Bamboo Ben - Episode Thirty

Welcome back to another episode of The Tiki Talk Show. Ryley and Ellie sat down with the tiki revival’s most renowned bar builder, Bamboo Ben.

As the grandson of the Original Beachcomber, Eli Hedley, tiki was in Ben’s blood. Having always been artistic, Ben took his experience building custom furniture and started building tiki bars for backyard parties in the 90s. Living in Southern California, these front yard leftovers after last night’s ragers were quickly procured by interested passersby. Ben realized there was a market for the faux Polynesian and fell back in love with the tiki memories of his childhood. These party bars slowly turned into custom requests throughout Southern California and eventually beyond, thanks to Tiki Central. Slowly, Bamboo Ben became known as the tiki bar guy and was hired to refurbish or renovate run-down tiki bars of old. These efforts culminated in the first Tiki Oasis and the rescue and revival of the Caliente Tropics. Restoration wasn’t the only business Ben was in. As the tiki fever started ramping up, there was a market for opening new tiki bars, and a need for someone to design and decorate them. Ben has had a widely successful career of commercial and private home bars, and in 2017, he brought his son, Blake, into the family business, officially making it Bamboo Ben & Son.

You can find Bamboo Ben on Instagram @bamboo_ben_ or on Facebook at Bamboo Ben. If you’re interested in having this legend design your home or commercial bar space, reach out on social media or on his email at bambooben@aol.com

Thank you for joining us on this episode. We have a few more episodes planned for this summer series leading up to Tiki Oasis. Ryley will be giving a seminar at Tiki Oasis all about the history of the tiki revival. Tickets are still available at tikioasis.com/friday-seminars-26 for his Friday seminar from 1:30-2:30. We raffled off 2 standard tickets for Tiki Oasis over on Instagram, and the winner is announced at the end of this video. It’ll be announced on Instagram tomorrow. If you’re interested in being interviewed, send us an email at thetikitalkshow@gmail.com. Click the link below to see our link tree and find us on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts.

It’s been good talking to you, and until next time…

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-Ryley and Ellie