Comments on: Postcard from the Waikikian Hotel

By: Kimberlee

Kimberlee — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 00:43:59 +0000

Wow! Just got home from the Hilton and was so disappointed:( spent a week trying to figure out what happened to the Waikikian, and to Turkey, who rented the beach toys at the Lagoon and who I wrote to as a child. So many memories at that place! Eating in the little huts, listening to the musicians out in the balcony. I probably bored my children to death this week, pointing out the places where this or that “used to be” and how different and less authentic it had become. I’m so sad to find that it was gobbled up by more commercialism. How sad.

By: Pennie

Pennie — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 03:53:39 +0000

My first husband and I stayed at the Waikikian in 1966. I met him there when he was on R & R from Viet Nam. I wanted a more Hawaiian style hotel and this was perfect. We had an upstairs room in the garden section and the entire wall opened to the deck. At night they would chant while running to light all the tiki torches. We loved the Tahitian Terrace and breakfast by the pool. We used the lagoon daily. No crowds then. It was the most romantic and wonderful hotel. My husband of 42 years and I go to Hawaii often and once while in Honolulu we went to the Tahitian Terrace together. This little piece of paradise tucked in between the high rises. After so many years it was still wonderful. I felt very sad when I learned that it had been torn down. There isn’t anyplace that can compare to the Waikikian. I wish I could find my little momentos from that trip long ago.

By: Pam Ashford

Pam Ashford — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 20:12:59 +0000

My Dad mis heard the name of the hotel and we drove all over Waikiki looking for The Waikiki Inn. The Waikikian did not look like the hotel we were expecting, as a friend had booked it, and he was known for the huge, modern hotels. When we finally decided that this must be it, and it was, we were disappointed. That is, until we walked inside the hotel. A more charming hotel never existed. We thoroughly enjoyed our stay. Years later, when I googled it and found that it had been torn down, I was devastated. I was looking forward to bringing my own children there. So sorry that it has been replaced with yet another concrete and glass monstrosity.

By: Andrew Thomas

Andrew Thomas — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 22:04:30 +0000

As a QANTAS flight attendant through the 80′s, we stayed at the Ilikai for some time. Every morning breakfast would be at the Tahitian Lanai, on my own or with whoever else I could drag along to experience this beautiful calm and quiet piece of Paradise. I was fortunate enough to get back to Hawaii on my honeymoon and again a year later in the early nineties and take my wife there. It’s destruction is a huge loss and something, I think, that can never be reproduced…

By: Monique Huber

Monique Huber — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 16:14:55 +0000

I was so moved to see those pictures again,I don’t know if this hotel is still around? This is where my husband and I had our honeymoon….in May 1970
We had after 2 girls married,and we have grand children too,but we are divorced.
I still miss him,and I miss this time with him in such a romantic place!
My wish is he comes back to me again,I tried to forget him but…I pray that’s all I can do.

By: Helen Goveia

Helen Goveia — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 23:50:24 +0000

Unfortunately I have no memories of the Waikikian, because I never had the opportunity to stay there. My grandmother stayed there when she was on vacation in March of 1967. She sent me a postcard while she was there: the white one with the hotel at an angle, and Diamond Head in the background. I came across the postcard recently, and decided to do a search on the hotel, and here I am. I was saddened to read that the hotel was torn down in 1996. A friend and I went to Oahu back in December/January of 1977, and I wish I had gone to see the hotel back then. I’ve enjoyed reading about others’ experiences there….what a place it must have been!! My husband I have vacationed in Oahu two times in the past six years, and we fell in love with the island. I hope to visist again, and when I do I plan on going to where the Waikikian used to be and try to visualize what it might have been like.

By: Hans Lhotzky

Hans Lhotzky — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 16:20:48 +0000

Hello. We have fond memories of The Waikikian as well, of Uku the bird, the ladies singing softly at cocktail hour as they wandered through the tropical garden, of the wonderful view from the restaurant, where one would see first the pool, then the lagoon and finally the ocean reflecting the sky.
You cannot go back again.

By: Humu Kon Tiki : Humu Kon Tiki Readers Share Memories of the Waikikian

Humu Kon Tiki : Humu Kon Tiki Readers Share Memories of the Waikikian — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 18:29:30 +0000

[...] July 2006 Humu Kon Tiki post about a postcard I’d found from the Waikikian Hotel has something special happening in the comments section. Every few months (including just a few [...]

By: Carla

Carla — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 22:14:25 +0000

My husband and I stayed at the Waikikian on our Honeymoom the day that we were married in September of 1961…almost 50 years ago.
When we arrived, there were orchids all over the bed and around the room. In the lobby, there was a pineapple juice machine for all to enjoy. And the talking parrot in the round cage.
THe Tahitian Lanai resturant was a favorite of many in Honolulu and of ours too. Every evening, they lit the torches around the hotel.
Out beyond, was the wonderful lagoon full of fish.
I cherish the postcard that I have kept as a rememberance.
Wonderful memories and still married to the same man, my highschool sweetheart!
Reading the post, above, brings to mind the hula dancers who met each airplane that arrived. THey danced on a wood platform in fromt of the quonset hut
All that remains now is the Waikikian name on the Hilton. I am happy for that!

By: Lisa

Lisa — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 00:01:37 +0000

I,too will miss this little piece of paradise. It was unpretentious, lush and lovely. The people there were amazing, and although we did not spend much to stay there, we were treated as though a fortune was spent. We had mimosas ready at check-in and flowers on the pillows at night. Every morning I ate coconut waffles with coconut syrup and Kona coffee outside.

It was my first and only trip to Hawaii. I loved it so much I cried when I left. I wanted to stay there with the local friends we met forever.
When I heard of its plans for demolition, I was and still am, saddened. There never will be another place like it.