Has Rockford Ever Had A Tiki Bar?

Tiki bars were huge a few decades ago, was there ever one in the Rockford area?

There's been an "obituary" floating around the internet since Thursday that's made me regret the fact that I've never been to Montana. That's never happened to me before. Nothing against Montana, it sounds beautiful, I just don't WANT to go there.

Then I saw this story.

Three things I'm a huge fan of are small divey bars, cover music, and sweet old ladies. The Sip n Dip in Great Falls, Montana had all three. Piano Pat was a legend in the dive bar world. GQ named Sip n Dip the #1 bar to take a flight to in 2013.

The bar sounds incredible, tiki drinks, live mermaids swimming behind the bar, and Pat tickling the ivories for everyone's entertainment. And now all I want to do is hang out at a tiki bar and the closest one I know of is at least 90 minutes away, the Hala Kahiki Lounge just east of O'Hare Airport in River Grove.

It's a great place if you're ever in the area, just make sure you have a designated driver because the drinks can be STRONG there. They also don't sell food but there is a food truck parked outside most nights.

I've been to most of the dive bars in the area at least once in the last 20 years, (I like to treat them like Pokemon and collect 'em all) but don't remember anything themed like this.

Isn't about time for that trend to come back? Maybe that's what we can all work on after the pandemic. Getting at least one tiki bar in every city. It's not like we have anything else to focus on.