A Return to RED RUM with (Tiki With) RAY WYLAND…and Meeting New Tiki People!?!

It’s been a long, cold winter. True, I did run off to California for several weeks to escape the icy weather of the Pacific Northwest. Since returning in mid-February, it’s been nothing but C-O-L-D!! I don’t care what the calendar says, winter here has been dragging on and on and on…

I got a surprise text from TIKI WITH RAY‘s Ray Wyland on a Thursday in late March. He said he was heading up to Bellingham that Saturday. Did I want to go and meet up with him at Red Rum when it opened at 4? I didn’t have to check my social calendar to see that I didn’t have anything going on. Of course I’d go. I’d be glad to.

The forecast for Saturday was gloom, rain, and more gloom. What a surprise. Not. Still, I was game. I hadn’t seen Ray since the one night we met and he had me on his show, but we had stayed in touch. We both loved Red Rum. It is an hour and a half trek to get there for me, but for Ray, it is a full two hours or more! I was really looking forward to going back to the bar–and seeing Ray again.

I headed out early. I wanted to maximize my time in Bellingham and maybe hit some thrift stores. I was looking for stuff for my own (future) home tiki bar. Amazingly, the sun was out. On the way there, you could see rain falling in the distance…but it was always ahead of me. I was never in it.

Right as I was pulling into town, I got a text from Ray. He said he was bringing some friends with him.

Oh… New people… Hmm. I always feel awkward meeting new people. And these would be that elusive breed I’d rarely encountered; tiki people! Except for my friend Eric in Orange County, who I’ve known since the 1990s but rarely saw, I had spent decades of my tiki life alone and isolated. I had been an island unto myself while living in the tiki void that is Clovis, California. Aside from Ray approaching me for his show several months earlier and the providential meeting of my new tiki gal pal Gillian this past February, my little black tiki phone book was pretty empty. What would these new people be like? Would I fit in? And god, how I wish I had worn a better shirt…

As I was pulling up to Red Rum and checking out the parking situation, I spied Ray in the record shop next door. Once parked, I hobbled on into the shop and Ray introduced me around.

There were three friends with him. The first two were Amber and Travis Bay. While getting to know people on a first meeting is difficult, Amber I learned (I think), works in or for a submarine company. (!?! I so need to find out more about that.) Travis is a noted tiki carver, if I understand correctly. (He also makes great Halloween decorations for his home–and I had been marveling on them on Instagram without realizing he was someone Ray knew.)

The third friend I was introduced to was a guy named Grant Shaw. I was already sort of aware of Grant. Apparently he has a huge home tiki bar, and a few weeks earlier Ray had talked to Grant and had gotten me invited to check it out later in April. Awesome! He also had started a new, annual grassroots tiki event called Endless Summer. The first 3-day shindig in 2022 had been a rousing success…and he is busy planning an encore for this summer. Wow! All three of them so impressed me. I felt so out of place among them.

It was soon 4 o’clock and the doors to Red Rum–and all of its tiki goodness–were unlocked. In we went.

No matter how often I go, Red Rum always gives me pause. It’s not the sleekest, most awesomely decked-out bar in the world–but it’s beautiful and there is something about it that is o’ so calming and relaxing as well. I feel very comfortable there.

Although I unfortunately didn’t catch her name, our waitress/bartender came over right as we were sitting and got us hooked up with real menus (instead of just the ones using a QR code). Ray looked up at the waitress and said something about her being in the presence of “tiki royalty.” He started to indicate me (WHAT!?!), so I quickly jumped in and introduced Ray–as in the “Tiki With Ray” Ray. And, my stars… Amber, Travis, and Grant were, in my eyes at least, far more deserving of being called “tiki royalty” than I. Ray, himself, is in a whole other league–beyond mere “tiki royalty.” He’s more like a “tiki legend,” perhaps?

After that moment of awkwardness passed and we’d had a chance to peruse the menu, she returned to take our orders. Ray went with a non-alcoholic Zombie. Grant ordered a Planet of the Apes. Travis opted to try a Three Dots & A Dash, while Amber asked for a Coconaut.

Oooo, I knew I liked Amber. She ordered what I usually start off with. As long as there was already one order of flaming fun (The Coconaut is served on fire!) heading to the table, I chose to try a Captain’s Grog.

The drinks arrived and the conversations continued. I almost wish I had taken notes. They were talking about these people and those people, this guy, that gal…none of which I knew. It was almost mind boggling that there was a whole tiki community here in my own backyard, in the chilly and wet Pacific Northwest.

During all of our conversations, Ray would pull stuff up online–videos about people we were discussing or images advertising events–and he would text me the links or screenshots. In fact, while we were sitting there, unbeknown to me, Ray was texting the Ken Holewczynski, Editor-In-Chief of EXOTICA MODERNE magazine, about me (essentially giving me a foot in the door that I have not taken advantage of…yet). Oh my stars!

Meeting Ray is a gift that keeps on giving. He’s become like my tiki guardian angel. In addition to introducing me to his friends, getting me invited to Grant’s home bar, reaching out to Mr. Holewczynski on my behalf, and adding several other events on my upcoming tiki social calendar, etc, he also gifted me with an embroidered TIKI GOTH CLUB shirt–the only one ever made in this particular shade of green. Wow! He is so very kind.

As the afternoon ticked by, another round of cocktails was consumed. This time I did have my Coconaut! Travis and Grant also had one while Ray had a second virgin Zombie. Amber selected a Chi Chi for round two–which is also one of my go-to drinks. Good choice.

It was getting late and we still all had long drives back to our respective homes. Travis also wasn’t feeling that well. He really couldn’t deal with his Coconaut, so Grant and Amber gleefully helped him finish it off.

Later, as I pulled into the driveway back home, the dark of night was just swallowing up the last remaining bits of daylight. The forecast gloom of the day never materialized. I hadn’t directly been in any rain either. I had been in the company of some very fine and friendly folks. There had been laughs and some good conversation. I’d had a swell afternoon in Red Rum, one of my favorite places in my new home state. Despite the long drive, it had been a pretty great day after all.

Amber, Travis, Grant, and Ray

CHEERS!

Red Rum
113 E. Magnolia Street
Bellingham, WA 98225
(360) 306-3689
redrumtikibar.com