This is a selection of favorite writings and images from the now-defunct TBRP,
which was very active from 1995 to 2003, and sort of half-active from 2003 to 2007.
Now it is gone.

The Tiki Bar Review Pages site was replaced by the book Tiki Road Trip (in 2003)
-  the second edition of which (2007) is available NOW.
This is an archive - these pages are no longer updated!
Some information will be out of date.  Some of this writing goes back to 1995.
See Tiki Road Trip (2007 edition) for the most up-to-date information.

back to main page

Surfside 7
Ft. Collins, Colorado

Full review and history of Surfside 7
is available in my Tiki Road Trip

UPDATE: Surfside 7 has been SERIOUSLY de-Tikifed since 1999.

October, 1999:

Surfside Seven was a cool surprise.  I was in Ft. Collins, Colorado, ready to do a gig with (guess who) RCR, and since it was a nice day, and I didn’t have to be at load-in until 2:00, I decided to take a walk through the downtown area.

At 1:50, I realized I was running late, and I had to haul ass back to the gig to start my work day.  Running across the street, I saw two Moai painted on a surfboard, and knew that I had to stop and see what this was all about, no matter what the cost - especially since the Moai in question were almost identical to the two Moai I have tattooed on my right arm.
 

I walked into Surfside 7 long enough to confirm that there were Tikis present, and that they’d be open after the RCR show was over.
 

Later that night, I rounded up a posse of band members and crew guys, and we walked over to Surfside 7.  We ended up staying there for about three hours, getting absolutely hammered.  We also had the whole place practically to ourselves... until a few more fellas from the tour showed up, and made the chaos complete.
 

Surfside 7 is a fairly new bar, but the owner is also the owner of a vintage store in Denver, so he has a pretty good line on top notch vintage stuff to fill his bar with.  And that he did.  One wall sports a row of old surfboards covered with cool pictures; above them are a row of very cool old skateboards and a bunch o’ Tiki Mugs.  The bar itself is bambooified (bamboozled?), and decorated with a dozen great Tiki Masks.  Along one wall is a row of booths, each of them sporting an amazingly rare vintage Hawaiian shirt (under Plexiglas) above it.  The vintage drum kit above the door was not for sale; that didn’t stop Danny (RCR’s drummer) from making offers though.
 

In another corner by a front window sits some great bamboo furniture with the original tropical-themed upholstery intact, and some cool lamps and tables.  Very cozy.  The jukebox (vintage, of course) does not have a lot of stuff in it, but what it does have covers a wide array of (good) musical idioms (punk, old soul, rockabilly, exotica, and some surf, or course).  Thumbs up on the juke.
 

So, from a decor point of view, Surfside 7 is not precisely a Tiki Bar, but it should appeal to all fans of retro 1950’s / early1960’s ‘stuff’, with an emphasis on Tikis and other Hawaiiana.
 




Now, being out with the boys, I wasn’t really able to order big pink fruity drinks while they were all drinking whiskey and beer.  And to be honest, I’m a beer guy when I’m drinking somewhere other than at a Tiki Bar (yeah, I actually go to ‘regular’ bars sometimes).  So the first few rounds were beer.  It turns out that the owner is also a fan of RCR, so we were treated pretty well.
 

After I started talking to the bartender and our very cool waitress for a while, they talked me into the local version of a Scorpion - or was it a Zombie? - which had a limit of ONE firmly enforced.  But, there’s nothing to say that you can’t have that one powerful Zombie before, after, or during a half-dozen other drinks.  Already half in the bag, this sucker made things downright blurry for your intrepid reporter.  A few more beers and shots followed, and sometime shortly thereafter, I decided that I needed a picture of the custom painted toilet seat in the kane (men’s) room.

Okay, I mean really, how many Tiki Bars have custom painted toilet seats?

Gotta love it.

Back on my bar stool, the other guys were falling off of theirs, so we headed back to our bunks on the tour bus, and all woke up miserable.  Not so miserable that we couldn’t make it to Aloha Gloria’s in Pueblo the following night... but that’s another story.
 

..



I have maintained this web site since 1995.
I write and create photos because I enjoy it.
People tell me they enjoy reading this site, so I keep it going.    
However...
This site has cost me a lot of hours, and a lot of money.
And, unlike my writing for magazines or books, there is no
publisher sending me checks for the work I do on this site.
So...
 If you find my writing to be entertaining, valuable, insightful,
or if you'd rather just attempt to bribe me to go away, 
please consider a donation, in any amount.
(perhaps the same amount as a magazine subscription or a book).
Just click the button below, and it'll take you to PayPal.
Search Now:
In Association with Amazon.com

"Tiki Bar Review Pages", "Tiki Road Trip", "Tydirium Multimedia",    
"Left Orbit Temple",  "Chester Century", "Big Stone Head",  "TiPSY
Factor", "Johnny Clash", "Tiki TV",  and  "Blue Harvest Magazine"
are trademarks of James A. Teitelbaum
All material on this website is © Copyright 1994-2007 by James A. Teitelbaum. All rights reserved.  Unauthorized use is a violation of applicable laws.