Goodbye, Don the Beachcomber

1960s view of Sam's Seafood (now Don the Beachcomber)

Word is out that Don the Beachcombers in Sunset Beach is closing soon. Don’s owners would like to keep the business running as long as they can (perhaps until the landlord shoos them out or they run out of food and drink?). and they are looking for another location in which to reopen. It's not the restaurant owners, but rather the folks who own the land UNDER Don’s who want to replace it with something else. I understand the rent has been raised astronomically. Some years ago, the landowners wanted to replace the restaurant with condos, but couldn't get the zoning changed. Today it's still zoned for "Commercial Visitor," which I suppose could be a hotel or new restaurant buildings.


Proprietor Delia Snyder told the O.C. Register, "We are not closing." However, the bands that were scheduled throughout April have been told to find other accommodations, some of the decor has already been taken down, and no upcoming Tiki Makeke event has been announced. And the bartenders (according the Register) are telling customers that Don's will close soon. (Read more about the conflicting reports in Los Angeles Magazine.)

In a visit on 3/28/2018, I couldn't help but notice that they'd run out of ingredients for about a third of the items they normally serve, which tells me they may not be re-ordering food and certain drink mixers. I also noticed that they were woefully understaffed. (The few that were left were really getting a workout.) Meanwhile, at the Karaoke Night event in the bar, some young lady was belting out Joni Mitchell's "Big Yellow Taxi" to an understanding and cheering crowd:

They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot
With a pink hotel, a boutique
And a swinging hot spot

Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got til its gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot

In the main dining room

Don’s is one of the last Tiki palaces in America -- A rare original remnant of a cultural phenomenon that once spanned the nation. As Sam's Seafood (which recast their 1940s restaurant building into a Tiki paradise in the 1960s) it was a popular dining spot and a key landmark on Pacific Coast Highway. In more recent years, it was home base for the Southern California Tiki revival, it brought the historic Don the Beachcomber brand back to the mainland, it preserved the best of the historic Sam’s Seafood, it hosted stellar Tiki swapmeets, and it served as one of Orange County’s most notable music venues.

Old matchbook cover

A visit to Don’s was a delightful trip into the heyday of Tiki. One can build a new Tiki bar, but you can’t “make” a new historic site. I don’t know specifically who the owners are who decided to jack up the restaurant’s rent so outrageously that no tenant could stay and survive. I only hope they have a really, really good excuse. It would have to be a doozy to justify this loss.

Modern view of Don's entrance

At some point I'll write up a full history of Sam's Seafood and the Huntington Beach incarnation of Don the Beachcomber. I have a large collection of notes and research for just that task already stockpiled for that purpose. But for now -- with this terrible moment upon us, I thought I would at least share a scattered few images of the place and its history.

Duke Kahanamoku with the Katsaris boys at Sam's Seafood, 1960s. (Photo courtesy Gary Katsaris)

UPDATE: As of the evening of 4-2-2018, Don's is still serving customers. The rumor now is that they're going to stay open as long as they can, which may be as much as a couple weeks. Come on down.

Interior view at Sam's Seafood. (Photo by author)

Dinner with Don the Beachcomber owner/reviver Art Snyder and friends

The Ding Dong Devils play the Dagger Bar in 2016.

Me, speaking at the Orange County Historical Society's annual dinner at Don's.

 For more photos, see my Flickr account.

Tiki Makeke swapmeet, Jan. 2018 (Photo by author)