Bootlegger Tiki

How the torches got here

Beneath the desert, 1930s

1930’s
Before the torches…

There were the tunnels.

Long before tiki came to California, Prohibition gave “bootlegger” a different meaning. Beneath us, stories of hidden tunnels, secret entrances, and liquor moving out of sight became part of the desert’s mythology.

Some of it is history. Some of it is rumor.
We prefer it that way.
1934
A bootlegger opens a rum bar

Ernest Raymond Beaumont Gantt, better known as Donn Beach, opens Don the Beachcomber in Hollywood. Rum, fresh citrus, and a room that feels like the South Seas: the tiki bar is born, and so is his Zombie.

Next door, Ernest Coffee is named for him.
1953
The torches go up

Don the Beachcomber opens a desert outpost right here at 1101 N Palm Canyon Dr: shake roofs, palms, and a big wooden sign out front. The tiki torches go up over the roof and start burning.
Today
Same room, same torches

More than seven decades later, the torches still burn over the corner of North Palm Canyon. Inside, we’re shaking fresh juices and house made ingredients, pouring Donn’s legendary 1934 Zombie, and carrying Palm Springs’ tiki tradition forward for a new generation of desert revelers.

Tucked behind Ernest Coffee at 1101 N Palm Canyon Dr, in the Uptown Design District.

Opening hours
Sunday to Thursday	3pm to 11pm
Friday and Saturday	3pm to 1am

Happy hour: the first and last hour, every day

Reservations through OpenTable.

Ernest Coffee shares our building and pours from 6am to 1:30pm.