Tiki Bar Magic
By Marie Speed
Jun 25, 2009 - 03:57 PM
It’s been more than a year since the Briny Breezes deal fell through and once gain, I am reminded how glad I am that it did. The other night on my neighborhood (which is next door to Briny Breezes) was one of the magical forays into The Tiki Bar which has been discovered by a new generation of 20-somethings on my street.
The Tiki Bar has been around for years although I’m not sure how old it really is. You only go there on special moonless nights in the dead of summer. Late at night. In fact, it may not even exist in the daytime for all we know.
Lovingly built and decorated by the multi-talented Admiral (he’s another story entirely) it is a professional-grade thatched bar in a modest backyard in the surf neighborhood in the county pocket next to Briny Breezes. It is completely stocked and appointed with all the signs and patches and tiki paraphernalia we have come to know and love. Including a 1940s pinup girl.
There are two guys who live there who understand that the Tiki Bar is now a neighborhood phenomenon—like the next-door neighbor’s swimming pool or trampoline when you were a kid. You cannot deny the Tiki Bar to people who live at the beach; it serves as our spiritual center, our Stonehenge, our Machu Picchu.
So when Governor Crist—he who is all things to all people—signed SB 360 on June 1, I couldn’t help but think of the Tiki Hut and all the other quirky parts of our little beach community. And Briny Breezes—and how hard we fought to have that massive development killed. This bill, which basically kills the concurrency requirement for big developments (meaning developers do not need to do things like build or improve roads) was intended to halt sprawl but ended up being a developer’s best friend. It defines as “urban” as just about any community in the state. It eliminates regional and state reviews of Developments of Regional Impact (DRI). It says, “Let the building begin.”
Had this bill been in effect when we were fighting the giant towers proposed for Briny, we might well have lost the battle. Once again, it is only a matter of time before someone figures out how to pave over this barrier island and throw up a condo canyon.
That is why magical nights at the Tiki Hut are especially magical this summer. I have no idea how many we have left.
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Reader Comments:
I'll drink to that!
A toast to the Tiki Bar. May the Forces of Evil get lost on the way to her door.
The Tiki Bar is the best!! Great people, good times, a real throwback to the good ole days!!!! Long Live John Kiggins!