Don the Beachcomber - Sahara

Check out this postcard now on ebay from Don the Beachcomber at the Sahara.

http://i5.ebayimg.com/05/i/000/d7/3b/1b48_1.JPG

Kind of wild, but I don't see anything that even remotely looks tiki. I'll never complain about the Trader Vic's in Vegas again.

Is there more pictures and info about this place? I couldn't find any.

Aloha!
Complain all you want. The Sahara DTB had no relationship to the restaurants that Donn actually designed and put in place himself. This "slick Polynesian" buildout was a part of the consequences of Donn's divorce settlement with his first wife, who took all the rights to DTB on the Mainland while Donn took the rights to Oceania. His first Hawaii location was back to the Hollywood theme that was always his, and stayed his until his death.
Most Tiki Central readers have seen, I am sure, pictures of the lovely building at the Royal Lahaina in Maui, which was built in the 1960's by Amfac Hotels when they managed the Royal Lahaina, and who Donn had authorized to use his name, and approved the design. (Amfac took the name with them when they left, and it was only recently when Pleasant Hawaiian Holidays, who own the Royay Lahaina, put the name on it again without authorization.) In any case, Donn WAS true to his original Tiki concept throughout his life, though sometimes his first ex-wife was not when she granted franchises.
Mahalo,
Art Snyder, Managing Partner
Marisol,ltd, dba
Don the Beachcomber
(PS: Drop in to the new Don the Beachcomber on PCH in Huntington Beach, SURF CITY, USA!
No "slick Polynesian" for us! Back to Hollywood and Waikiki!

Another vintage postcard

Zeta, here is the perplexing interior:

I have always wondered how the heck they (and who!?) came up with that design! A menu I have lists the opening date as 1962, but this place looks more like a late 60s/ early 70s "Hollywood Regency" Eleganza version of Art Nouveaux...

The whole concept for this particular franchise seems like a conscious attempt to "update" the classic Beachcomber/Bamboo style: The typeface on the building is very modern, the Beachcomber figure himself also, and totally different than any icon used for him before (and after!):

The card's text reads: "..in a setting of modern Cantonese splendor." I have a hard time detecting anything Cantonese OR Polynese!

The whole style reminds me of the Tropics Motel's Congo Room: It's purple too, and just as far removed from the theme:

I used to own a giant size postcard of that Sahara Beachcomber interior that shows its weird style even better, can someone please post that?

In the late 60s, when the Getty Corporation took over the chain and built the Marina Del Rey and Dallas UFOS, the interiors went back to the full-fledged Oceanic Arts style.

[ Edited by: bigbrotiki 2009-04-08 15:06 ]

this one?

I think the one I had did not have any type on it. But this one is great too, it shows the weird palm leaf gazebos, and the floor to ceiling purpleness of the place better. :)

With all of that purple...Are you sure this wasn't "The Tiki bar formally known as Don The Beachcomber"?
Thank, you....Thank you....I'l be here all year... :P

I have two of these; I think Bongo Fury also has a few.

For those of you into mid-century Googie, I highly recommend visiting the Neon Museum and touring the Boneyard on your next Vegas trip; the original Sahara signage is there, along with many other other cool signs: http://www.neonmuseum.org/tours.html

If they have neon signs that say "Tiki Bar", I'm in!

https://www.ebay.com/itm/DON-BEACHCOMBER-signed-guestbook-autographs-1964-1973-actors-music-NASA-politics/223560670648?hash=item340d411db8:g:8QkAAOSwNy9dDVpf