Destination: Waikiki : Vintage Vacation : A nostalgia-soaked search for remnants of a pre-Don Ho past

My first visit to Waikiki came 40 years too late. I wanted Arthur Godfrey’s Hawaii. Harry Truman in aloha shirts. A lei-strewn Matson Liner welcome at the docks. Alas, both Arthur and Harry have gone on to the big luau in the sky and at the Honolulu airport, fresh leis must be purchased out of refrigerator cases.

My attachment to the islands comes from the Hawaiiana I have collected over the years--postcards, books, magazines and photos from what I call the pre-Don Ho era, the time between 1927, when Matson Line opened the Royal Hawaiian Hotel and inaugurated passenger service between California and Hawaii, and the late 1950s, when statehood, jet travel and the arrival of Elvis signaled the end of that romantic period. Though I couldn’t experience the Golden Age of Tourism firsthand, I was determined to find a few vestiges of the past on my trip last summer.

On my old postcards, the Royal Hawaiian Hotel is surrounded by acres of lush palm groves. The grounds are now pared down in size, but thickets of elephant’s ears and birds of paradise still hug the pink Moorish palace. The salons, no longer overdecorated in pattern-on-pattern splendor, remain stately and cool. Tacky Waikiki, just beyond the porte-cochere, seems far away.

The room of my dreams (Diamond Head view, of course) was $350 a night, so I contented myself with breakfasts and late-afternoon drinks at the Royal’s Surf Room and Mai Tai Bar. Sitting there, I could reach over the sea wall and grab a handful of Waikiki sand, remembering photos of Bing Crosby playing a ukulele serenade on the same spot, Shirley Temple being made an honorary Waikiki lifeguard . . . probably a few feet away, Cary Grant (a guest in the 1930s) relaxing in the teak deck chairs that still face the water. Through trial and error, I discovered that the best time for drinks at the Royal Hawaiian is at sunset on Wednesdays. That’s when local outrigger-canoe clubs practice in the bay with Diamond Head as the backdrop--just like they did 50 years ago.

Duke’s Canoe Club restaurant in the Outrigger Waikiki Hotel, wedged (really wedged) between the Royal Hawaiian and Sheraton Moana Surfrider, is on the site of the original Outrigger Canoe Club--a hang-out for Hawaiian beach boys with names like Chickie, Squeeze, Panama Dave and Ox. Today, it’s a Chart House-kind-of-place that pays homage to the Golden Age with Duke Kahanamoku memorabilia on the walls. The restaurant’s namesake was the most famous of these beach boys--a two-time Olympic-swimming gold medalist (1912 and 1920) and Hawaii’s most recognizable figure. It’s worth a walk-through, even if you don’t eat here, to study the old photos of Waikiki beach life and get a sense of how big and heavy those old surfboards were. A shiny, dark 17-footer is on display.

Built in 1901, the Sheraton Moana Surfrider is the oldest hotel on Waikiki Beach and, thanks to a $20-million restoration in 1989, it retains its Victorian splendor. The 99-year-old banyan tree helps . . . and so do the ornate banisters and molding. Old-fashioned rocking chairs line the front porch facing Kalakaua Avenue.

The essence of vintage Waikiki is the Moana’s banyan veranda and patio. For 40 years, beginning in 1935, “Hawaii Calls” was broadcast to as many as 750 radio stations from this spot. The hula music was interspersed with sounds of waves lapping the shore and announcements of the air and water temperatures (torture for listeners in Syracuse in mid-January, which was the intent).

Now, evenings in one corner on the patio, a group of Hawaiian musicians play old-time hapa-haoli (half-Caucasian) songs. Listeners can order drinks from the courtyard bar or, better yet, settle into luxurious, over-sized rattan chairs on the broad veranda for drinks and a $9.95 all-you-can-eat, takes-the-place-of-dinner hors d’oeuvres buffet. Here, the paradise that 1950s mainlanders like my grandparents dreamed about is still palpable.

At the other end of Waikiki from the Moana, a convincing re-creation of “Hawaii Calls,” now called “Sounds of Aloha” for legal reasons, is recorded Thursday evenings at the Shell Bar of the Hilton Hawaiian Village. This hotel is very 1960s in its ambience, too recent for my tastes, but close your eyes and you’re back 40 years: “Sweet Leilani” plays, followed by an announcement of the current water temperature, usually hovering around 80 degrees. The show is broadcast on Honolulu’s all-Hawaiian-music radio station KCCN on Saturdays at 11:30 a.m. It’s also broadcast in Los Angeles on KJOI (Sundays, 8 a.m.) and KGRB (Sundays at 10 a.m).

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The closest I got to the steamship welcome of my dreams was at the Matson Liner exhibit at the Hawaii Maritime Center, on the Honolulu docks. Paper streamers cascade over the side of the S.S. Lurline (well, a few feet of starboard anyway). A horn blows. On the headset tour, a former steward talks about the glory days of leisurely ocean-liner travel by the well-to-do. There is a life-size re-creation of a corner of the elegant dining room, and old film footage takes us back to yesteryear. The centerpiece of this exhibit is a 4-foot-by-8-foot original oil painting of one of Eugene Savage’s Art Deco Matson menu covers depicting Hawaiians welcoming Captain James Cook at Kealakekua Bay on the Big Island. The free Kodak Hula Show, held Tuesday through Thursday mornings in Kapiolani Park, has been a tourist attraction since the 1930s. While it has evolved over the years (adding Tahitian dancers in neon-colored grass skirts), the house orchestra remains endearing: 14 musician tutu (grandmothers) in long muumuus and sun hats perform throughout the free, hour-long photo opportunity.

The Waikiki 3 theater, built in 1936, is one of a few remaining Art Deco buildings in Waikiki. I’ve seen old photos from the 1940s showing sailors hanging around the entrance, which is much the same today and best seen from the balconies of the Royal Hawaiian Shopping Mall across Kalakaua Avenue. Unfortunately the interior, once the swankiest on the islands, has been stripped of its papier-mache palm trees. They still show movies here, but gone are the usherettes dressed as alii (royalty).

Having collected Hawaiiana for years at Southern California flea markets, I wondered what vintage souvenirs could be found in situ . I’d heard about the aloha shirts at Bailey’s but was a little disappointed with the shop. Sure, plenty of shirts, but there were too many (I never thought such a thing possible), too jammed together. And the prices seemed more keyed to Tokyo buyers than habitues of the Rose Bowl swap meet.

I was much more tempted by two other shops. At Antique Alley, a collectibles mini-mall, several of the dealers sell Hawaiian items (though none exclusively): artifacts, old coins and Ming’s jewelry--tropical-themed earrings and brooches popular during the ‘40s and ‘50s. Pake Zane has the most: old menus, photos, postcards, hula-girl lamps and the insider knowledge of someone who lived through the time period.

At Clair de Lune, a swank shop with haute-’30s and ‘40s sensibilities, the rattan furniture, gaudy hibiscus draperies and tropical paintings have been chosen with great care. I wanted it all.

I would never have known about the Waioli Tea Room had I not loudly bemoaned my 40-years-too-late fate to Zane. He joined in my lament, but agreed there were a few survivors from the Golden Age. Did I know about the Waioli, which reopened last year after being closed five years? He promised it was a haven from the Waikiki tinsel that few mainlanders know exists. But, he said, occasional tourists have been making their way there since the 1920s, when the tea room was opened by the Salvation Army to train unwed mothers in waitressing.

Set amid the lush landscape of the Manoa Valley, a few miles north of Waikiki, the last remaining old-style Hawaiian restaurant still offers job opportunities to those needing new skills. Meals (curries, salads, sandwiches, pasta) are served on the broad, cool, wrap-around porch. Robert Louis Stevenson was said to have visited Hawaiian royalty at a hut behind the building; all were in search of cooler weather. Even today, the place is usually 15 degrees cooler than the coastal plain below.

During lunch, a mother-and-son duo dressed in matching Hawaiian ensembles moves from table to table playing requests, all pre-Don Ho classics. Mom sings and plays the ukulele while her courtly son plays bass. As I was leaving, another diner asked when the duo would be returning to the dining area. The answer: in a few minutes--they were busy playing for the help in the kitchen. I’ll bet they don’t do that at the Hyatt Regency.

GUIDEBOOK: Honolulu’s Golden Oldies

Antique Alley, 1347 Kapiolani Blvd., Honolulu, Hawaii 96814; local telephone 941-8551. Open Mon.-Sat. 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Bailey’s Antiques and Aloha Shirts, 517 Kapahulu Ave., Waikiki, Hawaii 96815; tel. 734-7628. Open Mon.-Sat. 9 a.m.-8 p.m., Sun. 10 a.m.-6 p.m.

Clair de Lune, Ward Warehouse, 1050 Ala Moana, Honolulu, Hawaii 96814; tel. 596-0808. Open weekdays 10 a.m.-9 p.m., weekends 10 a.m.-5 p.m.

Duke’s Canoe Club, Outrigger Waikiki Hotel, 2335 Kalakaua Ave., Waikiki, Hawaii 96815; tel. 922-2268. Breakfast and lunch, under $10; dinner $14-$20.

Hawaii Maritime Center, Pier Seven, Honolulu Harbor, Hawaii 96813; tel. 536-6373. Open daily 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Admission $7 adults, $4 children, 5 and under free.

Hilton Hawaiian Village, 2005 Kalia Road, Waikiki, Hawaii 96815; tel. 949-4321. “Songs of Aloha” recorded in the Shell Bar, free admission, one-drink minimum.

Kodak Hula Show, near Waikiki Shell, Kapiolani Park, 2805 Monsarrat Ave., Waikiki, Hawaii 96819; tel. 833-1661. Tues.-Thurs. 10-11:15 a.m. Free.

Sheraton Moana Surfrider Hotel, 2365 Kalakaua Ave., Waikiki, Hawaii 96815; tel. 922-3111. Buffet served nightly 5:30 p.m.-9:30 p.m., $15.95-$17.95 at the Beachside Cafe.

Sheraton Royal Hawaiian Hotel, 2259 Kalakaua Ave., Waikiki, Hawaii 96815; tel. 923-7311. Surf Room breakfasts $10-$20 person; daily breakfast buffet $18.50. Mai Tai Bar drinks $3.50-$8.

Waikiki 3 theater, 2284 Kalakaua Ave., Waikiki, Hawaii 96815; tel. 971-5134. Open daily at 11:30 a.m.; first show at noon, last show about 10:30 p.m.

Waioli Tea Room, 2950 Manoa Road, Honolulu, Hawaii 96822; tel. 988-9488. Hawaiian music Thursdays. Open for lunch Tues.-Sun., dinner Fri. only, $8-$15; reservations recommended.