Link<\/a>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s a great business, but it\u2019s a busy place, and it\u2019s a grind,\u201d Ritson said in a phone interview.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The buyer is another Long Beach local with a wealth of knowledge in the hospitality industry: Kevin Larsen. Until recently, Larsen worked for Republic National Distributing Company, one of the biggest wholesale alcohol distributors in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When the company left California for Texas, Larsen decided to leave his job as vice president of restaurant sales and look to purchase a local restaurant or bar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After 19 years on the corporate side of wine and spirits distribution, Larsen was looking to spend more time in Long Beach and less time \u201con airplanes and in hotels,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He was the first person Ritson approached about selling The Bamboo Club, and the deal was soon struck over a beer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cLuckily for me, I don’t have to come in and, you know, do a whole new reset,\u201d Larsen said. \u201cI don\u2019t plan on changing a thing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The purchase price was $950,000, according to a legal notice. <\/p>\n\n\n\nThe Bamboo Club in Long Beach, Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2025. Photo by Thomas R. Cordova.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nIn a phone interview, Larsen said he wants The Bamboo Club \u201cto be exactly the same,\u201d under his ownership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The bar has filled a special place in the market since pioneering tiki bar Don the Beachcomber closed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With decor by renowned tiki designer Ben \u201cBamboo Ben\u201d Bassham and distinctive dishes like its fried chicken sandwich, brined in Thai tea and served with coconut chili slaw, The Bamboo Club quickly earned a stellar reputation.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It survived the pandemic because of its ability to pivot to serving food and drinks to-go, Ritson said. These days, patrons can once again drink at the horseshoe-shaped bar designed by Bassham.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Currently, The Bamboo Club is redecorated as The Tinsel Club, complete with 10 holiday-themed drinks and \u201c6,000 tons of tinsel,\u201d Ritson said. It\u2019s a holiday tradition that started years ago and has continued each December with drinks like the \u201cRum Pum Pum Pum,\u201d \u201cSnow Place Like Home\u201d and \u201cThe Griswald.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Larsen said he wants to continue those traditions, but he was also drawn to the tiki bar concept because of its flexibility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cTiki can be rock and roll, it can be a little bit of hip hop, it can be family-oriented, it can be rockabilly, it can be a little bit of everything,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ritson knows that selling a business comes with inherent tension. He said he wanted to leave The Bamboo Club in the hands of someone who wouldn\u2019t betray his loyal customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThey\u2019re part of the whole heartbeat of the business, and it\u2019s always been a major consideration before I\u2019d sell a business that the community didn\u2019t get their place stolen from them,\u201d Ritson said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The buyer promises he wants everything \u201cto be exactly the same\u201d under his ownership.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23521,"featured_media":87841,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","inline_featured_image":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_":"","_author_alias":"","cap-aim":"","cap-description":"","cap-display_name":"","cap-first_name":"","cap-jabber":"","cap-last_name":"","cap-linked_account":"","cap-newspack_employer":"","cap-newspack_job_title":"","cap-newspack_phone_number":"","cap-newspack_role":"","cap-user_email":"","cap-user_login":"","cap-website":"","cap-yahooim":"","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_email_html":"","newspack_email_type":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_hide_page_title":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_show_share_buttons":"","newspack_sponsor_byline_prefix":"","newspack_sponsor_disclaimer_override":"","newspack_sponsor_flag_override":"","newspack_sponsor_only_direct":"","newspack_sponsor_url":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[32365],"tags":[],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[32323],"class_list":["post-87840","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-eat","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87840","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23521"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=87840"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87840\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":87847,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87840\/revisions\/87847"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/87841"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87840"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87840"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87840"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=87840"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=87840"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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