Sam's Seafood was a Huntington Beach institution, and contained several dining rooms. While Sam's had been in the same location since the '20s, up until its Polynesian remodel in the '60s it was just a seaside seafood joint. The brightly lit main dining room had a large wall mural on one side and a dramatic tiki & waterfall display at the back. A pair of smaller side dining rooms were also bright and more aviation themed.

Of more interest to the tikiphile was the Hidden Village banquet room area in the back available for event rentals, which was large and moodily lit, with glass floats, waterfall displays, A-frame covered seating areas, and a small bar. On Friday nights from April to November, Sam's Seafood had a Polynesian Dinner Show in the Hidden Village. Last but certainly not least was the excellent main bar at Sam's. It was dark and full of excellent carvings, pufferfish and float lamps, and thatch.

A small bar with some tiki carvings inside, Turc's, can be found just down the street.

At the end of May 2006, Sam's Seafood was sold to developers who aim to build retail spaces & condominiums on the site. Red tape appears to be holding off any development on the site for possibly years. Sam's closed for several months until June 2007, when the property owners allowed a new group to come in and keep the restaurant running in a somewhat modified form until the development could move forward.

In 2007, Sam's Seafood became Kona

. In 2009, Kona closed and the restaurant reopened as Don the Beachcomber

(no connection to the historic chain), which is still open today.

Comments

dB was a semi-regular at Sam's Seafood.

January 6, 2012, 9:06 PM

Great dark place for pupus and mai tais with pufferfish and tikis galore... Sad to see it gone. Once watched a surf-film showing there which decompensated and broke out into a minor league sunset/surfside/HB riot. Great memories! dB

Kuai Craig

August 1, 2010, 6:23 PM

Now Don The Beachcombers, cool and kitschy! Mai Tais are strong strong strong, but dang good. As a matter of fact, just about to head there for dinner.

busboy

August 5, 2009, 5:45 PM

I worked at Sams from 1966 thru 1968 for the original family.
Nick Katsaris founder and his sons Richard,Bob,Gary and daughter
Sharon..What a great place.I became one of the family.I have all the history about the fire of the original structure and I have a
Menu from 1968...More like a book.This was a Greek family and
Nick treated everyone as such It sold the first time in late 68
or early 69 Which ended my carrer there.I was last there in the early 80s..Still know Gary Any info I can give Id be glad to.
Contact me crazyharry@frontiernet,net...Harry Burnett

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