Post #719183 by VampiressRN on Tue, Jun 3, 2014 10:22 PM

The Story of the Coco Palms Hotel by David P. Penhallow is an awesome book. I had the privilege of staying there before its destruction. Sounds like things are finally coming together for a rebuild...you can bet I will be going back!!!

Lyle and Grace Guslander built their hotel empire from
what started out as a 24-room hotel with five employees,
that everyone on the island of Kauai had bet would go
under, especially when they heard that a pretty, blonde
haole from Pennsylvania had arrived on the island to
manage it. Previously, all of the former operators of the
Coco Palm Lodge had failed miserably.
Within a year, Grace Buscher (as she was known in the
fifties) had created one of the most famous destinations
in the world by incorporating the host culture she had
learned from her Hawaiian friends and fusing it with her
own unique creativity and vision. Grace had conjured up
a magical tropical fantasy that people from all over the
world had dreamed they would find in Hawaii, and the
Coco Palms became renowned as one of the first hotels
in Hawaii that actually celebrated Hawaiian culture.
Within a decade, Grace Buscher was named the most
successful hotel manager in the travel industry.
Movies and television shows were filmed at the Coco
Palms Hotel, most famously Blue Hawaii starring Elvis
Presley. Paramount producer Hal Wallis was quoted as
saying that the grounds of the Coco Palms was chosen
for filming because he couldn t find any hotel in the
Hawaiian Islands as authentically Hawaiian or as
romantic as the Coco Palms! The hotel has also seen its
share of dignitaries and celebrities; among them, the
Shah of Iran, Prince and Princess Hitachi of Japan, and
Bing Crosby.
Even after Lyle and Grace had married and had sold
their Island Holidays hotel chain for twenty million
dollars to American Factors in 1969, the Coco Palms
story continued for another two decades. Lyle became a
major force in the hospitality industry, overseeing hotels
for American Factors, and Grace continued to manage
the Coco Palms Hotel until her retirement in 1985.
Tragically, the devastating effects of Hurricane Iniki in
1992 left the Coco Palms Hotel severely damaged. As
the island of Kauai grappled with a recession and a
downturn in tourism in the wake of the hurricane, the
resort was eventually left to decay as repairs and
insurance issues proved too costly. However countless
thousands around the world can still recall a time when
gentle tradewinds blew through hundreds of coconut
trees beside a silvery lagoon; where Hawaiian hospitality
and the true aloha spirit reigned supreme, all because of
Grace Guslander.