Retro,Classic,Cool

Sadhna is seated in the retro lounge section of Hawaiian Shack’s new Juhu outlet,which will open to public on Monday evening. Her architect daughter,Sheen,has designed the upper level with the dance floor. “Back from London,Sheen will help me with the business while my son Shahen prepares for his launch as a DJ,” she says. The new place may not be as rustic as its predecessor in Bandra’s posh Pali Naka neighbourhood,but efforts to extend the same menu,music and,more importantly,the relaxed,casual vibe are evident.

The 50-something owner (Sadhna refuses to divulge the number) is understandably nostalgic as she overlooks the preparations for the launch. She recounts how within six months of opening the Bandra nightspot — with its universally popular retro music,friendly staff dressed in blue Hawaiian print shirts and Romy pouring free vodka down clients’ throats to mark the night’s end — became one of Mumbai’s most popular among both college students and working professionals.

Shack went on to offer strong competition in the mid-level price range to Club 9,H2O,Boat Club and Independence Cafe in Bandra,none of which exist today. “Shack and Toto’s Garage offered people an alternative to nightclubs. You went to these places for the same reason that you listen retro classics — the comfort of familiarity,” reminisces VJ Cyrus Sahukar,who used to be a regular at Shack. Unlike nightclubs,these places stayed open through the week and despite people’s preference to party at chic-er places like J49 and Enigma in Juhu and Red Light and Prive in Colaba over the weekend,Shack continued to stay in business.

Romy,however,passed away within two years of Shack’s opening,leaving Sadhna to manage the business as well as the responsibility of pouring out the trademark free vodka shots. “By 2005-06,the competition had become tougher. Places like Zenzi,Olive,Busaba and Indigo made popular the relaxed dining scene. Hip-hop was picking up too,triggering more club launches. In simple words,the spending power of Indians was on the rise,” Sadhna says.

Shack stuck to the old format and pricing but added a floor to its ground-level structure,placed a DJ console and gave people space to dance to hip-hop. “But spirits were getting expensive too. So either people went to Janata bar at Pali Naka for their early,inexpensive tipple before heading to Zenzi and the nightclubs or they came to us. But look,none of the nightclubs have lasted beyond six months,” laughs Toto’s manager K Acharya.

Meanwhile,the city was struggling to revive the live music culture with places like Razzberry Rhinoceros hosting rock and jazz bands. With the launch of Blue Frog in 2007,the new wave of live music in Mumbai had officially arrived. Sadhna explains that in order to stay in step with the reigning trend she tried to introduce live music at Shack too “but people wanted the same retro tracks we played,so we scrapped the live programming and instead gave people more space to dance by adding one more level”.

But little has changed inside Hawaiian Shack,which may seem stuck in a time warp. “It is the same since the day I first went there,” laughs VJ Nikhil Chinappa,“but at least it still exists.

All other places of my younger days are gone.”