Drink Don Draper Style With Docomomo’s Cocktail Club Bar Crawl in Waikīkī

Tommy Bahama, Hideout and Mahina & Sun’s serve up mid-century modern drink specials on September 26.

September 16, 2019

Martha Cheng,

The bar at Mahina & Sun's

Photo courtesy of Surfjack

Before Mad Men and Dwell ignited a widespread frenzy for all things mid-century modern, there was Docomomo. For more than 25 years, the nonprofit has highlighted and helped preserve modern architecture and design.

And this year, its national conference comes to Honolulu, with sessions and tours on how modernism fused with Hawai‘i, and how the recent past can inform how we build for the future in the face of urbanization and climate change.

But if we’re looking to Don Draper for how to live life (questionable advice), all that design is best appreciated with a drink (or three). Hence, the Cocktail Club, a bar crawl on Sept. 26, stopping at Tommy Bahama, Hideout at The Laylow, and Mahina & Sun’s at Surfjack—three of Waikīkī’s best Hawai‘i-modern bars that meld indoor-outdoor gathering spaces. (You can also order these drinks on your own without joining the Cocktail Club—but if you join and hit all three, you’re entered to win a two-night stay at Surfjack’s penthouse.) Each bar will offer a midcentury-modern inspired cocktail. Take a look:

Photo courtesy of Tommy Bahama

Tommy Bahama

“Frozen ’66”

The drink:

From Tommy Bahama’s rooftop sand pit, there’s a view of the Bank of Hawai‘i Waikīkī tower (now occupied by DFS Galleria). The building was designed by George “Pete” Wimberly in 1966 and is easily recognized by the repeating arches in the exterior latticework. Rowena Salanga, events manager at Tommy Bahama, says the motif reminded her of a pineapple’s skin, and hence the Frozen ’66—a mai tai in slushy form—is garnished with a dried pineapple branded with the building’s pattern (not pictured in above photo).

Photo courtesy of The Laylow

Hideout at The Laylow

“The Hawaiian Modern”

The drink:

The Laylow itself was designed with Hawai‘i Modern in mind, from its terracotta breeze blocks to rattan chairs, and the cocktail also blends the old, new and tropical with Kō Hana agricole rum and Old Lahaina silver rum, plus orgeat, coconut and lime.

Mahina & Sun’s

“The Ossipoff,” “The Frank Lloyd Wright,” “The Roy Kelley”

The drinks:

“Our inspiration comes not just from the architectural landscape of the mid-century but its culture. Our goal is to take you back in time to a cocktail party hosted by Frank Sinatra,” says Christian Taibi, Mahina & Sun’s bar consultant. Unlike the other bars, Mahina & Sun’s will be serving three cocktails during the duration of the Docomomo symposium. Some of the drinks carry the aroma of the flowery perfumes of the ’50s: The Ossipoff is misted with orange blossom water and The Frank Lloyd Wright with rose water, while The Roy Kelley is a tiki-style cocktail with Kō Hana rum, mezcal and falernum.

Cocktail Club, Sept. 26, 5:30 to 9:30 p.m., mailchi.mp

For more information on the Docomomo conference and to register (there’s a special kama‘āina rate of $100), visit docomomo-us.org