Don's tiki stuff missing?

With all of those Tiki bars Don and his Wife started, where did all of the cool tiki stuff go that was scattered inside and outside every place they owned?

My vote goes to the dumpster out back,

The dagger framed in the glass case hanging in the "Dagger Bar" at the Don the Beachcomber, Sunset Beach location was from Don's personal collection. Not sure if it was obtained from his original location.

http://donthebeachcomber.com/drinking.html

I think the Dagger Bar existed only in the Waikiki location. Here's a brief history of what happened to the original Hollywood motherlode: From the original McCadden place to the Marina del Rey one to being auctioned off in the late 80s:

On 2006-12-21 12:16, bigbrotiki wrote:
I am pretty sure it is completely gutted. This was the site of a legendary auction in the 80's, after its closure. Apparently quite a few artifacts had migrated from the original Hollywood Beachcomber to here (after ITS closure), and original celebrity chopsticks in their bamboo cases (BOT p.74) as well as original Leetegs (!) were sold off for a few dollars. I was still new in town then, and only heard about it afterwards...

[ Edited by: bigbrotiki 2012-08-28 12:07 ]

Aloha,

On 2012-08-28 12:06, bigbrotiki wrote:
I think the Dagger Bar existed only in the Waikiki location.

Yes, the Dagger Bar was upstairs in the Colonel's Plantation Restaurant in the International Market Place on the Ewa side of the Kalakaua Entrance. Phoebe Beach probably has some stuff, but judging by their little cocktail book, not much.

Some of the Glass floats from the restaurant(s) did end up at La Mariana...

Zulu Magoo has a nice story about the Don the Beachcomber's in Denver, which took over Trader Vic's in Denver, and then went on to sell the entire contents for $65K to another Beachcomber restaurant that opened in Lakewood.

"Trader Vic’s had closed at the Denver Hilton in 1985 and left the Denver market, but can you guess who moved into that vacant spot at the Hilton? Yep, Don the Beachcomber followed Vic’s a second time and opened in 1986 after they left the Cosmo. They only lasted a few years, but incredibly Denver had two different hotels that both hosted a Trader Vic’s and a Don the Beachcomber. Some cities were lucky if they got one location, Denver had five versions!

Several years later I discovered what happened to the auctioned contents from Don the Beachcomber when the Cosmo shut down. The Denver Post article stated that everything had been purchased for $65,000 was being moved to the west side of town. The auctioned décor ended up at a Ramada Inn at the corner of 6th Avenue and Simms Street in Lakewood, CO (now a Ford car dealership). The Ramada had a lobby bar called Captain Bligh’s Tavern. They also had a restaurant called The Beachcomber.

So the décor in the Ramada Beachcomber at this point was third generation, It came from Don the Beachcomber in the Cosmo, who had inherited it from Trader Vic’s when it was originally installed.

Cool story by Zulu Magoo!

DC

That is a neat story... BUT, Captain Bligh’s and The Beachcomber Restaurant opened in 1985 and operated until the early 1990s before finally shutting down. So that now still leaves the question of where did all the tiki decor go after the that place shut down?

That's were something beyond the internet called "urban archeology" comes in :D

On 2012-08-28 12:06, bigbrotiki wrote:
I think the Dagger Bar existed only in the Waikiki location. Here's a brief history of what happened to the original Hollywood motherlode: From the original McCadden place to the Marina del Rey one to being auctioned off in the late 80s:

On 2006-12-21 12:16, bigbrotiki wrote:
I am pretty sure it is completely gutted. This was the site of a legendary auction in the 80's, after its closure. Apparently quite a few artifacts had migrated from the original Hollywood Beachcomber to here (after ITS closure), and original celebrity chopsticks in their bamboo cases (BOT p.74) as well as original Leetegs (!) were sold off for a few dollars. I was still new in town then, and only heard about it afterwards...

[ Edited by: bigbrotiki 2012-08-28 12:07 ]

I was at that auction.

Soooo...what'ya get? And do you remember what year is was? I only know of it from hearsay.

Good question, so Otto any Don's swag make it home with you?

I just posted on the Chicago Don The Beachcomber thread which also had this reference to migrating Don's stuff:

I have just heard a tale that when Don the Beachcomber closed some of the decor went to a now defunct Hilton. This got me wondering when exactly the Beachcomber, Chicago closed.
Also I wonder if anyone has heard such a tale.

DC

Aloha,

On 2012-08-28 09:24, theredfoxx wrote:
and his Wife...

• Here's something I have been thinking of while re-reading your original post...*

Oh and by the way, which of Donn's wives are you referring to? There were 3, and (by Donn's standard) brilliant. All exceptionally smart and savvy women.

Sunny (Cora Irene-right Sven? Page 70), Carla and Phoebe Beach.

Sunny had a great deal of business sense (so it seems, as she took advantage of the Colonel being preoccupied during the war to open locales in his name) and trademark. --

Carla was (apparently) a great society hostess; inviting sultans, movie stars and other stellar dignitaries including astronauts to Donn's private dinners.

Phoebe is A TREASURE.

I worry less about the stuff, but more about the Hawaii and Tiki oral history that is lost every day. Our greatest generation (to borrow a phrase) LIVED this life. The stuff, if it exists, will be found by these people who care...

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

[ Edited by: Phillip Roberts 2012-08-30 22:35 ]

Now, if we could only do archaeological digs through landfills...

On 2012-08-31 08:35, twitch wrote:
Now, if we could only do archaeological digs through landfills...

"Midden heaps" sounds more professional than "landfills." :)