Talk:Donn Beach

message: a Don the Beachcombers in WEST Lafayette, Louisiana?????? Even if it were just plain Lafayette, that would be remarkable enough.... Hayford Peirce (talk) 21:54, 19 October 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  vandalism 

message: A change has just been made to the openeing date, from 1934 to 1933. Prior to this change, the specified reference was the Wall Street Journal. After the change, that reference was removed, and a user forum was referenced. There are several problems with the new source:
(1) It's a user forum, and as such is not a reliable source.
(2) Even within the cited source, there are contradictions as to whether it is 1933 or 1934.
(3) Forum messages refer to the Van Nuys [Valley] News, which certainly isn't as reliable as the WSJ -- and in any case two articles are cited, one which says reputedly says 1933 and one which says 1934. Of course, we don't even know if the Van Nuys News ever had such articles, since the forum is not a reliable source. --Larry (talk) 18:27, 3 July 2014 (UTC)
replies: text: There are pieces of ephemera from Don the beachcomber that both cite 1933 as the specific opening year, or reference by saying "25 years in business" in 1958. The confusion is likely derived from the date when the business license was first obtained in 1934 and other ephemera which has the 1934 date. In my book Mai-Kai History and Mystery of the Iconic Tiki Restaurant I say it was 1933. All evidence from those who knew the man Donn Beach and plenty of evidence from ephemera points to that as the correct date. Anecdotal corroboration comes from sources placing him and his brother in LA at that time and living near the address. More details will be in my forthcoming history book on Donn Beach. Swankpad (talk) 19:06, 16 December 2022 (UTC)
thread_title:  When Gantt opened Don's Beachcomber Cafe 

message: Hello fellow Wikipedians,
I have just added archive links to  on Don the Beachcomber. Please take a moment to review my edit. If necessary, add  after the link to keep me from modifying it. Alternatively, you can add  to keep me off the page altogether. I made the following changes:
*Added archive https://web.archive.org/20060603203617/http://hawaiibeachcomber.com:80/_wsn/page2.html to http://hawaiibeachcomber.com/_wsn/page2.html
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thread_title:  External links modified 

message: Note: This article was originally written under the title Don the Beachcomber, but the article is mostly about the person, not the restaurant. He sometimes called himself Don the Beachcomber but that was never his actual name. His name was Donn Beach (after he changed it legally from Ernest Gantt). So I have moved the article and talk page to the title Donn Beach. -- MelanieN (talk) 19:24, 2 March 2019 (UTC)
thread_title:  Article title 

message: The background on Beach's name is certainly vexing, with multiple sources with different information, even with varying chronological orders. We do know his tombstone is inscribed "Donn E R G Beach" (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/14470706). Most sources indicate his name was legally changed to Donn Beach. Others show variations, and it is difficult to tell how many variations were actual legal name changes or just reported as such when they were in fact nicknames, or if he had a succession of legal name changes. In Sippin' Safari (Jeff Berry, 10th Anniverstary edition, 2017, pg 49), Berry indicates the legal name change as to "Don E.R. Beachcomber, Donn Beach for short", which makes little sense. Researchers with access to the Social Security Death Index might be helpful in this area. In any event, the grave marker name, and (very loose) consensus of sources would seem to mean that "Donn Beach" is the best for now. As an aside, in footnotes on the same page of Sippin' Safari, Berry infers that the name change was a result of avoiding attention due to an early (illegal) speakeasy of Donn's known as "Ernie's Place" (as alleged by Art Snyder). Regarding the restaurant's name, there is a similar problem of what actual early and later names were for the restaurant, with some indicating it was first simply the "Don Beachcomber" restaurant. While some pictures of the sign show Don the Beachcomber (likely Hollywood), later photos in Hawaii show a "Don the Beachcomber's" (with an apostrophe) at the International Market Place.  This may have been done because that is (1) what people began to call it, (2) to mimic Trader Vic's, or (3) because he had lost rights to the restaurant to his ex-wife.Nicholas Nastrusnic (talk) 12:47, 13 March 2019 (UTC)
thread_title: Legal name/ Restaurant name conflation

message: Edgar Leeteg was painter (of sorts) who lived in Tahiti for many years and who probably invented the Exotic Painting on Black Velvet (Velvet painting).  I myself lived in Tahiti for a number of years and used to see a small sign on the side of the road not far from the Moorea airport.  It said Beach, and I always vaguely wondered why a sign for a beach would be in English and not French.  Little did I know that that was where Donn Beach had his houseboat.  If I had known, I would instantly have gone to introduce myself.  For many years in the late 50s and early 60s my family's favorite restaurant in the entire world was D. the Beach in Hollywood, where they would serve me a Navy Grog when I was 15 or so (and with my mother).  Looking back on it 60 years later, it's STILL my favorite restaurant in all the world, and I'm the guy who originally scanned the restaurant cover and put it into this article.
I also, about 6 or 7 years ago, wrote a private-eye detective story set in Tahiti called "The Lethal Leeteg", after the name of a newly invented Tiki drink.  In the story, my detective hero does a job (successfully) for Donn Beach, then living on his houseboat.  Involving a stolen Leeteg that Donn had on his houseboat. It was published in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine and a while later was nominated by a Private Eye group as the best short story of the year.  It didn't win, of course, but I was flattered. http://crimespreemag.com/2014-shamus-award-winners/
Anyway, do you think a mention of this should creep into this article as a minor bit of info, or throw-away, or not? Hayford Peirce (talk) 23:18, 18 March 2019 (UTC)
replies: text: Hello, Mr. Peirce, and congrats on your short story. Can you find us a source - a review or some kind of reporting about the story - that points out the story's connection to Mr. Beach? I'm afraid we need an independent source, not just the author; per Wikipedia's rules on WP:Verifiability we have to have an independent published source to include it. -- MelanieN (talk) 04:06, 19 March 2019 (UTC)
replies: text: Yes, I learned that many years ago when I first began writing here. Although I didn't always adhere to the rule, in fact I frequently protested vehemently against it. It was one of the reasons a lot of us migrated to the now-failed Citizendium. I'll do a little research, but it's gonna be a tough slog to find something as specific as what we need. Manuia!, as we used to say in Tahiti when we raised a rum punch -- in 27 years down there, I never had a mai tai! Hayford Peirce (talk) 14:57, 19 March 2019 (UTC)
thread_title:  The Lethal Leeteg 

message: I guess "high" is subjective. I have never been, and it appears from what I have read that there was more than one treehouse so maybe there was higher ones over time. I sure would not want to fall out of this regardless: https://www.flickr.com/photos/11311958@N06/42508360134 Would be great if someone could find a free use image of the tree house to place into the International Market Place article, it is sorely needed. Cheers. Nicholas Nastrusnic (talk) 01:02, 23 March 2019 (UTC)
replies: text: There are LOTS of pictures of the treehouse on the net.  Surely ONE of them must be available.  I saw the house back in '61, back when Donn was still using it and you could rent it for your own meal.  At the time I'm pretty sure it was the ONLY one in the tree.  I saw it again back in '00, when the Marketplace was pretty run down but can't remember if there were more than one.  It's quite possible.... Hayford Peirce (talk) 15:26, 23 March 2019 (UTC)
replies: text: There were two. One was used as an office by Donn, and the other was the "Treehouse for Two" dining room. The later may have been removed at some point. Swankpad (talk) 19:21, 16 December 2022 (UTC)
thread_title:  Height -- this discussion should be here and not on my own talk page -- thanks!