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All the United States California Los Angeles The Tonga Hut
Gastro Obscura

The Tonga Hut

Though tiki culture has gone in and out of fashion, the Tonga Hut has always been flying the flag in Los Angeles.

Los Angeles, California

Added By
James T. Bartlett
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The drooling bastard of the Tonga Hut in North Hollywood.   Sam Howzit/CC BY 2.0
  jbartlett2000 / Atlas Obscura User
Tonga Hut   Cbl62/CC BY-SA 3.0
2015_06_19_Tonga Hut Tiki bar   Keri Kilgo / Atlas Obscura User
2018_12_09_Tonga Hut Tiki bar   Keri Kilgo / Atlas Obscura User
2018_12_21_Tonga Hut Tiki bar   Keri Kilgo / Atlas Obscura User
  jbartlett2000 / Atlas Obscura User
Drink up!   jbartlett2000 / Atlas Obscura User
Big Mo   jbartlett2000 / Atlas Obscura User
  jbartlett2000 / Atlas Obscura User
A nearly finished “Grog Log”   jbartlett2000 / Atlas Obscura User
The Drolling Bastards   jbartlett2000 / Atlas Obscura User
2018_12_09_Tonga Hut Tiki bar   Keri Kilgo / Atlas Obscura User
  notoriousFIG / Atlas Obscura User
2012_09_02_Tonga Hut Tiki bar (Nutty Chi Chi drink)   Keri Kilgo / Atlas Obscura User
2012_12_02_Tonga Hut Tiki bar   Keri Kilgo / Atlas Obscura User
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About

Tiki culture began in California when Ernest Gannt opened Don the Beachcomber in Hollywood in 1934, and many copycats like Trader Vic’s soon followed in its wake. By the 1950s and 1960s, they were hot all over America, and brothers Ace and Ed Libby opened the Tonga Hut in North Hollywood.

Hardcore fans of “exotica” music and kitschy décor, wooden canoes, fountains, rattan furniture, sultry grass-skirted women, and “tikis” like the 10-foot-high, grim-faced “Big Mo” who stands by the door here had found a home, even if fruity rum-based cocktails like the Mai Tai, Painkiller and Zombie sometimes went out of favor.

Jeff Berry changed the game in 1998 when he wrote Beachbum Berry's Grog Log of tropical tipples, and in 2009 the Tonga Hut instituted the “Order of The Drooling Bastard,” a challenge to drink all 78 cocktails from the Log in one calendar year.

Winning Bastards get $1 off every drink for life and their tiki names (like Bora Bora Dog, Morticia Baddams, Swifty, Tiki TV and Dr. G) on the wall. There’s one too for Dottie, who came six days a week for nearly 20 years (despite being a brandy drinker) and is said to haunt her regular seat.

Related Tags

Shops Tiki Bars Food Alcohol Kitsch

Know Before You Go

There's a sister Tonga Hut in Palm Springs too, but either way Beachcomber’s Gold (French and Italian vermouth, bitters, Pernod, and light rum) is the one drink every potential Bastard hates; most hold their nose while chugging it down in one long gulp.

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jbartlett2000

Edited By

RandomDesign, Meg, notoriousFIG, Keri Kilgo

  • RandomDesign
  • Meg
  • notoriousFIG
  • Keri Kilgo

Published

October 11, 2017

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The Tonga Hut
12808 Victory Blvd
Los Angeles, California
United States
34.186429, -118.412171
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