Hilton’s iconic arch getting a face-lift

Come rain or shine, a rainbow always will grace the Wai­kiki skyline thanks to Hilton Hawaiian Village’s $4.25 million commitment to restore the colorful ceramic-tile bands around the sides of its Rainbow Tower.

When the two-sided mural was first revealed in 1968 to mark the opening of the Rainbow Tower, it became an immediate icon of Hawaii tourism. Once named as one of the world’s tallest mosaics, the 31-story mural measured 286 feet high by 26 feet wide. Since renowned artist Millard Sheets designed the large-scale mosaic’s focal point to be 2.5 miles away, the ocean side of the Rainbow Tower became a man-made landmark for visitors flying to Oahu. Gov. John Burns, Conrad Hilton, Sparky Matsunaga and many other VIPs attended the original viewing.

Fast forward more than four decades and the once-vibrant tiles have eroded because of salt water and sunlight. While Sheets and his Cali­for­nia art students painted the original tiles, Hilton has contracted the United Kingdom-based Johnson Tiles to craft an exact replica of each of the mural’s distinctive tiles. The restoration project, which started in September with the removal of the existing tiles from both sides of the Rainbow Tower, is expected to be finished by April’s end.

Experts from Johnson Tiles have used panoramic digital photos to color-match, replicate and install each of the mural’s tiles. The new mural, which is still shrouded, looks like the original design. However, the use of smaller tiles has doubled the count to roughly 31,692 pieces of individual art.

"The Rainbow Mural has such great significance, not just to the Hilton Hawaiian Village, but to the people of Hawaii themselves," said Darren Clanford, Johnson Tiles’ creative director. "It’s a great honor to be involved in this project, and we’ve invested considerable resource in ensuring that the digital tiles we are producing convey the passion and character of Millard Sheets’ original work, while also ensuring it continues to be a vibrant landmark for future generations."

The company completed the mauka side of the mural earlier this year and is now finishing the makai side.

"It’s just exquisite," said Jerry Gibson, area vice president of Hilton Hawaii. "It’s the exact replica of the original mural that Mr. Sheets created, only it’s a lot brighter."

HTA President and CEO Mike McCartney said restoration of the iconic Rainbow Tower mural at Hilton Hawaiian Village will help to rejuvenate the tourism product in Wai­kiki.

"It is important that we continually refresh our offerings for the long-term sustainability of our tourism economy and provide our visitors with the world-class experiences they have come to expect," McCartney said.

Hilton’s commitment to the rainbow mural means that this landmark will weather the storms of change better than many of the resort’s earlier markers. To be sure, the Niu­malu hotel, which was built in the 1920s on what is now the Hilton Hawaiian Village campus, became history in the 1950s when entrepreneur Henry J. Kaiser and partner Fritz Burns set their sights on carving out the first megaresort in Waikiki. Also gone is the circa-1957 geodesic dome at the corner of Kalia Road and Ala Moana Boulevard, which was erected in just 20 hours for the premiere of "Around the World in 80 Days" and the Symphony Polynesia, starring the famed Alfred Apaka. The dome made way for the $95 million Kalia Tower, which when it opened was the first major Wai­kiki resort redevelopment in a decade. Likewise, the Tapa Tower now stands in the place of the circa-1958 Village Tower, which was torn down in 1979, and the Alii Tower replaced the Ocean Tower in 1987. Hilton took a different tack with the mosaic when it committed to rebuild it following a failed 2009 restoration attempt.

"The Rainbow Mural is as much a part of the heart and soul of Hilton Hawaiian Village as our employees," Gibson said. "Once we decided to proceed with the restoration, it was critical to do it right."

The new mural, once finished, also will incorporate new artwork by Sheets’ son Tony at the base of the mountainside mural.

"They aren’t using the earlier lettering at the base of the design, so I designed a transition for it," Tony Sheets said. "It’s pretty cool to be able to work on things that your dad worked on … to be a gatekeeper."

The elder Sheets, who died in 1989, created nearly 200 murals for both public and private entities, and was most famous for such works as "Word of Life" at the University of Notre Dame Library; the U.S. Department of the Interior Building, Washington, D.C.; the Los Angeles City Hall; the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota and the Detroit Public Library. However, his Oregon-based son said he always had a particular soft spot for the Hawaii mural.

"He worked with Hilton to come up with a design and kept coming back to a rainbow," said Tony Sheets, who said he was just a 20-something kid when he hand-printed some of the tiles and did the original lettering at the bottom of his famous father’s rainbow mural. "Rainbows kind of excite everybody. They come in the funniest places. They are a wonderful part of nature."

Tony Sheets, who worked for artist Tom Van­Sant on several Hawaii projects during the later part of his own career, said that he is grateful to Hilton for working with him to preserve his father’s legacy in Hawaii.

"This was one of my dad’s major pieces," Sheets said. "I really appreciate Hilton’s dedication to saving this mural. It cost them a lot of money, but they’ve really stuck with it and they’ve done a wonderful job."

Gibson said the mural marks the end of the most recent four-year renovation cycle at the resort, including last year’s completion of a $25.5 million renovation of the Alii Tower, December’s completion of a $4.94 million main lobby renovation and the recent $602,500 reinvestment at the Tapa Bar and $2 million renovation at the Bali Steak & Seafood/Paradise Lounge.

"The advantage of doing all of these renovations at the same time is the chance to reposition the hotel, which is very important to our business," Gibson said. "We’re just like the Brooklyn Bridge. We start at one end, finish and then start over."