A couple of 12 months or two in the past, I fell headfirst into the Tiki craze. I liked the drinks, the idols, and the carefree tradition. And did I point out the drinks? They’re extremely intricate: two or three totally different rums in a single glass, particular syrups, and recent juices, all measured to the quarter-ounce to create the right cocktail.
Like most individuals who catch the Tiki bug, you finally be taught the identify Don the Beachcomber, or is it Donn Seashore. Or, as I realized within the new documentary The Donn of Tiki, was it Don Gantt? Or lastly, Ernest Raymond Gantt?
Directed by Alex Lamb and Max Nicely, the movie dives deep into Gantt’s life, or a minimum of as deep as one can go along with a person who lived such a colourful existence. It seems a few of his formative years could have been embellished: Was he born in Texas or New Orleans? Did he have a British or American accent? To me, these fabrications solely make him extra mysterious. In spite of everything, that is the person who basically invented the Zombie and laid the groundwork for the cocktails we (particularly me!) are nonetheless obsessive about at this time.
The documentary highlights a pivotal second in his youth: his father provided to pay for both faculty or a 12 months of world journey. Gantt selected the world. These travels uncovered him to world flavors and, most significantly, rum. When he returned to America and settled in Los Angeles, he labored odd jobs within the film business earlier than opening a bar on the finish of Prohibition. Since rum was low-cost and his information of it was huge, he started crafting recipes that he would spend hours, typically years, perfecting.
His bar, Don the Beachcomber, turned a magnet for Golden Age celebrities, turning Gantt right into a mini-celebrity himself. However like many artistic geniuses, he was a horrible businessman. When he landed in jail and couldn’t afford bail, a girl named Cora Irene “Sunny” Sund provided him a means out. The catch? He needed to marry her and signal over half the enterprise.
That cut price marked the start of a cycle of success and loss. The movie captures his enterprise trajectory: Sunny ultimately muscled him out, the mob acquired concerned, and he fled city solely to start out over once more. He would construct a profitable enterprise, marry, lose the enterprise, and repeat.
Ultimately, Don moved to Hawaii for a recent begin. There, he discovered success but once more by creating an elaborate Tahitian Village that drew guests from world wide.
As an old-school Hollywood fan and Tiki lover, I completely loved the movie. It was fascinating to listen to how stars flocked to his bar for a Planter’s Punch, and equally heartbreaking to see his generosity used towards him. He was a person who might construct an empire out of nothing however typically lacked the business-sense to maintain it.
The Donn of Tiki is the last word story of the American Dream, constructing one thing from scratch… 3 times over. For anybody in that Tiki mindset who loves a deep dive into cocktail historical past, this movie is correct up your alley.
