Post #244371 by LowKat on Fri, Jul 21, 2006 3:59 PM

OK, this is a long post but the Waikikian / Tahitian Lanai holds a special place in my and Mrs. LowKat's hearts.

We spent a two week honeymoon at the Waikikian in November of 1973, then a 2nd honeymoon there in 1990. We had planed on celebrating our 30th anniversary at the Waikikian but discovered the closure so stayed in Maui again. We did book a couple nights at the Royal Hawaiian for nostalgia purposes but it just didn't have the romanticism the Waikikian offered so haven't been back to Ohau since.

For our 1973 trip we were 19 years old but looked like we were 15 or 16. The legal drinking age was 18 so some of the trip is a blur thanks to abundant Mai Tais, Chi Chis, Daiquiris and Pina Coladas. One night at Trader Vic's and too many Fogcutters later had me spending an hour or more talking to the caged macaw parrots outside near the door.

We stayed in the two story garden section of the Waikikian and every night would receive a Hawaiian serenade from the strolling muscians if we were in our room at the correct time. The maid would come in sometime during the day and fold the bed back then place an Orchid flower on each pillow. It was the most beautifully amazing place I'd ever seen, heard or smelled. Being from Oregon I was amazed with no windows in the room, only shutters on the openings.

We'd hit the Tahitian Lanai almost every morning for breakfast by the pool. Then we'd spend the day doing tourist stuff and come back to the hotel to get cleaned up for some night life. Also spent a few nights at the Tahitian Lanai and became the center of attention for the locals since we were such young honeymooners.

Hawaii became a part of us then. The culture, music, food and people make me think I was born wrong. Should have just moved to there in '73 when we talked about it then. Still talking about it now but looking at the Big Island.

Since I learned the fate of the Waikikian 2002 I began looking for memorabilia while on vacation in Hawaii. I've scored a few goodies including a Hawaiian shirt but I don't have an uploaded photo of it.

A few more notes about our 1973 trip:

The legal age for renting a car was 21 so we had to find a rent-a-wreck. Our rented wreck was a Mercury Comet that had 4 missmatched tires, no hubcaps, no air conditioning, a flapping headliner and had severe wobbles if you went over 51 miles per hour. (I think that was the "locals" speed governor)

One day we traveled to the North Shore for the "Smirinoff"?? surfing championships and being stupid tourists, stashed all of our cash in the car's trunk. You can guess what happened. I'm sure 'da local boys partied hardy later. Luckily I'd kept 20 bucks in my pocket. We had Thanksgiving dinner that night at Kobe's Japanese Steak House and the bill was $18.

The next day we had wired money "wired" to us. We took the money order to the Bank of Honolulu but it had come in my wife's new married name (because I thought it would be cool) and she didn't have any identification to support that. We explained this to the bank teller but she still turned us down. On the way out, we stopped in the lobby to figure out what to do. Then I noticed the building directory and the bank President's location on an upper floor. Up we went to the President's office but were stopped by his secretary. As luck or loudness had it, the President came walking out and wanted to know what the problem was. He told us to ride the elevator down to the bank with him. Then wanted me to point out the teller and told me to go to her window. After chewing her butt in front of everyone he stood behind her while she cashed the money order.

A couple days later we were standing close to the boats that shuttle out to the Arizona Memorial trying to figure if it was in our budget to visit. Well, we couldn't afford it and started to walk away when the "Captain" asked if we were going. I said "no money" and he says in his best Pidgin "Dis tine iz free"

I'm gonna have to look for the old photos from that trip. I do remember seeing one with a windsurfer. Photo was titled on the back with "Skiing with sails on a surfboard"

EDIT Mrs LowKat just reminded me that about the 3rd or 4th day of our stay at the Waikikian we were left a note in our room to check with the front desk. When I went up to the desk they asked "how would you be paying for your stay?" so I said "I'll pay for the previous days and the rest of the time in cash" The clerk then told me "a couple days of advance payment would be fine" I inisisted on paying for the entire stay and it was a good thing because it was the day before our car was broken into.

[ Edited by: LowKat 2006-07-22 14:39 ]