Kon-Tiki, Galveston

Galveston's
Kon-Tiki Club
Bar and Bath

1966 - 2008
various locations

Kon-Tiki was a prominent early bar in Galveston,
that at times had a bath house affiliated with it.

In a July 2016 article in Outsmart Brandon Wolf charted the locations

First, two articles giving some contemporary history...according to the 1983
article, 17th anniversary would mean a founding in 1966, echoed by
the other article...a 19th anniversary in 1985. Unfortunately
there are not many sources, like gay publications from that time
to use to verify this.

below, the Albatross, from Summer 1968 listed the Kon Tiki

Here are the bar ads I found charting some club data,
with the earliest from August 1970, from the Nuntius.
It already apparently was connected to the bath house,
which over the years took on many names, first The Gym Baths.

1970

1972

1975

1976

1977

1979

1980

1981

The Galveston Daily News around this time began running some unusual coverage, which
often featured the Kon Tiki....rare coverage for a gay bar in a city paper. Some thoughts on
that are that, yes, Galveston is a small town and also it appears the Kon Tiki owners had
built up good relationships with the paper, perhaps due to their frequent advertizing.
So there are a number of features, more fluff than news, that you may not expect,
lasting all through the 1980s. Note that the Kon Tiki was the only gay club to get this
coverage...Robert's LaFitte, the island's oldest gay bar, did not.