Sunny Sund's Final Resting Place
Glendale, California, United States
Cora Irene Sund was born in 1910 and died in 1974.
*Her gravestone says born in "1909" but that appears to be an error according to her obituary and other sources.
In any case, she had a remarkable impact on tiki and cocktail history. She built-out Don the Beachcombers as a real business, expanding it across the United States. While Donn Beach's name often overshadows her impact on the business's history, Sunny Sund emerged as the visionary leader, overseeing its growth from a modest twenty-four-seat bar into a flourishing chain of million-dollar restaurants.
Sund met and married Ernest Raymond Beaumont Gantt (Donn Beach) in Hollywood in the 1930s, with Gantt opening Don’s Beachcomber, the first of what would later be known as exotic restaurants. The bar was wildly successful and Sund became Gantt’s business partner, raising money to expand the business, which they began (first to Chicago) in 1940. The marriage didn’t last, but Sund and Gantt remained business partners, with Gantt as figurehead and host, and Sund running the growing business behind the scenes. Through the 40s and 50s, Sund grew Don the Beachcomber’s to some sixteen locations, selling the business to Getty Enterprises in 1968.
Sunny died on January 8th and was laid to rest Saturday, January 12th, 1974 at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California. She was 64 years old.
Details
- Type
- Cemetery
- Address
- Glendale, California, United States
- Closed?
- No
- Links
