Every December, The Bamboo Club morphs its purely tiki skin into something decidedly more… jinglier. Enter Tinsel Club, the retro-holiday takeover that has become one of Long Beach’s most beloved—and delightfully kitschy—annual traditions.
What began as a small, playful nod to mid-century Christmas nostalgia has evolved into a full-blown seasonal spectacle: dripping with tinsel, drenched in colored lights, and buzzing with the kind of energy only a bamboo-lined bar serving spiked eggnog and rum-heavy winter warmers can conjure.
But what makes Tinsel Club genuinely special isn’t just the décor. It’s the full-commitment transformation of a neighborhood institution: each year expanding on decorations, each year offering a thoroughly distinct and expansive cocktail menu that birthed out of bartender Dustin Rodriguez simply serving his buttered rum—included each year to this day—for patrons one holiday long ago.
Bamboo Club’s Tinsel Club has officially entered the stratosphere of ‘Long Beach tradition.’
The Bamboo Club already thrives on personality, from its punk-tiki hybrid identity to its community-driven programming. And Tinsel Club amplifies that ethos. Special holiday cocktails lean hard into the bar’s tropical roots—think riffs on hot buttered rum, candy-cane tinged tropical drinks, and coconut-forward concoctions—while the kitchen embraces the season with playful festive specials. DJs, themed pop-ups, and ugly sweater nights pack the calendar, turning the bar into a cozy December refuge for those who want to celebrate the holidays without surrendering to saccharine, mall-culture cheer.
Now in its annual return, Tinsel Club has become less of a gimmick and more of a marker on the Long Beach holiday map. It’s something engraved into the locals’ event culture as much as Miracle at The Ordinarie or the boat parade or the lighting of the giant tree downtown…
A look into the cocktails for Tinsel Club 2025…
And the cocktails are where it’s at. Definitively tiki-centric—but with a few surprises this year, including a tequila drink and a downright booze-forward take on an old-fashioned.
The Griswald: Jefferson’s Bourbon | clove | black walnut bitters
Rum Rum As Fast As You Can: Pussers Rum | Trader Vic’s macadamia nut liqueur | Licor 43 | coconut | ginger | lemon | nutmeg | cinnamon
Yukon Cornelius: 9North Carta Blanca Rum | Crème de Menthe | coconut | pineapple | lemon
Sugar Plum Disco: Cream cheese–washed Dead of Night Gin | Empirical The Plum I Suppose | falernum | lemon | guava | orgeat
Salsa Traviesa: Altos Blanco Tequila | Italicus | cranberry | lime | agave | angostura bitters | cinnamon
Rum Pum Pum Pum: 9North Carta Blanca Rum | Real McCoy 5yr Rum | Italicus | coconut | tamarind | lemon | Aztec chocolate bitters | fire water bitters
Tiki Tio’s Hot Buttered Rum: Lemon Hart 151 | black pepper | molasses butter | whipped cream
The Sticky Bandits: Screwball Peanut Butter Whiskey | banana liqueur | Copalli Cacao Rum | coconut | lemon | cinnamon
Snow Place Like Home: Glenlivet Jamaican Cask | hibiscus-infused Copalli White Rum | Lillet Rosé | lemon | pineapple | cinnamon | champagne
Mount Crumpit Toddy: Mount Gay Navy Strength Rum | lemon | green apple | fennel syrup
The Bamboo Club is located at 3522 E. Anaheim St.
