Visiting the ROCKING JELLYFISH LOUNGE — My First Home Tiki Bar Experience!

As great as the tiki bar scene has developed these days, having a home tiki bar has become a convenient everyday alternative to seeking out tiki experiences…especially when one lives miles and miles away from a true tiki bar. While I hope to have my own home bar in the near future, in all of the years I’ve been digging on tiki, I have never been to anyone’s home tiki bar before. Until now…

One afternoon, completely out of the blue, I got a text from Ray (Tiki With Ray) Wyland. It was a group text with a phone number I didn’t know.

“My friend Stephen wants to have you over to his tiki bar,” he said. “Do you want to come?”

Ray is remarkable in that he seems to know everyone. Someone with a home bar? Not a surprise.

“Okay,” I replied.

“Great. He’ll send you the details later.”

That was it, really; the entire conversation. However, I later did get the details and had a little further communication via text with the host-to-be, Stephen Curran. The gathering was to be at 2 pm on April 8th at his home in Gig Harbor. Swell.

I had heard of Gig Harbor, but had no idea where it was. It is 2 1/2 hours away plus a ferry crossing–quite a drive just to get to a party and back. I decided to make the most of it and worth my while. I went off on a little tiki road trip beforehand. I’d be coming, not from home on Whidbey Island, but from Vancouver, Washington to the south. Gig Harbor is 2 1/2 hours from there as well.

I left on time with a little cushion of 10 minutes or so to spare. What I didn’t count on was the need for bathroom breaks or the folly of tracking down a Costco gas station. Oops. Now I had fallen way behind. How embarrassing, especially when I would be meeting a whole slew of new people.

I pulled into the driveway and went to the door of the house about 40 minutes late. Ray had just texted, wondering what my ETA was. Argh.

I was ushered inside and it was clear everyone had been waiting for my arrival. Ugh. I hastily met Stephen and his wife, Heidi.

In addition to Ray, there was another gentleman, David Gambale, a noted tiki artists from Vancouver, WA.

And when we finally got inside of the bar –WOW! I was very impressed. There was a couple, Kevin Fenton and Geneen Sparks, already inside and imbibing. Good for them.

I only met everyone briefly. I always feel awkward around new people, and here there were five of them at once. And being so late, I was monumentally embarrassed. Instead of initially making small talk, I gave myself a tour of the bar. After all, I’d never been in a home bar before. I was curious as to what Stephen’s bar, the Rocking Jellyfish Lounge, was like.

Stephan had told me that the bar area was 10′ by 20′. He’d made good use of the space. The bar juts out into the middle of the room and can easily accommodate six. Although there is seating in both spaces on either side of the bar, the bar is the focal point and main gathering spot.

And the lighting! That’s one of the things I’ve been worried about for my own upcoming space. I loved the simple-yet-classic glass floats and the de rigueur puffer fish lamp, with accent lights under the bar, over shelves, and discretely tucked away in corners for great effect.

The back half of this home bar, is where Stephen works his mixologist’s magic. That afternoon he was whipping up two cocktails of his own creation, The Stripper’s Mistake (Wardrobe Malfunction) and the PPP (Post Pandemic Paralysis). Both rum-based cocktails contain a mixer I was unfamiliar with, Circus Peanut syrup. (The label on it reads “Stale circus peanuts enriched with real clown favor.”) How fun.

There is an intimate seating area with cheery, tiki-themed pillows on the chairs and the coolest little triangular table.

The wall art on one side seemed to have various tribal influences from around the world, but all worked together in the space.

The opposite wall acts as sort of a bulletin board, featuring tiki event notices, postcards, a picture of Heidi’s father with Jayne Mansfield. etc. I was delighted to see that the piece of mail art I had sent them as a sort of introduction was also posted.

After taking a quick look at the back of the space, I was feeling a little calmer and decided to mingle a bit. Geneen and Kevin had brought four different bottles of rum with them that they had gotten on a recent trip to New Orleans and were graciously pouring tasting flights for everyone. Mmm. Heidi brought in various munchies.

Around then, someone else arrived…later than me (Thank God!). It was a young man named Jason Padden, who had come up from Canby, OR, 30 miles south of Portland.

We munched, drank, and chatted. (Well, I mostly listened. Even though I felt welcome, everyone else knew each other already. I was the newcomer.) There was discussion about Stephen’s trip to the Sepik region of Papua New Guinea, Geneen and Kevin’s New Orleans rum adventure, the upcoming 20th (and allegedly final) Tiki Kon in Portland this summer. Ray was also mentioning the live taping of his “Tiki With Ray” show coming up at the Devil’s Reef in Tacoma.

Although I didn’t get photos of all of it, Stephen did have a swanky-cool collection o’ tiki mugs.

Stephen had told me that he and Heidi had a home renovation going on in 2018. The actual bar was already there and open to a den. Stephen worked with contractors to create the bar, but it had been Heidi’s wise idea to enclose it so it could become its own magical space. The results are pretty darn cool. I can only hope my home tiki space — if it ever happens — is half as nice. I decided to give the front half a good looking over…

The name Rocking Jellyfish Lounge came about because there are two rocking chairs in the front half of the room, while there is a jellyfish hanging in the back half (visible in one of the earlier photos). Ray and I gave the chairs a test drive. Behind Ray, in the photo below, is a primitive piece with skulls on it. Stephan was allowed to bring that back from Papua New Guinea. If I remember correctly, it had something to do with headhunting…

One of the main features of the front half of the bar is a wall with various pictures on it. They are flanked on either side by rare prints by the artist SHAG.

As I was exploring the front half of the bar, another guest showed up. His name was Sean Heath. I believe he lives in Gig Harbor, but had to work, delaying his arrival.

As the party wound down, everyone was getting ready to head off to a 6:30 reservation at Devil’s Reef in Tacoma. I was unaware of those plans and had a ferry to catch — the last ferry of the night — in Port Townsend to get back home.

It had been a pleasure to have been invited. Everyone had been friendly. I wished I had time to get to know them all individually. I’d have loved to have heard more about Kevin and Geneen’s trip to New Orleans. I was so curious about David’s artistic work. I’d hardly gotten to speak with Jason or Sean at all. And I really wish I’d gotten to know Heidi and Stephen more as well. I loved their little piece o’ paradise in their home. It was amazing to see just how enchanting a home tiki bar can be.

Cheers!