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Beachcomber Tavern

Also Beachcomber Bar · Beachcomber Inn · The Beachcomber · Beaver Island Beachcomber, Inc.

Draft — sources verified, prose evolving

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Within Saint JamesLocator plate © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL 1.0); depths NOAA; names USGS GNIS. How the plates are drawn.
TypeOrganization
Foundedby 1955
Coordinates45.7471° N, 85.5197° WGoogle MapsDownload KML
WithinSaint James · Beaver Island
ErasModern era
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Locator map: Saint James highlighted within the Beaver Island archipelago
Within Saint JamesLocator plate © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL 1.0); depths NOAA; names USGS GNIS. How the plates are drawn.
Organization
Founded
by 1955
Coordinates
45.7471° N, 85.5197° WGoogle MapsDownload KML
Eras
Modern era
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economycommunitytourismcommerce
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Saint James · Beaver Island

Summary

The Beachcomber is a tavern and, later, restaurant on Beaver Island’s Main Street, near LaFreniere’s Store, that the held record traces back to at least the early 1950s and forward to at least 2008. The building itself was constructed in 1900 as a grocery store; a McCann family member later converted it into a tavern, and James McCann died there, by heart attack, in circumstances reported in the Beaver Beacon’s very first issue, January 1955. Edna Mae McCann, almost certainly his widow, ran it through the 1960s before selling it in 1969 to James and (by name) Pat Janda of Chicago, who incorporated it as “Beaver Island Beachcomber, Inc.” and advertised it for sale continuously from at least 1971 to 1976 while still operating it – sponsoring a golf tournament, a baseball team, and Milt Bennett’s 75th birthday party, and giving annually to the Medical Center Building Fund. After a reported three vacant years, Ken and Judy Taylor and Doris Shirk bought the building in 1979 and reopened it as a seasonal pizza and ice-cream shop, which Shirk expanded to a year-round sandwich business by 1982 before selling her share to the Taylors in 1988. By 2008 it was again a bar with live music, run under a name distinct from, but listed alongside, the Shamrock.

Current operation

The Beachcomber trades as a bar at 26225 Main Street, next to the Shamrock, and was listed and open as of August 2026.1 The Beacon shows the two houses promoted together as one sponsor entry in 1998 and again in 2008, when the Hodgsons were running both.

History

A 1989 Museum Week house-tour feature is the only held source for the building’s origin: it “was built by Yankee Jim Dunlevy as a grocery store” after he returned from Chicago in 1900, and Dunlevy lived upstairs. The same feature states that “James McCann, grandson of James McCann bought the building and turned it into the Beachcomber Tavern,” without a date.2 That James McCann owned it by the winter of 1954-55 is established independently: the Beacon’s January 2005 fiftieth-anniversary issue, recapping its own first issue, reports that McCann “had owned the Beachcomber at the time of his heart attack and was found lying on the floor by Karl Kuebler,” after eight years as the island’s Conservation Officer.3 Edna Mae McCann – almost certainly his widow, though no held source states the relationship directly – completed an apartment above the building and became a permanent island resident in January 1959, moving from Detroit.4 A rumor that she had sold the business to become a bakery was printed and explicitly denied as false in April 1961; she is recorded opening “the Beachcomber Tavern for the season” in May 1962, and the business appears open each summer through 1968, including as the site of a November 1968 wedding reception.56789

In August 1969 the Beacon reported that “the Beachcomber Bar has been sold by Mrs. Edna McCann to Mr. and Mrs. James Janda of Chicago.”10 By June 1971 the business was incorporated as “Beaver Island Beachcomber, Inc.” and was advertised for sale in that name – an advertisement repeated in at least ten separate issues between 1971 and 1976, meaning the business was continuously on the market for roughly half a decade without a recorded buyer.1112 It kept operating the whole time: Jim Janda sponsored “The Beachcomber Open” golf tournament in 1972 and, per a “Jim Janda Day” reported that September, promoted and sponsored the Beaver Island Beachcombers baseball teams – a separate, community athletic organization this record does not merge with the tavern itself, though the shared name is plainly not a coincidence.1314 A September 1973 reminiscence by a former summer bartender names the proprietors as “Jim and Pat Ganda,” a surname spelling that differs from the “Janda” of the 1969 sale notice by one letter.15 The Beachcomber hosted Milt Bennett’s 75th birthday buffet that October, and from December 1973 through at least December 1976 printed an annual holiday greeting signed “Pat & Jim,” donating to the Medical Center Building Fund each year in place of sending cards.161718

The building stood vacant for a reported three years before Ken and Judy Taylor and Doris Shirk bought it in August 1979, remodeled the interior, and reopened it seasonally as a pizza, ice-cream, and game shop.2 By 1982 Doris Shirk, then living in the building’s north apartment, was keeping it open year-round with an expanded sandwich menu; she sold her ownership share to the Taylors on 4 September 1988, and a new kitchen – grill and French fryer included – was added that winter.19 By April 2008 the Beachcomber was again a bar, offering live music over St. Patrick’s weekend alongside the Shamrock and staffed, at least at one point in her career, by bartender Loretta “Loy” Malloy, who had also tended bar at the Shamrock.20

Names

Every held reference to this business uses some form of “Beachcomber” – Beachcomber Bar, Beachcomber Tavern, and, once, in a 1973 phone directory, “Beaver Island Beachcomber Inn” – and after 1979 usually just “the Beachcomber.” No held source records the business under any other name, so this article carries no former_names. A University of Michigan Bentley Library recording, catalogued as made “at the Beachcomber, Beaver Island” and dated only to the parent collection’s 1952-1960 range, is chronologically consistent with the McCann-era tavern documented here – McCann owned a Beachcomber by his 1954-55 death – but that consistency is not proof of identity, and Ivan Walton recording, AFC SR130: the Beachcomber, Beaver Island is deliberately kept as a separate, unmerged record.

Significance

Across nearly two decades of held reporting, the Beachcomber recurs less as a business succeeding or failing than as a fixture: a wedding-reception venue, a birthday-party site, a baseball and golf sponsor, and a steady annual donor to the island’s Medical Center Building Fund, all while carrying a “for sale” sign for years at a stretch. Its 1900 building outlived at least three distinct owners or ownership groups – the McCanns, the Jandas, and the Taylor/Shirk partnership – while keeping the same name and, on this record, largely the same Main Street footprint next to LaFreniere’s Store and across from the Shamrock.

Open questions

  • What was Edna Mae McCann’s relationship to James McCann – widow, as this record assumes, or something else? No held source states it.
  • Is “Ganda,” the surname in the 1973 bartender reminiscence, the same person as “Janda” in the 1969 sale notice, or a distinct spelling this project should not silently correct? This record treats them as the same proprietor, following the matching first names and dates, but no source resolves the spelling.
  • When exactly did “Beaver Island Beachcomber, Inc.” finally sell or close after 1976, and when did the building actually stand vacant, if the business was still printing holiday greetings as late as December 1976?
  • Did the Beachcomber operate continuously between 1976 and 1979, or is the “three vacant years” reported in 1989 accurate as stated?
  • Is the AFC SR130 Ivan Walton recording, “recorded at the Beachcomber,” from the McCann-era tavern? No held source dates the recording precisely enough to say.
  • What did “Shamrock Restaurant & Pub / Beachcomber,” printed as one line in an April 2008 sponsor list, mean for the two businesses’ relationship, if anything? No held source explains it.
  • Was the business still operating after 2008? This record’s last held attestation is from that year.

See also

Footnotes

  1. Google Maps, Beachcomber place listing, retrieved 14 August 2026. ↩

  2. Beaver Beacon, August 1989, Museum Week House Tour feature, “Jackie Timsak’s Apartment Over The Beachcomber.” ↩ ↩2

  3. Beaver Beacon, January 2005, “On This Date, Fifty Years Ago.” ↩

  4. Project article, “Edna Mae McCann becomes a permanent Beaver Island resident (1959),” citing Beaver Beacon, January 1959. ↩

  5. Beaver Beacon, April 1961, humor/rumor column. ↩

  6. Beaver Beacon, May 1962, seasonal-openings notice. ↩

  7. Beaver Beacon, June 1966, seasonal-openings notice. ↩

  8. Beaver Beacon, May 1967, seasonal-openings notice. ↩

  9. Beaver Beacon, December 1968, wedding notice. ↩

  10. Beaver Beacon, August 1969, “Beachcomber Bar Changes Hands.” ↩

  11. Beaver Beacon, June-October 1971, classified advertising. ↩

  12. Beaver Beacon, January-July 1975, classified advertising; September and November 1976, classified advertising. ↩

  13. Beaver Beacon, June-July 1972, “Golf Notes.” ↩

  14. Project article, “Jim Janda Day and Beavercombers baseball sponsorship (1973)”; Beaver Beacon, November 1973, “Thanks, Jim.” ↩

  15. Beaver Beacon, September 1973, seasonal-staff reminiscence. ↩

  16. Beaver Beacon, November 1973, “75th Birthday.” ↩

  17. Beaver Beacon, December 1973, “Merry Christmas And A Happy Healthful New Year.” ↩

  18. Beaver Beacon, December 1976, holiday greetings. ↩

  19. Project article, “Doris Shirk completes house and retires from Beachcomer (1989),” citing Beaver Beacon, January 1989. ↩

  20. Beaver Beacon, April 2008, St. Patrick’s Day report, classified advertising, and obituary of Loretta “Loy” Malloy. ↩

The dated record

8 dated events · 1973–2021These years on the timeline →

Sources

  1. A forum participant asked whether music from the Beachcomber was unusually loud. This is a single subjective user-experience report, not an acoustic measurement, violation finding, or general community consensus.
    forum · www.beaverislandforum.com · 18 · t018166
  2. The announcement scheduled a Kentucky Derby party at the Beachcomber for May 5, 2007, with a hat contest and Doghouse Boodlers performance. It is an advance venue notice and does not establish attendance, completion, or the full program.
    forum · www.beaverislandforum.com · 00 · t000875
  3. Prints a holiday greeting from "Beachcomber Tavern," signed "Pat & Jim," and says the business was making a donation to the Medical Center Building Fund instead of sending cards; does not identify the business owners' full names or supply business records.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1973-12_Beaver-Beacon
  4. The held six-page issue scan is paired with the OCR source and confirms the published notice.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1973-12_Beaver-Beacon
  5. Reports a buffet and birthday party for Milt Bennett at the Beachcomber Bar; calls the venue a bar and does not establish its legal name or ownership.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1973-11_Beaver-Beacon
  6. The held ten-page issue scan is paired with the OCR source and confirms the published notice.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1973-11_Beaver-Beacon
  7. Prints Beachcomber Tavern, signed Pat & Jim, announcing a donation to the Medical Center Building Fund instead of sending cards.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1974-12_Beaver-Beacon
  8. The held nine-page issue scan is paired with the OCR source and confirms the published notice.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1974-12_Beaver-Beacon
  9. Prints Beachcomber Tavern, signed Pat & Jim, announcing a donation to the Medical Center Building Fund instead of sending cards. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1975-12_Beaver-Beacon
  10. The held issue confirms the printed tavern name and donation notice.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1975-12_Beaver-Beacon
  11. Advertises a Class C SDM license with dance permit for sale under Beaver Island Beachcomber, Inc.; supports an advertised sale opportunity, not a completed transaction. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1976-09_Beaver-Beacon
  12. The held issue confirms the classified advertisement.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1976-09_Beaver-Beacon
  13. Repeats the Beachcomber for-sale advertisement. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1976-11_Beaver-Beacon
  14. The held issue confirms the November classified advertisement.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1976-11_Beaver-Beacon
  15. Prints Beachcomber Tavern, signed Pat & Jim, announcing a donation to the Medical Center Auxiliary instead of sending cards. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1976-12_Beaver-Beacon
  16. The held issue confirms the printed tavern name and donation notice.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1976-12_Beaver-Beacon
  17. Lists "Beachcomber Bar" with a telephone number, the earliest held attestation of the business by name.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1961-02_Beaver-Beacon
  18. States as a joke that "Edna McCann has sold the Beachcomber Bar. It's going to be a Bakery," then explicitly denies the item: "None of these stories are true." Establishes Edna McCann as the proprietor by April 1961 and that she had not sold the business at that date.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1961-04_Beaver-Beacon
  19. "Edna McCann has opened the Beachcomber Tavern for the season," among other seasonal business openings; the earliest held record of the business as a seasonal operation under her name.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1962-05_Beaver-Beacon
  20. "The Beachcomber Bar is again open for the summer as is the Killarney Inn," alongside notices of the Shamrock Bar and Erin Motel reopening.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1966-06_Beaver-Beacon
  21. Lists "Beachcomber Bar" at a new number after an unspecified fire affected numbering; the same list separately shows "Shamrock Tavern."
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1967-04_Beaver-Beacon
  22. "The Beachcomber Bar is now open for the summer."
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1967-05_Beaver-Beacon
  23. Lists "BEACHCOMBER TAVERN" among island businesses sending Christmas greetings.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1967-12_Beaver-Beacon
  24. Reports a wedding reception "held at the Beachcomber" following the Bailey-Dillingham wedding, November 30, 1968; the same issue lists "Beachcomber Bar" in its phone directory and again in its holiday advertiser list.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1968-12_Beaver-Beacon
  25. States "The Beachcomber Bar has been sold by Mrs. Edna McCann to Mr. and Mrs. James Janda of Chicago." The single primary source for this ownership transfer; no deed or purchase price is given.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1969-08_Beaver-Beacon
  26. "FOR SALE: Beachcomber Bar. Contact Beaver Island Beachcomber, Inc." -- the earliest held for-sale advertisement, establishing the corporate name "Beaver Island Beachcomber, Inc." by mid-1971, roughly two years after the Janda purchase.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1971-06_Beaver-Beacon
  27. Repeats the June for-sale advertisement.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1971-07_Beaver-Beacon
  28. Lists "The Beachcomber" among Beaver Lodge Golf Club tournament sponsors and repeats the for-sale classified advertisement in the same issue -- the business was both actively sponsoring island recreation and advertised for sale at once.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1971-08_Beaver-Beacon
  29. Repeats the for-sale advertisement.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1971-10_Beaver-Beacon
  30. Names Jim Janda as sponsor of "The Beachcomber Open" golf tournament and reports the "Beaver Island Beachcombers" as the island home baseball team in a July doubleheader against Charlevoix; neither item states a formal ownership or sponsorship instrument.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1972-06_Beaver-Beacon
  31. Lists "BEACHCOMBER TAVERN" among island Christmas advertisers. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1972-12_Beaver-Beacon
  32. Lists "Beaver Island Beachcomber Inn," the only held instance of "Inn" in the business's name. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1973-06_Beaver-Beacon
  33. Reports "Beachcomber Last Call's" (women's) and "Beaver Island Beachcombers" (men's) softball results, including the first live radio broadcast of an island ballgame.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1973-08_Beaver-Beacon
  34. A returning summer worker recalls "Tending bar at the Beachcomber for Jim and Pat Ganda" -- the proprietors' first names matching the "Pat & Jim" who sign the tavern's 1973-1976 holiday notices, with the surname spelled "Ganda" rather than "Janda."
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1973-09_Beaver-Beacon
  35. Reports the "Beaver Island Beachcombers" baseball team traveling to Harbor Springs and winning both games of a doubleheader. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1974-09_Beaver-Beacon
  36. Repeats the "Beachcomber Bar... Class C - - - SDM, with Dance Permit... Contact: Beaver Island Beachcomber Inc." for-sale advertisement in at least six issues across the year (January, February, March, April, May, July), evidence the business remained unsold and continuously advertised through 1975. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1975-01_Beaver-Beacon
  37. States the island's "Traveling Baseball team will be the Beachcombers" and, the following month, places a Fourth of July carnival booth "in front of Lafreniere's Store and the Beachcombers" -- placing the business on Main Street near LaFreniere's Store, consistent with the rest of this project's Main Street commerce cluster. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1975-04_Beaver-Beacon
  38. References a carnival booth set up "across from LaFreniere's store and the Beachcomber," confirming the same Main Street location as of mid-1976. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1976-07_Beaver-Beacon
  39. States the building "was built by Yankee Jim Dunlevy as a grocery store" after his return from Chicago "in 1900," and that "James McCann, grandson of James McCann bought the building and turned it into the Beachcomber Tavern" (undated within the source). Reports the building stood vacant for three years before Ken and Judy Taylor and Doris Shirk bought it in August 1979, remodeled it, and reopened it seasonally as a pizza, ice cream, and game shop; that by 1982 Doris Shirk, living in the building's north apartment, kept it open year-round with an expanded sandwich menu; and that in fall 1988 Ken and Judy Taylor bought out Shirk's share and added a kitchen with a grill and French fryer over the following winter. Also separately notes "The Bars, the Shamrock and Beachcomber, did not serve food" as of 1956, in an unrelated passage about the Killarney Inn's founding. This is a 1989 community retrospective feature, not a deed, business ledger, or contemporaneous account of the pre-1979 ownership changes it describes. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1989-08_Beaver-Beacon
  40. Project article, event/beaver-island-edna-mccann-permanent-resident-1959, citing Beaver Beacon, January 1959.
    Reports the Beacon welcoming Edna Mae McCann as a permanent Beaver Island resident after she completed an apartment "above the Beachcomber" following many years in Detroit -- the earliest held reference calling the building simply "the Beachcomber." No public copy of this file is known; the archive holds one and can provide it on request.
    kb · articles · events · beaver-island-edna-mccann-permanent-resident-1959
  41. Project article, event/beaver-island-doris-shirk-house-beachcomer-transition-1989, citing Beaver Beacon, January 1989.
    Dates Doris Shirk's sale of her Beachcomber ownership interest to Ken and Judy Taylor to September 4, 1988, refining the 1989 house-tour feature's "fall 1988" description to a specific date. No public copy of this file is known; the archive holds one and can provide it on request.
    kb · articles · events · beaver-island-doris-shirk-house-beachcomer-transition-1989
  42. Beaver Beacon, January 2005, 50th-anniversary retrospective, "On This Date, Fifty Years Ago."
    Recapping the *Beacon*'s first issue (January 1955), reports the death of "James McCann, who had owned the Beachcomber at the time of his heart attack and was found lying on the floor by Karl Kuebler" and that "McCann had been our Conservation Officer for eight years." Dates James McCann's ownership and death to circa late 1954, decades earlier than the business's prior thin sourcing suggested. A retrospective column recapping a fifty-year-old issue, not the original 1955 report itself. No public copy of this file is known; the archive holds one and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 2005-01_Beaver-Beacon
  43. Beaver Beacon, January 2005, 50th-anniversary retrospective, "On This Date, Thirty Years Ago."
    In the same retrospective feature, recapping items from circa December 1974-January 1975, states "The Beachcomber Bar was put up for sale" -- consistent with, and not additional to, the for-sale classifieds already held for 1971-1976. No public copy of this file is known; the archive holds one and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 2005-01_Beaver-Beacon
  44. Beaver Beacon, April 2008, St. Patrick's Day report and classified advertising.
    Reports "the Beachcomber had 'Kevin White and Friends'... and Richie's band" performing over the 2008 St. Patrick's weekend, alongside the Shamrock and "Donegal Danny's"; a separate classified advertises "THE BEACHCOMBER, BAR SERVICE TUESDAY-SATURDAY 1:00 P.M. TILL CLOSING." A sponsor list in the same issue includes the line "Shamrock Restaurant & Pub / Beachcomber," which this article does not read as proof of common ownership. The same issue's obituary of Loretta "Loy" Malloy states she "worked as a bartender at the Shamrock and Beachcomber Bars on Beaver Island," undated within her career. No public copy of this file is known; the archive holds one and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 2008-04_Beaver-Beacon
  45. Describes the Beachcomber building as south of Rafferty’s General Store and identifies its history as a 1900 grocery store later converted to a tavern. This provides a strong building-level relationship to the LaFreniere/Rafferty store, but not a surveyed address. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.
    data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1982-01_Beaver-Beacon
  46. The current map result identifies Beachcomber at 26225 Main Street, approximately 45.7471259, -85.5197279. The current business/building is used as the representative point for the historical tavern, whose source record establishes continuity of the named building but not an unchanged footprint.
  47. Records the trading name, the address 26225 Main St, Beaver Island, MI 49782, the category "Bar", and a rating of 4.2 from 38 reviews. A commercial listing is evidence of present operation only and carries no historical weight.

Added 1 August 2026 · revised 4 August 2026. Recent changes

Cite this article

Beaver Island Archive, “Beachcomber Tavern”, https://beaverislandarchive.org/organizations/beaver-island-beachcomber-tavern-1973/, accessed [date], citing just tim, “Noise,” Beaver Island Forum, June 18, 2024, topic 18166. (and 46 further sources listed on the page).

Last revised 2026-08-04. Fill in [date] with the date you read it — this page is static and cannot know that.

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