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Don the Beachcomber - The Locations (Updated 01-24-17) |
Dustycajun
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Nov 16, 2007
Posts: 5029
From: Santa Barbara, CA
|  Posted: 2008-10-24 4:24 pm Permalink
I recently acquired a collection of matchbooks from different Don the Beachcombers. I started looking into how many locations there were and what paper items (matchbooks, postcards, menus) were around for each location. Based on the listings contained on the back of the more modern matchbooks and the information I found on the web, I compiled the following list of 33 locations plus two locations that were advertised but never existed. I have added the opening dates and addresses and reorganized them chronologically based on info from Sven's menu and the web.
1. Hollywood, California, 1934
Original location, 1722 N. McCadden Pl - named Don's Beachcomber Bar.
2. Hollywood, California, May 26, 1937
1727 N. McCadden Pl located across the street from the original.
3. Chicago, Illinois, May 1, 1940.
101 E. Walton Place
4. Beachcomber Jr. - After 1941
745 South Hill Street in downtown Los Angeles.
5. Waikiki, Hawaii - 1947
Kalakaua Avenue Don called this his Polynesian Village - built by Wimberly.
6. Palm Springs, California - 1953
1101 N. Palm Canyon Drive
7. Waikiki, Hawaii - 1957-58
Moved to the new International Market Place which Donn built.
8. Waikiki, Hawaii - 1961
Sells location (which becomes Dukes) and moves to the other side of International Market Place. The new location housed the famous Dagger Bar.
9. Las Vegas, Nevada - 1962
Sahara Hotel and Casino
10. St. Paul, Minnesota - 1966
St Paul Hilton
11. Corona Del Mar, California - 1969
3901 East Coast Highway
12. Marina Del Rey, California - 1970
13530 Bali Way, one of the round UFO buildings.
13. San Diego, California - 1970
1590 Harbor Island Drive, Harbor Island
14. Waikiki, Hawaii - 1971?
Moved to third location within the International Market Place at the Beachcomber Hotel.
15. Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii - early 1970s
Royal Lahaina Hotel, Kanaapali Beach
16. Dallas, Texas - 1974
8380 Meadow Rd., one of the round UFO buildings.
17. Oxnard, California - 1976
2615 Wagon Wheel Road, former Trade Winds restaurant site
18. Santa Clara, California
Stevens Creek Blvd., one of the round UFO buildings.
19. Houston, Texas
Gessner and Westheimer
20. Santa Barbara, California - 1977 to 1989 (based on my phone book research)
The Santa Barbara Inn 435 S. Milpas Street
21. Denver, Colorado - 1978 to 1982 (from Zulu Magoo)
Cosmopolitan Hotel, 18th and Broadway - moved in after Trader Vic's moved to the Hilton.
22. Malibu, California - After 1977
22878 Pacific Coast Highway, former Tonga Lei restaurant site.
23. Denver Colorado - 1979
Elitch Gardens
24. San Diego, California - 1980 (based on Sabu's ads)
Vacation Village
25. West Lafayette, Indiana - 1980
Hilton Inn/Lafayette Inn
26. Aurora, Colorado - 1981 (from Zulu Magoo)
Ramada Inn the second location in the Denver area.
27. Excelsior, Minnesota - 1982
Restaurant was called Don the Beachcomber's Mai Tai. Occupied former home of the Mai Tai restaurant on Lake Minnetonka
28. Peoria, Illinois - 1983
Ramada Inn
29. Denver, Colorado - 1986 to 1988(from Zulu Magoo)
Hilton Hotel, occupied the second Denver location vacated by Trader Vic's.
30. Disneyland California Adventure - 2001
Added per Tiki Kate's post - now closed
31. Don the Beachcomber Bar, Las Vegas - 2004 to 2006
Located at the Royal Star in The Venetian Hotel
32. Kailua-Kona, Hawaii - 2005
Royal Kona Resort 75-5852 Alii Drive
33. Huntington Beach, California - 2009
16278 PCH, former Sam's Seafood Site
Never Existed
Seattle
Memphis
Kendall (FL)
Miami
Manila
Singapore
I have also included Donn's Boats and his Encino House.
I think this is a complete list, let me know if there are some that I missed.
Now for the paper - I found something for 12 locations.
Hollywood
An interior postcard, artist rendering and a matchbook. The matchbook shows the original Don caricature.
Chicago
All I have is this old postcard with both Hollywood and Chicago on the front. Found nothing with just "Chicago".
Palm Springs
A matchbook with an illustration of the building.
Las Vegas
The only location to use the stylized beachcomber logo. Exterior and interior (who designed that!) postcards and a matchbook.
St. Paul
Two interior postcards.
Marina Del Rey
One of the famous spaceship buildings
Waikiki
Postcards with exterior courtyard and luau scenes featuring Donn Beach himself.
Dagger Bar
I had to throw in this menu I have from the Dagger Bar in Waikiki in honor of Martin Denny.
Lahaina
A matchbook from the new DTBC at the Royal Lahaina Hotel.
Corona Del Mar
A matchbook with an illustration of the building exterior.
San Diego - Harbor Island
This postcard provided by ZuluMagoo for the location on Harbor Island
1971
These matchbooks state a Vacation Village location that appears to be incorrect and was never really there (as reported by Bosko)
Dallas
An artist rendering (thanks to Sven) of another UFO building and a menu posted on a previous TC thread about the Dallas DTBC.
Kailua-Kona
I have this menu from Don's Mai Tai Bar located next to the DTBC restaurant as well as this picture from another post on TC.
So, we still need representation for the following locations:
San Jose/Santa Clara, California
Malibu, California
Houston, Texas
Anybody got anything on these? Feel free to add more images if you have them.
DC
[ This Message was edited by: Dustycajun 2017-01-24 11:18 ]
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ZuluMagoo
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jun 26, 2002
Posts: 482
From: Denver, CO
| Posted: 2008-10-24 8:51 pm Permalink
Excellent idea DC. Here are some more from the Hollywood location.
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ZuluMagoo
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jun 26, 2002
Posts: 482
From: Denver, CO
| Posted: 2008-10-24 8:56 pm Permalink
Chicago
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ZuluMagoo
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jun 26, 2002
Posts: 482
From: Denver, CO
| Posted: 2008-10-24 9:04 pm Permalink
Waikiki
The last remants in the International Market Place before they dissappeared in 2006.
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ZuluMagoo
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jun 26, 2002
Posts: 482
From: Denver, CO
| Posted: 2008-10-24 9:08 pm Permalink
San Diego
It was located on Harbor Island, just across the bay from the the Bali Hai over on Shelter Island.
1971
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ZuluMagoo
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jun 26, 2002
Posts: 482
From: Denver, CO
| Posted: 2008-10-24 9:12 pm Permalink
Denver
Cosmopolitan Hotel - 1982
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Dustycajun
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Nov 16, 2007
Posts: 5029
From: Santa Barbara, CA
| Posted: 2008-10-24 11:10 pm Permalink
ZuluMagoo,
Wow, thanks for all of the great posts. I have always wanted to see what the Chicago, San Diego and Denver locations looked like. Only 9 more to go.
DC
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TIKIBOSKO
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Oct 17, 2004
Posts: 331 | Posted: 2008-10-25 09:54 am Permalink
Hey Zulu does your San Diego postcard have a post mark saying 1971!? Or how did did you come by the date?
Thanks
Bosko
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bigbrotiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 25, 2002
Posts: 11581
From: Tiki Island, above the Silverlake
| Posted: 2008-10-25 10:22 am Permalink
Amazing record, guys, I have nothing to ad. 
Maybe some dates:
1934 Don The Beachcomber opens in Hollywood
1940 Chicago opens, Don and Sunny divorce
1946 Don opens the Waikiki Beachcomber because Sunny Sund has taken over the mainland operations.
1953 Palm Springs opens
1958 Sunny sells out to Joe Drown and Paul Price of the Beverly Hills Hotel
1962 Las Vegas, Sahara, opens
1966 St.Paul, Hilton Hotel opens
1968 The chain is bought by the Getty Corporation
1969 Corona del Mar
1970 Marina Del Rey
1970 Harbor Island, San Diego
A lot of these dates are from a 1971 menu, so one would assume that all other places not mentioned here, like Dallas and Denver, opened AFTER 1970.
[ This Message was edited by: bigbrotiki 2008-10-25 10:25 ]
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Bora Boris
Mr. Unreasonable
Joined: Mar 25, 2005
Posts: 2617
From: Boogie Wonderland
| Posted: 2008-10-25 11:17 am Permalink
So besides Hollywood and Chicago it's possible that Donn never set foot in any other mainland location? 
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bigbrotiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 25, 2002
Posts: 11581
From: Tiki Island, above the Silverlake
| Posted: 2008-10-25 12:58 pm Permalink
Well, I believe he was kept on as an "advisor", and did get to see some of the early places. But he was not a business man, more a project inventor and gracious host, so he concentrated his energies on his Waikiki place, and the International Market place, and then later his "Hong Kong Lady" riverboat restaurant that sank in the Hong Kong harbor.
Interesting though that after he passed away in 1989, the Beachcomber chain folded one year later.
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bongofury
Grand Member (6 years) 
Joined: Oct 15, 2002
Posts: 1560
From: Ventura County
| Posted: 2008-10-25 6:31 pm Permalink
More from Chicago...
The design submitted to the city by the new owners of the Trade Winds in Oxnard, Ca...
Coming soon...
Trade Winds/Don The Beachcomber exterior...
Interior shot of DTB Waikiki from the 1954 film "Hell's Half Acre" confirmed in the 1988 book "Hawaii In The Movies" The movie has about 10 minutes of interior & exterior shots. I recorded this to dvd from the Mystery channel a few years back.
Public Domain....no official release.
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Dustycajun
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Nov 16, 2007
Posts: 5029
From: Santa Barbara, CA
| Posted: 2008-10-25 10:57 pm Permalink
Bongofury,
Thanks for the great post! Cross Oxnard off the list, we're down to 8 locations to find paper on. Great matchbook from Marina Del Rey. Where are those images from Chicago from? Is that a postcard?
DC
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ZuluMagoo
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jun 26, 2002
Posts: 482
From: Denver, CO
| Posted: 2008-10-26 07:00 am Permalink
Quote:
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On 2008-10-25 09:54, TIKIBOSKO wrote:
Hey Zulu does your San Diego postcard have a post mark saying 1971!? Or how did did you come by the date?
Thanks
Bosko
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It was an auction from several years ago that I did not win. However the seller commented that it was postmarked 1971.
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arriano
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jun 13, 2006
Posts: 1419
From: San Diego
| Posted: 2008-10-26 08:33 am Permalink
Does anyone know how many Don the Beachcomber restaurants were still around when the chain folded in 1990?
[ This Message was edited by: arriano 2010-05-27 15:09 ]
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