There are other pathways forward that could be championed by visitors and locals, but the first step is to let go of the Coco Palms as it once was and let it remain a memory. Maybe it could fall under the Wailua River State Park complex of features that include heiau, or maybe a community group, such as I Ola Wailuanui, could take over stewarding the land, just as other nonprofits in Hawaii are now stewarding other cultural sites. In 1973, 34 more were moved during construction.Īs Ako predicted, the Coco Palms didn’t last - and it’s time to turn the page. Guslander that if they ever touched that grave, Coco Palms was not going to last.” He did what he was asked and relocated the bones. “‘Take care of it,’” Ako recalled Guslander saying. “I exhumed 81 skeletons all buried sitting down and facing east with their arms crossed over their chests,” Valentine Ako, a contractor, told the Garden Island. In the 1950s, decades before laws were created to protect Native Hawaiian burials, Guslander had many moved. The Coco Palms property is also a graveyard. Kapule raised fish in the fishponds that were used for hotel visitors’ entertainment as lagoons. She was the favorite wife of King Kaumualii, the last king of Kauai, prior to King Kamehameha’s reign over all of the Hawaiian Islands. The site that is now the Coco Palms was also home to the last queen of Kauai, Deborah Kapule, in the mid-1800s. Warriors trade rumors not waiting for Lakers series to end. Elon Musk, Bad Bunny and Leonardo DiCaprio at star-studded Warriors-Lakers Game 6.Warriors' Kevon Looney names his favorite restaurant in San Francisco.Trader Joe’s sues T-shirt company over sexually explicit use of brand name.‘What the f-k happened to this place?’: Dave Chappelle rails on San Francisco at surprise show.Horoscope for Friday, 5/12/23 by Christopher Renstrom.JJ Redick has spot-on explanation for what's wrong with Warriors' Klay Thompson.Remnants of the land’s history can be seen by the multiple heiau (traditional Hawaiian temples) and royal birthing site near the hotel. Wailua, where Coco Palms is located, was the capital for Kauai’s kings and queens, beginning in the 13th century. Not only is the site prone to flooding, but Native Hawaiians also consider it sacred. Guslander had to contend with floods, tidal waves and other hurricanes before Iniki, and any new developer would face similar challenges. For one, the Coco Palms property has a flooding problem. There were 178 actors and crew staying in its rooms during the filming of “South Pacific.” And the wedding scene in “Blue Hawaii,” when Elvis and his bride are carried down the lagoon in a canoe, made it famous.īut the public may not remember other things that are far more serious. The Coco Palms Resort was featured in Elvis Presley’s “Blue Hawaii.” Screenshot/Paramount PicturesĬelebrity guests from old Hollywood increased its popularity. She created a nightly torch-lighting ceremony, a coconut tree-planting ceremony and Hawaiian pageants. She made the lagoons and coconut grove the hotel’s centerpiece. It was Grace (Buscher) Guslander, the hotel’s manager, who turned the hotel into how it’s most remembered. Tourism was just beginning on the island. The hotel itself was built pre-statehood as the Coco Palms Lodge in 1953, only 60 years after the overthrow of the Hawaiian government. Hawaiian kitsch is now tacky, and more people are understanding that using native traditions to sell a manufactured experience is exploitation. There will never be another hotel like it, because times have changed. Whatever happens next is unknown, but after 30 long years of neglect, it is past time to let the Coco Palms fade into history. In fact, the Hawaii State Department of Land and Natural Resources recently issued a violation regarding unpermitted work on the site, including clearing trees and grubbing and grading. But the Coco Palms’ long history of failed attempts brings doubt that anything will be completed, let alone on time. Instead, Utah-based development company Reef Capital Partners is now taking its turn at rebuilding the hotel, with a goal to be done in two years. Last year, a community group, I Ola Wailuanui, wanted to buy the property to end the cycle and turn it into a public park and cultural center, but the owner didn’t sell. The chapel and grounds of the derelict Coco Palms Resort on a visit in 2016. But in all of those cases, their development plans failed, and the unsightly remains of the Coco Palms are still there. Fueled by the nostalgia of what the Coco Palms once was, all of them see dollar signs. Instead of tearing it down, the hotel has passed into the hands of one investor after another. The rooms have been gutted, leaving an empty shell. For every local and visitor who drives by the property, it’s now been an eyesore on Kuhio Highway for more than 30 years.
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