Posted By Tom W. on Aug 12, 2015 in Beach Bars, Things That Don't Suck | 1 comment

Tagged: beach bar, enchanted tiki lounge, home beach bar, personal beach bar, tiki bar

The line between tiki bars and beach bars can often get blurred, especially after a few cocktails, as both types of bars offer the same kind of escape we’re all searching for in a tropical atmosphere with a bunch of rum drinks floating around. In my “We Built Our Own Beach Bar” series, it disappears altogether. Tiki bars have been featured in this series before, most notably the one from Ruben and Crystal Rios. This week I feature another oversized Texas tiki bar, this one located just up the road from Ruben and Crystal and owned by Brian Martin. Its theme is more of a 40s and 50s style and even has its own music station featuring tunes from Martin Denny, Lex Baxter, Arthur Lyman and more. Built in August of last year, Brian will be throwing one of his biggest parties at the tiki bar as he will be hosting the Texas Tikiphiles Takeover Luau August 29th (you can access their group page on Facebook here).

Apparently the old adage about everything being bigger in Texas also applies to their tiki bars as well, especially in Houston.

“10 years ago my wife and I moved from CA to TX, the 27 years before that I spent as much time as I could, reading, and collecting everything possible that was Disneyland; including being there of course! I was always drawn to my favorite land, Adventureland and wanted to bring (as best as I could) a piece of that park to my new home near Houston. So when my wife said I could build a Palapa I called Gulf Coast Palapas and BAM; The Enchanted Tiki Lounge was started. Themed from Adventureland in CA, everything here has meaning and everything has its place for a reason. The front poles on the palapa are carvings of Walt Disney’s first concept idea for the Enchanted Tiki Room’s tiki poles, there are hidden Mickeys throughout, each palm tree represents a land in the park and the lounge is filled with many beautiful tropical flowers, the main deck is painted Golden Gate Bridge red, a mosaic shark guards the pools entrance and the inside of the palapa is lined with tiki mugs from my excursions to tiki bars with my father, nautical pieces and SO MANY more things. Many details people may never notice, but if those details weren’t there they would know something was missing.

Beside the relaxation that my family and I get from the ETL is the satisfaction of knowing how much our friends love being here to relax with us, so much to the point that they want to be a part of it! Recently, my friend Randy added on a deck to the palapa adding 2x the gathering space and adding a pier look to the back of the palapa making it look like a bar at the end of a pier. Jay from Aloha Texas Tiki put his heart and soul into carving me an incredible pele tiki with a fire top, and someone bought the lounge a whole pig roaster to add to our annual luaus. All in all this is a themed tiki lounge, a place to relax, a place where it’s easy to forget about the worries of the day, kick off your flip flops, listen to kool vibes and water fountains and have your favorite drink by or in the water. This place even has its own web page www.EnchantedTikiLounge.com.”

Do you have a personal beach bar/tiki bar that you would like featured on the blog? If so, send me a private message through the Facebook page, tag me (#beachbarbums) on Instagram or send me an email at info at beachbarbums dot com. It doesn’t have to be as big as Ruben’s or Brian’s – as long as it represents your own personal escape to and island south of St. Somewhere, that’s all that matters to me.