It’s no Trader Vic’s, but Florida’s oldest Tiki bar is as authentic as it gets. The Bahi Hut opened in 1962,1 2 3 next to the Golden Host Motor Hotel—the torches are still burning at both places.
Location of Bahi Hut Cocktail Lounge
The bar claims it began operation in 1954, but don’t ask me where they got that date from—even the adjoining motel didn’t open until 1959.4 5 Pass me a Mai Tai, and I’ll happily overlook the discrepancy.
Sarasota is a hot spot for mid-20th-century Modernist architecture, with several surviving works by Paul Rudolph and other designers of the so-called Sarasota School of Architecture.
It’s fitting that a city trading on its retro reputation still has this little slice of exotica, evoking fond memories of some moonlit night being serenaded by Les Baxter. That actually happened to me in Kansas once (thanks, KPR!).
The sign shown above apparently debuted with the bar’s opening and was restored circa 2018.6 A hui hou.
References
- “Lounge Is Opened”. Sarasota Journal (Sarasota, Florida), January 18, 1962, p. 3. ↩︎
- “Opened On Wednesday”. The News (Sarasota, Florida), January 19, 1962, p. 9. ↩︎
- Powers, Harris. “How’s Business Here These Days?” Sarasota Journal (Sarasota, Florida), January 24, 1962, p. 6. ↩︎
- “1st Units Of Golden Host Motel Will Be Available By Jan. 15”. The Sarasota News (Sarasota, Florida), p. 11. ↩︎
- “Golden Host Motel Plans Open House Today”. Sarasota Herald-Tribune (Sarasota, Florida), February 15, 1959, p. 20. ↩︎
- Wells, Jennifer. “The rebirth of the Bahi Hut”. Sarasota Herald-Tribune (Sarasota, Florida), May 31, 2018, p. E8. ↩︎