Mystery Arizona Don the Beachcomber Sign

I came across this sign in a tiny, remote town tucked away in southeastern Arizona. It seemed that the building was a combo antique store/private home. Nobody was around, but I was dying to ask where they got this sign, considering there was no Don the Beachcomber in Arizona. Or was there?

There are no documented Don's in Arizona (although Tucson and Phoenix have a history of tiki), so it is interesting to know if this is from an actual Don the Beachcomber, or if it was made by somebody who just liked the design.

Tikip,
I've lived in Tucson for 57 yrs & traveled around especially down here in the Tucson, Bisbee, Nogalas etc. area, Ive never seen a Don's here. Where abouts did you take the pic? I'm guessin' it's just a guy with a sign.

It could have come from the one in Palm Springs - it's not that far from Tucson.

If memory serves me correctly, the town was Dos Cabezas, on Highway 186.

Even this widespot in the road is a bit of a drive from Tucson, and is a good deal away from California.

Tikipedia,

I think Mai Tai could be right with the Palm Springs location. Here is a rendering of the Don the Beachcomber from Palm Springs that Sabu posted. It sure looks like the same sign. You need to go back and get some info on it and .... maybe even buy it!

DC

Nice research DC. In the original sign doesn't it look as though the "Don The" is smaller and is not lined up over "Beachcomber". The "Beachcomber" in the original one also has a more homemade look (up and down..not in a line) look to it. They may have had more than one sign or a later one. Just a thought. OGR

Mr. Rum

I know the signs look a little different in details, but the size, scale and layout look really close. The images from Palms Springs are renderings, so it may be due to a little artistic license. If you look at the angle of the painting, the artist had to move the lettering so you could see it around the boulder.

I have seen a lot of images from the DTB signs and none of them look like that one other than the Palms Springs location.

Here is the matchbook rendering from Palm Springs which is also close to the Tuscon sign.

Need to check it out, I think this is the one.

DC

DC

The Matchbook does look like the sign. The boulder theory could be right on. Good Eye. OGR

It seems that the AZ sign seems smaller than the Palm Spring sign. Could it be a sign used in another part of the restaurant?

The sign itself seemed to be too well made to be a fan knockoff.

TikiP,
My wife has been buggin me to take her down to Elfrida (an annual thing) to get chilis. There is a great farm there that roasts them fresh from the fields while you wait. We usually get a 10 lb bag. & freeze what we don't eat right away. Anyway, we usually go down 191 to get there, but Dos Cabazas is just a small detour.
I'll see if we can swing over to Wilcox and down that road and check it out.
Ciao

So I know that it's a limit to the pallete that printers can use on match covers, but the (AZ) sign and the trim color on the DTB building are close...that ruddy red rust brown. So how long ago was this photo taken? How many times was this story told? Nobody has staked claim in this gold country to this tikilink sign? reminds me back east 40-50 years ago that some WW2 Harleys, were still in the crates at the fort and you could buy one for a hundred bucks...if you could just find that guy. It also makes me think how Indy felt when Markus told him that the Germans were close to finding the Well of Souls. So I go to the birdseye shot of the land ( the map room if it were, without a staff) and I think I found the x makes the spot, right down to the yellow pickumup. Wonder how many times that has been looked at the last couple of days? Call me crazy, but I can just see some hot rod riding going down thru sandtown this week. Remember: It's A Mad,Mad,Mad World, with everybody driving down the coast for some loot! Now I know there's a couple of schools of thinking on this don't ask don't tell somebody's got something somebody else wants and don't gave a headsup to how much and how far someone will go to get it...but it looks to me that the first stone has been cast by the fact that we all seen it here! This is the place thats cool because someone will get this and we will get the scoop sooner or later on the finding it again, the deal, the stamp of approval study links and photos to back it all up with...I know this (AZ) sign would look good in my tikiroom, but alas, my back won't take the 8 to 9 hour, six hundred mile ride to find it and then back, oh my! So I raise my mug, my best in fact, to those who go forth into the dead of night, the heat of day, down long lonely trails, to udder "thanks a lot, just give me a hand getting it in the back" The games afoot!

Don't wanna be the skunk at the picnic, but I don't think this sign came from a DtB, anywhere. I think it's a... well, not a replica, but a "rendition" of a DtB sign.
'Or Got Rum?' seemed to be noticing the same thing - the lettering's wrong. It's not in the trademark style of the restaurant's, circa 1970's - all straight segments (e.g., the hexagonal 'O'). Nor is it in any of the earlier styles of lettering. DtB's lettering style evolved, over the years, but it stuck to a similar "look" or pattern. If you look through the pictures in Dustycajun's "Don the Beachcomber - The Locations" thread, this sign doesn't match any of the lettering styles.
It does resemble the sign in the artist's rendering of Palm Springs, posted above (from 1970). But the architect's artist was likely focused on the building, not on exactly reproducing the DtB-style lettering. Did the actual signs use the stylized lettering - duplicated on menu's, matchbooks, etc.? I believe they did.
Also, it doesn't appear to have spent decades in the weather. It could have been re-finished, I suppose, but it looks like the white paint and red stain is pretty new. Is that the same stain on the edge of the roof, over the sign? And the vertical pieces that join the horizontal planks are in front - shouldn't they be on the back? Almost looks like it was made from half the top of a picnic table, but I'm guessing from some old or distressed wood someone found.
I'm speculating on all this, of course, and I'd be happy to be found wrong. It would be much cooler for it to be an authentic piece of DtB history, recovered from Nowhere, Arizona.

For a $1,000.00 I've got that same sign in my yard... just give me two days notice before you come to pick it up. :wink:

Well, one really needs a bit more detail to see how professionally-lettered the sign is, but aside from it being the home of a die-hard Don fan (read, most of us on this board), who would actually go to the trouble of making a fake "Don" sign of that scale? It's pretty derned esoteric in the scheme of things. If it said "Jimmy Buffett Lives" I might see it as a fake. ;D

If the rest of the yard, um, "decor" was adrift in fake signs, that might be a clue too, but if it is the usual out-of-the-way home/junque store, I suspect it was just a haul from a demolition site and could very well be the Palm Springs sign, repainted or not. (And as an architectural historian, I very much agree these kind of renderings take huge guesses/liberties as to the final signage, so I would not worry that the drawing is not a clean match to the sign)

GK

I'm with Grand Kahu. I think this really could be the Palm Springs sign. The colors look like they match the matchbook scheme. Also if you look at the sign and the artist rendering, you can see the holes for the installation bolts in the same locations above the R and next the D.

Somebody needs to get down to Arizona and check this baby out.

DC

Authentic or not, its better than "The Beachcomber" vinyl sign that hangs at the base of the Malibu Pier. In 50 years this sign won't be in some antique store, it will be floating with all the other plastic in the great Pacific.

I believe Tiki Diablo made the newest Don the Beachcomber sign in Huntington Beach, maybe he could give some reproduction insight? Is it a fake? Either way, it looks good from the photo, and would be amazing. I wonder which plan Danny had to follow for the signage and lettering?

Here's the new one below:

Live like a Beachcomber! http://www.TikiTony.com http://www.flickr.com/photos/tikitony

[ Edited by: tikitony 2009-08-21 19:11 ]

I hope you all will not mind if I step in here with a comment. Tiki Diablo was the artist on our new sign, with the advice of our good friends Bob and LeRoy at Oceanic Arts. He did a fine job, and if you look again at the south end of our building on PCH you will find a reproduction of the surfboard that Duke used in his competitions, designating the Longboard Room, dedicated to his memory and in the celebration of surfing and surfers around the world. The work there is still in progress, but should be done soon, if the surf is not so good.
There is no particular reason why the Beachcomber restaurant should be judged in the same category as Don the Beachcomber. Beachcomber is a common name, shared by thousands of restaurants around the world. There is only one Don the Beachcomber in the world's history, and there is every reason that a restaurant named in his honor should, so much as possible, reproduce the elements that he used in the way that he used them.
Best,
artsnyder
Don the Beachcomber - Surf City, USA

Mai Tai is right - This is most definitely the Palm Springs DTB sign. From page 66 in Sippin' Safari:

"Hank Riddle (left) and waiter at the Palm Springs Beachcomber's, circa 1979"

Now somebody PLEASE go get this!! :)

Trad'r Bill

[ Edited by: Trad'r Bill 2009-08-24 22:43 ]

Way to go Trad'r Bill!

I just knew that this was the Palm Springs sign.

I was lookin for a picture somewhere. I've got all of the Bum's books EXCEPT that one. Nice job.

So, who'se going to be the lucky bastard that picks this piece of history up?

DC

on your mark...get set....go !

Wow! Now just for kicks, let's put the images next to each other.

OK... the price on mine just went down to $2.50 :wink: Sunday brunch, anyone?...

Great Job Trad'r Bill....and you were so right DC. I hope someone is able to score it soon, and it's story of how it arrived in AZ. OGR

Hell Yeh!!! Nice thread everyone!!
And it ain't over yet!

TabooDan

And whoever is the lucky sod, don't forget to ask about those "bunch o' funny-lookin' carved logs we found with it..."

GK

So is that a later/second (one split on original) crack in the wood, going across the middle of it?

On 2009-08-25 23:10, Unga Bunga wrote:
So is that a later/second (one split on original) crack in the wood, going across the middle of it?

Yeah, I saw that too. I'm guessing the second split happened when the sign was hastily removed.

in the photo with the two guys you can see thin line ( 2nd crack ) I think it's made from three planks...like a 2x8, 2x4,and a 2x12. see the points on the ends of sign, both sides got that little point by itself in the middle. Aw whata I know, my eyes are old!...

Well, I'm glad to have been totally wrong. If that's not the same sign, it's an improbably-exact replica. The uneven, sawtooth ends match perfectly.

A friend (and new Tiki enthusiast) was traveling through the area and stopped by to check out the Don the Beachcomber sign.

He did find the sign, but said the owner refused to sell it. The sign is also somewhat more weatherbeaten than it appears in photos, and the sign is extremely heavy (over 100 lbs.). Also, the owners of the sign had a recent death in the family, so they weren't much in the mood to deal with it at the moment.

The Tikipedia
www.tikipedia.com

[ Edited by: tikipedia 2009-08-28 11:01 ]

[ Edited by: tikipedia 2009-08-28 11:28 ]

Tikipedia,

Thanks for the updated photos of the sign. It is really a shame that the sign is sitting in someones front yard in the middle of nowhere withering away. Hopefully you or your friend can go back when the owner is more respondent and make and offer he can't refuse.

This is a great piece of Tiki history that must be saved.

DC

Tikipedia-

Great pics - thanks for posting those. Sounds like your friend's conversation was unfortunately short and unproductive... shoot. I wonder if the owners know what they have(?) Sad for them and for us that they were not in the negotiating mood.

Like DC said, someone needs to go back after some time has passed... and plunk down a wad of cash to convince them to sell.

Trad'r Bill

Someone suggested that a "Don The Beachcomber" fan may have made this replica. Look at the age of the sign, I hate to tell you but grown as- adults back in the day didn't go prancing around making replicas of DTBC signs. It wasn't that big of a deal. Those places were just there. If you got loaded or laid so be it. Of course it's an original. Big advice, I know some 1% bikers in Arizona who often have a bunch of stuff in the front of their house, I would be careful where I go knocking in the AZ.

On 2009-08-28 23:11, FrankieGillette wrote:
... Big advice, I know some 1% bikers in Arizona who often have a bunch of stuff in the front of their house, I would be careful where I go knocking in the AZ.

Indeed.

Allow me to introduce myself. I am the friend of Tikipedia who made the journey to look at this sign. In retrospect, I was probably a little too enthusiastic about opening a closed gate and knocking on doors. Tread lightly in this area of AZ.