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

On 2011-05-16 20:53, mrsmiley wrote:
How sad to think that Vintage Tiki still existed in Las Vegas and it was right under our noses! :(

There couldn't have been much of anything Tiki left in there. All the Tikis that were at the entrance and the Tiki poles along the walls were returned to Oceanic Arts more than 15 years ago when the place closed. What might have still been there could have been those weird 70s looking leaf gazebo roofs, but with their purple color scheme they were an un-Polynesian oddity to begin with.

Aloha,

Great stuff Trader Bill. The cages contained mynah birds.

Phillip,

I agree, great new photos from Trad'r Bill. For those that don't know what Blair's was:

Here is a brochure that sold on ebay recently.

They made a variety of wood products

Including Tikis of different sizes.

DC

Cool Blair's brochure DC, thanks for posting that.

Phillip, thanks for reminding me about the mynah bird... this must have been where they kept the famous bird that was trained to blurt out: "Give me a beer, stupid." Classic!

Aloha,

There were quite a few mynah birds kept by the Beachcomber... You can see some of them in Waikiki Tiki around 33* pages in with Governor Bill Quinn (opposite the tourist carrying the Tiki).

*And, yes I know there are no page numbers except on the ones with text. A fact my 6 year old nephew reminds me constantly. It's an ART BOOK.

This one's for DC (sorry about the wait, brutha!):
More recent 35mm transparency finds...
Don the Beachcomber, Santa Barbara!

Notice the salt & pepper shakers on the table and the OA decorations.

Check out the guy on the right of the buffet!

Yeah, a large part of the shot is in silhouette, but it provides photographic proof that the location was indeed at the Santa Barbara Inn, right across from the water.

Okole Maluna!

On 2011-06-03 12:49, JONPAUL wrote:
This one's for DC (sorry about the wait, brutha!):
More recent 35mm transparency finds...
Don the Beachcomber, Santa Barbara!

Notice the salt & pepper shakers on the table and the OA decorations.

Check out the guy on the right of the buffet!

Yeah, a large part of the shot is in silhouette, but it provides photographic proof that the location was indeed at the Santa Barbara Inn, right across from the water.

Okole Maluna!

Jon Paul,

I am floored, finally photos of the DTB in Santa Barbara. The place looks awesome, I really can't remember it looking that good when I went there o so many years ago, but it was always for happy hour and you know how that goes with the memory.

Thanks for finding and posting those great photos.

DC

[ Edited by: Dustycajun 2011-06-03 15:14 ]

On 2011-06-02 08:56, Dustycajun wrote:
Phillip,

I agree, great new photos from Trad'r Bill. For those that don't know what Blair's was:

Here is a brochure that sold on ebay recently.

They made a variety of wood products

Including Tikis of different sizes.

DC

Didn't Paul Fujimoto carve for Blair's also?!

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=31906&forum=5&hilite=paul fujimoto blair

Yes, Bigbro....no real tiki left, but still recognizable as the Dons in the Sahara.

On 2011-05-30 22:33, bigbrotiki wrote:

On 2011-05-16 20:53, mrsmiley wrote:
How sad to think that Vintage Tiki still existed in Las Vegas and it was right under our noses! :(

There couldn't have been much of anything Tiki left in there. All the Tikis that were at the entrance and the Tiki poles along the walls were returned to Oceanic Arts more than 15 years ago when the place closed. What might have still been there could have been those weird 70s looking leaf gazebo roofs, but with their purple color scheme they were an un-Polynesian oddity to begin with.

Here are some shots I took today at the Liquidation sale at the Sahara Casino;

Not sure if this bar was original to Don's;

But these outcroppings could have been something nice! I assume the thatch was added by the Mexican Restaurant that was there after Don's closed...

Nice ceiling doo-dad;

A bad shot of the waterfall at the entrance;

Ok, it may be a little sad when you realise that I yelled "BINGO!" when I found these items! One was about 30 years old and survived in the back of a drawer!

The photocopy is from January 3, 1987 and is about 3 pages long. The rums are on the last page.

The handwritten invoice is from December 2, 1981 as is for;

4 qt Dark rum
5 qt Myers Rum
1 Qt Lemon Hart Rum
2 Qt Lite (light) Rum
1 Qt Vodka
1 Martell
1 Coruvoisier
1 Kahlua
4 Pure Almond Ex.
6 Orange "Curacacao"
2 Triple Sec
6 Orgeat

I think I drank one of those at Frankies on Friday night--yikes!
1 Qt

Some Vegas Dates; 1962 Don the Beachcomber at the Sahara opens.
Donn Beach passed away in 1989, the remaining Beachcomber chain folded one year later. My receipt I found behind a drawer is from January 3, 1987 so it was open then. So it closed between 1987 and 1990. Too bad...I visited Vegas then and would have gone had I known it was there!

just wanna show this monkeypod painting once more...thats Sunny as the main character...

it Is for sale..luv to sell it to the NEW Dons.,great place to dine & drink

Been talking to one of Don's closest friends recently. I may have read, but didn't quite recall about the riverboat. It was Don's intention to make it a floating gambling hall, etc. When the international food critics meeting or some such gathering was occuring, he had the riverboat parked on the runway so they all saw it when they came in. And the huricane came and destroyed it...

You might add #22 as Bora Bora, which Don and my friend opened together in California it seems...

And didn't the first place start on the day after Prohibition just like Hinky Dinks on December 5th or 6th in 1933?

Jon Paul - those photos from the Santa Barbara location are outstanding!

On 2011-07-07 09:29, Swanky wrote:
You might add #22 as Bora Bora, which Don and my friend opened together in California it seems...

Swanky - Is your friend named Bernard Gordon? If so, that would make it the Bora Bora in Encino:

:up: (from a 1963 newspaper article)

Here's another long-buried post on the Bora Bora from 2002:
http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=1880&forum=1&7

Sabu, nice to see you back. So, Don lived in Encino and the Bora Bora was located in Encino.

Swanky's story is getting interesting, need some more info.

DC

Ah, the Bora Bora in the valley! Mythic place of great Tiki splendor ...that unfortunately did not live long. It would be good to find out more about it.

And I am glad DC experienced closure in his quest for some S.B. Don's interiors! :)

Great post Dustycajun!!!
Love the photos.

Aloha,

Would you like to hear the VOICE of Don the Beachcomber? Then you need to be at Don the Beachcomber 9/4/11...

At an estate sale last weekend, I picked up a vintage photo folder from the Sahara in Las Vegas that appears to date from the 1970s. On the back were views of the various rooms, including the House of Lords, Casbar Lounge, and this still life from Don The Beachcomber's, which seems to indicate some kind of rock waterfall feature in the background:

On 2011-06-02 08:56, Dustycajun wrote:
Phillip,

I agree, great new photos from Trad'r Bill. For those that don't know what Blair's was:

Here is a brochure that sold on ebay recently.

DC

Those Tikis similar to the one I found on Cape Cod a couple of weeks ago.

On 2011-09-04 00:23, Sabu The Coconut Boy wrote:
At an estate sale last weekend, I picked up a vintage photo folder from the Sahara in Las Vegas that appears to date from the 1970s. On the back were views of.. this still life from Don The Beachcomber's, which seems to indicate some kind of rock waterfall feature in the background:

Sabu,

Missed this one on the page turnover. Great find, this is by far the Tiki-ist image to come from the Sahara ephemera.

DC

On 2011-07-09 05:17, bigbrotiki wrote:
Ah, the Bora Bora in the valley! Mythic place of great Tiki splendor ...that unfortunately did not live long. It would be good to find out more about it.

And I am glad DC experienced closure in his quest for some S.B. Don's interiors! :)

Turns out it was not the Bora Bora in Encino, but one in SF...

OK Swanky, quit teasing. What's up with the Don the Beachcomber connection to the Bora Bora in San Francisco. It was located at the site of the former Skipper Kent's as discussed here:

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=38045&forum=2&hilite=bora bora

That would be an interesting twist!

DC

Donn taking over the Skipper Kent's location?? I would love to know more - please do share Swanky.

I found these cool shots of the original location - sorry about the watermarks:

Enjoy!
-Trad'r Bill

Telling as I hear it. Eventually I will get the whole story.

On 2010-11-03 14:40, Phillip Roberts wrote:
I count 4, if you include the Colonel's Plantation Restaurant and Dagger Bar... (see below.)

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."

I found this ad in a 1963 Here's Hawaii guide documenting Donn at the Colonel's Plantation House as noted by Phillip Roberts. This confirms the 4 DTB locations in Honolulu as indicated by Phillip.

Also a few more old photos of the DTB at the International Market Place.

DC

i picked up a new postcard showing some different views of our favorite Don the Beachcomber - the Las Vegas Sahara!

This one contains a view of the bar area, was hoping for less purple and more Tiki !

(look at those purple booths in the back)

The dining terrace area with a view of the strip below.

And the dinning huts, you get a peak at a nice looking mural.

I would hardly call that look "tastefully subdued"!!

The back of the card with a description of the facilities.

Wait-a-minute, is that how the Beachcomber motto really goes??? "Where good run is immortalized and DINING IS GLAMORIZED" I can't believe they bastardized that part of the quote.

DC

Ha ha ha - if they bastardized the decor, they might as well do that with the quote, too. Not much "blending of modern decor with the charm of ancient Polynesia" in evidence here, more like 90% Hollywood eleganza modernism a la "I love Jeannie"...

...with not a sliver of "ancient Polynesia" in sight. If it was represented in those murals, we might never get to see it, because that glimpse on that postcard might be the only evidence of them - I never have seen them before. I think that whoever was in charge of the decor of that place really hated old-fashioned Polynesian style:

The "tastefully subdued" part in my opinion simply means "not as tacky and cluttered as those old Don The Beachcombers!". The Tikis were exiled to the entrance, and NONE of the accouterments like bamboo, beachcomber lamps, or Tiki posts were used.

Also, that badly (flash)-lit postcard seems to foreshadow the end of the promotional postcard (and matchbook) custom, when cheaper became better.

A color slide photo of Don's treehouse at the International Market Place.

Close up of the sign.

And a nice postcard rendering of the treehouse by Don Davey.

Love those glass floats hanging off the Banyan Tree.

DC

Wow, I had never noticed those glass balls in any of the many Don's treehouse photos before - and here you are with double evidence !

Talked a good bit with Bob Van Dorpe about the Treehouse last night. BVD had a key to the place to come and go as he pleased.

Donn said the Treehouse was not really so much the "Most exclusive restaurant in the world" as it was "the best gimmick to get writers to come talk about a shopping center" in the world. Who is going to write about a shopping center? It was "the hook" as Donn said. He'd get the writer in, get them laid, they'd have a great meal and look out over the lowly throngs below and write a great story for him. Mostly it was Donn's office. Very few actually ate there as a restaurant.

And I now know Donn was not involved in the Bora Bora in San Fran.

Mai-Kai Memories Series Custom ceramic mugs!

[ Edited by: Swanky 2012-01-09 09:16 ]

Swanky,

Great history, I appreciate all of your efforts and research. Here is a photo and excerpt from a 1960 article posted by Pappy The Sailor on Don's Treehouse.

Donn Beach has even gone into the "togetherness" business with what he calls "the most exclusive restaurant in the world-—a tree house 75 feet up in a 100-year-o1d banyan tree:

FOR $37.50 A COUPLE ("those who are in love with love")

Donn'-furnishes every thing from fresh pikake leis to a five-course dinner featuring stuffed baby squab plus two bottles of vintage champagne. The couple receives two keys for the two separate gates (they throw one away after coming back to earth), then mount the curving treeway to sit in the house high above a courtyard of the International Village. They can see out the special blinds, but no one can see in. There is a telephone with an unlisted number—calls can be made to the outside world but none
can be received. There is a television set in addition to piped-in hi-fi music. Though "A Tree for Two" is booked months in advance, Beach still reserves two nights a week to entertain a roster of sparkling guests from all corners of the world.

What a showman!!

DC

Aloha,

The treehouse was also at one time a broadcasting studio for KCCN-AM. Aku J. Pupulehead and Krash Kealoha broadcast from there in the 1950's. Harry Duncan of Territorial Airwaves relates a tale of how "Krash" got his nickname related to the treehouse.

Not so long ago, I went searching for it, as the Treehouse supposedly perserved by Cox Radio (KCCN is owned by them) in one of their storage lockers with one of the engineers. Sadly, it was not in that locker. I have not given up the search as apparently there are other lockers to look in...

P.S. I wish this thread was in the General Forum...

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

[ Edited by: Phillip Roberts 2012-01-11 14:04 ]

Well I was must confess I was a little confused to see this Tiki outside Don's Tree-house.

I have seen the Tiki before and I know there is a thread about this guy somewhere on TC. I never realized it was located at the Don the Beachcomber in Waikiki.

I found an image from and old Boeing magazine showing a flight attendant hanging out with Don and the Tiki on a Waikiki layover.

I have these postcard featuring the Tiki and some wahines which I now presume were shot at the DTB in the Hawaii.

Looks like the Tiki moved around a bit.

Does anybody else remember the TC thread on this Tiki? I must be losing it! Could it be the rum?

DC

aloha,

From Sky Queen to Beachcomber

Discussions on the oval-headed carvings have occurred in Miss Kauai and the Mysterious Tiki and TRADER VIC's Warehouse Sale

Thanks JP. Looks like everybody was thinking that it was a Trader Vic's Tiki or a Tiki at a Hawaiian park, but not so, it was Donn's.

Here is another photo, you can see the Don the Beachcomber restaurant building and pond in the background.

Mystery solved!

DC

Here's an ad, dated 1974, from the 4th incarnation of Don's in Honolulu - at the Beachcomber Hotel:

Aloha,

On 2012-01-24 22:56, Sabu The Coconut Boy wrote:
Here's an ad, dated 1974, from the 4th incarnation of Don's in Honolulu - at the Beachcomber Hotel:

I posted this in a mug thread, but it fits with Sabu's ad... About Amfac..

As far as "Island Holiday Resorts" goes, that was under the umbrella of the Amfac Corporation. They operated the following 12 hotels during the early 1970's-1980s, when the mug is circa...

Kauai - Coco Palms, Kauai Beachboy Hotel, Waiohai Hotel and the Poipu Beach Hotel.
Maui - Royal Lahina Resort (including the first outer island Don The Beachcombers restaurant,) and the Kannapali Beach Hotel
Hawaii - Keauhou Beach Hotel and the Hotel King Kamehameha
Oahu - Waikiki Beachcomber (including the last Don the Beachcomber restaurant in the islands opens in 1972ish..) Holiday Isle Hotel and the Waikiki Malia Hotel.

They worked somewhat closly with Donn as their advisor, so naturally there was plenty of tiki installed at most of these hotels during the 1970's and 1980's... He's expanding adding the Waiakea Village more properties

AMFAC actually has an intersting history, starting in 1849 as a dry goods store in Honolulu. Seized during WWI and then sold in 1918 to by the US government to a consortium of businessmen, they were big into sugar. They ran Liberty House and 40 or so other companies before bankruptcy, due to the decline of sugar prices, around 1989.

Our Guy,

Inside the Treehouse,

And the whole scene...

I got a few more more sides somewhere...

Sabu, thanks for the ad, almost looks like a young Arnold Schwarzenegger!

Phillip, great slides, hope to see some more.

I found this ad that advertises Don the Beachcombers coming to Florida!

From 1981 back in the days when Don the Beachcomber chain was franchising all over the place. Very surprised that one did not end up in Florida.

DC

A friend inherited an assortment of Earl Carroll Playgoer Magazines from the early to mid Forties.
Flipping through one from 1942(not sure of the month), I found this:

Close-up:

Another photo from Vegas.

Close up of the Polynesian mural - looks like a Hukilau scene.

A tourist slide from Waikiki.

Still need a photo or something from San Jose/Santa Clara... anybody??

DC

A couple of print ads from the Don the Beachcomber in Oxnard.

DC

Spotted this fan from the Don The Beachcomber at the International Market Place in Waikiki.

The back is interesting...

Don's Cabaret featuring the Martin Denny Group and the Adomono - guitarist fantastique!

Don's Rocks!

DC

Aloha,

Yes. Adomono. John Adomono... There is very little about him that is documented online... Apparently it was gypsy/flamenco/surf stuff...

I guess another trip to the library is called for to scan microfilm.

Some interesting comments here

Nice shot of the marketplace in 1965

[ Edited by: Phillip Roberts 2012-05-23 22:35 ]

Phillip,

Thanks for the info, look forward to seeing what you find on the subject.

DC