In its heyday, the Coco Palms Hotel in Wailua, Kauai, was probably the best known resort in Hawaii. There were good reasons for that exalted position. Certainly the design of the hotel and its grounds at the edge of a huge coconut tree planation was one. More importantly, it was Grace Guslander, the original owner and manager of the Coco Palms resort, and her talent that gave the hotel such prominence.
The shame is that the destruction of this once-iconic hotel and grounds by Hurricane Iniki in 1992 is all that’s left today. It seems like over and over since then, there have been hopeful signs that a new group was about to buy the hotel and restore it to its earlier splendor.
But nothing had materialized until now — a very serious group has committed to restore the hotel to its formal cultural icon status.
Because of its history and uniqueness, It really should be restored, and the new owner hopefully will be a clone of Guslander. She was the soul of the place and any new hotel owner and its manager will be challenged to understand who she was and how she worked.
Guslander was many things, but several factors contributed to her legend.
First, she was described as "Hawaiian at heart," by George Costa in David Penhallow’s wonderful book, "The Story of Coco Palms Hotel." Costa goes on to say, "She had a Hawaiian heart for sure. She loved Hawaiians and gave local people every opportunity to succeed." Sarah Kailikea even composed a special chant for Grace, part of which says, "To our fair lady of Wailua, You are precious to us, You have guided us with honor …"
Of no less importance was her creativity. While it seems ordinary today, Grace created the whole torch-lighting ceremony that entranced her guests every time they saw it, which was every evening. This ceremony was held in such high regard that — so the story goes — a political leader who was on the grounds one night with a little too much joy juice in him started to talk loudly during the ceremony. Protective of his wife’s signature event, her husband, Gus, went over and punched the offender in the mouth.
The innovative tree-planting ceremony became such a storied event that it attracted the likes of Webley Edwards, James Michener, Gene Autry, Duke Kahanamoku, Govs. Samuel Wilder King and Jack Burns, Arthur Godfrey, Henry Kaiser, Bing Crosby and 120 other assorted famous and not-so-famous folks.
And nobody should forget it was Grace who installed the first clamshell sink in her Coco Palms rooms, which became the talk of the hotel industry in Hawaii and around the world.
A third reason Grace made the Coco Palms Resort a huge success was that she was a natural-born promoter. She knew what would attract people; she knew what would cause them to talk about her resort. Film producers of such legends as "South Pacific" and "Blue Hawaii" were drawn to Coco Palms because of Grace. Even her pet water buffalo gained attention from the media.
Finally, for more than 30 years Grace Guslander lived and breathed the Coco Palms. As Randy Wichman said in David Penhallow’s book, "What made Mrs. Guslander so successful was that she lived, ate, slept and even dreamed about her hotel every minute of every day. It was a 24-hour job for her."
That’s a tough act to follow.
We are looking to the rebirth of this most culturally sensitive Hawaiian hotel.
