“Gordo” says it straight. No need for too many words to put it just right: There’s no place like Tahiti Nui. “It’s the only place like this. The history, the people, everything about it appeals to me,” he said. “It’s
“Gordo” says it straight. No need for too many words to put it just right: There’s no place like Tahiti Nui.
“It’s the only place like this. The history, the people, everything about it appeals to me,” he said. “It’s not trying to be something that it isn’t.”
Gordo, whose real name is Jeff Gordon, has been playing with the band “Gunga LaGunga” at the Hanalei bar for around three years.
When he’s not performing, you can find him there, sipping a beer, talking Nuistory, enjoying life.
He considers Tahiti Nui the place to be on Kauai. Stop in for a visit, have a drink, head to the beach for surfing, stop back again later, listen to music if he’s not playing. You might even spot somebody famous.
It’s casual, easygoing and a bit renowned ever since they shot scenes there with George Clooney for the 2011 movie, “The Descendants.”
“It’s a local bar,” Gordo said. “Tourists come here and they love it, but it’s really a local bar.”
Whether the seats are packed and a band is playing or there’s just a few folks and it’s quiet, there’s something special about Tahiti Nui, says Gordo. You can see it. And what you can’t see, you can sense.
“It’s the best thing ever. We don’t play anywhere else cause I don’t want to play anywhere else,” he said. “It’s awesome. It’s absolutely perfect.”
Tahiti Nui recently marked 50 years on Kauai.
Nanea Marston, general manager, is quick to credit its success to her grandmother, Louise Marston, who started Tahiti Nui in May 1963.
Her late grandmother was Tahiti Nui. She was genuine, welcoming and loving, and people felt that, even upon meeting her for the first time.
“She really just adored people. It was her everything,” Nanea said. “It wasn’t just a job or a place for work. She remembered people 20 years later who would come in. It was incredible.”
Sit down in Tahiti Nui. Look around. What you see is what you get. It is, as Nanea and others point out, real. Very real. There’s a strong sense of history. It’s ingrained in the walls, the ceiling, the floor. It’s in the bar and the tables. It’s in the many pictures on the walls. Nothing pretentious. Nothing fake.
You can almost hear the laughs that have echoed there during the past five decades. You can see the smiles. You can feel the magic of the music.
Countless birthdays, anniversaries, promotions and reunions have been celebrated here. Conversations have unfolded on the outside deck and the inside dining area over burgers and beer. Everything here says relax. Kick back. Talk story. Enjoy life.
So they do.
“There’s not many frills here,” says Nanea as she sits at the bar during a Saturday afternoon. “There’s not a lot of fluff. It’s a real place. The core of all of us is the same. We’re a big family. We genuinely care. I think that’s probably why it’s been able to continue.”
“What makes us different, it’s personality,” she said.
“I enjoy seeing people happy. I enjoy people coming and being able to relax.”
Tahiti Nui has a staff of about 40. It offers what you would find at most restaurants and bars. There’s full lunch and dinner menus. There’s an array of draft and bottled beers and bartenders can mix up any drink. It’s open seven days a week.
Tuesday and Thursday’s tend to be the busier, livelier nights with music filling the air. Mondays tend to be a little on the quiet side, a bit more open, the perfect time to meet old and new friends..
Wednesday’s, the traditional luau is popular.
“That was my grandma’s favorite night of the week,” Nanea said.
Julia Whitford has worked at Tahiti Nui more than 40 years. She started as a cocktail waitress, cooked, managed, tended bar and cleaned, too.
“Just about everything in here but the music part,” she said, laughing. “I danced instead.”
Like Nanea, Whitford said Auntie Louise’s aloha spirit reigns at Tahiti Nui.
“She was that in a big, big way. People loved her. She had that kind of aloha that was just so unique. She loved this place and people loved her.”
And tending bar there isn’t just a job for Whitford. The place is a second home. The memories fill the building and flow out the door. The friends, the family, the music, the laughter. Lots and lots of laughter. It invited passersby to stop in.
Standing behind the bar, Whitford has greeted people from all over the world. She has talked story with thousands. She does her best to treat them all like family. A hello with a smile. A good-bye with a hug.
“This is like home for me. I treat it like home,” she said. “It can be contagious. It’s a way of life. This place has become a part of me and my life.”
“It’s a good thing inside, always.”
Ozzie and Maria Neal of California sat at the bar Saturday, enjoying drinks as they celebrated their 35th anniversary. It was their first visit to Tahiti Nui.
Maria was impressed with the friendliness of everyone. The atmosphere, she said, was welcoming.
“Everyone shared the things we should do and places we should see,” she said.
Another couple, Bruce and Robin Larimer of Las Vegas, pulled into Tahiti Nui after spotting it as they were driving on Kuhio Highway with a planned stop in Hanalei.
They had read somewhere it was the best bar on Kauai, and wanted to check it out. They were not disappointed.
“Very cool,” Bruce said. “Very down-to-earth place. Good spot for a cold beer, that’s for sure”
“There is something about it that makes you want to sit and stay,” Robin added.
Becky Britton was the bartender who served the Neals. In her three years at Tahihi Nui, she’s discovered this: “It’s like a family. You’re not really coming here to do your job. It’s working together as a family.”
Britton came here from Nashville to visit a friend and decided to make it home. Nanea and the rest of the Tahihi Nui staff embraced her with open arms.
“They just took me in,” she said. “It’s been amazing.”
Likewise for Mark Carlberg, a cook who was busy Saturday afternoon preparing chicken and pasta dishes
Sure, it’s fun, the food, the drinks are great at the landmark establishment. But it’s more about the people.
“It has something about it that doesn’t exist in a lot of places — a lot of good teamwork, a lot of good mana, a lot of old energy.”
Nanea Marsten grew up in Tahiti Nui — literally. Grandparents, parents and siblings were always around and looked after her. She learned the trade early, took on all the jobs to operate the business.
“I would sleep in my mom’s guitar case as a baby,” she said, smiling. “It’s part of me. It’s part of the family.”
That energy that permeates the place, she says, can be traced to her grandmother. It runs strong in the family operation. That sense of caring, of tradition, of love, lives on throughout the North Shore.
Her grandmother wouldn’t want it any other way.
“People enjoy being welcomed. People enjoy feeling at home,” Nanea said. “That’s what people get when they come here.”
There have been structural changes over the years, but the spirit of Tahiti Nui remains the same as when the doors first opened. It’s all about family and aloha and music and smiles.
Some things just stay the same. And that’s good.
“Life moves faster nowadays,” Marsten said. “We’ve been able to maintain a lot of things that are important to people.”
