Writing Tiki history books is a labor of love. Every trip to dig through a photo album or scrap book can cost thousands of dollars. Buying images on eBay, etc. is money spent for something that may never be used, but you have to get it or it’s lost. I’m doing it when and how I can.

The history is slipping away. Friends and associates of Donn Beach are still out there. Those who lived it are passing from this earth and taking the incredible stories with them. Their photo albums are tossed. The time is now.

I am working on a biography of Donn with a working title of Searching for Don the Beachcomber. I have amassed a large collection of newspaper and magazine articles to cover all that was printed about the man. I have a collection of images and ephemera and I am eager to find more. Please contact me to share your images! I don’t want to leave anything out. I have the Phoebe Beach Archive of Donn’s papers and photos and other items. I have interviewed his family, friends, and business partners. There is no one alive now who knew Donn in his formative years, and fewer and fewer who knew him at all. Writing about him is a challenge, and I have taken up that challenge.

I am also working with Surf Monkey Films on a documentary about Donn titled The Donn of Tiki. We hope the release of the book and documentary will happen about the same time. Their website for the project is HERE

If you don’t have my Mai-Kai book, you need it. It is part one of my Donn Beach biography really. Buy it via this link, signed from me: Mai-Kai History

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