Otto's Shrunken Head in New York, NY

Otto's Shrunken Head is a tiki-meets-punk bar on Manhattan's Lower East Side. Live music acts play regularly in the back room. The music styles range from rock to metal to exotica, and it's often loud. The front entry of the bar has cases filled with tiki mugs and knick-knacks. Over the bar is a row of pufferfish lamps. There are carvings by Wayne Coombs and Crazy Al. Drinks are served in mugs that are available for sale, including a custom shrunken head mug.

In late 2010 a fire damaged the back room of Otto's, but repairs were able to be made swiftly.

Comments

altmusicman

November 8, 2019, 9:57 AM

Agree with other comments that this place is not "pure" tiki and that the punk-meets-tiki description is accurate, but I actually really like that. In my opinion, tiki was always a mish-mash of influences and cultures, so I appreciate it when people play around with it. With Otto's they really play off the campy and counter-cultural elements of tiki and blend it with those same elements of punk, rockabilly, goth, etc. Plus I have increasingly become more and more punk as I age and so this is perfect for me. I've never had a bad night here and will go back ever time I go to NYC. Goth night is a good time, just FYI.

Phischy

Phischy has visited Otto's Shrunken Head.

July 14, 2019, 3:20 PM

Can't rate them as I arrived at opening and the bartender was just getting set up. Was served promptly and she was very chatty and pleasant. I'd def return.

The Nerdy Monkey

The Nerdy Monkey has visited Otto's Shrunken Head.

July 1, 2019, 9:55 PM

I don�t feel like this place is a tiki bar, I think the description above �tiki meets punk� is kind of accurate. They had a live band in the back playing while I was there, but they BLASTED music in the front of the bar in a sad, terrible attempt to drown out the music from the band in the back. Made no sense and just made for an loud annoying time. I didn�t have a drink because I was annoyed by this place pretty much as soon as I walked in. I think this place is great, but not if you�re expecting a tiki bar. Had I known this place was going to be like this, I could have enjoyed myself here (aside from the drowning out music). The patrons were not neither tiki people or punk, they were like generic, just left college kind of people if that makes any sense. They were the kind of people I would expect at any new, no personality kind of bar for hipster college kids 🤷🏻‍♀️ I wouldn�t be against coming back here, however it�s NYC, plenty of other great places to go.

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