Today I am lucky and pleased to share some photos from Hawaii from the 1950s - sure, those are nice enough, but GDB pal Ken Martinez, who is very knowledgeable about Hawaii, having visited many times, contributed to today’s post.
Here are the photos, with Ken's writeup in "hibiscus-pink"!
This is the Liberty House Waikiki near the corner of Kalakaua Ave & Seaside Street. This was a clothing store chain which was head quartered in Hawaii. My mom and sister used to shop here for clothing when we visited her in Hawaii. I believe they also opened some stores on the mainland. It's places like this that made me dislike shopping as I was usually dragged along for the excursion. I preferred the Ala Moana Center where there were a variety of stores and shops.
These two images are of the McInerny Department Store on the oceanside of Kalakaua Ave and Seaside Street. The architect of this clothing shop was Vladmir Ossipoff who was known as “the master of Hawaii modern architecture". It was built in 1958. This was part of the Royal Hawaiian Hotel property. I remember The Royal Hawaiian and its surroundings as being very beautiful and lush. Lots of open space and greenery and palms.
The McInerny Department Store was demolished in the late 1970's to make way for the "NEW" Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center. I was sad when it happened. Gone were the open views replaced by tall buildings hemming in the Royal Hawaiian.
I think this period is when Waikiki became homogenized and lost its Hawaiian feel. The biggest tragedy on Kaalakau Avenue was the loss of the International Market Place to an ultra-modern shopping center that looks like it could be in any city anywhere. In other words, not unique .The International Market Place felt like Adventureland at Disneyland with its tropical island feel.
Here's the Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center as it is today courtesy Google Maps.
I'm not sure where this pic is except that it's probably very near the area where the other 3 pics except further westward.
With the exception of The Ilikai Hotel which is my single favorite piece of architecture in this area, Waikiki has lost most of its charm in my opinion.
Here's the Ilikai Hotel today:
OK, that's it! I'd like to send a huge THANK YOU to Ken Martinez for generously helping with these vintage Hawaii photos, I'm sure he loved that I gave him "homework", out of the blue! But he did a great job. Hawaii in the 50s (and probably the 60s) really does look like paradise, no wonder so many people went there.
Major-
ReplyDeleteBy now, I'm certain all of you can easily name the automobiles in these images-! The only interesting vehicle for me is in the 3rd image - turning right in front of the McInerny Department Store... that's a fabulous 1949 Nash Ambassador, with its bulbous 'fastback', possibly in Nash Ivory.
Thanks to Ken for his informative commentary.
Ah, a nice Saturday trip to Hawaii! (Excuse me for a sec while I change into my grass skirt.)...
ReplyDeleteEven though I've never been there, I'm pretty sure I would've loved the 'old' Hawaii; back when it was still Hawaii. I've always thought the tall hotels (even though many are quite lovely) just don't belong there.
As we can see in Ken's before and after pictures, it's just a completely different place with a completely different vibe. Maybe some prefer the 'new' over the 'old, and that's fine. But so much of the 'aloha' culture has vanished, or morphed into something else.
Thanks to K. Martinez for the Saturday travelogue. I have to restrain myself from calling you "J. Nartubez". But I guess that's getting kind of old now, although it was hilarious at the time (thanks, Chuck!). And thanks to Major P.
Wouldn't you know it. It's the day before my birthday (Feb 22). I can not tell a lie, father. I chopped down that cherry tree at the Liberty House.
ReplyDeleteAnd now, Unfortunately, I'm feeling a bit under the weather including sweating and cold when this article debuts. Even my "wooden" teeth hurt. What timing. I blame J. Nartubez.
The write up in "hibiscus-pink" is the perfect touch. And for the finale we have The Ilikai. My favorite building in all Waikiki.
Thank you all for the kind comments. And thank you, Major!
If JB gets to wear a grass skirt, then I want to wear a coconut bra!
ReplyDeleteTalk about TRE! What a shame. I saw Waikiki in 1985, and there was still some of the mid-century Hawaiian architecture sprinkled around here and there. I bet 99% of it is gone by now.
Thank you, Major and Ken, for this mid-century Hawaiian excursion.
^ Ha! I almost included that in my comment!
ReplyDeleteThanks Major and Ken for the great photos and commentary. I presume people in the 1950s must have lamented the changes to Waikiki they were seeing at that time, just as we do now, but at least there was still quite a bit of the old charm left. Ah, to be able to go back to the area pre-1970! I still enjoy Waikiki but the garden grounds of the Royal Hawaiian Hotel now feel like an ever-shrinking oasis surrounded by a vast outdoor shopping mall (with a beach attached). And while I’m not a fan of the Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center, as the land itself is held by the Kamehameha Trust schools charity, the proceeds do at least benefit local Pacific Islander children rather than lining the pockets of investors and non-Hawaiians.
ReplyDeleteNanook, well, now I know that the bulbous car is a Nash Ambassador, it is pretty great!
ReplyDeleteJB, why stop at just a skirt made of grass? I have a whole wardrobe made of grass, and an sports coat made of banana leaves. I have relatives that swear that Hawaii is still a great place to visit, but photos, at least of Waikiki, make me not want to ever go. Unless I could go back to 1950 as well. New buildings that replace old buildings are always soulless and horrible, it is well known. “J. Nartubez”, ha ha, I’d forgotten that - one of the best typos!
K. Martinez, So it was YOU who chopped down that cherry tree! I’m sorry you are unwell, my advice is to eat a lot of raw garlic. It won’t cure you, but everyone will know when you are in the room. Why is the Ilikai your favorite building? I’m sort of surprised, since it appears to be a highrise behemoth.
TokyoMagic!, it’s incredible how developers manage to ruin neighborhoods; in LA, they’ll tear down a beloved building and replace it with a 30-story “luxury condominium”, thereby making the place sterile and generic. But the important thing is that rich guys made more money.
JB, you can’t buy a quality coconut bra anymore.
Pegleg Pete, my parents loved to go to Hawaii when I was a kid, and I remember the last time they went (which was in the 1990s), they said that they would never go back. Almost all the places they’d loved were either gone or completely altered. They did love the Royal Hawaiian, and the Halekulani Hotel. A friend of mine went last year, though, and they told me about “swimming with stingrays”, it sounded pretty cool, I admit. I’m glad that the Kamehameha Trust gets proceeds for the Pacific Islanders.
Ahh…the Hawaii I never knew. Although I did see vestiges of this in the ‘80s and ‘90s.
ReplyDeleteMy dad flew through here a lot as a West Coast-based Air Force transport pilot from 1965-69 and 1971-76. I remember him coming back from a trip in 1981 and decrying how much things had changed in just five years. I’m not sure he would recognize much today.
(BTW - that was an epic 1981 trip. He and another flight examiner from Military Airlift Command HQ went “out into the system,” hopping flights and giving check rides to crew members who were due for evaluation along the way. They managed - completely legally - to circumnavigate the globe going westbound, starting and ending in the St Louis area and passing through Hawaii, Japan, Diego Garcia, Kenya, Germany, and England. Hoping we can find the photos someday…)
I still have (and wear) a shirt I bought at that Liberty House location in 1994. That was a rough trip - three weeks in a top-floor room with kitchen facilities and a balcony view of the water a half block from the beach, all paid for by the Air Force. Of course, it was also over my first anniversary and Mrs. Chuck wasn’t there, so it kind of balanced out. There was a bright side, though - the per diem money I saved by cooking or making cold sandwiches for all but four meals paid for annual passes to Disneyland.
The Ala Moana Center Ken mentions in his comments is pretty cool. Imagine an indoor mall…and then mentally remove the roof over the connecting spaces in between stores. And make it smell like Adventureland.
The Ilikai always makes me think of Hawaii Five-O. My parents stayed there on my dad’s R&R from Vietnam. My dad still has the room key.
Thanks so much, Mr. Nartubez and Maj. P!
Being in Colorado, I'm awestruck by the lush tropical plants- and the cars! Just really beautiful!
ReplyDeleteJB, thanks for the shout-out, but it was actually our dear Maj P who started the whole “J. Nartubez” thing with the simple mis-positioning of his right hand on July 2nd, 2015. Two days later we learned that the Major’s innocent typo had unwittingly uncovered K. Martinez’ dark secret. All hail Jay-Nar the Merciful!
ReplyDeleteAloha Oy!
ReplyDeleteStill, stunning views from those bulky towers, and hopefully wafting flowers still perfume the sea breezes.
Happy Birthday tomorrow Ken (say, is that any relation to Eddie Martinez? who worked with X Atencio).
MS
I denfinitely remember photo 1, we shopped in those stores. I still have my Dad’s aloha shirt with the McInerny label. Alas, I can’t wear it, I’m a much bigger guy than he was then.
ReplyDeleteI’m not sure, but the last street photo looks like it might taken at the corner of Kalakaua Ave & Uluniu Street, looking west. If that’s correct, today, the Hyatt towers would be just to our right out of frame.
Kalakaua Ave is now one-way headed Diamond Head, easterly. The first thing we do after dropping our bags is head to the Royal Mai Tai Bar for a drink on the beach.
I guess I’m an outlier in this crowd, but we really enjoy Waikīkī as it is today, but it is sad the Royal Hawaiian is cut off from the boulevard. It does seem like all the older 50’s & 60’s buildings are being replaced with towers.
Thank you Ken and Major for the terrific pictures. I really enjoyed these.
JG
Thanks for the tropical respite on this cold and rainy Saturday, Ken and Major!
ReplyDeleteThis version of Waikiki slowly faded over time. I was able to see the old International Marketplace in the mid-late 90s. When I went back more recently I was so sad that it was gone. There's not much left from the past and in 2019 they demolished King's Village down the street. The island is still beautiful, but unfortunately Waikiki is just another big city that happens to have a nice (busy) beach. We can find luxury stores anywhere - no need for this in Waikiki. I appreciate the look into the past!
ReplyDeleteOther interesting cars,like the glasslike bronze Cadillac in the second picture and is that a Lincoln mark II across the street in the third picture.? In some shade of white. Also interested in the blue and white car behind that. Not sure what that is
ReplyDeleteWaikiki in the 50's was probably quite the place. My great Uncle had some foresight before the war and invested into this part of the world...it's quite a "The Descendants" type of story, that just recently closed it's chapter after about 40 years of basically lawyers fighting: they may be the only ones that "win" in these sort of things. In any case it seemed like my dad was in Hawaii more than in California with his cousin...so we saw the Aloha shirts and not much else. Very gratefully, I spent some time in Waikiki (and Maui) in the late 90's, and I will say I really enjoyed Waikiki from a "Kitch" point of view...and some of the older places were still around...I even went to the most cheesy magic show...and it was so outrageously wonderfully awful. I also really like the feeling of the beach in Waikiki is it gives me some "Brady" vibes...however I did not find "taboo"....nor did I crash on a surfboard....I did find Waimanalo Beach which is on the other side past Diamond Head, which is where "Angels in Paradise" introduced Cheryl Ladd as Farrah's cousin in 1977....we were the only ones on the beach, with a few locals that I'm not sure exactly appreciated us there...but we picnicked and left it all very tidy....later in life I spent a lot of time on the Big Island working. Working is not like vacationing...just BTW. But I have very fond (and some crazy) memories of Hawaii, and a huge thanks to Uncle who kept me solvent for a while :) Thanks Major.
ReplyDelete