The Alibi Tiki Lounge Interior
Portland, OR Photo courtesy Adriene Biondo
The glowing neon outside The Alibi Tiki Lounge gives you a pretty good idea that this isn’t an ordinary Portland watering hole. Along Interstate Avenue, its colorful sign invites passing motorists to leave the road behind for a little South Pacific atmosphere. Once you step through the barrel shaped entrance, there’s plenty more to catch your eye.
Inside, bamboo, tiki carvings, and colorful lighting compete for your attention. It’s the kind of place where you notice something different every time you look around. Forget plain walls and bright overhead lights. The Alibi belongs to that wonderful era when restaurant owners understood that the surroundings could be just as memorable as whatever arrived at your table.
The Alibi Tiki Lounge
Portland, OR Photo courtesy Adriene Biondo
Dating to the late 1940s as The Alibi, this longtime stop has held onto the tropical personality that made it a roadside favorite. While so many themed restaurants were remodeled beyond recognition or disappeared altogether, the bamboo and carved faces here still provide an escape from the everyday. On a rainy Portland evening, that sounds like a pretty good arrangement.
UPDATE: The Alibi continues welcoming visitors for tropical drinks, food, and karaoke beneath its familiar neon sign. The atmosphere remains a big part of the attraction, making this one of those places where a quick look at the outside really ought to be followed by a look inside. It’s great to see another colorful roadside survivor keeping its personality. 07-26
Safari Restaurant (Gone)
Sunnyside, WA Photo courtesy Tony Craig
The Safari Restaurant in Sunnyside had the kind of marquee that could make you forget you were looking for lunch. With its towering neon display and animated drummer, this was quite a departure from the usual roadside restaurant sign. The drummer’s right arm even moved through a sequence of neon lights. Apparently, simply spelling out the restaurant’s name wasn’t enough. 11-10
Inside, the Safari carried the theme well beyond the front door. African masks, shields, weapons, and animal skins decorated the restaurant, with some Polynesian touches mixed in. A former customer recalled that many of the decorations came from the owners’ travels. It wasn’t strictly a tiki restaurant, but it offered that same escape from the everyday, right in Washington’s Yakima Valley.
UPDATE: A fire destroyed the original Safari Restaurant in 2011, but its memorable neon sign survived. The sign was later donated to the City of Sunnyside and placed in storage. It’s no longer greeting hungry motorists, but at least this unusual piece of roadside advertising escaped the scrapyard. Here’s hoping that drummer gets another chance to light up. 07-26
