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

Bravo Sabu, you solved the Don The Beachcomber Vacation Village mystery - it did exist!

You are right about the West Lafayette location being in Indiana, here is a matchbook I have listing it.

I updated the list on page 1 to reflect these developments.

Here are a few cool photos of a luau being held in Donn Beach's backyard at his house in Encino. I copied them from an outdoor cookbook my friend bought at an antique store. You can see some tikis by the thatched hut.

DC

It's always nice to see this thread wake up again, it would be cool to see a similar one for Trader Vic's and The Steve Crane Kon Tiki's.

So who's going to list the Don's locations in order of appearance? :o

I vote for anyone but me. :lol:

Should we count Hollywood twice? Wasn't the original 1934 bar located across the street from the restaurant that opened in '37?

On 2010-10-27 09:50, TIKIBOSKO wrote:
there was a palmwood (?) Tiki around back and the war club door handle out front; I think the door handle was still there last time I went by.

I would suspect that the tiki and door handle were from the Don The Beachcomber incarnation, but not necessarily so. These photos which I'm linking from Mimi's "Arkiva Tropika" website are pre-Don's and they show the Barefoot Bar was serving Polynesian cocktails. But you're right about a mish-mash of tropical styles. I find many references stating that the Barefoot Bar was a great place for Bellydancing, (including an amusing story by Helena Vlahos, who danced there in the 60s or 70s). So a South Seas-flavored bar with Middle-Eastern entertainment. Sounds intriguing.

DC - I need to find a copy of that outdoor cookbook! Those are great shots the perfect suburban tiki backyard. Do you think the girls are his daughters? I love the look of that brunette in the glasses. Your list of locations on page 1 is getting more precise all the time. I think it's probably the best Don The Beachcomber list on the internet now.

GROG & arriano - Thanks!

On 2010-10-27 14:01, arriano wrote:
Should we count Hollywood twice? Wasn't the original 1934 bar located across the street from the restaurant that opened in '37?

Arriano.

You are correct, there were two locations on McCadden Place, the small original Don's Beachcomber Bar that opened in 1934 and the second larger one that opened across the street in 1937. I updated the list on Page 1 to include both.

On 2010-10-27 12:23, Bora Boris wrote:
So who's going to list the Don's locations in order of appearance? :o

I vote for anyone but me. :lol:

Bora Boris,

Ok I'll do it. I did some research this weekend and reorganized the Don the Beachcomber locations chronologically on page 1 of this thread. I still have some holes to fill, but I got opening dates and locations for 80% of the restaurants.

Some questions that need to be resolved.

1. How many locations were there in Waikiki?

The original Don the Beachcomber located on Kalakaua Avenue was built in 1947 before the International Market Place was even there. This is the thatched hut building located on the street as seen in this photo.

I have three different opening dates on this one. Sven's menu indicates 1946, Donn's biographical website indicates 1947, and the article I posted from the Saturday Evening Post indicates that it was set to open in 1948.

The Don the Beachcomber moved to the International Market Place after it was built sometime in 1957. Here is the postcard showing the original location in the Market Place.

We know that Duke Kahanamoku's moved into the Don The Beachcomber building as seen in this postcard from Mimi Paynes website.

Sooo Don the Beachcomber moved to a second location in the International Market Place. I am assuming this was the final location next to the Beachcomber Hotel. The date I have on this second location is 1971. Here is a matchbook showing this location.

Maybe Philip Roberts can help me out here.

2. What about the Denver Colorado locations.

I have two locations listed, one for Denver at the Cosmopolitan Hotel and another for Aurora. I don't think the Aurora location existed, but Tiki Road Trip II indicates that a Don The Beachcomber moved into the Denver Hilton after Trader Vic's left. I am thinking that this is the second Colorado location rather than Aurora.

Zulu Magoo, any input on this one?

I will continue to update the list on page as data becomes available.

DC

Fantastic research guys. I always love to see the pieces fit together. I saw this image from the Chicago location on ebay awhile back and thought it needed to be saved. Hope I didn't step on the winners toes by posting this. Dated 1954.

"Anyone who has ever seen them is thereafter haunted as if by a feverish dream" Karl Woermann

[ Edited by: uncle trav 2010-11-02 08:57 ]

On 2010-11-01 16:54, Dustycajun wrote:

Some questions that need to be resolved.

1. How many locations were there in Waikiki?

Maybe Phillip Roberts can help me out here.

Aloha,

I count 4, if you include the Colonel's Plantation Restaurant and Dagger Bar... (see below.)

Donn arrives in '46 in Waikiki. Wimberly builds him the 3 grass
shacks that comprise the first location in late '46/early '47 . Star-Bulletin says he's open for lunch in '48. (1) It appeared to be where Liberty House/Macy's is today on Kalakaua Avenue. These razed 2/25/57, as the Market Place opens...

The second one as seen in Mimi's postcard which became Duke Kahamamoku's on the Beach. (2) Donn sells it in '61 to the the Kinau Wilder family. Duke is installed as greeter and Kimo McVay-Wilder's act Don Ho headlines the room.

Donn moves to the other side of the Marketplace (3) where the Quicksilver shop is now and opens. Unclear, if this locale was known as an official "Don The Beachcombers." I think it was, but was also known as the "Colonel's Plantation Restaurant" housing the "Dagger bar" for a time.

Tourist at the International Market Place about 1962. Sign reads "Don the Beachcomber proudly presents Johnny Spenser and the Kona Coasters appearing in the Bora Bora Lounge."

Finally, your matchbook (4) is the shop at the Beachcomber Hotel.

1986 advertisment for New Years party there... from a tourist event's magazine...

Philip Roberts,

Awesome info, thanks so much for helping fill in the blanks on the Waikiki Don the Beachcomber history. I knew you were the right man for the job. With that new information, we are up to 29 separate DTB locations - check Page 1 for the updated list.

Here is an ad I picked up showing the lagoon area of the Waikiki DTB.

What a description, I want to go there.

A nice fernwood Tiki overlooking the bridge.

DC

What a perfect summation of Don's impact on Waikiki: Here he was, bringing all his Hollywood know-how to the Islands, to create what the the visitor expected Hawaii to be like. :)

I was intrigued by his terminology of "Memory" music and tried to dig up something on "Hawaiian Memory Music" and "Memory Music" in general, looked in my Hawaiian dictionary and Hawaiian Music history books, but nothing came up. I guess it was his term for "nostalgic" Hawaiian music, i.e. Hapa Haole.

At the end of his note Don added - Mai Pina Oe Ia'u which translastes to Don't forget me.
This is a good testimonial to his request.

This matchbook reminded me that I had THIS architectural rendering...

...in my archive, from the the vaults of Oceanic Arts, who I believe carved THIS sign for it:

Mongoloid,

Thanks for the translation, that's pretty cool as it relates to this thread.

Bigbro,

Great stuff from your archives, this thread is really heating up with contributions from you, Sabu, Taboo Dan, and Phillip Roberts.

To summarize, we are up to 29 Don the Beachcomber locations, with opening dates and photos, matchbooks, postcards etc. found for 23 of them. Still need some dates, paper or photos for the following locations:

Santa Clara, California
Malibu, California
Denver, Colorado - Hilton Hotel
Houston, Texas
Seattle, Washington
W. Lafayette, Indiana

Here's a photo of Red Skelton at the Hollywood DTB from ebay.

DC

Here's Something interesting, another Don the Beachcomber location that didn't exist!

This movie promo photo was on ebay featuring Anita Ekberg posing in front of a Don the Beachcomber restaurant set from the Martin & Lewis movie Hollywood or Bust.

Anybody notice the restaurant set in the movie?

DC

This was in a scrapbook from a trip to Hawaii Between October 7 & November 23 1952

Thanks bongofury!

That pins the date down on that fernwood tiki to 1952 - a very early date!

DC - love that photo too. Would be interesting to compare that movie-set Don's (assuming it's on a back lot somewhere?) to the real one in Hollywood.

On 2010-11-07 11:09, Dustycajun wrote:
Here's something interesting, another Don the Beachcomber location that didn't exist!

This movie promo photo was on ebay featuring Anita Ekberg posing in front of a Don the Beachcomber restaurant set from the Martin & Lewis movie Hollywood or Bust.

Anybody notice the restaurant set in the movie?

DC

Well, if this was a set, it is damn close to the original Hollywood Beachcomber, as you can see in the exterior from that great souvenir menu that can be viewed in the BOT page 72/73:

It's pretty much the same angle and looks the same including the sign. I think this is how the Hollywood Beachcomber looked in the mid-50s, as opposed to those early Beachcomber B&W photos you posted earlier in this thread. They added an awning during that time: Here it is in the 70s, the double doors are visible, but the bamboo has grown a little :)

This is not to say that your photo is not a set, the studios often built sets matching the original locations. But looking at the floor, it actually looks like a photo backdrop of the real building.

The reference to the Martin & Lewis film is odd:
I checked out "Hollywood or Bust" on U-Tube: They don't get to L.A. until late in the film, and never stop at the Beachcomber, nor does Miss Ekberg ever, or wear that costume. They DO however get real close: Just up the street on Highland Ave, to the (real) Hollywood Bowl (I used to live right in between), and around the corner, to Grauman's Chinese.

So perhaps there was a scene at Don's that got cut out of the final film? Or the still is from another film? But the "native" costume she is wearing in combination with the Don's location points to the fact that it was for a film ABOUT Hollywood. Hmmm.....

In any case, my vote goes towards this being a photo (backdrop) of the real Hollywood Beachcomber. The film, or if there ever was one, remains a mystery.

Bigbro,

I think you are right, that photo sure looks like the real Don the Beachcomber building when compared to the picture from the menu. Thanks for posting that, we now have a couple of nice exterior shots of the second Hollywood location.

The information I listed was directly from the ebay listing, and the seller did not seem to sure about which movie the photo was from.

Here is a photo I found on the internet of the Surfers outside the first Don the Beachcomber location inside the International Market Place in Waikiki.

DC

D.C., I had two thoughts regarding the band photo above:

That group is the other 70s band from Hawaii called The Surfers, not the guys from my Sound of Tiki compilation which posed at The Luau for two of their covers. Just sayin'. And I am wondering why some D.B. locations did not use the Bamboo logo font for their signs. They all did the driftwood board sign in one way or another, but why do the fonts vary? Anyway:

I am still fascinated with the Anita Ekberg photo. The use of the Hollywood Beachcomber as a backdrop is so specific. If this would just be some studio P.R. glamour shot to feature her in a skimpy island girl outfit, they could have used any beach or jungle backdrop. By the 50s, Don's was known as a Hollwood industry hang out. So it does seem to point to some specific story a la "blond bombshell becomes South Seas dancer at Hollywood South Seas supper club", or something like that...probably a comedy. So the Martin & Lewis idea made sense theoretically.

She also acted in the earlier Martin & Lewis vehicle "Artists & Models", but that takes place in New York. She did two or three Exotica themed movies, but again nothing "Hollywood Polynesia"-related. Then there's one that plays in Southern California I'd like to see, cause of the promising-sounding plot:

Screaming Mimi (1958)
In the opening scene set in Southern California, while Virginia Wilson (Anita Ekberg) is taking an outside beach shower, an escaped madman from the sanitarium shows up. He stabs her dog.
After the attack, Virginia is committed to a sanitarium. The psychiatrist falls in love with her. He fakes her death, and they go on the lam. Virginia ends up dancing at the El Madhouse night club run by Gypsy Rose Lee:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xydfNG2E9h4

Well, she IS wearing a skimpy outfit, but it doesn't fit the Beachcomber bill, unfortunately... I admit, this might be veering off the subject too much, but we Tiki archeologists need a break sometimes too! :D And some Red Norvo jazz helps.

And now back to the subject of this so well constructed Don The Beachcomber LOCATIONS thread, please.

*On 2010-11-08 14:27, bigbrotiki wrote:*That group is the other 70s band from Hawaii called The Surfers, not the guys from my Sound of Tiki compilation which posed at The Luau for two of their covers.

Bigbro,

You sure that's not the same band? The website I found the picture on indicated that is was the same Surfers band.

Here is the story:

The Surfers... TOP ROW LEFT TO R: ALAN NALUAI--guitar, JOE STEVENS--drums, CLAYTON NALUAI--bass upright-

BOTTOM ROW LEFT to R: BUDDY NALUAI--organ, RAY PADER--bass guitar, PAT SYLVA--vibes & brass Alan, Clay, Pat & Bernie. aka: The Surfers ! We'll remember that in 1957, brothers Alan & Clayton Naluai were attending Glendale Junior College in Glendale, California. There they befriended two other Hawaiians: percussionist Bernie Ching, and Pat Sylva, a multi-instrumentalist who could hold his own on the piano, vibes, ukulele, or trombone. As all four of them sang as well, the quartet began performing in backyard luau in Southern California, but over the next couple of decades, they made numerous recordings and played top engagements both home in Hawaii and on the mainland! Their trademark 4-part harmony remains unique and memorable! They played at the Latitude 20 in Los Angeles or Hollywood in early 60's--70's. They formed the group THE SURFERS while at college in Glendale, California. There was only 4 of them, Clayton, Alan, Pat and Bernie Ching, when they were in California. When they returned to Hawaii, this was the group. This sign was on the Kalakaua street side of Int'l Market Place, ''DON THE BEACHCOMBER'' and they all played there.Then Kimo McVey took over the place, and changed the name to DUKE'S, and Don Ho opened there. THE SURFERS went into another venue within Int'l Mkt Plc, just can't think of the name of it then. Great picture-

The Tahiti album compared to the pictures.

This link also contains a history of the Surfers and idicates they played at Don the Beachcombers in Hawaii.

http://lpintop.tripod.com/oldiesconnection/id19.html

Now, back to the locations.

DC

[ Edited by: dustycajun 2010-11-08 16:59 ]

Guilty as charged, I did not look close enough! Thanks for that correction! Good example of how a pre-set mind can cloud one's judgement: I knew there was a Hawaiian Surfers combo out there that gets mistaken for them sometimes, and some of these guys looked so...so 70s, and darker, and bearded!
Thanks pal! :)

P.S.: What I really meant to say was THOSE guys are not The Surfers I know... :wink:

[ Edited by: bigbrotiki 2010-11-08 19:35 ]

Found this copy of a Don the Beachcomber menu from the Sahara on the web that confirms the opening dates for the DTBs through 1971.

DC

A good record. Interesting that the Getty Corporation leaves out the Waikiki one, because it was not part of the chain. And ironic that BOTH, Don and Vic, imported their concepts to Hawaii from the mainland, and then BOTH those Waikiki franchises separated from their chains - except Vic keeping the chain, and Don ending up with one place only...but whatta place!

Thought this belongs on this page, another Hollywood Beachcomber likeness (from Tiki Hula's site):

I have no idea what it's good for, a piggy bank maybe? Still, one holy grail for the Beachcomber collector!

1948 Passport invitation to the Sunday, "Feast of the Islands Luau." Original Kalakaua Avenue location.

Now that we have an opening year for most of the locations, can we add a closing year for each? Might be interesting to see when the height of the chain was.

"I am Lono!" -- Hale Ka'a Tiki Lounge

[ Edited by: arriano 2010-11-10 09:00 ]

Bigbro,

That is a cool coin bank thingy. I did a little matchbook forensics to see how the Waikiki location fit into the Don the Beachcomber chain.

The early matchbooks list the various locations without mention of Donn's restaurant in Waikiki.

This goes on all the way up until Marina Del Rey and San Diego which were open in 1970.

Then, when the final Waikiki location opened at the Beachcomber Hotel in 1971, the matchbook style changed and the Waikiki location begins to appear. The Getty Corporation must have been involved with the move to the Beachcomber Hotel.

There was even a DTB corporate matchbook made for the Beachcomber Hotel location.

The Waikiki location also shows up on the matchbook for the Lahaina DTB.

Arriano,

This matchbook shows the Don the Beachcomber locations at their peak. There were 17 restaurants operating under the Don the Beachcomber banner. I would put this in the early 1980's (Vacation Village opened in 1980 and West Lafayette was open in 1982). The restaurants began closing in the mid to late 1980's. My research shows that Santa Barbara lasted until 1989.

A few more photos from Hawaii,

Another shot of the original DTB.

An interior photo showing two Leteeg paintings on the wall that was posted by Sabu some time back.

DC

Interressan! But I wuz talking 'bout the Kalakaua Ave and Int. Marketplace locations started and owned by Don himself after his luvely wife Sunny ousted him from the mainland rights on their places and the brand name.

I hope this clears up the earlier post about the photo from Hollywood or Bust. It is from the movie. It is in the opening credits (thus not a set), but not in the movie. Here are a few shots from a VHS that I have...

Not a great movie but.....the quality is not always in the script. Some great shots of vintage Vegas + lots of local shots (Hidden Valley.....Ventura County.....between Thousand Oaks and Malibu....home of Sophia Loren & many other stars + Lake Sherwood-Tiger Woods....Wayne Gretzgy. The area subs for the East Coast countryside)

On 2010-11-10 16:13, Dustycajun wrote:

DC

DC,
Coolest photo I have seen in (TC) years!

(are TC years like dog years? not sure..)

Thank you Bongo thank you, oh master movie researcher! I can lay one more perplexing Poly pop mystery to rest. That's what I get for fast-forwarding thru it on U-Tube. That whole title sequence is great for LA scenery - and Ekberg costumes!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gD6IOjYVjM

With apologies for distracting from some of the more appealing shots on this great thread, here's another angle on the groovy purple DTB's at the Sahara.

And a closeup. Who's the band - Billy who and the whats? :down:

Back to more familiar decorative territory, here's an 80s shot of the location in the Waikiki Beachcomber hotel.

-Randy

Randy,

Thanks for the post. So those moonscape structures at the Sahara were supposed to be "delightful little huts"!

Here is a photo of the Don the Beachcomber stand at DCA Hollywood and Dine when it was open.

DC

I was inspired to go and dig up these photos of the Palm Springs location that I took in the late 90s, when the building was still sitting there, empty:

For comparison from an earlier page:

Full shot of the entrance:

closer shot of entrance:

closer shot of Tiki column and the cool torch on the roof. Amazingly so, three of those torches (see rendering above, on the right corner) are still on top of the otherwise generically renovated building today:

A word about this style of Tiki column: Because of their inferior design (kinda crude and totem pole-like) they did not interest me, but in retrospect, historically speaking, they seem to be sort of a transition piece between Pre-Tiki and full-fledged Tiki style from the early to the mid-50s, I would call them (bear with me here) "Pre-Tiki Tikis" :)

Don the Beachcomber franchises remained pretty Tiki-less even into the Tiki-era, except for his Cannibal carvings, which Donn took with him to Hawaii. It was not until later that the much more authentic Tahitian/Marquesan Tiki posts and statues were employed, by Trader Vic that is.

In Vic's early places, like the Seattle location, built in 1947 and expanded in the early 50s: Vic used similarly crude columns, here at their gift shop at the Outrigger:

Two of these were for sale at the big Trader Vic's warehouse sale:

Artistically not that amazing, but historically an important step in the evolution of Tiki style.
And in case anybody feels that I am insulting the poor Tiki columns, or being a nit-picker, just take a deep breath, and click on a party thread. This is heavy Tiki archeology talk.

[ Edited by: bigbrotiki 2010-11-12 21:43 ]

Sven,

Great photos, thanks for digging through your archives and finding those. Amazing that the Tiki pole sat there in Palm Springs for so long.

I was looking through my menus and found one from the first Waikiki Don the Beachcombers that had pictures of the three grass huts that Wimberly built for Donn.

The Crossroad Bazaar

The High Talking Chiefs Hut

And the Tahitian Dining Hut, all centered around the Queen's Royal Gardens.

DC

I asked Zulu Magoo to research the Denver Don The Beachcomber locations and boy did he come through with the info!

The Denver Don the Beachcomber history is intertwined with Trader Vic's. Trader Vic's opened as an Outrigger restaurant at the Cosmopolitan Hotel in downtown Denver in 1962, and then changed to the "Trader Vic's" name later as all the Outrigger's did.

Trader Vic's moved from the Cosmopolitan to the Hilton Hotel in 1978. Shortly thereafter, Don the Beachcomber moved into the Cosmo using the Vic's decor as the backdrop. Here is an news clip announcing the news, a later ad and a photo (all courtesy of Zulu).

So now we had Vic's at the Hilton and Don's at the Cosmo. Don decides to raise Vic and opens another restaurant at the Ramada in Aurora in 1981. Here is the ad provided by Zulu.

Phone book showing TWO Don's in Denver.

Denver was quite a Tiki mecca for the early 80's.

The final chapter. Vic's leaves the Hilton hotel in 1985 and Don the Beachcomber moves in 1986 for a few years.

There is more to this story, to be continued.....

DC

(Thanks again to Zulu Magoo for all of the amazing research).

I found a Life magazine article from 1946 with a great photo story on a birthday party hosted by Donn at his Encino Plantation.

The cover photo of the big Luau spread.

The story.

Donn greeting the guests.

The Pig.

Party at the pool.

The celebrities - love the Tarzan look.

The "cake"

One of Donn's early tree-houses.

Probably my favorite photo - Donn welcoming Stephen Crane and a hot date. Talk about a couple of heavyweights.

Donn sure knew how to throw a party!

DC

Nice work DC,

what I've been wondering about that house for a while is how do we find the address to see if it's still standing?

It's worth investigating this claim about Ernie's Place and if maybe it was in the same location as the original Don's Beachcomber Bar. If Ernest Gantt did own Ernie's Place, it should probably be added to the list.

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=6795&forum=10&start=225&234

DC, I had missed that LIFE mag post, what an excellent find! Love the pool photo. And now we know where Crane got his early inspiration for the Luau from: Like everybody else, from Don!

To find out about Ernie's, I would simply ask Art Snyder, he is in the know about Donn Beach history.

Here is a nice press clipping/ rendering about the Marina Del Rey Beachcomber and their expansion plans, from the O.A. archives:

Bigbro,

Thanks for posting that rendering, it's great to see to old UFO buildings.

Here is a link to the story that Zulu Magoo put together for the Denver Trader Vic's connection to Don the Beachcomber. Zulu did a great job putting this together.

http://tikiarchitecture.blogspot.com/

Another interesting twist, the contents of the Don the Beachcomber in the Cosmo Hotel were sold off and ended up in another restaurant in Denver......called the Beachcomber!

DC

I just got one of the Don the Beachcomber menus featuring Don's Leeteg painting on the cover. The seller said it came from the Santa Barbara restaurant, which is pretty cool because that's where I'm from - hell I might have even used that one in the early 80's.

The menu has a nice little story on the history of Don the Beachcomber.

And a write up on Rum.

Now this is interesting....

The Don the Beachcomber in Santa Barbara was located in the upstairs restaurant at the Santa Barbara Inn. Here are some matchbooks posted previously by Tiki Kate.

I used to go the Santa Barbara Don the Beachcomber's when I got out of college from UCSB, but never remembered what the restaurant was before DTB moved in. Well, I saw this menu on ebay that was old stock from the Tahitian restaurants in Pasadena and Studio City that was reused for a restaurant called the Oceania Room located in the Santa Barbara Inn!

The inside of the menu is the same as the Tahitian menu only with the name Oceania added.

During the 1970's and 80's era of expansion, the DTB chain was known for moving into Tiki restaurants that closed (Tonga Lei - Malibu, Trader Vic's - Denver, Trade Winds - Oxnard, etc.). I'm thinking that the DTB chain moved into the Oceania Room at the Santa Barbara Inn. How cool is that!

DC

[ Edited by: Dustycajun 2011-01-08 07:01 ]

And the tradition continues with the Huntington / Sunset Beach Don's moving into the old Sam's Seafood, I've dubbed that procedure "Hermit Crabbing" where a new restaurant moves into the abandoned shell of another. :)

Very interesting observation about the Getty Beachcombers hermit-crabbing prior Polynesian palaces!
Now I wanna know more about the Oceania Room though! Why did it use the Tahitian menu? Was it a short-lived venue? I had never heard of it before. Maybe mentioned in a Santa Barbara Inn brochure, or in some restaurant write-ups?

There was a second Don the Beachcomber in Las Vegas. I was owner of Royal Star at The Venetian (1999-2006)and Noodle Asia (1999-) in The Venetian Hotel when, in 2003 I obtained the American rights to the name "Don the Beachcomber" from the US Patent and Copyright Office. In 2004 we opened our Bar in Royal Star as Don the Beachcomber in 2004, and operated it there until 2006, when we sold the lease. I have a number of pictures of the site, and a lot of our matchbooks, which I will be pleased to give (one per request) to collectors.
Of course after searching high and wide in Las Vegas and Los Angeles for a suitable site for re-opening Don the Beachcomber in the 20th Anniversary of its close in Hollywood, we came across Sam's Seafood in Huntington Beach (which we sometimes locate variously in Huntington Beach, Sunset Beach, and Surf City, USA) and have poured all that we are and have into re-establishing it as the prime tiki palace in America. If you haven't seen it, you should. Even better, if you are in Portland, or St.Louis, or Providence or Atlanta, and have an urge to be the owner of your own Don the Beachcomber and the money to undertake it. Marisol,Ltd. the owner of the rights to the name in the United States (except Hawaii), is ready to consider applicants for licenses of the name. [email protected]

I saw two of these different colored small 3" shell shaped dishes sell on ebay:

The seller didn't have too much information on them but said they were from Don the Beachcomber in Hollywood. Haven't seen these before but they looked pretty cool. Too bad I got outbid :(

Hopefully someone on here won them and they found out more about these dishes or can post some better pic's.

TabooDan

Aloha,

"...A Noggin full of rum and 15 days to pay!"

Gotta love the Beachcomber's style!! This comes courtesy of theHoagy Carmichael archive at Indiana University. Card #4! I suppose it comes from the second Hollywood location when Don had a little more cash! I searched his coorespondence and can't find any mention... A search of Hawaii did pop up an interesting series of letters expressing interest of investing in Kahoolawe on a tourism venture though!

I wonder when and what other Hollywood stars Donn issued these to and how many are out there waiting to be documented? I want one, bad...it's a holy grail to me!

In my book Waikiki Tiki, I documented an autographed 1946 (78 RPM) record album & Christmas present (I own) sent to Phil and Alice Harris from Don and Sunny. That would have been the first Xmas since opening his first Waikiki location...

Waikiki Tiki; Art, History, and Photographs.
Available now from Bess Press Hawaii.

[ Edited by: Phillip Roberts 2011-01-18 16:35 ]

Story about Don the Beachcomber in today's L.A. Times

"I am Lono!" -- Hale Ka'a Tiki Lounge

[ Edited by: Bora Boris - Fixed Link. - 2011-05-01 10:23 ]

HI, I have good news and bad news! The good news is the Don The Beachcomber restaurant space STILL EXISTS in Las Vegas.
The bad news is it is in the Sahara Hotel casino and the Sahara closed today at 2pm and may never reopen!
A friend took some pictures. I will see if I can get him to post them-or ask him if I can post them.
How sad to think that Vintage Tiki still existed in Las Vegas and it was right under our noses! :(

mrsmiley - lets see those pics! Although the Sahara DTB was low on decor, I'd still like to see what it looked like now... what was left after all this time?

I have no new info about the locations, but here are some great pics I came across of the original Waikiki location - dated 1954:

Closeup of entrance:

It looks like DTB and Blair's of Hawaii had a partnership at this time:

Fern tikis and what looks like bird cages:

Outside room:

...and a shot of the International Marketplace:

closeup of the sign:

and finally a shot of the IMP treehouse during Donn's time:

Enjoy,
-Trad'r Bill