Waikiki Pool a Political Quagmire

For decades it was the pride of Waikiki, a mammoth outdoor saltwater swimming pool where athletes and movie stars came to cavort and Hawaiian kids and tourist kids from the mainland took swimming lessons.

But for the last 24 years, the once-proud Waikiki War Memorial Natatorium has been something else: a source of political controversy, an off-limits relic from the past, an eyesore.

Even by the political standards of Hawaii, where land-use decisions are often hotly contested, the fight over the natatorium at the far end of the Waikiki tourist and recreation area, beyond Kapiolani Park and between the Waikiki Aquarium and Diamond Head Crater, has been unusually prolonged and bitter.

Termed-out Mayor Jeremy Harris, who has led a $48-million revitalization of Waikiki during the last five years, has called restoration of the natatorium a top priority of his remaining 18 months in office, the final part of his plan to make Waikiki more fun for residents and tourists.

But time, money and politics may not be on his side.

State health officials recently set standards for water circulation in the pool that Harris, a marine biologist, has said are unnecessary and could kill the project by increasing the price beyond the $6.7 million the city has budgeted.

A private group is scrambling to find millions of dollars in donations to make up an expected shortfall in restoring the pool, which measures 100 by 36 meters.

Harris hopes the standards can be modified. But Harris is a Democrat, and the health director is an appointee of a new Republican governor, and in Hawaii, partisan politics are fierce.

The restoration cost already had increased because of time spent fighting litigation by those who want the structure razed and the oceanfront property, called Kaimana Beach, returned to its natural state.

With Hawaii in a chronic budget crisis caused by a severe downturn in tourism, there are voices that say the restoration money could be better used elsewhere.

Still, Harris is adamant, although it is unclear whether his successor or any member of the City Council will take up the natatorium’s cause with the same passion. With recent turnover on the council, most members are not on record one way or the other about the natatorium.

“I always thought that we should be ashamed to let a war memorial fall into such disrepair,” Harris said while showing the natatorium to a visitor. “Can you imagine how beautiful it would be if the sound of water play and kids laughing and having fun were washing over us? Instead we’ve got concrete rotting away.”

The Kaimana Beach Coalition, which sued to block the project and ended up with an out-of-court settlement, is not buying any of Harris’ professed love for the natatorium, which was built in 1927 and closed in 1979 because of concern by state health officials over people getting sick from bacteria in its murky water.

The mayor said the restored pool would have a state-of-the-art intake system that would mean water would turn over three to 20 times a day, depending on surf and sea conditions.

Coalition members have disputed Harris on the facts and have challenged his motives.

As a sign of the bitterness of the dispute, opponents even charged Harris with hyping the notion of a “war memorial,” noting that most of the 100-plus Hawaii residents who died while in military service during World War I died during the 1918-19 influenza pandemic while serving stateside, not in combat.

Jim Bickerton, the coalition’s attorney, said Harris’ true motivation is to provide yet another attraction for the tourism industry even if it results in pushing out Hawaii residents who now flock to the park behind the natatorium and the beach beside it.

“Harris, being the slick politician that he is, wraps himself in the war memorial flag when what he is really doing is taking more of Hawaii away from the residents and giving it to tourists,” Bickerton said.

Bickerton’s group supports the tougher health standards on how often the water in the pool must be refreshed. The mayor and other natatorium supporters have said the standards could kill the restoration effort by requiring the water to be even cleaner than the ocean itself. Both sides have medical experts to bolster their contentions.

Donna Ching, a leader of Friends of the Natatorium, a private group trying to raise funds for the restoration, said opponents simply don’t want competition for parking spaces or the waterfront. She said the choice is simple: “It’s either restore it to its glory days or let it deteriorate more and continue to disgrace the people it’s meant to honor.”

The Friends of the Natatorium said that because the pool is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, it could not be torn down. The Kaimana Beach Coalition says that if there were the political will to do so, there would be a way.

David Shapiro, columnist for the Honolulu Advertiser, said the pool has become “a monument to political obstinacy” on both sides.

Fred Hemmings, a state senator, offered a compromise but ended up being blasted by both sides. Hemmings, a former surfing champion, suggested that the pool be filled in to become a beach volleyball court. Under Hemmings’ logic, that would continue to honor the war dead with a quintessentially Hawaiian sport facility but not run afoul of the health standards.

Neither side budged.

On this much the two warring sides can agree: The natatorium was a sensation in its heyday.

Designed by the architect Louis Parsons Hobart, whose works include Grace Cathedral in San Francisco, the Waikiki War Memorial Natatorium, with its Beaux Arts-style facade and grand arch, opened Aug. 24, 1927.

It was built by the territorial government as an active monument to the Hawaiians who had died while serving in the U.S. or British military.

Legendary Hawaiian surfer and swimming champion Duke Kahanamoku swam the inaugural lap. Buster Crabbe set a world record at a natatorium swim meet. Crabbe and Johnny Weissmuller, both of whom won Olympic swimming gold medals and both of whom played Tarzan in the movies, trained and frolicked at the natatorium. Movie stars sunned themselves and preened for tourists and locals.

Swimming classes were held at the pool. While kids swam, parents sat in the ocean-facing grandstand with its view of the soft turquoise waters, surfers, luxury liners and sailboats.

During World War II, the military used the pool for training.

And in the 1950s and 1960s, as health standards for pools began to evolve, concerns were expressed about bacteria in the sandy-bottomed pool with its antiquated filtration system. The water was always less than clear and local legend held that eels lived at the bottom of the pool -- it’s 20 feet deep in some spots. (Under the new plan, the pool would still have a sand bottom, but be only 6 feet deep.)

Finally, amid a dispute between the then-mayor and then-governor, the natatorium was closed in 1979.

In 1995, with the arch and facade crumbling and the pool’s retaining walls corroding, the National Trust for Historic Preservation listed the natatorium among its 11 “most seriously endangered historic places.”

The Kaimana Beach Coalition’s lawsuit to block the restoration effort was settled three years ago when the city agreed to provide additional parking and to wait until the state promulgated its rules for saltwater pools.

Even before those rules were set, the city pushed ahead with a $5-million restoration of the arch, facade and changing rooms, which now are open to the public. A chain-link fence blocks access to the natatorium.

Former Mayor Frank Fasi believes that the restoration would be a waste of money and that there are other ways to honor the war dead. He finds the idea of a quarter-century standoff over a swimming pool to be slightly daft and very Hawaiian.

“You know how they say, ‘There’s no place like Hawaii,’ ” Fasi said, laughing. “Well, this proves it.”

The other side, however, has its own Hawaiian take on the controversy.

“In Hawaii, if something is the morally right thing to do, we say it’s the pono thing,” Ching said. “Well, fixing the natatorium, that’s the pono thing to do.”