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Las Vegas is built on escapism. Casinos, neon, gaming and cocktails meant to numb the soul have been doing it for decades. But step behind the heavy wooden doors of the Golden Tiki, and the world’s chaos truly evaporates. You’re hit with the scent of an amusement park water ride before your eyes can adjust to the dark, tropical cave of a foyer. This is escapism in liquid form.
For 10 years, this high-concept Chinatown bar has served as both a sanctuary and a stage for the whimsical, the exotic, and occasionally, the slightly macabre. Animatronic parrots squawk above twinkling lights. Black velvet paintings depict bodacious women and mischievous pirates. And perched among it all, more than 250 custom shrunken heads by artist Terry Barr stare down at patrons.
Guests perch on the hard-to-miss giant clam, snap photos at every turn and sip multi-ingredient tiki concoctions. Rum, fruit, spices, orgeat, falernum, flambéed garnishes—it’s a masterclass in excess, and the bar easily serves more than 4,000 Mai Tais a month.
“Before I started here, I wasn’t really a tiki aficionado. I just knew it was a fun bar,” said Cesilia Berumen, general manager. “When I started working here, I really just dove into the culture, the people. ... We do it in a very respectful way. We’ve got the animatronic birds, live music, DJs. We’re always doing something fun and crazy, which provides a breath of fresh air.”
But the Golden Tiki didn’t just appear out of nowhere. The space was originally Little Macau, a gaming bar, until co-owner Jeffrey Fine and his team transformed it into a Disneyland-inspired tiki escape.
“It was a multi-year build to get to this point,” says Fine. “And then it just kind of never stopped. The teams kept improving. The space, the environment just kept improving.”
This bar is a nod to the early Vegas tiki bars like Aku Aku at the Stardust and Don the Beachcomber at the Sahara, and a true destination for global tiki subculture. Locals, travelers and longtime collectors of tiki glassware mix with first timers, all hunting for the perfect photo, cocktail or story. Some even report paranormal encounters, like the little girls allegedly heard in the women’s bathroom, a tale so perfect it landed the bar on an episode of Ghost Adventures with local paranormal investigator Zak Bagans.
The 10-year celebrations, starting on August 20, lean into every element of this fantastical world. Hula dancers, fire shows, live reggae, Polynesian cuisine brunches with lei greeters, burlesque, and the creation of the world’s largest Zombie cocktail will mark the weeklong party.
Vegas may be dubbed the Ninth Island, but the Golden Tiki has built its own universe. This tropical adult playground doubles as a gateway to boozy enchantment. Whether through an expertly crafted Painkiller, a waterfall, or a shrunken head’s unblinking gaze, the outside world falls away. In its place is escape, spectacle, and the kind of indulgence only a decade of dedicated, slightly weird and wonderfully elaborate imagination can produce.
The Golden Tiki 3939 Spring Mountain Road, 702-222-3196, thegoldentiki.com. Daily, 24/7.
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