Getting our Tiki fix in Palm Springs, CA
Getting all Tiki in Palm Springs, CA
One of the post-Quartzsite highlights, for us, is a visit to Palm Springs, California and three places highlight that destination; The Palm Springs/Joshua Tree KOA, Shields Date Farm and The Reef tiki bar. To be quite honest, after the desert desolation that is camping out among the cacti and coyote I was quite looking forward to the hustle and bustle of the civilized world as well. Imagine a land where there’s a Costco and a Walmart that actually have inventory?
Tiki Time - the Reef Bar in Palm Springs
We love tiki bars and tiki culture and Palm Springs is a great place to find both. Tiki culture dates back to the 1930s in Palm Springs but there was really a revival in the ‘60s and that’s when the Caliente Tropics Resort Hotel came to be - 1964 to be specific. In those days it was simply known as the Tropics Hotel and Oceanic Arts in Whittier, California was tapped for a truckload of tiki treasures which brand the property.
In addition to Sambos (coffee shop), The Reef (cocktail lounge), the Congo Room (steakhouse), and the Cellar (basement cocktail lounge for 100), the central building also housed the main lobby.
According to lore, the Tropics rocked-and-rolled during the ’60s and ’70s. It was frequented by members of the Rat Pack and various professional baseball teams. (Palms Springs was a major training venue.) Elvis and Nancy Sinatra liked to hang out at the pool, and Victor Mature had “his” table in the Congo Room. The tropics was to the south end of Palm Springs, what the Racquet Club had been to the north end – a celebrity hangout.
The tiki trend, like so many others, didn’t stay and the Tropics fell into less favorable status. It had fallen so far, in fact, it was taken off local tourism marketing resources. Oops.
Fortunately new owners Casey Jones and Charlie Robles saw the treasure in the Tiki and spent a couple million bucks bringing back the luster of the place along with a pool, thatched cabanas and more. As part of that the Reef also got a big makeover as it overlooks that pool and that’s where we come in.
Visiting The Reef in Palm Springs
I didn’t tell our fellow travelers where we were going but did shower them with my Tiki Time musical playlist on the way over. Since this is technically the first day of our Route 66 adventure kinda sorta I thought a themed start would be epically appropriate.
The Reef was The Reef as it always is. They have all the usual drinks you might expect from a tiki bar with a large selection. I got the classic Mai Tai which was very good, Peggy and Bill got The Painkiller and Kate got a Piña Colada.
Food was also decent though not exceptional but was delivered exceptionally expediently. As kids splashed in the adjacent pool our unenthusiastic server brought our choices at a speed normally reserved for fast food. The place wasn’t nearly as busy as it had been when I had visited in the past and I wonder if the lack of patrons caused the lack of enthusiasm or if our server’s personality just got the night off.
The drinks were quite good as you would hope from such a place. My Kalua Pork was okay, Peggy liked her shrimp and it was a fun trip overall.
Palm Springs/Joshua Tree KOA
We have written about this area and the Palm Springs/Joshua Tree KOA in the past. There was also the year we luxuriated at the Coachella Lakes Resort after Quartzsite. No need to rehash those but you a virtually visit them in the links I provided.
Our next stop on this adventure is going to be Malibu Creek State Park which is reasonably close to Santa Monica and the start of Route 66. We have a small caravan of campers who are joining us and, perhaps we’ll cross paths with you along the way if things work out well.
Here’s Justin Scarred’s video about this place:
