I’m (Coco-)Nutty for COCONUT JOE’S (…and it’s –SHHH!–Not-So-Secret “Secret” Tiki Bar!)

Bakersfield, California has been quickly turning into a mini-tiki mecca of sorts. In 2016, the small, but all-kinds-of-awesome Tiki-Ko opened its doors. Last year, the Ko’s sister bar, The Sinking Ship embarked on its voyage of immersive cocktail adventures. But long before all of that, there was another island oasis in town called Coconut Joe’s. You couldn’t order a Zombie there, or sling back a Mai-Tai. The strongest thing on the menu was beer. No this place wasn’t a tiki bar. It was (and still is) a restaurant. But it’s a restaurant that features its own take on “beach food” and turns an ordinary strip mall into a bit of a tropical paradise–even though it is miles away from the coast.

“Coconut Joe” Coughlin grew up looking at Kodachrome slides of his father’s tour of duty in Hawaii during the Korean War. “I think that heavily influenced me,” he says. When he turned 21, he and a buddy took off to Hawaii and lived near Makaha on Oahu. That was the beginning of the love for the “island vibe” that ultimately led to the creation of Coconut Joe’s Beach Grill restaurant.

Tiki was all but dead back in the 1980s, so opening a tiki-esque, beachcomber-themed restaurant was a risky venture. But before he could open it, he had to build it out–and find the materials to do it with.

“The hunt for bamboo, Lahala matting, tikis, and the like were some of my favorite times,” he says. “I would make calls, follow leads (usually dead-ends), and travel far and wide in search of decor for Coconut Joe’s. The 40-foot outrigger canoe on the ceiling was the culmination of a two-year search and countless calls to the islands.”

When the place finally opened in 1987 in an ordinary strip mall, Coughlin hoped for a decent response. He got that and more as word spread about the cool new eatery where, every day, it was always a beach party.

“Our menu is what I call ‘beach food’,” Coughlin says. “Our fish and chips are legendary.”

Other popular menu items include Kalua pulled-pork sandwiches, beer-battered shrimp tacos, tri-tip, or clam chowder. Heartier appetites may want to take on a BIG Kilowea Burrito or the Huli Huli Burger & Fries. It may be fast-ish food, but the atmosphere is totally relaxed so you can unwind and take your time while you eat.

A few years back, I was planning on doing an article for The Fresno Bee’s lifestyle magazine, Central Valley. I had previously worked for the newspaper in the department that produced the glossy monthly and still occasionally did pieces on topics I wanted to do. Although there was practically no tiki in Fresno, I was still a champion of Faux Polynesian Pop Culture. Why not an article on all of the tiki tidbits throughout the valley?

I sought out local tikiphiles to interview, made tiki treks to various spots around the valley, and was looking to visit some home tiki bars if I could. I wanted to pull all of the central valley tiki I could find out from under a rock and celebrate it. And I definitely wanted to feature Coconut Joe’s, a place I had long been stopping by on my trips to and from Los Angeles.

In the virtually tiki-less void of the central valley, Coconut Joe’s had been a constant since its inception. A visit to Coconut Joe’s got me in the mood for the great tiki hot spots of LA…or was my last tiki hurrah on my way back home on the end of a trip. Lunch at Coconut Joe’s was decidedly different then eating at a typical fast food joint. The fabled (and now long-gone) “shark truck” in the parking lot used to be the welcoming beacon indicating that I had arrived.

I did visit Coconut Joe’s sometime in 2018 for the article. Coconut Joe himself was very personable, engaging and generous with his time. He showed me around the restaurant a bit, noting that most of the art in the place he had done himself. The place is cool. and does have a GILLIGAN’S ISLAND-type feel to it, with its hut-like seating areas. I had heard of a banquet area at the restaurant, but I couldn’t imagine where it was hidden away.

That’s when Joe asked me to follow him. We walked away from the restaurant, down a short alley that ran alongside a nearby movie theater, crossed a street and stopped in front of a small building with several sets of doors. It looked like the kind of place that houses auto body shops or smog checks. What were we doing here?

Joe rolled up one of the doors and I was floored. Instead of some garage bay, I was staring at a classy facade for the Coconut Joe’s Beach Club banquet room. Wow! If you didn’t know it was there, you never would have expected to find it.

“The Beach Club, our banquet hall, was just a continuation of the restaurant theme…but on steroids,” Coughlin says. “Having a bigger hall allowed us to really trick it out. People always go ‘Wow!’ when they enter. They are not expecting the scene that greets them once inside.”

Through the door is a reception desk. Just beyond it is the surprisingly large banquet hall.It was nice and all, I thought…but it was just a hall. It wasn’t that special.

But then Joe directed me to a doorway at the back of the hall. I was not prepared for the awesome secrets hidden just beyond…

Oh my stars! Beyond that portal lies an amazing-looking tiki bar. My jaw literally dropped and I actually gasped when I saw it. This baby was just incredible.

It was the perfect tiki bar, like something out of an old movie. Just as in the restaurant (if not more so), there was very meticulous detail to every aspect of the bar. Little decorative tidbits were mixed in everywhere (including what might be a photo of Coughlin’s father’s squad stationed in Hawaii.). There were bamboo, teak, and hanging lamps everywhere. It was an amazing creation that was obviously a labor of love. I was just so blown away.

I was also amazed about the size of the bar. Coming up to the building the Beach Club is housed in, it didn’t look all that big. But once inside, it was cavernous…and just seemed to go on and on.

There were all of these little alcoves tucked away here and there off of the bar for private conversations (or maybe some cozy canoodling in a corner). Every area had its own unique feel and charm. The place was just surprisingly so expansive.

It was just an awesome place. I’d love to have been able to attend an event there (as, unfortunately, the bar is only open when the space is rented–and you have to supply your own bartender and booze!) That this enchanting place exists–and is virtually hidden away–is fantastic. Well done, Joe.

But the restaurant is what most people know and love. It has now been on the scene and making waves for 35 years.

“I love to have travelers and tikiphiles come by and ask for me,” Coughlin says. “We received a nice resolution from the Governor of Hawaii in recognition of 30 years of Aloha here on the mainland. Our locals have made us a destination restaurant as well as a popular choice to take house-guests visiting our little island of Bakersfield.”

The article I was planning on writing never happened. The newspaper stopped publication of the magazine it was to appear in. While I had already blogged about Tiki-Ko and tiki in Modesto (including the now defunct Minnie’s), I had somehow failed to write about Coconut Joe’s. It got lost somehow along with my plans for that article. It wasn’t until I was invited to be a guest on TIKI WITH RAY‘s show and I was reminiscing about the restaurant and the beautiful bar hidden away in the event space, that I realized my error of not writing about it.

Although it may not be a tiki bar, with Tiki-Ko and The Sinking Ship, Coconut Joe’s completes the tiki triangle of Bakersfield must-see tiki destinations.

Coconut Joe’s Beach Grill
4158 California Avenue
Bakersfield, CA 93309
(661)327-1378
https://coconutjoes.com/