In this week’s episode, we dive into the history of San Diego’s iconic Bali Hai, a restaurant that’s been a cornerstone of the city’s tiki culture for 70 years. Our guests are the family who’s been running the show since the beginning: Larry and Suzie Baumann and their son Tommy who have been pouring more Mai Tais than anyone in town—and making sure you don’t have more than two in one sitting. (For real, they’ll cut you off.)
When we began reminiscing, Troy talked about his lifetime in San Diego, sampling many a Bali Hai concoction, and I waxed poetic about my first post-pregnancy drink—a Mai Tai, of course, from the longtime Shelter Island restaurant. This drink is legendary for being one of the strongest in town. As the Baumanns tell us, its recipe hasn’t changed since the 1950s and still packs a punch.
“We’ve sold over 3 million of these,” Larry says. “We had records going back to the ’60s, but we lost a decade. So, it’s probably even more.” The drink is almost five shots of rum with a splash of syrup, triple sec, and sour mix—no juice, no fluff. It’s a straight-up homage to the old-school tiki cocktails that once ruled the Pacific coast and have made a comeback in recent years.
The Baumanns also dig into Bali Hai’s origins, explaining how Shelter Island was once a sandbar that became a post-World War II playground, with a city mandate requiring all new buildings to adopt Polynesian architecture. “That doesn’t exist anymore, that mandate, but that’s how it started,” Larry explains.
Bali Hai, once a San Diego Magazine cover star in 1956, wasn’t always called as such. It started as Christian’s Hut, a nod to the Mutiny on the Bounty film and its romanticized vision of the South Pacific. But Tom Ham, a savvy accountant who decided taxes weren’t for him, saw an opportunity.
He bought the struggling restaurant and transformed it into Bali Hai, naming it after the famous song from South Pacific. From there, the restaurant took off, riding the wave of tiki culture. Ham’s daughter, Suzie, married Larry, who had just returned to San Diego from Vietnam, and they became the Baumanns. Their son, Tommy, and other family members have since joined the family business.
The Baumanns also share the trials and triumphs of running a family enterprise in an ever-changing industry with ever-crunching economics. Bali Hai has seen it all—from Hollywood types in the ’60s to generations of locals who make it their go-to spot for weddings, celebrations, and endless tales of misbehaving and triumphant celebrating on account of those famous Mai Tais.
“Every day someone comes in and says, ‘I’ve lived here for years and didn’t even know this was here.’ It’s a hidden gem, but also not so hidden,” Tommy says. Bali Hai is a relic of tiki’s golden era and a still-thriving piece of the city’s food and drink scene—a rare gem of a spot that has stayed mostly the same over time and remains iconic and crowded.
Tune in to hear more stories from the Baumanns, and remember, two Mai Tais are the limit. Trust me, that’s all you’ll need.
