Tonga Hut

"Tonga Hut, LA’s oldest tiki bar, has been around since Trader Vic and Don the Beachcomber were still fighting over who made the first mai tai. The drinks are still sweet and potent nearly 60 years later. Drinkers who want to get their name on the wall need to drink 78 cocktails from the bar’s Grog Log within a year." - Caroline Pardilla

"Hosting tip: no one is ever going to turn down a tiki bar outing. And while you can really take your pick in Los Angeles, the best choice for visitors is definitely Tonga Hut - the oldest tiki bar still in operation in the city. The place is on the smaller side, but the big booths somehow always fit the whole crew. The crowd is laid-back, they have a fantastic jukebox, and one or two of those tiki drinks will be all you need to get your night started." - brant cox, brett keating

"Tonga Hut is celebrating its 60th anniversary with yearlong events and promotions, including parking lot parties and a big bash in October." - Farley Elliott

"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. 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." - notoriousFIG, Keri Kilgo, jbartlett2000, RandomDesign