The Donn of Tiki

THE DONN OF TIKI is a documentary film about Donn Beach, also known as Don the Beachcomber, creator of the tiki bar. But his story goes much deeper than that. He was an American maverick, constantly creating his own opportunities, reinventing himself many times over, and was well known for embellishing the details of his extraordinary life.

This film takes on the task of separating fact from exaggeration to finally tell his story. There are slivers of truth to his tales- a youth spent in Jamaica, running rum during prohibition, hunting down cigars and liquor for troops in World War II, and bringing the first commercial lū‘au to Hawai‘i. Interviews from historians, scholars of indigenous politics, as well as the tiki community, paint a complicated portrait of an optimistic man from Texas, who became a champion for authenticity, both in his work, and within himself.