Damon's Glendale anniversary info on page 4

Alright, we know it's been on the market for quite a while, but today while driving past I saw a couple of those "notice of change of ownership" signs. Anyone know the scoop here? I don't want to see another vintage polynesian palace bite the dust. Hope it's not too late. I'll try to get some information during the week, but I seem to remember someone here had some inside info about the place a while back.

[ Edited by: spy-tiki 2007-04-10 17:09 ]

Damon's is a tiki palace or would be if the place only had a few more tikis. At any rate, to lose it would be a shame, although the last 2 times I was there business seemed to be doing very, very well.

It's Monday night. I've been calling both Damon's numbers and get no answer. It doesn't look good.

On 2004-04-12 21:07, spy-tiki wrote:
It's Monday night. I've been calling both Damon's numbers and get no answer. It doesn't look good.

I believe Damon's is closed on Mondays.

O.K. you're right. Closed Mondays. It's Tuesday and I just called again. The fellow told me that it was in escrow. He thinks for about two more weeks. If escrow falls through we're good, but if it doesn't then there's no info about the new owners or their plans.

Article in the paper today says there are new owners who plan to keep things more or less the same! New Chef (old one's retiring) some additions to the menu, some hired, some fired, but essentially the same. Hope so!

Oh yeah... and it'll be opened Mondays!

Relief.

Damon's is one of the Southern California "grand dames" of tiki venues left, along with Bali Hai, Bahooka's and Trader Vic's.

Spy-tiki, Maybe you can convince the new owners to remove the coonskin hat from the tiki by the cash register (or do it yourself - they won't know the difference).

I live very close to Damons. I like Damons. Alot, in fact. But some things definitely did need to change about that place. The biggest one was the menu, they have like 6 items. I for one am glad to hear that they are bringing in a new chef, hopefully he/she will expand the menu. They'd better not change the garlic bread or that weird salad dressing though, that stuff is good.

edit
Good catch mrsmiley! Thanks.

[ Edited by: sinner on 2005-01-12 15:13 ]

On 2005-01-12 11:36, xxx wrote:
I like Damons. Alot, in fact. But some things definitely did need to change about that place. The biggest one was the menu, they have like 6 items. I for one am glad to hear that they are brining in a new chef, hopefully he/she will expand the menu.

One has to be careful when brining a chef--too much salt and you'll ruin it!! Tee hee! :)
"TRANSITIVE VERB:
brining -
To immerse, preserve, or pickle in salt water. "

Just had dinner on Monday night under the new ownership. I live in Glendale and have been a Damon's patron for a long, long time. First off let me say I think its a really underated classic Tiki Palace. Great murals, a full sized koa outrigger hanging from the ceiling, E. Savage on the wall, hanging lamps that would bring a fortune on EBay,huge clean aquariums, it's got it all. This place has done a landmark business for decades. The rep with the locals is : soso service, soso food (except for the beloved tossed house salad, and garlic bread), and a Mai Tai (cheap), that will knock you flat on your back. On Monday, the service was much improved (good thing), the salad and garlic bread were off, and the formerly legendary Mai Tais were now run of the mill . This is the house the Mai Tai built, I hope they restore it to its former glory.

[ Edited by: jimbo on 2005-01-28 14:58 ]

[ Edited by: jimbo on 2005-01-28 15:00 ]

Jimbo--you should write a constructive letter to the owner! -smiley

Jimbo, did you notice any changes to the menu?
Its a shame that the mai tais are taking a turn for the worse though. I sure hope that new owner gets his head out his ass.

*On 2005-01-20 00:36, jimbo wrote:
*
I live in Glendale and have been a Damon's patron for a long, long time. First off let me say I think its a really underated classic Tiki Palace. Great murals, a full sized koa outrigger hanging from the ceiling, E. Savage on the wall, hanging lamps that would bring a fortune on EBay,huge clean aquariums, it's got it all.

Here are photos:
http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=2531&forum=1

Here's the latest...not necessarily good. The Glendale News Press (1-26-05)...
The city is giving money to business owners to upgrade, remodel, etc. their storefronts. Damon's new owner Jim Campbell said "He is considering one significant change - losing the windowless brown storefront that's about as inviting as a snowstorm"

What the city is up to is getting the main drag ready for a new shopping complex that will be built downtown. The complex will be built by the same people who did the grove in L.A. (fancy disneyland looking kind of place.)

The first bit of remodeling a few years back is all brick and very charming. The next bit that happened looks awful. Kind of like a theme park. Now Damon's could actually be done well, but it looks pretty good on the outside the way it is. (Bamboo an grass mat and tiki poles).

In other words, anything charming about downtown Glendale has been erased by progress and Damon's and one or two others are the last nice things left. (Jax jazz club up the street is another secret treasure) Has anyone contacted them yet with their ideas? I'm gonna drop them a line and ask them to check out Tiki Central. Might even bring my book of tiki on my next visit. Anyone interested in joining in? A platoon of polynesian shirts with advice might be just the thing. Plus with the city money they might be able to afford a couple of Crazy Al pieces.

Yeah, I'm game for meeting up there. Damons is my annual birthday watering hole. I'd be bummed to the max if it changed.

When the new chef was mentioned I jumped for joy, because I always thought the food was terrible there. From reading these posts, though, it doesn't seem like there's been much improvement.

I'm not sure about the exterior, but I doubt very seriously the new owner would come into an already well established restaurant known for its decor and try something risky by completely changing it around, but what do I know? Stranger things have happened.

And I do agree......a couple of Crazy Al's tikis would spiff the place up quite a bit.

I'm in.

Another reason to panic:

The opening of LA's the Grove, developed by Rick Caruso, the same developer of this Glendale outdoor mall, may have sealed the fate of Tahiti/The Tiki Lounge.

That's it! Caruso is building shopping malls under the guise of conspicuous consumption to cover his diabolic scheme to rid the world of the last remaining polynesian palaces.

But seriously folks, Let's do lunch...or dinner there when Mr. Campbell is around so we can have a chat. Maybe even take him to the Lucky Tiki for a drink. I'm not going to pretend to be as knowledgable as some of our members so let's get a good representation of T.C. together. Anyone have an extra copy of Book Of Tiki to donate to the cause? Geeks bearing gifts and all that? Uncle Tiki needs you!

On 2005-01-26 23:42, spy-tiki wrote:
Anyone have an extra copy of Book Of Tiki to donate to the cause?

Mr. Campbell should also be presented with a copy of the book Taboo Table (Beachbum Berry) as it contains the recipe for the "Damon's Mai Tai".

Somebody that is working on the job just bought the BOT at Eightball to convince the new owner to keep the decor authentic.
Let's hope it has the same effect than at The Tropics.

On 2005-01-27 13:36, bigbrotiki wrote:
Somebody that is working on the job just bought the BOT at Eightball to convince the new owner to keep the decor authentic.
Let's hope it has the same effect than at The Tropics.

Well, if there are people already hired to do renovating in such a short period of time, and the owner needs convincing to keep the same decor, then I'd say it's not sounding too good for Damons. One can only hope.....

A big drag is I'm sure that Tiki Centralites along with everyone into suburban archeology and the preservation of such important landmarks are the minority of Damon's clientele. Especially in Glendale and at that location. They can pretty much do anything they want there, provided it's done somewhat tasteful, and get a lot of customers based on the shear volume of people that walk down Brand Blvd on any given day. Let's just keep our fingers crossed.

[ Edited by: SON OF MOTHRA on 2005-01-27 14:39 ]

Hmmmmmm, this isnt turning out as I'd hoped. At this point I'm just hoping that they dont make it into a Starbucks.

I gave the BOT to one of the family at Damon's today. They seem to be very nice people. I don't think they are going to wreck the place. Also lunch was quite good.

[ Edited by: Cowboy Chef on 2005-01-27 19:02 ]

Cowboy Chef,

Welcome and thankyou.

What an entrance!

It is always good to see how the threads run together at Tiki Central! A small world. You buy my book at Naomi's store, she calls me, I post about it, and here we meet. Thanks, Cowboy.

Nice work Cowboy Chef! Welcome to T.C. I think it's time for us to all to meet up there. Who's in and when will we do it?

[ Edited by: spy-tiki on 2005-01-28 00:25 ]

No can do this weekend, but I'm free most of next week and next weekend.

It seems that the real drive (and most of the money) to "improve" Damon's is coming from the Glendale Dept of Deveopment Services. In particular a fellow named Philip Lanzafame (interim director of development services) His take is "updating facades and putting some investment into facades just makes for a better envronment." If anyone would like to contact him to express a divergent opinion, he can be reached at 818-548-2005. BTW someone asked whether the murals are E. Savage. There are some Savage prints on the wall, but the murals are by an artist named Bettina Byrne Mahalo

[ Edited by: jimbo on 2005-01-28 21:35 ]

So...anyone free for a get together next weekend? Feb. 4, 5, 6?

The new owners are now in posession of the Tiki Oasis V brochure. I think we may get someone to come down for it. (:

On 2005-02-04 18:06, Cowboy Chef wrote:
The new owners are now in posession of the Tiki Oasis V brochure. I think we may get someone to come down for it. (:

Sorry to resurrect this one but...whats the verdict on the 'new' Damon's? How are the drinks? Did they revamp the menu? Did they change the decor?

...

[ Edited by: tikiyaki 2005-08-25 18:23 ]

Wow. I really don't care whether or not you've specified the ethnic group you're referring to, racial generalizing is way out of line.

If you have specific concerns relating to things specific people are doing with Damon's, go ahead and share them, but take your stereotypes somewhere else.

On 2005-08-25 14:57, sinner wrote:
Sorry to resurrect this one but...whats the verdict on the 'new' Damon's? How are the drinks? Did they revamp the menu? Did they change the decor?

The 'coon skin cap thankfully has been removed from the tiki near the cash register.

Uhhhhhhh, did I miss something?

Glendale is a shell of its former glory.That city used to be incredible.They've torn down a classic bobs big boy ,The classic vandie kamps (w/ giant blue neon windmill) the old sea and jungle buldings are a parking lot ,the old algemac coffe shop just closed ,and, is waiting for its fate (we all know what that will be)not to mention many many more that have been lost.
And now someone is going to tear down the derby in los feliz ,and, put up highrise condos.

On 2005-08-27 09:31, valcano wrote:
Glendale is a shell of its former glory.That city used to be incredible.They've torn down a classic bobs big boy ,The classic vandie kamps (w/ giant blue neon windmill) the old sea and jungle buldings are a parking lot ,the old algemac coffe shop just closed ,and, is waiting for its fate (we all know what that will be)not to mention many many more that have been lost.
And now someone is going to tear down the derby in los feliz ,and, put up highrise condos.

In this march of "progress," where developers and agents constantly recreate buildings and stars, I am glad Damon's persists.

By coincidence, I had "Mai Tai Brunch" there today. I don't remember that before so that may be new. It's a selection of brunch items (I had the veggie omelette) with your choice of a Mai Tai or a bottomless glass of champagne. Served from 11 - 3 Sat/Sun.

Not sure if these are new or not, but there are a number of masks and carvings along one wall now and the toy monkees are gone.

I asked the waitress about any changes she knew about and she said there were a couple of little things like slightly changing the garlic bread recipe, removing a fish from the tank for health reasons (?), the addition af some desserts and the wait staff are no longer union.

All in all, the place is great, food was good and it doesn't look like it's going anywhere soon.

Since I live in Glendale, does that make me a minority?

On 2005-08-27 09:31, valcano wrote:
Glendale is a shell of its former glory.That city used to be incredible.They've torn down a classic bobs big boy....

Not this one, I hope!

Nope! That one is Toluca Lake, technically...

I work in the building next door - I can look out my window & see it right now!

Yep, still standing as of 8:46 am.

By the way - you can thank people like Chris Nichols, M-M Stratton and other members of ModCom for saving this one...

On 2005-08-27 09:31, valcano wrote:
Glendale is a shell of its former glory.That city used to be incredible.They've torn down a classic . . .

Dinah's was still there, as of last month, although that is not the best example of mid-Century architecture.

However, BigBro Tiki is still there, which may be the most important of all, or next in importance after Damon's.

Spytiki...how much did the mai tai brunch run you if you dont mind my asking?

As the the Derby, there is going to be a BIG fight before they tear that thing down. Please help. You can find out more at http://www.modcom.org. If you are like me, you have been ranting forever about all the great places in L.A. that have been lost. Here is the way to do something about it, join Modcom.
I have been to Damon's quite a few times since it was taken over. IMHO the famous MaiTai is now a watery shadow of its former self, the pu pus have improved (not the garlic bread), the last time I sat at the bar, the bartenders and waiter were so involved in talking among themselves while ignoring the customers it was unreal. What a shame. Damons used to be a great bar.

Sinner...It's $17 for a Mai Tai and the plate of your choice (omelettes, etc.) Bon Appetit!

Thought I'd put this here rather than start a whole new topic...

The local paper mentioned that Damon's is going to have some sort of anniversary bash with tickets available sometime soon. 1937 prices, etc. I called and they said things are not finalized yet, but it will be June 11th. Don't know if I'd expect a far gone hipster type scene, but whatever it is it's certainly worthy of our attention. I'll let y'all know what I find out.

Aloha!

Thanks for the latest post on this thread, ST.

Additional info about an upcoming bash at Damons would be welcome. Haven't been over there since last Spring's Brand Blvd street scene, but the place is indeed one of the greats, thanks foremostly to it's splendid decor. (Bob & Leroy at OA had a hand in that...)

Just think, a PuPu Platter and round of Mai Tais at 1937 prices. Does the name Pavlov ring a bell...? Oooo.

Cheers and aloha,
SOK

Here's the deal for the anniversary celebration. It'll be June 11th. You have to buy a tax deductible $20 ticket to benefit "Glendale Healthy Kids". The menu prices will be from 1937, but drinks and tips will be 2007 style. There will be live hawaiian music and a raffle for a Hawaiian vacation.

Here's their website:
http://www.damonsglendale.com/