World-renowned bartender (Dirty Dick Tiki Bar, Paris)
Petite Bohème October 2
This week on “Talk About Las Vegas With Ira,” I sit down with world-renowned bartender Scotty Schuder, the creative force behind Paris’ legendary Dirty Dick tiki bar. Scotty is bringing his globally celebrated cocktails to Petite Bohème for a one-night-only takeover, Thursday, October 2.
In our conversation, Scotty dives into the rich history of tiki culture—from its 1934 origins with Don the Beachcomber, through its decline, and into today’s vibrant neo-Tiki revival. He shares how his own journey began here in Las Vegas, the city where he first fell in love with tiki, before spending 27 years in Paris and eventually opening Dirty Dick—a bar designed to welcome everyone.
We talk about his deep Las Vegas family roots, his collaboration with Petite Bohème’s Bar Manager Jonah Gibbs, and the magic of tiki: homemade ingredients, fresh juices, premium spirits, and pure escapism. Scotty is joined by Mickey, who helped launch Dirty Dick, as they reveal how recipes are remembered, why tiki resonates so deeply, and what makes this cocktail culture such an unforgettable experience.
Dirty Dick is not your average tiki bar—and it never was. Since 1936, the neon sign above Rue Frochot has read Dirty Dick, first as a Corsican mafia–run sex club in Pigalle’s red-light district and, since 2013, as Paris’s unlikeliest tropical escape. When California-born bartender Scotty Schuder took over the shuttered brothel, he kept the notorious name but transformed the space into a world-class tiki oasis, filled with fresh fruit, house-made syrups, and drinks that echo the golden age of Don the Beachcomber.
Schuder’s path to Pigalle is as unconventional as the bar itself. Raised in the Mojave Desert, he chased music, love, and adventure before landing in Paris, where he decided to stay and raise his son. A fateful visit to Frankie’s Tiki Room in Las Vegas sealed his passion for tiki, convincing him to create a bar built on the same sense of escapism. Today, Dirty Dick is a fixture of Paris’s cocktail scene, a place where locals, travelers, and even rock ’n’ roll royalty gather to lose track of time over Zombies, Piña Coladas, and Schuder’s own creations.
Behind the theatrics, there’s serious craft: ten hours of prep for a single night of service, six varieties of fresh juice, a dozen house syrups, and an obsessive dedication to balance. For Schuder, tiki isn’t kitsch—it’s hospitality at its most generous, designed to transport guests far from Paris’s gray skies, if only for a drink or two.