When we were wrapping up our Palm Springs trip with a stop at the Caliente Tropics motel, I thought we’d also get to check out The Tropics Restaurant and Conga Room bar, which had re-opened a few months prior in what used to be The Reef.

To our surprise, it was closed (and apparently barely re-opened in the first place). It looked so empty it was kind of creepy, like zombies were going to appear from around that motorcross mural…

The room facing the pool was supposed to be turned into a tiki bar, hence the A-frames, but I guess they weren’t able to secure a liquor license.

These shelves were once filled with tiki mugs, but they’d been cleared out along with other tiki design items by Bosko and Crazy Al.

Apparently some interested parties have checked out the space, but nothing seems to have come from it. Something along the lines of Hula’s Modern Tiki would be perfect.

Anyway, we ended up doing what probably most guests at the Caliente Tropics do when they want a bite to eat, which is go to the coffeeshop at the uber-hipstery Ace Motel next door.

King’s Highway was definitely not a bad place to wind up, though. Their ALT breakfast sandwich ($11) really hit the spot. Mmmm, fried egg, bacon, avocado, tomato and harissa aioli on a brioche bun…