WHEREAS, in 1955 construction began on the Hawaiian Village Hotel, which was originally the Niumalu Hotel purchased the year before by entrepreneur Henry J. Kaiser and partner Fritz Burns; and

WHEREAS, shortly after the first 70 suites were constructed, the Hawaiian Village Hotel's guest facilities were expanded with the addition of the Makahiki Restaurant and Garden Bar, the Tiare Tahiti nightclub, the Golden Dragon restaurant, the Sunset Room bar, and the dome showroom; and

WHEREAS, the Hawaiian Village Hotel's dredged shoreline, which included 30,000 new cubic yards of sand and additional palm trees, was named after Olympic swimmer and beach boy Duke Kahanamoku; and

WHEREAS, in the 1950's and 1960's, the Ocean Tower, Village Tower, Diamond Head Tower, and the Rainbow Tower were added to the Hawaiian Village's master plan; and

WHEREAS, in 1961, Conrad Hilton purchased and added the Hilton namesake to the hotel, renaming it the Hilton Hawaiian Village; and

WHEREAS, the Hilton Hawaiian Village spans 22 acres, offering the widest stretch of beach on Waikiki with a beachfront lagoon, waterfalls, an art collection, exotic wildlife, and evening Hawaiian music and dance celebrations that end with a beach fireworks display; and

WHEREAS, the Hilton Hawaiian Village now boasts more than 90 shops, a full-service Mandara Spa, the Holistica Hawaii Preventive Medicine Center, and the Bishop Museum collection; and

WHEREAS, the Hilton Hawaiian Village, which has been owned and operated entirely by Hilton Hotels Corporation since 1998, is now officially the Hilton Hawaiian Village Beach Resort & Spa, and is Waikiki's only self-contained destination resort; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-third Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2005, that this body congratulates the Hilton Hawaiian Village on the 50th anniversary of its initial construction and offers the Hilton Hawaiian Village Beach Resort & Spa heartfelt wishes for many more successful years of service to the Waikiki community and to the State of Hawaii's tourism industry.

Report Title:

Hilton Hawaiian Village – 50^th Anniversary of building construction; congratulations