Don the Beachcomber - The Locations (Updated 01-09-20) - Collecting Tiki

M mikehooker Grand Member (3 years) Austin Joined: Jul 17, 2014 Posts: 1211	M mikehooker Posted posted on Wed, Jul 3, 2019 1:56 PM Cool. I'd love to see more variations and observe what changed over time besides drink costs. It's a shame the later menus didn't have exact copyright dates like Hamo's. I assume the 1941 date that appears in so many DtB menus began with that particular front and back cover illustration. Obviously Swanky and mine pre-date 1960 or so, not only logically reasoned by Swanky's price comparison of a Mai Kai menu from '57, but also because the Cuban embargo wasn't yet enacted since the Cuban Daiquiri is still featured on both menus. Another thing to note... The Mai Tai is not on Hamo's 1944 menu. That's the year synonymous with Trader Vic inventing the drink, which soon became a world wide phenomenon. We know by the 50s and 60 when the tiki craze really spread across America, practically every tiki bar had their version of a Mai Tai on the menu. But when did Don's adapt it? Obviously they had it in the mid-late 50s as indicated in Swanky and my menus, but the Mai Tai was 10 years old by then and Vic was already on his third iteration of the cocktail, having obliterated the worlds supply of J. Wray 17 and 15 year. Presumably, Don's would have had a Mai Tai earlier than all the bandwagon hoppers, but can we determine when? Now, to complicate matters further, can we substantiate the 1944 date that we've adapted as the birth of the Mai Tai? I personally have never seen a TV menu from that year with a Mai Tai on it. I BELIEVE I have a menu from '44 that has a Mai KAI, but not a Mai TAI. I don't have any of my books or menus next to me right now to provide empirical evidence, but perhaps the Mai Tai was known for a short while as the Mai Kai, cuz I have seen the Mai Tai on 1947 menus, and I think the Mai Kai disappears at that time. Even if that's not the case, when did it seriously catch on and become the worlds most famous drink? It would be interesting (to me, anyway) to see DtB menus from later in 1944 through about 1950 to figure out the arrival date of the Mai Tai on their menu. EDIT: I just looked at the link to Hamo's menu and the artwork is different than the later ones, which debunks my thought that the 1941 copyright had to do with the artwork. I guess it's just protecting the overall intellectual property of DtB. Possibly something Sunny enacted after taking over operations. [ Edited by: mikehooker 2019-07-03 14:00 ]

Cool. I'd love to see more variations and observe what changed over time besides drink costs. It's a shame the later menus didn't have exact copyright dates like Hamo's. I assume the 1941 date that appears in so many DtB menus began with that particular front and back cover illustration. Obviously Swanky and mine pre-date 1960 or so, not only logically reasoned by Swanky's price comparison of a Mai Kai menu from '57, but also because the Cuban embargo wasn't yet enacted since the Cuban Daiquiri is still featured on both menus.

Another thing to note... The Mai Tai is not on Hamo's 1944 menu. That's the year synonymous with Trader Vic inventing the drink, which soon became a world wide phenomenon. We know by the 50s and 60 when the tiki craze really spread across America, practically every tiki bar had their version of a Mai Tai on the menu. But when did Don's adapt it? Obviously they had it in the mid-late 50s as indicated in Swanky and my menus, but the Mai Tai was 10 years old by then and Vic was already on his third iteration of the cocktail, having obliterated the worlds supply of J. Wray 17 and 15 year. Presumably, Don's would have had a Mai Tai earlier than all the bandwagon hoppers, but can we determine when?

Now, to complicate matters further, can we substantiate the 1944 date that we've adapted as the birth of the Mai Tai? I personally have never seen a TV menu from that year with a Mai Tai on it. I BELIEVE I have a menu from '44 that has a Mai KAI, but not a Mai TAI. I don't have any of my books or menus next to me right now to provide empirical evidence, but perhaps the Mai Tai was known for a short while as the Mai Kai, cuz I have seen the Mai Tai on 1947 menus, and I think the Mai Kai disappears at that time. Even if that's not the case, when did it seriously catch on and become the worlds most famous drink? It would be interesting (to me, anyway) to see DtB menus from later in 1944 through about 1950 to figure out the arrival date of the Mai Tai on their menu.

EDIT: I just looked at the link to Hamo's menu and the artwork is different than the later ones, which debunks my thought that the 1941 copyright had to do with the artwork. I guess it's just protecting the overall intellectual property of DtB. Possibly something Sunny enacted after taking over operations.

[ Edited by: mikehooker 2019-07-03 14:00 ]

Post #796045 by mikehooker on Wed, Jul 3, 2019 1:56 PM