Night Pearl: A Tiki Gem
The slogan of the newly-opened Night Pearl tiki bar – “Where local escape and good luck meet” – embodies its creation and history.
The beginnings of Night Pearl sprouted in the bleak days of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, when boredom from quarantine led many people to get extra creative with how they spent their free time.
“I think I was personally inspired to go really deep into tiki drinks and history,” Luke Pigott, manager of Night Pearl, said. “I was working from home, and having something fun and a bit less serious to make for my wife and I around the end of the work day was really nice.”
Luke’s wife quickly became interested in his new hobby. “I’m certain that without the interest becoming something we shared and regularly discussed, it wouldn’t have gone much further than that,” Luke said.
“The process [of creating Night Pearl] originally was very simple,” he continued. “Create a menu, hire some people, and use capital to create a bar. Now, however, that process is evolving each day. … [W]e are also just so young, and figuring out what’s working and what’s not working one week at a time.”
The very existence of Night Pearl singles it out, as it stands as the only tiki bar in Chattanooga.
“There are tiki drinks on menus all over town,” Luke said, “but Night Pearl is fully on board with tiki as an ethos and a genre. We want to be excellent and live tiki, nothing more.”
For the time being, Night Pearl’s mission is to refresh visitors physically and mentally.
“Like tiki bars of the past, the goal was to create an escape from reality so you can leave refreshed,” Luke said. “I think we all need a little of that right now!”
“I really enjoy trying to get folks out of their comfort zone a bit, and encourage them to embrace the fun of it all,” he continued. “We worked really hard to create something timeless, modern, weird, approachable, simple, educational, and most of all, we love it and think you will feel that.”
Night Pearl has another unique twist that helps portray its goal. “The initials for Night Pearl are NP, which we also like to point out could make you think of ‘no problem,’” Luke said.
Keep up with Night Pearl on Instagram, and visit them in-person at the Dwell Hotel!