Donn Blog
A deep dive into the history of Donn Beach, Don the Beachcomber restaurants, and all things related to that story. Never-before-seen items from Donn’s personal archives.
Full Moon Party 1946 Don the Beachcomber Encino Home
https://youtu.be/reytn783vLA?si=A_S8syNuwurYeYEM Full Moon Party 1946 Don the Beachcomber Encino Home
Vintage Don the Beachcomber Carving at La Mariana
https://youtu.be/p6gSPXIZMXs?si=dxpf_qCtfG72CZjo Vintage Don the Beachcomber Carving at La Mariana
Don the Beachcomber Waikiki 1948
Donn enjoys a Missionary's Downfall and a Pi Yi with a lovely companion. https://youtu.be/JDH_9vDvSnE
New Donn of Tiki Trailer
https://youtu.be/XzzyemzosSE I'll be in Anaheim on September 17th for a fundraiser for the documentary. Details HERE.
A Letter to Bob Van Dorpe – Aug 1974
When I found this letter in Bob Van Dorpe's archive, it just made me happy. It still makes me happy. It is signed from "Huge" which I thought for a bit was "Hugh" Donn's brother. No return address, but the address mentioned in the letter lead me, by way of help from a...
Singapore Manila War Tokens
On July 22nd of 1942, Donn, on active military service, announced the opening of a Singapore and Manila Don the Beachcomber, and then on the 26th issued 1,000 tokens for a free Barrel of Rum at these locations. Note the lines in the top left where there were cuts and...
Protected: Estelle Carey – The Gal Who Exposed the Mob
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Donn’s Notes on the 1930s
Here is another sample of Donn's handwriting. I'm getting better at interpreting it mainly by virtue of knowing a lot of the subjects already and being able to piece it together. I decided to actually type up my interpretation of this page. Maybe I know something the...
Protected: Secret Recipe for Colonel Beach’s Plantation Ambrosia
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Donn’s Notes on the War Years
There are various pages, some hand written, some typed, of notes by Donn on his life. The hand written ones are very slap-dash stuff that was only meant to jog his memory. Being notes written for himself, they are often completely unreadable. His writing his barely...
Ethel Merman and Bob Six at DtB Waikiki 1952
Ethel and Bob at DtB Waikiki 2-14-1952 If the date is correct, this is before they were married. Box Six was the CEO of Continental Airlines and when they married in 1953, he urged Ethel Merman to return to her career. She had just starred in "There's No Business Like...
Rudy Vallee’s “The Drene Show” 1946 Featuring Donn
Part of the archive was this script for Rudy Vallee's "The Drene Show" which was a 30 minute radio program in the early 40s. This particular script revolves around Rudy trying to steal a secret recipe from Don the Beachcomber to make his place more popular. Rudy was a...
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