Post #652496 by aquarj on Mon, Sep 17, 2012 10:33 PM

Of course there are many many movies filmed at the Coco Palms, and probably Blue Hawaii is the most famous. How about the 1967 Japanese movie Minami Taheiyo no Wakadaisho? Roughly translated as "Young Guy in the South Pacific", this was an installment in the series of Japanese films starring Yuzo Kayama as Yuichi, the Wakadaisho ("young guy") in the title. Throughout these films, Yuzo Kayama roughly translates as the Japanese Elvis, with a little singing, a bunch of pretty girls, a little trouble, a climactic competition of some sort, and a happy ending with more singing.

In this one, Yuichi is hopping the South Pacific in pursuit of Sumi-chan, an airline stewardess. One of the stops is on Kauai, with a helicopter ride around the interior canyons and then a quick scene (and song) on the grounds of the Coco Palms. The following scenes are actually with a different girl Yumiko, but I'll skip that subplot.

Yuichi sings with ukulele in the coconut grove :down:
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And along the lagoon :down:
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Probably the Queen's Cottages in the background, as he sees Yumiko :down:
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There's Yumiko! This is that same pair of bridges that leads to the dining area. You can see the tall lobby roofline in the background, and the absence of the A-frame over the dining area (apparently not built yet in 1967). :down:
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Neat action shot, with more of the lobby roofline visible :down:
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Despite the exotic locations, this movie is also known by the more pedestrian title Judo Champion in English speaking countries, because -you guessed it- there's a judo competition involved at the end. Here's the movie poster...

Now just for fun, a couple comparison images of that same view looking over the bridges toward the dining area. First, back to Elvis and 1961. See that palm trunk curving off to the right in the foreground? :down:
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That's the same palm curving off on the far left side here in 1967. :down:
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And here's a very similar angle in a beautiful shot from the Penhallow book, after the A-frame and second level were built, and the giant shell too :down:

Some more good images to come from that book, which is highly recommended BTW. That is, David Penhallow's "The Story of the Coco Palms Hotel: The Grace Buscher Guslander Years 1953-1985" as discussed a few places here on TC. Great people stories. I'd still love to read more of the architectural and design stories too, but really the book is without precedent as a history devoted to a single place. But in the end it makes sense, cuz there's something special about the Coco Palms.

-Randy