Updated August 2018
Latest news, related features
* The Mai-Kai updates bar menu, adds classic ‘lost’ cocktail
* Rums of The Mai-Kai include potent, funky flavors from Guyana and Jamaica
* The Mai-Kai: 10 reasons why we love the historic South Florida restaurant
* The Mai-Kai turns 60 with history presentations, celebration
* New giant carved Tiki added to The Mai-Kai’s outdoor garden
* ‘King Kai’ leads procession of new Tikis into The Mai-Kai
Mai-Kai: History and Mystery of the Iconic Tiki Restaurant
The definitive book on the historic Fort Lauderdale Tiki temple by Tim “Swanky” Glazner was released in September 2016. Get your copy now!
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The Mai-Kai: History, Mystery & Adventure
By Hurricane Hayward and Tim “Swanky” Glazner, February 2012
The Mai-Kai in Fort Lauderdale, now in its 56th year, is widely acclaimed as perhaps the last perfectly preserved mid-century Polynesian restaurant with its incredible vintage decor, acclaimed cocktails, authentic South Seas stage show, vast Asian-inspired menu and an ambience that makes you feel like you’ve been transported back in time.
But not many are aware of The Mai-Kai’s direct links to Tiki’s forefather, from the concept to the cocktails to the decor.
In 1933, a small tropical and nautical themed bar in Hollywood, Calif., called Don the Beachcomber was one of many thousands that opened the day after Prohibition ended. Who would have imagined that former rum-runner Ernest Raymond Beaumont-Gantt, who later changed his name to Donn Beach, had invented a new genre of mixology and a bar/restaurant concept that would be copied across the globe for decades to come.
Of course, we’re talking about the classic Tiki bar and its exotic tropical drinks. At the dawn of the cocktail era, Donn Beach was the undisputed king of tropical mixology. In an era of drinks with two or three ingredients, his secret recipes included up to a dozen, including two or three rums, resulting in drinks the world had never seen before.
Continue reading “Heeeeeeere’s the rich history and lost stories of The Mai-Kai”
