Tiki bar by Nacho
Yesterday was Forbidden Island’s parking lot sale, and boy howdy was it crazy — in a good way. I spent the day working the booth of leftovers from the Forbidden Island build-out (all the FI employees were very busy doing what they do best — taking care of scores of guests). The weather couldn’t have been better (unusual, for Alameda), and I hear that there were about a hundred people lined up around the block to get in when the sale opened at 3pm. Everyone seemed to be having a very good day indeed — from the folks who snagged great tikis, art and vintage clothing, to the vendors who across the board seemed to be having a banner day.
Towering over the proceedings was this tiki bar, created by Nacho. Nacho had a similar massive Moai bar that he brought to Viva Las Vegas three years in a row until it was sold. He created this massive Ku bar to bring to Viva Las Vegas this past year, and it got use again yesterday, when Forbidden Island bartender Jim worked behind it making Mai Tais for the crowd. Pictures really don’t do it justice, it’s hard to get a sense of the scale of the thing — it’s about 18 feet tall, eight feet wide, and 10 feet deep. The inside is nicely decked out, too, thanks to Nacho’s friend Kahaka (the fellow who does those great lamps). There’s a thread on Tiki Central detailing the progress of the construction of this beauteous beast.
I was behind the booth all day, so I didn’t have an opportunity to chat much with folks (though I did a lot of waving and smiling). Hanford was free to roam, and he bought a snazzy lamp and an end table that perfectly matches my half-pretzel rattan living room set. I’ve put my pictures up on Humuhumu’s Life in Photos, and there are more from other folks in a thread on Tiki Central. It went so well, I’m betting there will be more sales like this one at Forbidden Island in the future.
- Alameda: Forbidden Island Parking Lot Bonanza [Humu Kon Tiki]
- Deluxe Custom Lamps by Kahaka [Humu Kon Tiki]
- Nacho’s VLV Ku Tiki Bar (updated 4/20) [Tiki Central]
- Forbidden Island: Sunday Super Sale Sept. 24th! DETAILS PG 3! [Tiki Central]
- Forbidden Island Parking Lot Bonanza [Humuhumu's Life in Photos]
November 22nd, 2006 at 4:45 pm
[...] Bay Area artist Nacho (who was responsible for the massive and awe-inspiring Ku tiki bar seen at Forbidden Island’s sale event and at Viva Las Vegas) has created this stunningly faithful reproduction of the famous Ren Clark Severed Head mug. What is even more impressive is that Nacho has never actually seen the mug in person; he was able to create this sculpt using only photographs of the mug he found online. I think that Nacho’s version is actually an improvement — the shaping of his face is more realistic without losing its style, and has cleaner shaping and details. I can’t wait to see it in mug form — Nacho plans to paint it as true to the original as possible, right down to the pink and red blood drips. Aside from Nacho’s obvious sculpting skills, he’s an experienced painter, specializing in hot rods and classic cars. [...]