Today another historic figure will be laid to rest. The Ilikai Hotel will close it's front doors to already paid vacationers, traveling to Hawaii, to be shuffled off to another hotel. It's newest and current owner, iStar, purchsed the failing Ilikai earlier this year, in foreclosure, but has yet to make any decision what will happen to the Waikiki property. It may not be the star-studded icon of 50 years, but the over 45 year old legacy, with a promising future to re-brand the hotel, looked as though it would still stand tall and glimmer for another 45 years. But after being sought and bought, handled and mishandled, the Ilikai didn't stand a chance due to greed and poor misfortune, spiraling itself into bankruptcy and more unemployment. Another one for the books.
The (Renaissance) Ilikai will always be one of my favorite long standing hotels on the outer edges of Waikiki. A beautifully constructed site, much like that of the Las Vegas hotels of the 1960's, that barely exist today on the strip. The symbolic colors of turquoise and white, to which everyone related to as the Ilikai Hotel. Gone will be the staff that made the Ilikai what it was. A great hotel. What I will most remember o the Ilikai hotel, why many tourists came to Hawaii and what eventually made the hotel made famous~ the opening ariel shot of Hawaii Five-0 and Steve Mc Garrett standing on the Penthouse balcony.
The Ilikai opened its doors in 1964 after 3 years of construction. Chinn Ho was the original developer and later sold the hotel in 1974 for $35 million. In 2006, it was purchased for $206 million, with the hopes of an up-scale renovation into luxury condo-hotels. The Ilikai has approximately 800 plus condos and time share units and over 300 plus hotel rooms. It looks as though the condo and time share holders will remain in the hotel and the hotel rooms will be vacant, until its future fate in known.
Riding up the glass elevator to the top floor of the Ilikai is Sarento's Italian restaurant. As for Sarento's, who knows how well it is doing. That's another story, since the owners are closing their other restaurant at Ala Moana Hotel. But the view of the Ala Wai Yacht Harbor incredible, especially at sunset.
Long before the plight of the Ilikai's foreclosure, all of its retail spaces were closed, Canoes restaurant gone and a spattering of workers barely clinging onto a sinking ship, eventually loosing their jobs. It was a strange and very sad sight, as I roamed the premises. The ballroom, where many great festivities were held, is now boarded up with rubble as it's main entry, and long forgotten. It was like walking onto a haunted abandoned ship. What now remains are the over 800 condos and timeshares with its residency being left and orphaned. And its over 300 empty hotel rooms.
The (Renaissance) Ilikai will always be one of my favorite long standing hotels on the outer edges of Waikiki. A beautifully constructed site, much like that of the Las Vegas hotels of the 1960's, that barely exist today on the strip. The symbolic colors of turquoise and white, to which everyone related to as the Ilikai Hotel. Gone will be the staff that made the Ilikai what it was. A great hotel. What I will most remember o the Ilikai hotel, why many tourists came to Hawaii and what eventually made the hotel made famous~ the opening ariel shot of Hawaii Five-0 and Steve Mc Garrett standing on the Penthouse balcony. 
2 comments:
I read your blog. I am so sad about the Ilikai. It's a landmark. I don't know why everyone has to destroy things and put up new. What's wrong with fixing what's there? People don't have any regard for the value of things. Just because something has been around for awhile doesn't mean it's of no value. That's why senior citizens are treated so poorly in our country. they're old so they aren't worth anything, RIGHt??!!!! Sorry, It just pisses me off.
Love ya,
Thank you so much for your comment. I completely agree with all you've mentioned. It's exactly how I feel every time they implode one the Las Vegas Casinos of yesteryear, that made Vegas what it was. Let's hope downtown Vegas remains for a long, long time.
The good news is, the following morning of the midnight closing aftermath of farewells amongst co-workers, iStar announced that they will re-hire SOME of its workers, under a new union contract. I don't know why they waited til after midnight, but then again, I do. So, looks like the Ilikai Hotel will re-open soon, but who knows when. iStar must now rebuild and restore the reputation of the hotel to make it a success. Who knows how long that will take because there's major work that needs to be implemented at the Ilikai. I'll believe it when I see it.
Oh yea, here's my idea for a couple dollars towards financing the renovation of the Ilikai:since there's going to be a movie of Hawaii Five-O (oh, god help us! cause remakes are usually not such a good thing and even though Five-O was the longest running cop show on tv and pretty bad, i still love the show and watch it every night), the production company should use the partially empty Ilikai for filming and pay iStar for use the hotel.
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