Some 84 years later the iconic “Pink Palace of the Pacific” has become the first hotel in Hawaii to gain membership in the Historic Hotels of America, a program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. It was one of 39 historic properties selected for the program from more than 130 across the nation that were nominated.
A trip to the Royal Hawaiian, which just concluded a multimillion-dollar renovation this month, is like walking back in time. Despite the high-rises, busy streets and bustling shopping centers that surround it, guests say that it still is the same bright beacon bathing Waikiki in a warm pink glow that it was for the well-heeled travelers of the Roaring ’20s who arrived by steamship from faraway shores. There was only one other hotel, what is now called the Westin Moana Surfrider, on Waikiki Beach when the Royal Hawaiian opened amid much fanfare. But even today the Moorish visage of the 528-room hotel stands out from the beachfront density.
“If I look out to the ocean, I can picture those long-ago guests coming,” said Lawrence P. Horwitz, executive director of Historic Hotels Worldwide. “As I’m walking these halls, I like to imagine what it was like in those days. You can still experience that gracious hospitality, that aloha spirit here today.”
To be chosen for the National Historic Hotel Trust, a hotel must be at least 50 years old, listed in or eligible for the National Register of Historic Places or recognized locally as having historic significance, Horwitz said. The historically significant haven for celebrities, leaders, top business people, prominent families and other important guests was a natural fit, he said.
Among its guests, the Royal Hawaiian has counted President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the Shah of Iran, aviatrix Amelia Earhart and movie stars Clark Gable, Bing Crosby, Shirley Temple, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, George Burns and Gracie Allen. It was a home away from home for influential families like the Rockefellers, Fords and DuPonts.
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