Don the Beachcomber on Maui

We just played my buddy, Sean Goodin's, wedding in San Diego a couple of weeks ago and now he's on his honeymoon in Hawaii.  Yesterday, he sent me pictures of the 1970's-built Don the Beachcomber at the Royal Lahaina Hotel in Ka'anapali, Maui. 

Sadly, it's been shuttered since 2007. 

Here's the place, back in 2006...
photo: Sungod
photo: Sungod

And yesterday...


Sean had intentions of mixing up a Mai Tai outside of the place to be the last to have a cocktail on the grounds of the Don the Beachcomber.


But guess what? 
A door to the place happened to be unlocked. 




And he went in.
The following photos are of the closed Don the Beachcomber on Maui.




It's hard to say if the place is being prepped for a makeover or if its being used as a storage shed...














Dig those lamps! 



They are the BL37 Orchids of Hawaii lamps



Here's another Orchids of Hawaii lamp. This one is the BL34. There was a fish design on the side made from colored resin rock. You can kinda see it in the picture...



I'm not sure about the names of the lamps in the next two pictures, but I'd assume that they are Orchids of Hawaii as well.


Aside from the gorgeous shell covered lamps, howabout that giant carved pole?!


Then, there was this... uh, busty, hula dancer thing...


And a sad, sad tiki looking in to the once vibrant Don the Beachcomber.



Hope you found these photos as interesting as I did. It is amazing that the place has been closed and rotting away for 9 years! Hopefully someone will buy the place and keep the structure in-tact. There's a lot of cool architectural detail that remains there.

Thanks again to Sean for sharing the photos with us!

If you go back into the archives of Tiki Central, there's much more stuff to see about the Ka'anapali Don the Beachcomber, there. 

• Aloha •
Spike

3 comments:

  1. That is a cryin' shame... all of that tikiliciousness gone to waste! The sad part is that it doesn't look like it would take my first born totem to get the pad going again either. Truly a waste of a badass space. I definitely would have had to go back and mix that Mai Tai just to be the last to drink one in that fine tiki establishment! Thanks for the trip, man!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wow incredible so sad it is like this, to use it for storage awful :( it would be great to revive this place with such history & decor it would be a shame to leave it this way. It needs the right investor & person to breathe life back into this place.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I hope they lock the doors now or the place will be rated. I just can't share this post because of that fear.

    ReplyDelete