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Huntington Beach--Talk about full circle! The little grass skirts on the Southern
California based "Island girls"
who dance at Don the Beachcomber restaurant in Huntington Beach
celebrate America's love of colorful shows, tropical songs, and a
fabulously-mixed cocktails made with rum.
Don the Beachcomber lived during the
prohibition and was known for his cocktails and drinks served during
a time when liquor was against the law. Popular with the
celebrity crowd who clandestinely sought the private establishment
where his bootleg liquor was served, Don Beach would smile if alive today. As a new Don the
Beachcomber Polynesian-style restaurant opened its doors recently,
the location was near the shores where rum-runners used to sneak
their barrels of liquor onto the beach some 80 years past.
The colorful character who created his first restaurant in
Southern California, serving up Cantonese food and some awesome
mixed drinks was known for the aloha ambience he created to please
Southern Californians and tourists seeking a looser atmosphere in a
time when the laws weren't so giving.
Don the Beachcomber restaurants once grew to large numbers, but
then declined through time as popularity of the luau style shows
diminished. The interest in this type of dining was tried in the
launch of a Don the Beachcomber restaurant at California Adventure
theme park when the second Disneyland Resorts park launched in 2001.
Like other restaurants such as Wolfgang Puck that also was unveiled
in the grand opening, Don the Beachcomber didn't last very long.
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