"They paved paradise. Put up a parking lot, pink hotel, boutique and a swing'n hot spot."Thanks, Joni Mitchell
Most Saturday mornings Pete and I listen to the local community radio station from 12 until 2 pm, for a weekly dose of Hawaiian music and the voices of island folks who now call Seattle home. The music is always comforting and usually enlivening. The chatter between the pair of d.j.s entertaining although sometimes I slip too easily into judging their opinions ... Today one of the d.j.s was talking about the Royal Hawaiian Hotel ... that's a photo of the 'Pink Lady' above. Built on the shore of Waikiki Beach on the island of O`ahu, this was the first hotel on the beach and with that legacy, the Royal Hawaiian Hotel has maintained its character and identity as the place to be, and be seen. It will cost you big though, and now it seems, according to the d.j. the Pink Lady needed a $60 million dollar renovation.
Was that a good way to spend $60 million dollars? Pete and I worked in the hotel industry for a couple years when we first got back to the islands in 1995. I trained, Pete fixed. We made wonderful friends with the workers there and still count among them a treasure of aunties we would never have met had we not been part of that Westin Maui experience. Thousands of island men and women are employed in the hotel and hospitality industry. Next to the military, the h & h industry is a top of the bill employer in Hawaii.
Is that a good way to spend $60 million dollars? That's the question. In the world you know today is it necessary to spend money on maintaining a legacy of tourism?
Was that a good way to spend $60 million dollars? Pete and I worked in the hotel industry for a couple years when we first got back to the islands in 1995. I trained, Pete fixed. We made wonderful friends with the workers there and still count among them a treasure of aunties we would never have met had we not been part of that Westin Maui experience. Thousands of island men and women are employed in the hotel and hospitality industry. Next to the military, the h & h industry is a top of the bill employer in Hawaii.
Is that a good way to spend $60 million dollars? That's the question. In the world you know today is it necessary to spend money on maintaining a legacy of tourism?
Go Home mainland kook... Its a private company that can spend its money any way it wants... This hotel is part of Hawaiian history but you would not understand... Take your chatter back to the mainland now "bra"
ReplyDeleteAnonymous,
ReplyDelete"Go Home mainland kook" ... thing is "bra" I am a Kuliouou Valley, Oahu born and raised woman, I am a Hawaiian, and put the question of spending money here to ask for clarification --not hostility.
Was the remodel done to preserve history? I don't know, can you give me that part of the story? I will do more searching to learn more about the remodel myself, too. This blog is about using life tools, the o`o to be in harmony with living and with others.
Sure, private companies can spend "its money any way it wants." I am on the "mainland" only because living on the islands with pesticides and chemical choices was killing me. Talk about part of Hawaiian history...poisoned cane land, using chemicals when other choices are less toxic, and genetic engineered food are private companies spending their money any way it wants.
If you want to 'chatter', come with respect, and we can continue. Otherwise bruddah a`ole ke`ia.
Mokihana