The Chicagoist will be launching later but in the meantime please enjoy our archives.

Chicago: Tiki City?

By Melissa McEwen in Food on Aug 29, 2014 4:40PM

Three Dots & A Dash may have made tiki bars hip again in Chicago, but what some may not know is one of the country’s oldest tiki bars is right outside our city’s borders. Hala Kahiki in River Grove has been open since 1963 and is a mecca for devotees of tiki culture. Learn more about Hala Kahiki in the video below:

Sadly, none of the bars from the tiki heydays of the 60s remain in the city proper. The Palmer House’s Trader Vics, which was the last, closed in 2006 and when it reopened elsewhere it earned the ire of tiki enthusiasts with discounted vodka specials before unceremoniously closing.

But relics of tiki bars long past have been posted online at Arkiva Tropica where you can admire the kitschy decor and peruse the menus of bars like Honolulu Harry's.

Now that tiki-style cocktails are popular again, you can find them and riffs on them at many of our best cocktail bars such as The Violet Hour’s Mai Lai Colada and The Aviary’s Jungle Bird.