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37-671: The Mai-Kai was created by brothers Bob and Jack Thornton. They visited Don the Beachcomber in Chicago as children and even at that young age said they wanted to open a similar place. While attending college at Stanford University they often visited Trader Vic's restaurant in San Francisco. In 1955 after completing service in the armed forces, the brothers settled in Fort Lauderdale, Florida . Still less than 30 years old, they decided to open

74-401: A Dash, Navy Grog , and many others. Beach's drink menus featured up to 60 different cocktails. Because of post- prohibition laws, food also needed to be served. Customers ate what seemed like wonderfully-exotic cuisines, but, in actuality, were mostly standard Cantonese dishes served with flair that he called South Seas Island food. The first pu pu platter was probably served at Don

111-450: A Polynesian restaurant in an undeveloped area of Oakland Park, a suburb of Fort Lauderdale. Although the area seemed remote at first – "the middle of nowhere on U.S. 1" – a tourist industry was growing in Florida in the 1950s, and both cities were undergoing rapid residential expansion, so that the restaurant immediately developed a clientele of both locals and tourists. The original restaurant

148-539: A Polynesian-Asian theme, and the cocktail menu (designed by Mariano Licudine) is largely unchanged since 1956. The Mai-Kai Islanders Revue opened in 1962, with two performances a night. Mireille Thornton was an early dancer in the show, later marrying Bob Thornton. By 1970 she was the choreographer, talent recruiter, and costume designer for the show. As she was born and raised in Tahiti, she was able to create authentic South Pacific dances and costumes. The Mai-Kai Islanders Revue

185-424: A collection of over 500 works from American realist painter William Glackens . The 2,000-square-foot (190 m ) exhibit is the largest collection of his work in existence, and includes both his oldest known ( Philadelphia Landscape , 1893) and last completed ( White Rose and Other Flowers , 1937) paintings. In December 2005, a traveling exhibit of relics from the tomb of Egyptian Pharaoh Tutankhamun opened at

222-519: A copy of it was served at the 1939 New York World's Fair by Monte Proser (later of the mob-tied Copacabana ). Proser continued to steal Beach's ideas, opening "Beachcomber" restaurants on the East coast . Such imitation of Beach's work was common. He is generally credited with establishing the entire tiki drink genre, creating dozens of other recipes such as the Cobra's Fang , Tahitian Rum Punch, Three Dots and

259-600: A high value on the artifacts that it made the Mai-Kai virtually uninsurable. Don the Beachcomber Donn Beach (born Ernest Raymond Gantt ; February 22, 1907 – June 7, 1989) was an American adventurer, businessman, and World War II veteran who was the "founding father" of tiki culture . He is known for opening the first prototypical tiki bar , Don’s Beachcomber , during the 1930s in Hollywood, California , which

296-594: A number of years before a succession of hurricanes destroyed it. In 1989 he died of liver cancer and was buried in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu. 15. Lapis, Diane, Peck-Davis, Anne Cocktails Across America The Countryman Press 2018) Museum of Art Fort Lauderdale The NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale is an art museum in Fort Lauderdale, Florida . Originating in 1958 as

333-509: A reputation as a fabulist "spinner of tall tales", some claim that his accounts of living in the South Pacific are "almost certainly not true". Others, such as Edward Brownlee and Arnold Bitner, corroborate parts of his accounts. When Prohibition ended in 1933, he opened a bar in Hollywood called "Don's Beachcomber" at 1722 N. McCadden Place. With its success he began calling himself Don

370-495: Is the longest running Polynesian show in the United States. The Mai-Kai has taken advantage of the year-round growing season and tropical climate to its fullest advantage. The surrounding gardens feature walking paths through tropical vegetation, simulated rock formations, waterfalls, ponds, and Tiki statues. Some of the palms and orchids are over fifty years old. On June 8, 2009, a massive carving by Barney West that stood in

407-653: The Fort Lauderdale Art Center , the museum is now located in an 83,000-square-foot (7,700 m ) modernist building designed by Edward Larrabee Barnes . The current building was constructed in 1986, with a 10,000-square-foot (930 m ) wing added in 2001. The main exhibition area comprises 21,000 square feet (2,000 m ); a sculpture terrace on the second floor adds an additional 2,800 square feet (260 m ) of space. The museum, unlike major museums in nearby Miami, Florida and Palm Beach, Florida , emphasizes contemporary (20th century) projects, although

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444-613: The Lahaina Historic District , which was later designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1962. At its height, the International Market Place encompassed 50 shops, night clubs, and restaurants, three of which were owned by Beach himself. Beach remarried in the early 1960s to a Costa Rican woman who would become Carla Beach. The relationship was described as tempestuous and harmful to Beach's businesses and they divorced. She later became an actress who went by

481-781: The Mai Tai (the Tahitian word for "good"), a popular rum based cocktail that Beach said was a knock-off of his Q.B. Cooler . Sund continued to expand Don the Beachcomber under her management. She turned it into one of the nation's first chains of themed restaurants, with 16 locations at its height. Her popular Chicago Don the Beachcomber was named one of the top 50 US restaurants in 1947. Donn also created his first "Polynesian Village" at his Encino, California ranch, where he continued to entertain many Hollywood celebrities with extravagant luaus . When Beach and Sund divorced in 1940 they had remained business partners. In 1945 he signed control of

518-553: The porte cochere and entrance. The Mai-Kai has been expanded several times, largely achieving its present layout and appearance by 1971. It now includes eight dining rooms, a bar, a stage in the center of the restaurants to showcase the Polynesian Islander Revue floor show, a gift shop, and tropical gardens. The interior is decorated with nautical and South Sea artifacts. The largest renovation started in 1970 and took two years to complete. Even during construction projects,

555-576: The 1930s Beach also met and married Sunny Sund (birth name Cora Irene Sund), a waitress and aspiring entrepreneur from Minnesota. She would eventually become his business partner and manager, enlarging and professionalizing the restaurant. They divorced in 1940, the same year Sunny opened a Beachcomber branch in Chicago . She ran and expanded the operation while he was in the Army Air Corps from 1942 to 1945. Sund remarried to William Casparis in 1947. Gantt

592-414: The Beachcomber (the eventual name of his establishment), and also legally changed his name to Donn Beach. A former Los Angeles councilman alleged that one reason for the name change was to distance himself from past bootlegging and the former operation of an illegal speakeasy called "Ernie's Place". In 1937, the bar moved across the street to 1727 N. McCadden Pl., expanded into a restaurant, and its name

629-456: The Beachcomber, as was Rumaki . The restaurant was decorated in a tropical island motif with bamboo and materials he had accumulated from his travels and work on movie sets . In trying to create an escapist atmosphere, he even had the sound of fake rain falling on his roof incorporated into the bar, and shared leis with his customers. An early motto for the bar was "If you can't get to paradise, I'll bring it to you!" Beach's restaurant

666-496: The Mai-Kai never closed, and the owners stipulated that the work must be done in such a way that customers could not see or hear it. This often meant the work was done in the wee hours of the morning. In 2009 the restaurant completed a several-years-long renovation to repair damage from Hurricanes Katrina and Wilma . The current Mai-Kai is much like it was in the 1970s. The waitresses at the Mai-Kai's Molokai Bar are attired in bikini tops and wraparound sarongs . The menu maintains

703-538: The Mai-Kai they hired away number 2 chef Lin Ark Lee, known as Kenny Lee, number 2 bartender Mariano Licudine, maitre d' Andy Tanato and seating captain and purchasing agent Robert Van Dorpe from the Chicago Don the Beachcomber, along with many staff members. Van Dorpe became the first general manager of the Mai-Kai. The original restaurant contained five dining rooms and a 19-seat "Surfboard Bar" made of surfboards. Originally

740-623: The Northern European CoBrA avant-garde movement. Also included in the permanent collection is a significant amount of African and Oceanic Tribal Arts and art of the Americas. The museum's collections are strong in the cultures of South Florida and the Caribbean. The museum partnered with Nova Southeastern University in 2008. In 2001, the museum expanded, adding the Glackens wing to house

777-661: The age of 3. The same 1910 census document lists him as being born in Texas, and his mother, Molly Gant, as having a father who was born in Louisiana. In a 1987 interview for The Watumull Foundation Oral History Project , Beach claims that he spent his early school days in Mandeville , Louisiana, as well as the Colony of Jamaica and Texas. By his own account from an interview, he started first working with his mother running boarding houses when he

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814-450: The collection includes works from the 19th through to the 21st century. Among its collection of more than 7,500 pieces are a large collection of ceramics and prints by Pablo Picasso , a collection of Latin American and Cuban art representing the contributions of more than 125 artists promised to the museum by Stanley and Pearl Goodman, and North America's largest exhibition of work from

851-528: The creator of the International Market Place , for its construction he placed his offices in the limbs of an enormous banyan tree that was in the market's center. The village was dotted with many thatch huts and wood carvings made by one of Beach's friends, "Mick" Brownlee . The International Market Place would also feature the Dagger Bar, and a series of Don the Beachcomber restaurants. The bar

888-502: The gardens for decades collapsed. It was replaced by a piece that had stood in the original Surfboard Bar in 1956. The Mai-Kai contains many genuine Polynesian artifacts, some that are over 100 years old. Much of the original collection of Polynesian artifacts was donated to the Thortons' alma mater, Stanford University, in the 1970s. Another part of the collection was donated to the Fort Lauderdale art museum . An insurance appraisal put such

925-543: The name Carla Beachcomber and Carla Beachcomber Lutz. After the divorce Beach met and married a younger woman of partial Maori ancestry from New Zealand who would become his third wife, Phoebe Beach. He built an elaborate houseboat , the Marama , a prototype for what he hoped would be floating housing in Hawaii , but failed to get the zoning for it. He eventually shipped the houseboat to Moorea , and lived there in retirement for

962-505: The order of his friend, Lieutenant General Jimmy Doolittle . Tiki restaurants enjoyed a tremendous burst of fad popularity in the 1940s and 1950s and there were several Don the Beachcomber restaurants across the country. Victor J. Bergeron had opened a competing version called Trader Vic 's in the late 1930s in the San Francisco Bay Area and the two men were (sometimes) amicable rivals for many years. Each claimed to have created

999-414: The restaurant is run by Bob's stepson David Levy as CEO and his stepdaughter Kulani Thornton Gelardi as CFO. In 2020, the Mai-Kai building closed following flooding caused by a burst pipe. The restaurant continued to host some outdoor gatherings. New partners started renovating the building in 2023. The main building is one story with a large A-frame thatched roof. A wooden slat bridge is crossed to reach

1036-652: The restaurants over to her, retaining a role as consultant and figurehead. As part of the settlement, Beach was not allowed to open a Don the Beachcomber within the United States. Some believe he may have been forced out in part by the mob. The Chicago Don the Beachcomber had become entangled with Mafia associates. Beach then moved to the Territory of Hawaii , where he continued his burgeoning entertainment and tiki-themed enterprises. He settled in Waikiki , where he opened his second "Polynesian Village", known as Waikiki Village. As

1073-480: The roof of the Garden seating area was open. The constant nuisance of moving guests out of the rain caused them to enclose the roof with glass. That glass roof was opened and closed until maintenance issues kept it closed. In 1970, Jack Thornton sold his interest in the Mai-Kai to his brother Bob after he was struck ill by an aneurysm. Bob then expanded the restaurant, more than doubling its capacity. Bob died in 1989. Today

1110-681: The war. The plane was shot down over France a week before D-Day. The crew members parachuted out, were immediately captured, and then held 11 months in German POW camps before being liberated. He was awarded the merit version of the Bronze Star while setting up rest camps for combat-weary airmen of the 12th and 15th Air Forces in Capri , Nice , Cannes , the French Riviera , Venice , the Lido and Sorrento at

1147-647: Was a Lieutenant Colonel in the United States Army Air Forces in World War II . He was awarded a Purple Heart when he was injured during a U-boat attack on a ship. After recovery, he worked as the operator of officer rest-and-recreation centers. He created some Air Corps-themed cocktail names as a result, including the Q.B. Cooler and the Test Pilot . A B-26 Bomber bore a "Don the Beachcomber driftwood sign" and likeness painted onto its fuselage during

Mai-Kai Restaurant - Misplaced Pages Continue

1184-647: Was changed to Don The Beachcomber. He mixed potent rum cocktails at both of these tropically-decorated locations, which he referred to as "Rhum Rhapsodies". A January 15, 1935 classified ad, in the Los Angeles Evening Citizens News, listed the Café at 1722 N. McCadden Place for lease. One of the first such cocktails he invented was the Sumatra Kula . The rum-laden and potent Zombie cocktail may be his best known drink; it quickly grew in popularity and

1221-455: Was designed by architect Charles F. McKirahan Sr. and decorated by Wayne Davidson. It cost $ 350,000 to complete, making it the most expensive restaurant built in the US that year. It earned more than a million dollars in its first year. It quickly became one of the top-grossing restaurants in the United States, and for many years it sold more rum than any other location in Florida. When the brothers opened

1258-653: Was expanded to a chain of dozens of restaurants throughout the United States. He later built the International Market Place and additional establishments in what was then the Territory of Hawaii . He married three times. Gantt was born in 1907, with some sources indicating he was born in New Orleans and growing up in Limestone County, Texas and others indicating that he was born in Texas. A U.S. Census document from 1910 has him living in Limestone County, Texas at

1295-559: Was named after a dagger that was allegedly a trophy that Beach brought back from his time in WWII, a reproduction of an imperial Roman-style Puglia knife that he had gotten in Italy. The market flourished, and Beach's impact on tourism was such that many viewed his contributions as profoundly important. He was honored with a House Resolution Tourism Award in 1957. Beach and Pete Wimberly also played an important role in establishing preservation laws for

1332-581: Was popular with Hollywood actors, some of whom became frequent customers and friends. A book written about Beach mentions stars such as Marlene Dietrich, Bing Crosby, Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh. One account about David Niven had the actor anonymously placing a $ 100 bill in a sealed envelope for Donn at the Garden of Allah Hotel during a time when Beach was completely broke. As the bar continued to grow in popularity with celebrities, monogrammed bamboo chopstick cases were made for them to make them feel at home. In

1369-464: Was sixteen. Four years later he claims to have left home and traveled around the world. Upon returning, he left Texas again in 1929, traveling as a supercargo employee for the captain of a yacht heading to Sydney , Australia, by way of Hawaii. He then spent at least an additional year island hopping on freighters throughout the South Pacific. The interview was given only three years before his death, and many dates are difficult to align. Because he had

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