It's tiki time!

It turns out that Bob Mills was dead drunk when he came across art dealer Barney Davis in Honolulu in 1953. By the end of the night, he had purchased eight black velvet paintings with exotic, erotic Polynesian themes for $275 each. When confronted by his wife the next day, Mills told her that he was going to build a Tahitian cocktail lounge in Vancouver and that these paintings were going to grace the walls. Two years later, the Tahitian cocktail lounge opened in Mills’ Waldorf Hotel in east Vancouver.

The Waldorf is a Vancouver landmark, not one that I would ever have dared to step into mind you. Nestled in a more seedy part of the city, I have never known it as the ‘it’ place to go. As of October, that has all changed. A three month renovation of the building has re-launched it as a multi venue concept hotel based on culture, music and alternative entertainment.

A few of us checked it out this past Friday and it was definitely an experience. The best part by far was Mills’ Tiki bar where we ended up for a few post dinner bevies. It has been preserved as is and with its lack of windows, glowing night sky ceiling and 50’s music bellowing from the state-of-the-art speakers Mills also bought back in the day, you are taken to a different world, and at times, completely forget that you are living in 2010. Even the staff have that cool, hipster style that fits in so well with the overall ambiance. If you want to check out something new this weekend, head over to the Waldorf…I think it’s worth a peruse! Just watch out for the needles in the parking lot.