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Don the Beachcomber - The Locations (Updated 11-22-10) |
Dustycajun
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Nov 16, 2007
Posts: 3946
From: Santa Barbara, CA
|  Posted: 2011-06-03 3:12 pm Permalink
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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!
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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
[ This Message was edited by: Dustycajun 2011-06-03 15:14 ]
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HOUSE OF KU
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Apr 15, 2005
Posts: 537
From: TIKILAND, USA
| Posted: 2011-06-04 01:32 am Permalink
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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
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Didn't Paul Fujimoto carve for Blair's also?!
http://www.tikiroom.com/tikicentral/bb/viewtopic.php?topic=31906&forum=5&hilite=paul fujimoto blair
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mrsmiley
Grand Member (8 years) 
Joined: Apr 03, 2002
Posts: 3154
From: Las Vegas, NV
| Posted: 2011-06-07 08:27 am Permalink
Yes, Bigbro....no real tiki left, but still recognizable as the Dons in the Sahara.
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On 2011-05-30 22:33, bigbrotiki wrote:
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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! 
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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.
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If you like it, it is ZAZZ! If you don't it is RAZZ!
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mrsmiley
Grand Member (8 years)
Joined: Apr 03, 2002
Posts: 3154
From: Las Vegas, NV
| Posted: 2011-06-16 11:18 pm Permalink
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;
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If you like it, it is ZAZZ! If you don't it is RAZZ!
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mrsmiley
Grand Member (8 years)
Joined: Apr 03, 2002
Posts: 3154
From: Las Vegas, NV
| Posted: 2011-06-20 10:49 pm Permalink
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
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I'm the most thirstiesterest of all!
TRADER VIC'S, Vintage, Vegas & more on EBAY 1957SPUTNIK
http://shop.ebay.com/1957sputnik/m.html
If you like it, it is ZAZZ! If you don't it is RAZZ!
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mrsmiley
Grand Member (8 years)
Joined: Apr 03, 2002
Posts: 3154
From: Las Vegas, NV
| Posted: 2011-06-21 10:24 pm Permalink
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!
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bb moondog
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Apr 18, 2006
Posts: 477
From: Gilbert AZ
| Posted: 2011-07-06 6:48 pm Permalink
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
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Swanky
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Apr 03, 2002
Posts: 4814
From: Hapa Haole Hideaway, TN
| Posted: 2011-07-07 09:29 am Permalink
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...
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Swanky
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Apr 03, 2002
Posts: 4814
From: Hapa Haole Hideaway, TN
| Posted: 2011-07-07 10:51 am Permalink
And didn't the first place start on the day after Prohibition just like Hinky Dinks on December 5th or 6th in 1933?
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Sabu The Coconut Boy
Grand Member (8 years)
Joined: Aug 20, 2002
Posts: 2784
From: Carson, California
| Posted: 2011-07-07 7:25 pm Permalink
Jon Paul - those photos from the Santa Barbara location are outstanding!
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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...
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Swanky - Is your friend named Bernard Gordon? If so, that would make it the Bora Bora in Encino:
 (from a 1963 newspaper article)
Here's another long-buried post on the Bora Bora from 2002:
http://www.tikiroom.com/tikicentral/bb/viewtopic.php?topic=1880&forum=1&7
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Dustycajun
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Nov 16, 2007
Posts: 3946
From: Santa Barbara, CA
| Posted: 2011-07-07 11:13 pm Permalink
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
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bigbrotiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 25, 2002
Posts: 10599
From: Tiki Island, above the Silverlake
| Posted: 2011-07-09 05:17 am Permalink
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! 
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tikiskip
Grand Member (6 years) 
Joined: Nov 26, 2005
Posts: 2136 | Posted: 2011-07-09 7:13 pm Permalink
Great post Dustycajun!!!
Love the photos.
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Phillip Roberts
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Sep 09, 2003
Posts: 1496
From: OAHU, Hawaii.
| Posted: 2011-08-19 1:26 pm Permalink
Aloha,
Would you like to hear the VOICE of Don the Beachcomber? Then you need to be at Don the Beachcomber 9/4/11...
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Sabu The Coconut Boy
Grand Member (8 years)
Joined: Aug 20, 2002
Posts: 2784
From: Carson, California
| Posted: 2011-09-04 12:23 am Permalink
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:
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