 |
Don the Beachcomber (Hollywood), Hollywood, CA (restaurant) |
Bora Boris
Mr. Unreasonable
Joined: Mar 25, 2005
Posts: 2401
From: Boogie Wonderland
|  Posted: 2008-03-26 8:44 pm Permalink
And another thing… I think it’s possible that in the late sixties / early seventies a lot of the Celebrity crowd preferred the drive down Wilshire to Santa Monica’s newly opened Madame Wu’s Garden rather then having to leave the Westside and drive to Hollywood.
|
bigbrotiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 25, 2002
Posts: 10562
From: Tiki Island, above the Silverlake
| Posted: 2008-03-26 10:58 pm Permalink
Heck, me and the Bum drove there all the way from Silverlake on a regular basis to enjoy Tony Ramos's Fogcutters...but that was in the 90s.
|
bigbrotiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 25, 2002
Posts: 10562
From: Tiki Island, above the Silverlake
| Posted: 2008-03-27 09:36 am Permalink
Actually, come to think of it...Madame Wu's was one of Ground Zeros for the Tiki Revival, because it was here that Jeff Berry found proof that he knew his stuff. He initially liked it for its unaltered James Bond Chinese Modern interior, but when he sampled a couple of Tony's drinks, he recognized by taste that Tony was in the know, and so he found out that Tony came from the Marina Del Rey Beachcomber. This was Jeff's first live connection to that great mixology tradition.
A year or so later, in April of '96, Otto organized the second Tiki Mug party (the first was in his backyard in Venice) at Madame Woo's.
At the time, he was cataloging vintage Tiki mugs for his Tiki Mug Book project (which never materialized). Bosko's mugs were the ONLY newly made mugs then, and Jeff started selling his first self-published version of the Grog Log.
I had just returned from my expedition to the Kahiki, and showed my slides I had taken.
|
Bora Boris
Mr. Unreasonable
Joined: Mar 25, 2005
Posts: 2401
From: Boogie Wonderland
| Posted: 2008-05-11 8:16 pm Permalink
I went by 1727 N. McCadden Place yesterday and having heard that the parking lot sign was gone I wanted to see if the address was maybe still painted on the curb, well not only was the parking lot sign gone but the parking lot was gone and the Burger King on Highland and everything! So if there was even the tiniest drop of ancient rum sealed in some forgotten underground plumbing it is now gone.
I know it’s been gone forever but the huge hole was a surprise.
But I did find this in a Los Angeles phone directory from 1942 ~
Also this from the 1970 Yellow Pages ~
I love the Don Jose ad above it “Lunch with Don Jose on the banks of the L.A. River.” Hilarious.
|
Hakalugi
Site Administrator
Joined: Aug 10, 2004
Posts: 2804
From: Redondo Beach, CA
| Posted: 2010-12-11 5:40 pm Permalink
1941 postcard:
|
hiltiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jun 10, 2004
Posts: 2775
From: Reseda, calif.
| Posted: 2012-03-26 08:54 am Permalink
Don the Beachcomber circa 1934.
|
arriano
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jun 13, 2006
Posts: 1123
From: Birdland - San Diego
| Posted: 2012-04-10 09:41 am Permalink
This web site has a lot of old Hollywood photos, includes several of Don the Beachcomber. Interesting to see how the facade changed from the 1930s, 1940s, 1950s and 1970s
http://www.hollywoodphotographs.com/search/beachcomber/
_________________
"I am Lono!" -- Hale Ka'a Tiki Lounge
|
pa'akiki
Tiki Centralite
Joined: Mar 26, 2005
Posts: 70 | Posted: 2012-04-15 12:48 pm Permalink
snapshot of Don the Beachcombers 1940's
"A good show man, as well as a fine restaurant and bar man. Don supervises personally the arrangement and decoration of his elaborate cafe. Like a good stage director he demands perfection in every setting detail. As a result of his care he has created a plesant and delightfully exotic tropical retreat.
one has only to enter the bamboo-gated door to feel he is in a different world, remote from the busy traffic outside.
From the entrance lined with rows and rows of bottles of rum, casks of rum and cases of rum which comes from Cuba, Jamaica, Puerto Rico , Barbados martinique, dutch west Indies, Trinidad and other far away ports.
One enters the Lanai, or main dinning room.
in the center of the Lanai is a tall four sided glassed in rack for bamboo chop stick cases with the names of writers, motion picture stars, generals, diplomatic fiqures, amd many other persons of renown. all frequent visitors to the place. But not every man no matter what his fame, gets a set of chopsticks. Don issues them only to those who know how to eat wth these tricky implements.
A number of small rooms join the Lanai. There is the Cannibal Room the High Chieftain's Room, The Beachcombers Alley. and the long interesting decorated Bar. at the end of the main bar is a little room called the Black Hole of Calcutta, a spot reserved for those who have drunk well but not wisely....
One of the few fresh lei shops in the country also ajoins the Lanai room they have exotic flowers and where hawaiian and native california flower leis are offered for sale.
The Lei Lani Lei shop
The Kitchen at Don the beachcomber's is a model for cleanliness, efficiency and the kind of busy activity which indicates a rushing trade.
Chefs, waiters and busboys are Chinese and Filipinos, with a sprinkling of Americans. Between his two places Don has 144 employees.
postcard
Limes Pineapples and Lemons stored at Don's
A mug marked from don the beachcomber Hollywood i have only ever seen a picture of it in the book "hawaii tropical rum Drinks & Cuisine by Don the Beachcomber"
from the book
found this a few years back
|
bigbrotiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 25, 2002
Posts: 10562
From: Tiki Island, above the Silverlake
| Posted: 2012-04-15 4:10 pm Permalink
Is there anybody out there who is the lucky owner (or knows someone who is) of one or more of the bamboo celebrity chopstick holders originally from the Hollywood location that were auctioned off at the big Marina del Rey Beachcomber auction 20 years ago?
|
Big Kahuna
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Apr 11, 2007
Posts: 1908
From: SoMass
| Posted: 2012-04-15 4:29 pm Permalink
Oh, how freakin' cool are those!?
|
pa'akiki
Tiki Centralite
Joined: Mar 26, 2005
Posts: 70 | Posted: 2012-04-16 04:38 am Permalink
don also had them at his location at the Sahara in Las Vegas
p.s. Marty Heim was a frequent entertainer at Don the Beachcomber
[ This Message was edited by: pa'akiki 2012-04-16 04:49 ]
|
bigbrotiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 25, 2002
Posts: 10562
From: Tiki Island, above the Silverlake
| Posted: 2012-04-17 12:07 am Permalink
I had no idea! Those weren't there anymore when I went there. Probably got tossed. Sigh. IF any of them are still around, they belong to an earlier collectors generation than us - whoever they may be.
|
Dustycajun
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Nov 16, 2007
Posts: 3929
From: Santa Barbara, CA
| Posted: 2012-04-24 12:53 pm Permalink
Pa'akiki,
Thanks so much for posting those great photos and that rare mug. Here is another old postcard from the Hollywood location extolling the virtues of Rum.
DC
|
JONPAUL
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jan 12, 2010
Posts: 134
From: Venice, California
| Posted: 2013-01-16 8:06 pm Permalink
From our collection...a small advertising ticket envelope that still contains a parking ticket:
_________________
THE TIKIYAKI ORCHESTRA
INSECT SURFERS
TIKI MAGAZINE
FIBERGLASS JUNGLE on Luxuria
|
