Royal Hawaiian Hotel
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Royal Hawaiian Hotel, also known as the Pink Palace of the Pacific, is a hotel listed on the National Register of Historic Places located at 2259 Kalākaua Avenue in Honolulu, Hawaiʻi on the island of Oʻahu. One of the first hotels established in Waikīkī, the Royal Hawaiian Hotel is considered one of the flagship hotels in Hawaiʻi tourism. It opened its doors to guests on February 1, 1927 with a black-tie gala attended by over 1,200 guests. The hotel quickly became an icon of Hawaiʻi's turn-of-the-century glory days. It was the Hawaiʻi residence or Western White House of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and boasts the bar that invented the Shirley Temple cocktail (as does Chasen's restaurant).
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[edit] Captain William Matson
With the success of the early efforts by Matson Navigation Company to provide steamer travel to America's wealthiest families en route to Hawaiʻi, Captain William Matson proposed the development of a hotel in Honolulu for his passengers. This was in hope of profiting from what Matson believed could be the most lucrative endeavor his company could enter into. Matson purchased the Moana mansion, fronting the ʻĀinahau royal estate. Christening it the Moana Hotel, it opened in 1901 as the first hotel in Waikīkī. With its overwhelming success, Matson planned and built the Royal Hawaiian Hotel which opened in 1927.
During WWII, the Royal was closed to tourist and instead served as a place of R'n r. While the Royal Hawaiian's lush tropical garden was (and still is) tranquil and poetic, the beaches fronting the Pink Palace (sometimes referred to as the Pink Lady), one saw reminders of the war with rolls and rolls of barbed wire planted in the sand.
[edit] Architecture
The Royal Hawaiian Hotel cost USD $4 million and took one and a half years to build. The six-story structure had 400 rooms and were of Spanish and Moorish styles popular during the 1920s. The Royal Hawaiian Hotel was influenced by Hollywood legend Rudolph Valentino and his Arabian movies. Cupolas were created to resemble Spanish mission-style bell towers. The pink color was taken from a popular American obsession of the era. The architects were Warren and Wetmore of New York City.
[edit] Rich and Famous
As soon as the Royal Hawaiian Hotel opened, a non-stop flood of tourists from the mainland United States poured through its doors. It served as the Pacific home to the world's most influential statesmen and early Hollywood stars.
Its first official registered guest was Princess Abigail Kawananakoa, who would have been queen of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi had the monarchy survived. Duke Kahanamoku, the legendary Olympic swimmer and popularizer of the sport of surfing, frequented the Royal Hawaiian Hotel restaurants and private beachfront. The Royal Hawaiian Hotel became a favorite stomping ground for Kahanamoku's famed group, dubbed the Waikīkī Beach Boys. During World War II, the Royal Hawaiian Hotel became home to many returning sailors off long war patrols. More recently, the hotel was featured in several scenes of P.T. Anderson's 2002 film Punch-Drunk Love.
[edit] Osano Empire
In 1974, Japanese businessmen and brothers Kenji Osano and Masakuni Osano purchased the Royal Hawaiian Hotel, along with two other properties, from the Matson Navigation Company for USD $104 million. The market price for the property was undervalued and the Osano brothers made millions of dollars in profit.
The Osano brothers formed Kyo-Ya Company Limited, a subsidiary of Kokusai Kogyo Company Limited as the corporate entity charged with overseeing the hotel properties that included: Moana Hotel, Princess Kaiulani Hotel, Surfrider Hotel and the Waikīkī Hotel. All are managed today under the Sheraton brand. The purchases put the Osano brothers on the Forbes List of World's Richest People in 1999.
After the death of the Osano brothers, Takamasa Osano inherited the billions of dollars owned in properties. Along with the Moana Hotel, the Royal Hawaiian Hotel continues to be one of the flagship hotels in the Osano corporate empire and is the part-time residence of the Osana family.
[edit] Further reading
- Glen Grant (1996). Waikīkī Yesteryear. Mutual Publishing Co.. ISBN 1-56647-107-9.
- Don Hibbard and David Franzen (1995). The View from Diamond Head: Royal Residence to Urban Resort. Editions Ltd.. ISBN 0-915013-02-9.
- George S. Kanahele (1996). Waikīkī, 100 BC to 1900 AD: An Untold Story. University of Hawaiʻi Press. ISBN 0-8248-1790-7.
