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Here’s a pretty mind-blowing fact about tiki bars: they were invented in 1930s California, then reimported to Hawaii for tourists who wanted to live out a tropical fantasy. How a Hollywood novelty concept bar still persists nearly 100 years later is the story behind a new documentary called The Donn of Tiki, which is screening at the Hollywood Theatre this Sunday, Nov. 30.
The Donn in question is Donn Beach, creator of the tiki bar. Before that, he was known as Don the Beachcomber, and before that, Ernest Raymond Beaumont Gantt. Since Donn Beach died in 1989, directors Alex Lamb and Max Well have to get creative with how to make their central character come to life. They do it with a combination of traditional and stop-motion animation, archival footage and interviews with many a Hawaiian shirt-wearing tiki bar expert.
The story is nuts, in part because Beach was a perpetual truth-stretcher. Even nailing down when and where he was born (1907 in Texas, probably) takes some work. Then he goes on to travel through the South Seas, bootleg liquor in 1920s Hollywood, serve in World War II, and start a chain of tiki bars and restaurants called Don the Beachcomber. Along the way, there are a few wives, many secret cocktail recipes and even a run-in with the Chicago Mob.
The Donn of Tiki is journalistically rigorous to the point of being a little plodding at times, especially for someone whose curiosity at the who/what/when/where/why of tiki bars starts and ends with occasionally looking around Northeast Broadway bar Hale Pele and wondering, how the hell did all of this start? I’d have been happier with a 60-minute take on tiki bars and Donn Beach than the 100-minute version here, though maybe I’m just a lightweight. (Sugary rum-based cocktails are an instant headache for me, after all.)
Fun homework to do before or after the film screening: go to Hale Pele and order a volcano bowl, if you never have. It arrives at your table on fire, and the bar makes it feel like a volcano erupting with fog rolling in and subwoofers rumbling.
GO: The Donn of Tiki at the Hollywood Theatre, 4122 NE Sandy Blvd. 503-493-1128, hollywoodtheatre.org. 3 pm Sunday, Nov. 30. Post-film discussion with directors Alex Lamb and Max Well. $20.
