Outsider Art Museum, Tiki, and Tiki

 Chicago, IL

We're back!

Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art

Today we hopped on the Blue Line and headed to Intuit, a museum that champions diverse artistic voices and pathways, inviting all to explore the power of outsider art (from their website).  We were able to get in with our NARM pass so we continue to get value from our purchase of that pass.

When we got off the train and came up to street level we got a bit turned around but found our way after a minute.  On our way we walked by what looked like a Tiki Bar we didn't know about.  They seem to be popping up all over the place these days.

This is what we saw when we walked by to go to the museum.  We will have to see what's what because it wasn't on my radar.

Ted Degener has spent more than 50 years road tripping around the US seeking encounters with makers of art environments.  He photographs and sometimes uses video during his encounters.  
Vollis Simpson and his dog visit his field of whirligigs in Lucama, NC

Salvation Mountain Souvenir Sculpture

Leonard Knight perches at the top of the "God is Love" centerpiece of Salvation Mountain outside  of Niland, CA.

Louis Lee points skyward while standing in his environment, The Lee's Oriental Rock Garden in Phoenix, AZ (apparently it is closed now)

Acrylic paint on straw hat & Shoes by L.V. Hull

Found objects applied to cork board by L.V. Hull

"The Rhinestone Cowboy" Ly Bowlin stands inside his Beautiful Holy Jewel Home in McComb, MS

Louis Torres stands in his beer can construction outside of his home in Forth Worth, TX

The back room had art made by different schools as a part of the Teacher Fellowship Program.

Acrylic paint on Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots Toy - L.V. Hull

We spent a bit of time watching videos of some of the artists on display.  We watched a video with L.V. Hull as well as Leonard Knight giving a tour of Salvation Mountain.

After our museum visit we headed back to The L and took a break before our Tiki Outing.

Tiki Tiki and Tiki

After a rest and some food we put on our Tiki clothes and headed back to The L for our Tiki night out.  We were headed to our Bamboo Room Reservation but we had a stop on the way.

4 hours after discovering Tiki Tiki on our way to Intuit we were there!  This Tiki Bar is still in its soft opening phase.

The décor at Tiki Tiki was just okay

It's attached to the original bar that took up this space.  It's an old train car.  The Silver Palm has been closed for a few years and now has reopened with Tiki Tiki attached.

It looked like a lot of "Off The Shelf" Tiki decorations collaged together to sort of hide the old bar.

This was our water cup.  They let us keep it.

We were the only ones there when they opened.

The original bar is cool.  It's a wooden bar that has art deco elements.  It still works pretty well as a tiki bar.

After Tiki Tiki we hopped back on The L and headed to The Main Event, The Bamboo Room within Three Dots and a Dash.  We visited Three Dots last time we were in Chicago and saw the Bamboo Room on the way out and were like, "How do we get in there?"  Turns out it is a sort of Speak Easy inside Bamboo Room.  I took the time to make reservations about a month ago so we were good to go, or so we thought.

We arrived right at our reservation time and walked down the alley.  The doorman saw us walking up in our Tiki Attire and knew where we were heading so he opened the door for us and waived us in.  We got to the Host / Hostess Stand and checked in.  She couldn't find our reservation so I pulled out my phone to show it to her and then saw the reservation was for Three Dots and a Dash instead of The Bamboo Room.  I have no idea how I did this.  My intentions were 100% Bamboo Room.  She asked if we would prefer The Bamboo Room and we said yes so she said she would see what she could do.  She disappeared and came back a few minutes later and said we would have to wait a bit.  We said we were fine with that and stood in the tiny merchandise area while we waited.  We waited about 5 minutes and then were ushered into The Bamboo Room!

Donna looking good in her Tiki Dress on the walk up to Three Dots.  I think they took over the whole alley

Happy to finally be in The Bamboo Room!

The Bamboo Room has a separate menu from Three Dots

The giant smoked mirror next to us makes the whole space fell larger.

I got the Clairvoyant Missionary.

Donna got the Polynesian Spell #2.

They had a cool ice shaver

My drink had a Pineapple Foam.  She also used Liquid Nitrogen to freeze and crush the mint leaves.  It was a delicious drink.

Donna's came in a glass with glass legs. A patron asked the bartender about the glass and she said it wasn't intended for a bar and the life expectancy of this glass was one week.

The 2nd drink came in the same type of glass.  We didn't break either of them.

Oh!  What did we get? 

I got a new hat!  I still have to shape it a bit but it will be perfect for all of our future Tiki Bar visits.

That was it for today.  Just a museum, a tiki bar we didn't know about until today, and a tiki bar we have been wanting to go to since we found out about it last September.  If you missed Lapidary Art Rocks! check it out.