Paradise Found

This downtown Tulsa tiki bar stuns the senses and excites the palate.

- ZACK REEVES

TIKI, WHILE MAYBE the most tragically misunderstood of the cocktail styles, is certainly one of the most complex and awe-inspiring. Tiki culture, an eclectic appropriation that originated with Donn Beach—a speakeasy proprietor whose catchphrase was, “If you can’t get to paradise, I’ll bring it to you”—rose high in the post-Prohibition era and all but died out near the end of the seventies. That makes what’s happening in downtown Tulsa even more of an achievement.

“Whenever I travel, I’m always looking for a tiki bar,” says Noah Bush, one of the co-owners of Saturn Room. “I think every good city needs a tiki bar where people can go and escape. And Tulsa didn’t have one.”