Living & Style HOME
Salk Institute. After collecting and storing dumpster scores for years, he amassed a shed full of rescued relics that came in handy. Old, solid-wood cubicles became the ceiling. A
tall, metal paper towel dispenser serves as a horizontal fire pit in an outdoor table. A water tank flipped sideways and split down the middle is now a huge grill. An old recovery tank moonlights as a smoker. “This bar top is one-and-[a]-half-inch [thick] solid old-growth teak," he says. “One of the original Salk Lab benches. It’s probably worth thousands. I didn’t have money, so I had to get creative.” Matt is part of a long line of Southern Californians—dating back to the 1930s— who have been captivated by all things tiki, but he and others like him have taken it a step further, building their own private tiki temples full of nautical castoffs, DIY doodads, and Pacific cultural imagery. And booze. Plenty of booze. These backyard bars might be simple affairs with rotting boat regalia and store- bought island adornments, or they might essentially be small cultural heritage museums, full of one-of-a-kind pieces rescued from thrift stores and dumpsters
“It’s an obsession. You can create your own tropical paradise in whatever manner you like. With mine, I wanted a sense of danger. Kinda creepy, yet really fun. I want people to enjoy themselves and be taken away.” –Matt Reese
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