The Tiki Bungalow, Rager Pie and Más have all announced that they are closing. The popular hangouts are all shuttering due to city-mandated brickings.
Rager Pie and Más will have final blowouts over the next couple weeks.
The Tiki Bungalow will not get that chance. Having just closed for repairs following a fire last week, the Tiki team had planned on reopening soon – but on Wednesday they were told they had until Friday to move out all their stuff.
“Sorry to all you guys, and thanks for your support over the last couple of years,” said Tiki co-founder Peter Carey to a WeChat group of Tiki loyalists. (Responses included: “F*CK,” “This sucks ass,” and “I’m gonna go there around 9pm tomorrow. If that means I stand in the alley and drink Tsingtao, well. That’s what it means.”)
Tiki's Phil Tory
Meanwhile, cult favorite Rager Pie is also being forced to close. The pie shop and cafe has already begun the process of selling everything in its (tiny) store, and all sales are 15-percent off until its last official day open, May 1. Stop by this weekend for pies – and the store’s infamous nitro cold brew coffee, JAKA. Said founder Wilson Hailey:
“We want to thank everyone here for being so incredibly awesome. Many memories. Much fun. All the love. This doesn’t mean we are gone forever, but for the foreseeable future, Rager Pie will have to live on in you.”
The Rager crew plan on having a final blowout the night of May 6.
Más will be open through this Sunday, April 30, when the bar will sell off its furniture. Co-founder Ross Harris sent out a heartbreaking message about the closing:
“For five beautiful years, Más was our life. It was much more than a business, as our regulars and close friends all know. But sadly, with all these recent, glorious ‘renovations,’ we've got to move on, even if we are licensed. Beijing is no longer the city Ariel and I fell in love with 10 years ago. We will happily continue on elsewhere.”
Más founders Harris and Ariel Tudela are planning on moving to Cambodia for their next project.
WATCH: Sanlitun Bar Street Gets Steamrolled
All three establishments had garnered cult followings in the hutongs over the past few years. Más was not only popular for its cocktails – the bar also served an important function as a welcoming space for Beijing’s LGBT community.
The Tiki Bungalow had just expanded by taking over the restaurant space next door. Its newly minted ‘Iguana Room’ opened less than two months ago, and featured a beautiful original mural spanning the stretch of the bar. The new room’s opening party was a massive blowout attended by Gulou- and Sanlitun-dwellers alike.
Tiki hopes to reopen down the line, but has no definite plans. According to Carey: “It’s all a bit hectic to think about it right now.”
Rager Pie was known for its creative, goofy traditions. Each Friday, pairs of friends could get a free pie if they were willing to throw cream pies in each other’s faces. And each Halloween, Rager Pie would send people (‘Ragers’) dressed in Ghostbuster costumes throughout the hutongs to spray JAKA into partygoers’ mouths.
READ MORE: Sanlitun's Dirty Bar Street: What's Closed and What's Open
These closings are the latest casualties of city-wide ‘renovation’ efforts. Several bars and restaurants on Xingfucun Zhonglu, Sanlitun ‘Dirty Bar Street’ and Beixinqiao Santiao have already closed.
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