A couple weeks after Vegas, Mr. Baseball and I went down to San Diego for Memorial Day weekend, kicking off part two of the summer Baseball/Tiki Road Trip.
After a truly epic traffic jam, we finally checked in to the hotel and then headed in the direction of Shelter Island, which was blessedly not too far from the Gaslamp District. We were on our way to our dinner destination, Bali Hai, but we had a little extra time so we stopped to check out Trader Mort’s Liquor Store.
Mr. Baseball stayed in the car and listened to the baseball game while I went to explore and take pics. You can’t really see in any of my photos, but surrounding the store were tiki torches that lit up at night.
While I do dig the tiki design here, I also love the idea of giving personality to otherwise generic/utilitarian places (like a liquor store).
The guy working here was super nice about me sneaking around the store, and even suggested I check out the upstairs. There wasn’t too much up there, but you could look down through the A-frame opening at the boat model in the previous shot.
I liked the toucan and all the bamboo, and also this intense tiki outside. He’s iconic enough that Munktiki produced a mug with his likeness that catches a pretty penny on eBay.
Trader Mort’s Liquor
2904 Shelter Island Dr.
San Diego, CA 92106
619-224-3771
I buy my Lemon Hart and St James here!
An overlooked point of interest: The masks on the exterior roof beams are all recent additions inthe Witco style by legendary Escondido artist, Bosko.
http://www.tikibosko.com/