Wednesday 24 June 2026
Tiki4

Tiki’s Tide Crests Again

It’s kitschy. It’s exotic. It’s complex. And it’s uniquely American.
Michael Warren /
(Illustration by Noah Hickey/Images via Getty Images and Unsplash)

SAN FRANCISCO—On the sidewalk in front of a nondescript building on an unremarkable street in a nameless neighborhood one recent Tuesday afternoon, a small crowd begins queuing up. The array of aloha shirts and a large bouncer pleasantly chatting with those at the front of the line are the only indications that this is a tiki bar. 

Michael Warren is a politics editor at The Dispatch and is based in Washington, D.C. Prior to joining the company in 2023, he was an on-air reporter at CNN and a senior writer at the Weekly Standard. When Mike is not reporting, writing, editing, and podcasting, he is probably spending time with his wife and three sons.

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