Rearview Mirror: Hilton Hawaiian Village marks 65 years, and how the fireworks show got started

I wrote about the Hilton Hawaiian Village earlier this year, as it celebrates 65 years in operation. It was Henry Kaiser’s first venture into the hotel business when it opened on Sept. 17, 1955.

The Hawaiian Village Hotel was quite a bit smaller than today. It had just 70 cottages and could accommodate 150 people. Today it has over 3,000 rooms! The roofs were topped with coconut fronds giving them the look of old Hawaii. Eleven Samoan women from Laie wove them for $1 an hour, all the while chanting sweet Samoan tunes.

Kaiser owned KHVH — an acronym of Kaiser’s Hawaiian Village Hotel — radio and TV stations. KHVH TV is now KITV.

The first color television broadcast was from KHVH-TV in May 1957, which is interesting in that the station owned no cameras. Everything aired was either slides or film. Every 2-1/2 hours it rotated news, a cartoon, a short subject, then a feature film.

Kaiser added the Ocean Tower and Geodesic Dome in 1957, and Conrad Hilton bought half of the resort in 1961, renaming it the Hilton Hawaiian Village.

Hilton Hawaiian Village fireworks

John Votsis told me he worked in marketing for the hotel for nine years. He described the creation of the fireworks show at the Hilton.

“Barron Hilton attended the 1986 grand reopening celebration, following a $100 million renovation of the iconic property.

“At the celebration’s conclusion, the Honolulu Symphony played Tchaikovsky’s ‘1812 Overture,’ which included an elaborate fireworks display and the illumination of the new Hilton Hawaiian Village logo.

“Barron Hilton, who especially loved the Village, was visibly emotional and particularly loved the fireworks display.

“A day or so later, while driving to the airport for his return flight to Los Angeles, he mentioned to GM Peter Schall that the fireworks were spectacular and the hotel should run them every night!

“He asked Peter how soon the fireworks displays would begin, to which Peter said, ‘They begin this Friday!’

“Peter and the hotel team then scrambled to arrange what became the King’s Jubilee — a salute to King David Kalakaua. Of course, every night would have been cost prohibitive, thus the Friday night ritual, now in its 34th year, was launched.”

Hilton Lagoon Tower

Grass-thatched cottages occupied the area near the Hilton Lagoon and the Waikikian Hotel until 1967, when the 25-story Hilton Lagoon Tower was built. Its theme was “Park Avenue Living at Waikiki Beach.” Studios started at $250 a month.

Wendy Tolleson told me that her parents bought a two-bedroom condo in the Lagoon Tower.

“It was quiet, you could swim in the lagoon, and my parents’ apartment was on a high floor where you could watch the sunset. It was great.

“Everyone used to drink around the pool, and every evening what my parents called ‘the lizard people’ (those who had spent WAY too much time in the sun, thus were inordinately tan and wrinkled) would hold their cocktail klatch.

“There was even a fishing cat! He was a feral who would come every evening and fish for the mullet that we would attract to the edge of the beach with food. He always caught one, then away he went until the next day.

“And when Charo came to town she stayed there with her husband. I used to talk to them in the elevator, and they were nice. She even ‘coochi-coochi-ed’ for me one time!”

Jerry Peterson of Rancho Mirage, Calif., told me he lived in a corner two-bedroom unit from 1976 to 1979.

“We had our own Foodland grocery store on the first floor. They even delivered and put items into one’s fridge. Part of the first floor were smaller units done up as hotel rooms where we could put up guests for a nominal sum.

“The Fred Dailey family owned the Waikikian Hotel next door and lived in a two-story lower front unit overlooking the pool. Residents could pick up a key at our front desk, walk a few steps, open the gate in the fence, and enjoy a meal at the Tahitian Lanai.

“We could also go to any restaurant or bar in the Hawaiian Village and sign, almost like a private club.”

Miss Universe Pageant 1998

Bob Hampton, president of Waikiki Beach Activities at the Hilton Hawaiian Village, told me that in 1998 the Village hosted the contestants for the Miss Universe pageant.

“The event was held at the Stan Sheriff Arena, but the participants stayed at the Hilton Hawaiian Village. It gave me a unique perspective on the whole thing,” Hampton says.

“The WBA had been at the hotel for eight years and our staff consisted of beach boys, pool lifeguards and attendants, surf instructors and catamaran crews, totaling about 30-plus young local guys, most of whom were single.

“Donald Trump had bought the Miss Universe and two other pageants the year before. He and his management committee decided that because the 85 contestants were all young single ladies, most between the ages of 19 and 21, they would need to be sequestered and chaperoned during the pageant for the 10 days.

“Now the problem was this: The only people the young ladies could talk to were hotel employees, and my guys were their closest contacts. The hotel had, and still has, a zero tolerance rule of No Fraternization with hotel guests.

“For the entire time these young ladies were on property I was roving from WBA work station to work station to make sure we had ‘rule compliance.’

“As you can expect, young Hawaiian watermen serving our tourists are hit on all of the time,” Hampton continues.

“In my over 40 years on the deck, beach and catamaran I have never seen so many beautiful young women in one place at the same time. I knew my guys were thinking, ‘water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink.’

“I really expected to lose at least five of my guys, and I knew which five. But to my surprise I did not lose one.

“Another problem was these young ladies were from different countries and many did not speak English and often had to act out their communications, like in the game ‘Charades.’

“It was obvious that my staff were following the rules as they did not want to get terminated. Also, the young ladies were committed to winning the contest, so they too tried to avoid any rule violation.

“On the third day, I noticed one of the chaperones was always at one of our work stations. She was a strikingly pretty gal about 30 years old, so I asked our on-duty manager if he had also noticed her constant presence.

“He shocked me when he said, ‘she is here when you are here because she is interested in you.’ The reason I was shocked is that I was 60 years old at the time. Then I noticed it was not just me, but all of the guys were being hit on by someone, and still no violations … what discipline!

“And, I was really shocked to have one of them hitting on me. As you know, ‘We who lead must also follow.’ So I too looked the other way.

“After the contest ended and most of the ladies were leaving the hotel, the few left behind included several contestants from Eastern Europe.

“These gals would go out to Duke’s Beach, set up their towels and then take their tops off. Of course, this was against the rules, so our beach boys reluctantly had to inform them, again through very slow hand motions, that they had to put their tops back on.”

I asked Hampton whether he had any interaction with Donald Trump, and he said no. He wasn’t ever sure he knew who he was then.

As Hawaii begins to let tourists back in and the Hilton Hawaiian Village reopens in December, I congratulate them on their 65th anniversary.

Rearview Mirror is coming upon a milestone of its own. Next week is my 499th column. My just-retired editor, Frank Bridgewater, who helped this feature enormously, suggested I look back at my favorite stories. I’ll do that over the next two weeks.

Bob Sigall is the author of the “The Companies We Keep” books. Email him at Sigall@Yahoo.com.