Princeville… Sounds like I need to book another trip!)

Tahiti Nui was opened in 1964 by Louise and Bruce T. Marston, who met in Tahiti while Bruce was serving in the U.S. Air Force. A native of the French Polynesian island Tubuai, “Auntie Louise” could trace her lineage back to Tahitian royalty. Their son, Christian, now owns “da Nui.”

Patrons can choose to sit outside on the shaded lanai or inside where the space is divided between tables and the bar. (Check out those tiki bar stools!) Colorful round lights, reminiscent of fish floats, give off a nice glow and the walls are covered with lauhala matting, tapa cloth and bamboo, plus many photographs of the founding matriarch.

Tahiti Nui has long been a popular local spot, but it has recently gained lots of tourist attention when it appeared in the movie “The Descendants” along with other Kauai filming locations like the St. Regis Princeville and Hanalei Bay.

It’s featured in the scene where George Clooney’s character meets up at a bar with one of his cousins (played by Beau Bridges). If you want to follow in his silver fox footsteps, snag a seat at the bar behind the beer taps or head to the corner of the dining room with this black-and-white-photo of Louise above, which is where his character went to join his daughters for lunch.

The restaurant hosts a luau on Wednesday nights ($75 for adults) in a separate building with food, musicians, hula dancers and free Mai Tais for the first hour. The Mai Tai ($7.50) is pretty much the only tiki drink the Tahiti Nui serves — it’s made from their 50-year-old recipe with pineapple juice, rum and a dash of guava, lilikoi and other tropical fruits.

My dining companions hadn’t been expecting much from the food, judging by the humble surroundings. But everyone was pleasantly surprised, particularly by the macadamia nut- and panko-crusted ono with coconut-lime sauce.

Another great dish was the ginger, garlic and cilantro baby back ribs. The meat was tender and fell off the bone, and the thick sauce had a little kick to it.

The pizzas listed on the menu are prepared at neighboring Tiki Man Pizza. We were warned that since our orders were going to two different kitchens that our food would not arrive together. The pies were the last to make it to the table, but they were definitely worth the wait — the toppings were fresh and flavorful, and the buttery crust put it over the top. It was difficult to decide which to get, so I was glad to hear they could do half and half. Our server said a popular choice was the #3 Huli Huli Chicken with red onions and cilantro, and it was much better than your average barbecue chicken pizza. I was also crazy about the combination of pineapple and kalua pork on #5 Da Hui.

Traditional Hawaiian music is usually performed during dinner every night starting at 6:30, and then around 9 p.m. the kitchen closes, the lights are turned way down, and local bands take the small stage to play classic rock.

I had wanted to buy one of the Tahiti Nui tank tops ($20) they have tacked up on the wall, but at the time they only had the men’s style black t-shirts (the kind the servers wear). They said they’d be getting more in a day or two, but that hadn’t happened by the end of the week when we left Kauai. Chalk it up to “island time,” I guess.

There are other restaurants on Kauai that play up the tropical setting, like Keoki’s and Duke’s, but Tahiti Nui truly offers the experience of a cozy tiki bar, and with good food and drinks, too. If you have more time in Hanalei, be sure to check out Havaiki Oceanic & Tribal Art.

Tahiti Nui
5-5134 Kuhio Hwy.
Hanalei, Kauai, HI 96714
808-826-6277

Related Posts:
Havaiki Oceanic & Tribal Art, Hanalei
Aloha from Hanalei, Ching Young Village Shops, Hanalei
Tiki Carver at the Westin Princeville, Kauai

An abandoned hotel wouldn’t normally be high on my sightseeing list, but the Coco Palms on Kauai was a notable exception. (Sidenote: I do actually find ghost town-type places kind of fascinating, like China’s haunting Wonderland amusement park or the now-demolished Nevada Landing, a riverboat hotel adrift in the desert near Vegas.)

Behind that chainlink fence and ominous No Trespassing sign is what was once Kauai’s premier resort that played host to Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley, who helped make it famous in a little film called “Blue Hawaii” in 1961.

Through the overgrown trees I could see the lagoon from the romantic scene at the end of the movie where Elvis serenades his wahine with the “Hawaiian Wedding Song” as they float on a double-hulled canoe. (The web site ElvisInHawaii.com has some screen caps of that scene.) But the land’s importance goes back way before “The King” to Kauai’s actual kings — this was their ancestral homeland and the site of burial grounds and other sacred spots.

So what happened to the Coco Palms? Twenty years ago, Hurricane Iniki hit the island, the hotel suffered damages and it’s been closed ever since. It’s easy to spot as you’re driving along Kuhio Highway in Wailua, north of the airport. Even in its decaying state, there are parts of it that are still captivating. It’s also kind of spooky to see lamps still in in the windows of some of the hotel rooms.

Plans to build a new resort on the property seem to have fallen through, but Pacific Business News reports that the site has been sold to new investors. It seems inevitable that the original buildings will eventually be torn down, so I’m glad I got to see some of what’s left.

I only checked out the outside area, but it is possible to get a closer look. Bob and Jerri Jasper, original founders of Hawaii Movie Tours, offer tours of the Coco Palms Monday through Friday at 1:45 p.m. for $20 per person. For more information, call 8-8-346-2048 or visit cocopalmstours.com. And apparently Coco Palms’ longtime entertainer Larry Rivera even coordinates “Blue Hawaii” themed weddings among the ruins.

Related Posts:
Tahiti Nui Tiki Bar, Hanalei, Kauai
Havaiki Oceanic & Tribal Art, Hanalei
Tiki Carver at the Westin Princeville, Kauai

While we were staying at the Westin on Kauai, the Foodland in Princeville was our go-to grocery store. Well, it’s really the only game in town, but they get big bonus points for all the different kinds of delicious poke they serve at the deli counter.

Foodland also stocks products made from Hawaiian companies, including some that feature tikis in their designs, like Hawaiian Eateries Kon-Tiki salsas.

Meanwhile, the label for Da Kine Hawaiian BBQ Sauce had sort of a tiki-pineapple hybrid. It reminded me of the pineapple jack ‘o lanterns tiki folks carve at Halloween.

In the souvenir section I stumbled upon this tiny army of probably imported tiki figurines, keychains, bottle openers, frames and mugs. Nothing too notable about them, I was just a bit surprised to see so many.

Then I turned around and saw these stickers from family-owned, Kauai-based company Tiki Toes. This stylized Ku is just one of their neat tiki designs — you can see several more on their web site.

And how could you go to Hawaii without buying some chocolate covered macadamia nuts? Might as well pick the Hawaiian Host box with the big tiki on it.

While not truly tiki, I also liked the Hawaiian-style Hello Kitty stuff they had, this cute coin purse most of all. Aloha, everybody, and Happy Friday!

Related Posts:
Shopping at Aloha from Hanalei
Tahiti Nui Tiki Bar, Hanalei, Kauai
Havaiki Oceanic & Tribal Art, Hanalei

While other restaurants in Kauai capitalize on ocean views, Keoki’s Paradise compensates for its shopping village location by making the grounds look like a tropical oasis, starting with the entrance’s tiki torches, rock waterfall, and benches for relaxing while you wait for your table.

I’d suggest making reservations as this is a popular spot in Poipu, which is on the South Shore of the island where a lot of Kauai’s resorts can be found. (Meanwhile, the North Shore, with “The Descendants” tiki bar Tahiti Nui and the impressive shop Havaiki Oceanic & Tribal Art, is about an hour and change drive.)

On the right is the Bamboo Bar, which offers a separate, somewhat limited menu but with additional cheaper offerings like sandwiches and fish and chips. There’s also live music and happy hour every day from 3 p.m.-5 p.m. with $5 appetizers, $6 tropical cocktails, and $4 draft beers including options from Kona Brewing Company and Hawai’i Nui Brewing.

The restaurant has a lovely open-air setting with multiple levels of seating under soaring pavilion ceilings. The best seats in the house are the four-person booths under the thatched huts on the middle level or on the lower lanai where you can look out on the gardens and lagoon.

Another option if you’d like to save a few bucks — and don’t mind early bird hours — is the Chef’s Sunset Menu (three courses for $20.95) served in the dining room everyday from 4:45 p.m. to 5:45 p.m.

There are several “Island Traditions” tropical drinks designed to be made quickly for the masses. Their version of the Mai Tai ($8.50) consisted of orange, guava, passionfruit, gold rum, and a dark rum float — slight bonus points for serving it in a happy/sad tiki face glass. (If you want to go all out there’s the Poipu Pina presented in a “locally grown” pineapple.)

White dinner rolls and pineapple carrot cinnamon muffins are delivered to the table. And since entrées are served with salad (Caesar, spinach with bacon dressing or Kauai greens with lilikoi vinaigrette) we didn’t find much need to order any appetizers.

If you opt for seafood, you have a few choices of fish (mahi mahi, ono, ahi and opah) prepared in one of four styles: “Keoki’s Style” baked in a garlic, lemon and sweet basil glaze; herb grilled with mango cilantro salsa; Parmesan and herb crusted, sauteed with panko and served with lemon caper beurre blanc (above); and “Firecracker” baked in a spicy Southwestern glaze with black bean avocado relish. Our server had recommended the latter two for our opah ($29.95) and we weren’t disappointed with either.

The carnivores in our group ordered the Koloa ribs with plum barbecue sauce ($24.95) and the teriyaki top sirloin marinated in shoyu and ginger, served with sour cream and chive mashed potatoes ($24.95).

Keoki’s Paradise is part of the TS Restaurants group, which also owns Kimo’s and Leilani’s on Maui, and Duke’s in California and Hawaii, so you’ll find their signature Hula Pie on the menu. I decided to drink my dessert instead by getting the Frozen Mai Tai ($8.50). Made with passionfruit, vanilla ice cream, gold rum and a dark rum float, it was good though it strays even further from what Trader Vic intended. Why even call it a Mai Tai at this point?

Is Keoki’s a tiki bar? No, not really. (There’s bamboo and thatch but no tikis aside from the glassware.) Is it a tourist trap? Yeah, but sometimes that’s part of the fun of going on vacation.

Keoki’s Paradise
Poipu Shopping Village
2360 Kiahuna Plantation Dr.
Koloa, HI 96756
808-742-7534

Related Posts:
Tahiti Nui Tiki Bar, Hanalei
Tiki Carver at the Westin, Princeville
The Ruins of Coco Palms from “Blue Hawaii”

On Kauai there are tons of things you can do on vacation, like riding in a doorless helicopter (highly recommended!), ATVing, hiking, kayaking… and free rum tasting!

In 2009, Koloa Rum Company began bottling their rum and they opened a tasting room and gift shop in Lihue at Kilohana Plantation, a tourist destination that’s home to a railway with vintage trains that tour the farm, Luau Kalamaku, Gaylord’s restaurant and a bunch of boutiques housed in the circa-1936 mansion built by Gaylord Parke Wilcox on his sugar plantation.

As soon as you arrive you should go inside the gift shop (located in its own plantation-style building) and ask the cashier about signing up for the rum tastings. They are held every half hour but there are a limited number of spots for each one and they can fill up quickly.

However, the gift shop has plenty of stuff to occupy your time with browsing. It’s decorated with tiki mugs, small fishing floats and colorful local art — all for sale, of course. It’s clear they are masters of merchandising here, putting their company logo on mini bottle magnets, coffee mugs, shot glasses, flasks, hats, visors and severals styles of t-shirts. Koloa also sells a bunch of products that are made with their rums, like soaps, sea salts and buttered rum coffee, plus sister company Kukui’s tropical fruit jams and jellies. A lot of these goodies can also be found in their online store.

In addition to a few tiki t-shirts, they’ve also designed clothing and shot glasses (with recipes imprinted on them) to correspond to signature cocktails they’ve created, like the “Kukui Mai Tai” with a flaming tiki head, western-themed “Rum Slinger” and “The Rumpress” with a crown and pink and purple to appeal to the ladies.

At first glance I had thought this was just a regular pirate-y shirt, but then I noticed the intricate details in the design, like the tikis for teeth, mermaids for the nose, and surfers riding waves for the eyes.

Next to the gift shop is the tasting room, a separate, light-filled space with a long teak bar (where you can spot a small green tiki) and a display with pictures of the distillery in Kalaheo, which used to be an old warehouse that had been damaged by Hurricane Iniki.

Two shot glasses were doled out to each person at the tasting — one with a bit of their Mai Tai mix. After sipping a little of the white, gold and dark rums from the other glass, we were told to pour the rest into the one with the mix to make a sort of mini Mai Tai. We also tried their spiced rum, which was my favorite of the four.

The white and dark rums each run about $30, so the Mai Tai Special would seem to get you the mix for free. Obviously it’s no traditional Mai Tai — their recipe calls for orange or pineapple juice — but I could see possibly stopping by here from the airport (it’s just a couple miles away) and picking this up to make easy cocktails at the condo. (Apparently the nearby Costco has good deals on their rum, too.) If you wanted to be even more lazy on your vacation, they also sell a ready-to-drink Hawaiian Mai Tai ($29.95) made with their gold rum.

At the tasting they also brought out bites of rum cake with macadamia nuts in a (successful) ploy to get folks to buy it ($7.50 for small, $25.50 for large). We opted for the $18.95 combo of a small cake plus the rum fudge sauce, which costs a whopping $15.50 on its own.

I liked that they had sample bottles (50 ml for $4.95) that were a bit more wallet-friendly (and carry-on friendly), that way I could bring a few home to see how they go with the cocktails I like to make. At least in Southern California, Koloa Rum isn’t too hard to find.

If your state has less enlightened liquor laws, you can try protecting a bottle in your luggage with one of their rum skins ($2.95). However, it might be more convenient to order online — Mel & Rose apparently ships to all states, while Hi-Time Wine Cellars has good shipping rates for California and Arizona.

Koloa Rum Company is open every day for tastings starting at 10 a.m. Closing hours vary depending on the day (usually around 3 p.m.) but on Tuesdays and Fridays they stay open later for all the people going to Luau Kalamaku, with the last tasting at 7:30 p.m. and the gift shop open until 9 p.m.

Koloa Rum Company Tasting Room & Gift Shop
Kilohana Plantation
3-2087 Kaumualii Hwy.
Lihue, HI 96766
808-246-8900

Related Posts:
Tahiti Nui Tiki Bar – Hanalei, HI
Havaiki Oceanic & Tribal Art – Hanalei, HI
Keoki’s Paradise – Koloa, HI

I encountered so many tiki-related things on our trip to Kauai last summer, but I didn’t expect it to continue with the airport. We had awhile to wait before boarding our flight back to LA, so I browsed the Island Marketplace store.

Along with the inevitable stacks of chocolate covered macadamia nuts, they also had a few interesting souvenirs, like rooster cookie cutters in honor of the wild chickens that roam the island. Of course, what really caught my eye were the shirts with tikis — and there were surprisingly quite a few.

My favorite of the styles was probably this one with its stylized tiki, volcano, ferns and flowers in earth tones.

And on the other hand there was this ugly, clownish tiki-style mask on a shirt with a fake advertisement for Freaky Tiki Dark Lager “erupting with pleasure” and “no sacrifice in taste.” Yeesh.

Next to a bunch of tiki figurines, I spotted this girly shirt with pink, purple and turquoise Ku tikis. Not really my style though, I must say.

Anyway, Kauai was completely captivating and I can see why many people call it their favorite of the Hawaiian Islands. Plus, Kauai is about to get even more tiki with April’s opening of Tiki Iniki in Princeville, a new bar with the interior done by Bamboo Ben.

Related Posts:
Tahiti Nui Tiki Bar – Hanalei, HI
Havaiki Oceanic & Tribal Art – Hanalei, HI
Koloa Rum Company Tasting Room – Lihue, HI