Post #415241 by Dustycajun on Fri, Oct 24, 2008 4:24 PM

I recently acquired a collection of matchbooks from different Don the Beachcombers. I started looking into how many locations there were and what paper items (matchbooks, postcards, menus) were around for each location. Based on the listings contained on the back of the more modern matchbooks and the information I found on the web, I compiled the following list of 35 locations plus two locations that were advertised but never existed. I have added the opening dates and addresses and reorganized them chronologically based on info from Sven's menu and the web.

1. Hollywood, California, 1933
   Original location, 1722 N. McCadden Pl - named Don's Beachcomber Bar.

2. Hollywood, California, May 26, 1937
   1727 N. McCadden Pl located across the street from the original.

3. Chicago, Illinois, May 1, 1940.
   101 E. Walton Place

4. Beachcomber Jr. - After 1941
   745 South Hill Street in downtown Los Angeles.

5. Waikiki, Hawaii - 1947
   Kalakaua Avenue Don called this his Polynesian Village - built by Wimberly.

6. Palm Springs, California - 1953
   1101 N. Palm Canyon Drive

7. Papeete, Tahiti
   Beachcomber Bar and Restaurant in the Les Tropiques Hotel Bungalows

8. Waikiki, Hawaii - 1957-58
   Moved to the new International Market Place which Donn built.

9. Waikiki, Hawaii - 1961
   Sells location (which becomes Dukes) and moves to the other side of International Market Place. The new location
   housed the famous Dagger Bar.

10. Las Vegas, Nevada - 1962
    Sahara Hotel and Casino

11. St. Paul, Minnesota - 1966
    St Paul Hilton

12. Corona Del Mar, California - 1969
    3901 East Coast Highway

13. Marina Del Rey, California - 1970
    13530 Bali Way, one of the round UFO buildings.

14. San Diego, California - 1970
    1590 Harbor Island Drive, Harbor Island

15. Waikiki, Hawaii - 1971?
    Moved to third location within the International Market Place at the Beachcomber Hotel.

16. Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii - early 1970s
    Royal Lahaina Hotel, Kanaapali Beach

17. Dallas, Texas - 1974
    8380 Meadow Rd., one of the round UFO buildings.

18. Oxnard, California - 1976
    2615 Wagon Wheel Road, former Trade Winds restaurant site

19. Santa Clara, California
    Stevens Creek Blvd., one of the round UFO buildings.

20. Houston, Texas
    Gessner and Westheimer

21. Santa Barbara, California - 1977 to 1989 (based on my phone book research)
    The Santa Barbara Inn 435 S. Milpas Street

22. Denver, Colorado - 1978 to 1982 (from Zulu Magoo)
    Cosmopolitan Hotel, 18th and Broadway - moved in after Trader Vic's moved to the Hilton.

23. Malibu, California - After 1977
    22878 Pacific Coast Highway, former Tonga Lei restaurant site.

24. Denver Colorado - 1979
    Elitch Gardens

25. Seattle, Washington - 1979
    2040 Westlake Avenue N on Lake Union, documented in Los Restaurants of Seattle.

26. San Diego, California - 1980 (based on Sabu's ads)
    Vacation Village

27. West Lafayette, Indiana - 1980
    Hilton Inn/Lafayette Inn

28. Aurora, Colorado - 1981 (from Zulu Magoo)
    Ramada Inn the second location in the Denver area.

29. Excelsior, Minnesota - 1982
    Restaurant was called Don the Beachcomber's Mai Tai. Occupied former home of the Mai
    Tai restaurant on Lake Minnetonka

30. Peoria, Illinois - 1983
    Ramada Inn

31. Denver, Colorado - 1986 to 1988(from Zulu Magoo)
    Hilton Hotel, occupied the second Denver location vacated by Trader Vic's.

32. Disneyland California Adventure - 2001
    Added per Tiki Kate's post - now closed

33. Don the Beachcomber Bar, Las Vegas - 2004 to 2006
    Located at the Royal Star in The Venetian Hotel

34. Kailua-Kona, Hawaii - 2005
    Royal Kona Resort 75-5852 Alii Drive

35. Huntington Beach, California - 2009
    16278 PCH, former Sam's Seafood Site

Never Existed

Memphis
Kendall (FL)
Miami
Manila
Singapore

I have also included Donn's Boats and his Encino House.

I think this is a complete list, let me know if there are some that I missed.

Now for the paper - I found something for 12 locations.

Hollywood
An interior postcard, artist rendering and a matchbook. The matchbook shows the original Don caricature.

Chicago
All I have is this old postcard with both Hollywood and Chicago on the front. Found nothing with just "Chicago".

Palm Springs
A matchbook with an illustration of the building.

Las Vegas
The only location to use the stylized beachcomber logo. Exterior and interior (who designed that!) postcards and a matchbook.

St. Paul
Two interior postcards.

Marina Del Rey
One of the famous spaceship buildings

Waikiki
Postcards with exterior courtyard and luau scenes featuring Donn Beach himself.

Dagger Bar
I had to throw in this menu I have from the Dagger Bar in Waikiki in honor of Martin Denny.

Lahaina
A matchbook from the new DTBC at the Royal Lahaina Hotel.

Corona Del Mar
A matchbook with an illustration of the building exterior.

San Diego - Harbor Island

This postcard provided by ZuluMagoo for the location on Harbor Island

1971

These matchbooks state a Vacation Village location that appears to be incorrect and was never really there (as reported by Bosko)

Dallas
An artist rendering (thanks to Sven) of another UFO building and a menu posted on a previous TC thread about the Dallas DTBC.

Kailua-Kona
I have this menu from Don's Mai Tai Bar located next to the DTBC restaurant as well as this picture from another post on TC.

So, we still need representation for the following locations:

San Jose/Santa Clara, California
Malibu, California
Houston, Texas

Anybody got anything on these? Feel free to add more images if you have them.

DC

[ Edited by: Dustycajun 2020-01-09 07:45 ]