Collection: Sam's Seafood

The classic Tiki-inspired structure at 16278 Pacific Coast Highway in Sunset Beach, for more than 50 years, was known as Sam’s Seafood restaurant. After that it was Don’s the Beachcomber but the neon blue swordfish sign kept the classic place alive, or at least the memory of it, as it still does today (though it now carries the name "Don's" after operating as Don the Beachcomber for a number years).

 Originally opened in 1923, Sam’s Seafood was opened by Greek-immigrant brothers Sam and George Arvanitis in nearby Seal Beach. It was first a bait shop, then a fish market, and then, by the 1940s, a restaurant. 

The swordfish was almost instantly iconic. It began appearing on everything from postcards and matchbooks to coasters. The restaurant had a variety of different names, from Sam’s Seafood Spa, to Sam’s Seafood Grotto and a variety of other things.

In February 1959, the place was destroyed by fire and so the family created what many locals know and love as Sam’s Seafood, a new restaurant designed with a spectacular Tiki theme in a building that also featured a Hawaiian Village. As the OC Weekly wrote, “It was this incarnation of Sam’s that fostered some of the most legendary tales: Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz were said to have dined there. An old photo shows surfing legend Duke Kahanamoku holding a large trophy beside members of the Katsaris family, with everyone decked out in aloha shirts. A black-and-white photo of Bradley Nowell and, more important perhaps, his dalmatian Lou Dog places the Sublime front man and former Surfside resident as performing at Sam’s just a year before his death.”

Today, the future of the mostly-abandoned building remains cloudy. There is much talk about redevelopment in the area but through it all the kitschy, classic Tiki restaurant structure manages to survive. And that blue swordfish remains a nostalgic beacon for thousands of local former customers that, over the years, loved escaping reality in this dark, tropical environment. We celebrate Sam’s here at The Lost Landmarks with a new collection celebrating the spirit of this Tiki classic.