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Don the Beachcomber - The Locations (Updated 11-22-10) |
Dustycajun
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Nov 16, 2007
Posts: 3923
From: Santa Barbara, CA
|  Posted: 2012-06-19 9:50 pm Permalink
A Luau invitation from Don.
Complete with a description of the memories you would take home
Don the Showman!
DC
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Dustycajun
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Nov 16, 2007
Posts: 3923
From: Santa Barbara, CA
| Posted: 2012-09-24 5:15 pm Permalink
I just got this nice fan drink menu from Don the Beachcomber.
Close up of the drinks, cool to see the old mugs and the craftsmanship in the cocktails.
The drink names.
The back of the menu has the appetizers
And lists 8 locations. I guess Chicago had closed by this time.
A nice piece.
DC
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forgotten tikiman
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Aug 18, 2011
Posts: 345
From: Forgotten Tiki Room. Pismo Beach, CA
| Posted: 2012-09-24 9:02 pm Permalink
Wow DC!!!!! Thoses are so cool  . Great find. I just found about 43 vintage hawaiian postcards from one of my thrift stores and it included 2 fron DTBC. One I already had but the other I did not. Any how. Those fans are killer.
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Dustycajun
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Nov 16, 2007
Posts: 3923
From: Santa Barbara, CA
| Posted: 2012-10-02 12:21 pm Permalink
Thanks Forgotten Tiki Man. Glad you found some DTB cards. Speaking of that, here is a new one I picked up showing the Coconut Palm Garden at the Waikiki location. A really nice old card.
You can see "that" Tiki by the pond.
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bigbrotiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 25, 2002
Posts: 10562
From: Tiki Island, above the Silverlake
| Posted: 2012-10-02 12:55 pm Permalink
Ha! Great find, DC - So this photo was NOT taken at the Fern Forest National Park on the Big Island, as I wrongly assumed in THIS thread about that specific Tiki design:
http://www.tikiroom.com/tikicentral/bb/viewtopic.php?topic=27220&forum=1&vpost=363780
This finally proves that THIS famous photo was taken at Don's, too:
Why go to some remote fern forest when you can shoot it in downtown Waikiki?
So WHERE was this palm garden exactly? In FRONT of the restaurant? Phil, can you draw a location floor plan, please? 
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bigtikidude
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Aug 10, 2004
Posts: 8259
From: Anaheim,Ca.
| Posted: 2012-10-02 2:23 pm Permalink
Quote:
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On 2012-09-24 17:15, Dustycajun wrote:
I just got this nice fan drink menu from Don the Beachcomber.
Close up of the drinks, cool to see the old mugs and the craftsmanship in the cocktails.
The drink names.
The back of the menu has the appetizers
And lists 8 locations. I guess Chicago had closed by this time.
A nice piece.
DC
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Great find, and pics DC,
We have one of those too,
My Grandma on my Dads side used to collect menus from wherever she went.
Sadly its got fold marks in it.
But we matted it and framed it,
and its in out tiki room, behind the bar.
Jeff(btd)
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arriano
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jun 13, 2006
Posts: 1123
From: Birdland - San Diego
| Posted: 2012-10-03 08:41 am Permalink
It says on the menu that a "Beach Boy" was coconut milk and vodka. Does that mean it was simply a "Chi Chi" without pineapple juice? And anyone know what was in a "Proud Bird"?
_________________
"I am Lono!" -- Hale Ka'a Tiki Lounge
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A Frame
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Apr 16, 2009
Posts: 203
From: Mr. C's on the Coast Highway
| Posted: 2012-10-03 5:19 pm Permalink
Quote:
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On 2012-10-02 12:21, Dustycajun wrote:
Thanks Forgotten Tiki Man. Glad you found some DTB cards. Speaking of that, here is a new one I picked up showing the Coconut Palm Garden at the Waikiki location. A really nice old card.
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Outstanding DC! The woman with the glass float in the lower left of your postcard also seems to explain the mystery location of this shot from a 1950's ART PHOTO magazine I have!
 
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Dustycajun
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Nov 16, 2007
Posts: 3923
From: Santa Barbara, CA
| Posted: 2012-10-03 5:57 pm Permalink
Jeff,
Great idea for framing the fan, can you post a pic?
A-Frame,
Nice find on that photo, clearly the same glass floats and pond as Don's. Here is aother card with the Tiki and you can see the same float.
DC
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bigbrotiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 25, 2002
Posts: 10562
From: Tiki Island, above the Silverlake
| Posted: 2012-10-03 10:22 pm Permalink
Because of the similarity of pose, I have wondered if this was also the location for this famous LP cover:
...but the architecture is completely different, and all Denny/Sandy Warner covers were shot in L.A./California.
This is either a SouCal restaurant or a film set.
We still need to find out who the CARVER was whose lingams graced both Don's and Vic's establishments.
These are true Proto-Tikis from the Pre-Tiki era !
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Hale Tiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Oct 19, 2004
Posts: 1404
From: Pittsburgh
| Posted: 2012-10-04 03:55 am Permalink
Sven,
Thanks for the posts. This is fantastic. I love knowing this kind of information, and the discovery process. I've always wondered where the cover to Quiet Village was shot. Hopefully someone can figure it out!
Side note: Panoramic and 180/360 photography was extremely popular in the early 20th century. I've seen a lot of old silver prints of 360 views from around the turn of the century. What a shame that it fell out of vogue during the Kodachrome years, and there aren't 360 degree views from inside our favourite tiki establishments.
[ This Message was edited by: Hale Tiki 2012-10-04 03:57 ]
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Dustycajun
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Nov 16, 2007
Posts: 3923
From: Santa Barbara, CA
| Posted: 2012-10-09 12:25 pm Permalink
Well just when you think you have seen them all, a NEW Don the Beachcomber location pops up!
I got this newspaper photo from the Denver Post showing the opening of a Don The Beachcomber's at what had been the Orchard Cafe in Elitch's Gardens amusement park in Denver.
Close up of the sign.
It could be Tiki drinks on the tables?
Back of the photo with the story caption. Opening was in June, 1979.
Zulu Magoo is going to have to do some research on this one. It would be nice to see the story that goes with the photo.
DC
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kiara
Tiki Centralite
Joined: Apr 06, 2005
Posts: 97 | Posted: 2012-10-09 1:39 pm Permalink
Cool pic. DC, you're inspiring me to use my scanner more.
Here's a photo from Don's in Waikiki.
back
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Trad'r Bill
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Oct 14, 2008
Posts: 450
From: Hercules, CA
| Posted: 2012-10-09 3:12 pm Permalink
Great work as always DC
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Trad'r Bill
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Oct 14, 2008
Posts: 450
From: Hercules, CA
| Posted: 2012-10-14 11:57 am Permalink
Cool find re: the Denver location, DC...
Here's a great shot of a cutie posing outside the Waikiki DTB... nice close-up view of the signs and entrance tikis. Too bad the fernwood tiki is reflecting virtually no light, so it's hard to make out the detail: (EDIT: you can see the detail in Kiara's shot above... same tiki)
Full size here:
http://i.imgur.com/vBazA.jpg
-Trad'r Bill
[ This Message was edited by: Trad'r Bill 2012-10-14 11:59 ]
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