Kalakaua Avenue, Hawaii

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. 

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.