Hotel Taharaa, Papeete, Tahiti (hotel)

That's a great tale of the trail, No No.

Part of me still wishes we would have continued on that trail, but the cautious side of me is still glad that we made it to Rarotonga instead of sitting in a Tahitian jail :wink:
Would have loved to explore & document the place in it's current state on film....

What a great story No No! While growing up my family never dared to dream of let alone visit such an exotic locale. By sharing your insider stories I've been able to visit this grand hotel in some ways better than if I had been a guest. Thanks!

Thanks for the kind words. Below, is a summary of the hotel history that may help you understand where your experience with the hotel fits in the big scheme of things.

Societe Hoteliere De Tahara’a
Beginning to End
This is the sad story of arguably the finest architectural achievement in hotel design in Polynesia and its tragic slide into ruin. I will attempt to summarize the ownership of the hotel so that you can better understand its fall from grace if you ever get a chance to see it.
• 1966…. Joe Long negotiates a loan with the French Government, takes on Pan American Airlines as a partner, buys Tahara’a Hill, establishes the project team and work gets underway.
• 1967…. Hotel construction commences. At that time, I went to Pateete to select a nurseryman and start growing most of the plants required to landscape the property. A small Pitch & Put golf course was laid out at that time.
• 1969…. The grand opening followed two years of design, construction, decorating, landscaping, staffing and training. It was operated by International Hotel Corporation, a subsidiary of Pan American Airlines.
• 1974….The operating agreement with IHC was terminated and the day to day management of Tahara’a was handled locally for the next thirteen years.
• 1987…. Joe Long sold the hotel, thus ending a 21 year long love affair with Lone Tree Hill, Tahara’a. The buyer was Adriaan Zacha, the head of a Hong Kong Investment Company.
• !988…. The hotel was renamed the Hyatt Regency Tahiti.
• 1989…. Zacha then sold the hotel to a Japanese investment company called E.I.E.
• 1994…. E.I.E. in turn, sold the hotel, still operating under the moniker of Hyatt Regency Tahiti, to a holding company named Societe Hoteliere De Tahara’a. The head of this group was Gaston Flosse, the president of French Polynesia.
• 1995….Another group, whose majority shareholder is Reginald Flosse, Gaston’s son, purchased the hotel.
• 1997….Hyatt continued as the operator until their contract ran out in May. Flosse changed the name again to Hotel Royal Matavai and operated it until he promptly closed its doors on 1.1.98. Employees were laid off, furnishings were sold, as great plans for an 18 month renovation were revealed. Nothing ever happened and the hotel fell into disrepair! Ten years passed. Decay set in. Then….
• 1998-2008… A rebirth was announced, as plans to turn the old Tahara’a into a residence called Matavai Bay by 2010 were revealed. Well……just more smoke. Joe would turn over in his grave!
• The one bright spot in this tragic tale is the fact that the gardens, for whatever reason to this day, are still maintained and the Tiki still stands tall!(47 years later) A fact that is not lost on me. Jan Prince, a writer for the Tahiti Beach Press, told me that this last July, during the Annual Festival of Music, a concert was held in the gardens. I wish I could have been there.

Just a few thoughts that came to mind in the past week. When I arrived in Tahiti, I was so eager to please Joe that I tried to be every where at once and do everything right and make no mistakes. So, when I was out in the field watching the work and I saw something that was not being done correctly, I would rush over and say, no! no!.....do it this way....or no! no! do it that way. That scenario unfolded so many times the workers began to say....Here comes "no no." That name stuck while I was there. In construction, everyone picks up a nick name. That is why I chose "no no" for my username on Tiki Central.

Very interesting that the hotel was in operation for only 28 years, especially since Tahiti seems to have developed into a very desirable high end vacation destination. Did the locals have any aversion to the use of tikis? The Coco Palms in Kauai didn't have any, supposedly out of respect for local customs. Also, thanks for the insight to your TikiCentral name!

Hey TropicDrinkBoy....
To answer the first part of your question, I believe that towards the end of his life, Joe Long lost the fire in his belly to keep his Tahara'a dream alive. After the sale, it was all down hill from there on out! To answer the second part of your question, Tiki is an integral part of Polynesian culture. The Marquesas were thought to be the point of origin for Tikis and they can now be found throughout Polynesia. They are considered protective statues, each with its own personality. The Easter Island Tikis, known as Moais, are much larger: some weighing in at over 10 tons. How they got there is still a mystery. I carved one out of volcanic stone for Joe upon my return from Tahiti and it still has a place in their gardens. The main aversion to Tiki amongst Polynesian natives is voiced by the large segment of the population that has converted to Christianity. As you may know, Christians believe that there is but one God, and they do not worship idols which they consider false gods.

[ Edited by: No No 2013-10-13 19:49 ]

More thoughts....
On my first flight to Tahiti, I was accompanied by George Whisenand, Architect/Civil Engineer for the project. George was uniquely qualified to solve the challenges presented by this project. In the 10 hours we sat side by side, I learned more about Tahara'a than I could have ever hoped to have learned in any other setting. The foundation for my work had been laid....thank you George.
The site for Tahara'a was a difficult one....remote, steep, unforgiving and full of surprises. Added to the physical limitations, were the local building code requirements. The goal was to construct a 12 story, 200 room hotel, the likes of which had never been seen before. The building code required that no building could be any taller than 2/3 the height of the tallest palm tree on the island!! What?? We needed to circumvent this requirement. So George reasoned that if each floor of the hotel was an entity unto itself, both structurally and architecturally, the design would comply with the code. He flipped the hotel upside down, staggered the floors to make them separate structures and cascaded them down the cliff. Floor 12 instantly became floor 1 and the design problem was solved. Compaction testing of the slope confirmed that the weight bearing capacity of the soil would not have held up such a tall building anyway. Many other construction difficulties were overcome including the weight of the concrete and the concrete blocks manufactured on site. Originally, they were way too heavy. We finally found some light volcanic gravels to use....all turned out well.
The next adventure is the saga of the hammer head crane.

[ Edited by: no no 2013-10-14 13:59 ]

Most high rise building projects require the use of a crane. Tahara'a was no exception. this is a story of the hammer head crane used at Tahara'a.
Tex, the project super, was in his job site trailer, looking out the window over Matavai Bay. He was anxious and cranky. Mumbling under his breath about some innocuous construction problem, we all knew the real reason for his irritability. Where was his house boat? It was several days overdue. With his binoculars he scanned the horizon all the way to Moorea. Then without warning, he let out a jubilant cry...There it is!! There it is!! He jumped up, ran out, got in the Rover and headed to Papeete. It seemed that Tex had hired a sailor of sorts to bring his house boat from Sausalito,(near San Francisco) to Tahiti. A daunting task, to be sure, for the very best of nautical men. Tex was happy. The red haired, bearded adventurer was not so happy. He was out of a job. But Tex had a solution to that problem. See that pile of crates over there, Tex said with a smile,... those are crane parts. That over there, is the concrete pad where it gets built. I am going to sail my house boat to Moorea for 2 weeks. When I get back, if it is standing tall, you have a job....see you later. Oh, by the way, the assembly instructions are written in French......The sailor became a hammer head crane operator.

Time passed and things were not well with red beard. I am very sorry, but I do not remember his true name. It seems that he contracted a parasite in his belly while in Central America that went undetected for months after he arrived with Tex's boat in Tahiti. He lost a lot of weight and all his energy. He was put on "rest leave" so that medical treatment could bring him back to good health. An understudy of sorts, "the wild A-rab" took his place. In general terms, he operated the crane with reckless abandon. In actuality, he somehow got the job done fast, efficiently and safely which was a key factor in keeping the project on schedule.
Let me digress for a moment and explain one of the most consternating problems this project faced. In simple terms....French, English, Tahitian. Arabic, German and Chinese. Maybe there were more languages spoken that I was not aware of, but those were the ones I knew of. To communicate to "The wild A-rab" just exactly what I wanted was done with sign language and a wing and a prayer.
As the project came out of the ground, rising from floor 12 to floor 1, There were certain landscape elements that needed to be put in place. Palm trees needed to be planted between the floor groupings. With a dump truck and back-hoe we went into the countryside, bought full grown palm trees from land owners for $25 +/- dug them up and brought them back to the site. Large holes were dug between the rooms. The palm trees were placed in nets and secured to the crane drop line. I mounted the root ball and away we went!! I directed the decent, twelve stories down, with hand signals. The tree was successfully placed in the planting hole. The process was repeated many times over.

Here I am again. Well it has only been 16 months since I last posted so I should not have forgotten too much of what I wanted to say. I found the above picture of Tahara'a and thought it would bring back some memories to those who have been there. I have to leave for a bit. More to come. The picture was sent to me over a year ago by Jan Prince who lives in Tahiti. because of my limited computer expertise, I was unable to figure out how to up load/down load content until now. I have recently found many pictures taken during the construction that I will try and figure out how to scan and upload to the Tiki Central site. (I have no idea how to do what I just said.)

[ Edited by: No No 2015-03-20 19:31 ]

No No,

Thanks for all of your stories and history. I spotted another postcard of the Big Guy under the A-Frame before the knee surgery.

And I found a great New York School of Interior Design exhibit about the Inter-Continental hotels and Neal Prince that included some really nice photos from the Taharaa Hotel.

The inside Tiki bar.

I wonder if the Tikis and panels are from Oceanic Arts as well?

The outside bar.

The pool, what a view from the top!

Another bar.

The Captain Cook restaurant.

and a well appointed guest room.

Here is the text from the exhibit:

DC

No No,

Also looking forward to you learning to scan and posting more photos.

DC

[ Edited by: Dustycajun 2015-12-21 16:56 ]

On 2015-12-21 16:53, Dustycajun wrote:
No No,

Thanks for all of your stories and history. I spotted another postcard of the Big Guy under the A-Frame before the knee surgery.

And I found a great New York School of Interior Design exhibit about the Inter-Continental hotels and Neal Prince that included some really nice photos from the Taharaa Hotel.

The inside Tiki bar.

I wonder if the Tikis and panels are from Oceanic Arts as well?

The outside bar.

The pool, what a view from the top!

Another bar.

The Captain Cook restaurant.

and a well appointed guest room.

Here is the text from the exhibit:

DC

Wow, what a VIEW that place had! No No, thanks for the great stories, especially how the giant Maori Tiki was not allowed in and involuntarily became the the front entrance icon.

DC, the Marquesan Tiki on the right is pretty certainly from O.A., here's their catalog:

The panel also has Marquesan designs on it but it looks like it was done locally.

DC, do you know what year was the New York School of Interior Design exhibit?

[ Edited by: bigbrotiki 2015-12-21 18:22 ]

On 2015-12-21 18:19, bigbrotiki wrote:

DC, do you know what year was the New York School of Interior Design exhibit?

Bigbro,

January 2013. Here is a link to the exhibit. It contains photos of many other Inter-Continental hotels as well.

http://www.nysid.edu/news-events/press-release/neal-prince

DC

Well, it has been 19 months since I have been on the Tiki Central site and I am looking forward to adding a few more comments and pictures. My long absence was for good reason. My wife had a heart attack followed by 4 open heart surgeries and and a long recovery period. Taking care of her and our home on 10 acres proved too much for me to handle. We moved to a much smaller home close to town, doctors and shopping. All was well, until I had a heart attach followed by a 4 way bi pass and valve replacement. Now we take care of each other. We are leading a much slower life. Just yesterday, the Cardiologist gave me the green light to resume a normal life (with some restrictions) My next post will continue my recollections of Taharaa.

Just saw this post
It was an awesome hotel
I was there in ??? 1990 I believe
No iPhone then or I would have 1000 photos I’m sure

Cheers

Another tourist photo of a girl, the Tiki, and the A-Frame!

DC

This is No No and it has been almost 3 years since my last post. I am now 89 years young and still kicking. I am certainly now the last survivor of the crew that built Societe Hoteliere de Tahara'a. If you have followed my posts I hope you found them interesting and entertaining. Well, there are more to come. Back in a flash, No No

Wow this was an excellent read from start to finish with the side links as well. Thank you so much No No!

Welcome back No No - Hope you are well

Mahalo for this amazing thread, sharing all your knowledge and memories. This is one of the reasons Tiki Central should always be kept alive, there is so much history and knowledge shared on these message boards.

Looking forward to more.

Back when I first arrived in Tahiti the project manager assigned a young lady to show me around the island. It was a very useful orientation and helped me in my job. One day she asked me if I wanted to take in some of the night life. I agreed and that night we started with a nice dinner with just one mistake. I ordered a glass of milk. Dinner was delayed about an hour while someone went and milked a goat behind the restaurant. Next time out for dinner I ordered a "Hinano" or "Manuya" (local beers) After dinner, we went clubbing. The place I remember the most was the famous Quinn's Bar. It was packed....standing room only. The next song the band played, accompanied by every one there singing, was San Francisco. Remember? " If you're going to San Francisco be sure to wear some flowers in your hair. If you're going to San Francisco you're gonna meet some gentle people there. Well, every Vahini there had flowers in her hair and knew all the lyrics! This was May 1967, one week after the song hit #1 on the charts in San Francisco and 4200 miles away in Tahiti.....Amazing!!

One post script. I have heard that Quinn's Bar is no longer there. A last thought..... The young lady showing me around the island spoke 5 languages.

[ Edited by No No on 2025-06-20 17:35:02 ]

Last night (1:30am) I could not sleep because I had a lot on my mind. I got up thinking of an idea for a post here on Tiki Central. I'm going to call this series of short stories......"Adventures In Paradise" I will start with 10 of them, telling one every few days. The first short story is called LEAVING and it is going to have to wait until tomorrow because I'm going back to bed now. No No

                       LEAVING

Well, this was my last day in Tahiti. I packed up all my gear and a few Tahitian trinkets for the kids and headed to Faaa airport. I think Ed Fearon, Joe Long's man in Tahiti and overseer of the project, drove me to the airport. It was a hot muggy morning the same as when I arrived. I said good by to Ed and walked towards the tarmak. There gathered at the gate was a small group of friends and workers with their families to say good by. Just before boarding a woman holding her baby in her arms came up to me and said...."you take to America...make home for her." I was stunned. I had to refuse quickly and politely. But how? Then I said (lied) the French Government won't let me take her. She has no passport. They hate the French....she understood. We hugged and I quickly boarded the plane. I was saddened to leave..... such wonderful and simple people. I will always have the memories.

[ Edited by No No on 2025-06-21 09:01:29 ]

                 The Band Aid Twins

Believe it or not even in Tahiti there is an upper class, high society. I can't remember how, but I was introduced to two young ladies at a social event. They turned out to be the grand daughters of the founder of Johnson & Johnson Company. Hence my nick name for them......The Band Aid Twins. They were duds! Actually I was more interested in their companion "girl Friday" for lack of a better term to describe their relationship. Delphine was tall, strikingly beautiful with long jet black hair and blue green eyes. She was insistent on showing me around the party and introducing me to people who turned out to be good business contacts. The thought crossed my mind that if I was single, I might pursue a relationship. But alas, that was not the case and my mind soon returned to reality. After the party, I never saw her or the twins again.

[ Edited by No No on 2025-06-23 12:23:26 ]

Morning Coffee

Every morning out of habit, I would stop at the Fare' for a cup of coffee and an occasional hamburger. A Fare' is a small thatched hut. Two older women ran this little business. The one in front was "Miss Personality," The lady in back did all the hard work. Coffee was an experience there. The beans were picked down the canyon slope, roasted and ground daily and immediately brewed. It was the freshest coffee I have ever tasted and was served in a bowl. You could stand a spoon up in it!! Strong was an understatement.

The lady up front asked if wanted a hamburger. I said yes. I finished my breakfast and was about to go to my car when she asked, "you like hamburger?....special today...Collie Dog"

[ Edited by leevigraham on 2025-06-24 15:51:34 ]

                      CHILD RESCUE

It was the start of the rainy season.....hot, muggy, sort of like Tupelo Mississippi. If you have ever been there you know I mean. I had rented a room in a house on the flat lands to complete the landscape plans. Up in the mountains high above the town, a violent rain storm was dumping inches of rain. The little creek at the end of the street became a raging river. The flood waters came racing up the street. A little girl playing in front of her house next door was swept off her feet. I heard the screams and rushed out of the house. Running through the knee high water, I scooped her up and put her on my shoulders, all the while heading for high ground. I made a game of the situation and by the time I placed her in her mother's arms, she was laughing. It all happened so fast....from calm to chaos and back to calm again. The flood waters receded. I didn't get much done on my landscape plans that day.

This is not the thread for short stories. You should probably create a thread in The Blige: https://tikicentral.com/viewforum.php?forum_id=13

Let me know when you've created the thread and I'll move these comments across.

Quite frankly I was shocked to receive your post. Everything I have posted in over more than decade about Hotel Taharaa is a series of short stories, experiences and historical facts. These last posts are merely a stream of consciousness intended to complete my participation on Tiki Central. If I am not permitted to continue, I will end here as I am 89 and tired. Thank you for your consideration, No No

Have you ever read my posts and all the comments?

[ Edited by No No on 2025-06-25 06:55:45 ]

Leevigraham

I know we all appreciate the work you have put into keeping Tiki Central going. It would be a tragedy to lose all the knowledge contained on these forums. With that in mind, I think you may be a little misguided here.

No No was one of the planners and worked on this actual location. I believe that grants him the privilege to share anecdotes from when he was building it.

Several of us were really enjoying hearing the tales. I’m sad your post has killed the flow when actual history is being told.

Thank you for the kind words of support SBJiminyC. With no response from Leevigrahm it appears that my posting days are over. It was a good run. From a technical standpoint, I didn't know how to do what he was requiring anyway. I struggle with tech stuff. Maybe I'll write a book so I can say what I feel..........later Best regards, No No

I might have misunderstood the short story context. If they are historical records of your experience at the Hotel or Tahiti they are fine.

If they're creative writing (fictional) then they are better suited in another thread.

To leevigraham First, thank you for reconsidering your position. I appreciate that. Second, there is nothing fictional about anything that I have ever posted on this site. All posts were born out of fact and truth as best that this man's memory can recall. If I have errored, I welcome correction. No No

Aloha No No. Thank you for all your past contributions and for returning to share more. We all here appreciate our Tiki forefathers.

                                                      The everchanging Gecko

Towards the later part of the project, I lived in a three sided, thatch roofed bungalow on the beach below the project. It was everyone's dream of what paradise should be like. I would lay on the couch, kick back with a cool Hinano (Tahitian beer) and feel the soft breeze whisp through the afternoon air. I had always been impressed by the knife throwing prowess of the workers in friendly competitions but always declined when asked to join in. Truthfully, I was terrible. Then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a bright green Gecko scampering up the center support post for the roof. I grabbed my knife, threw it and stuck that poor thing to the post. I don't know who was more surprised, the Gecko or me. I never told any one about it because I knew I could never do that again. Geckos are known for ever changing their colors. The landscape there in Tahiti is everchanging too. If you go to Google Earth and try to locate my little paradise bungalow you will only find a high rise condo. Time marches on!

Love reading your posts, thank you.

                      Run it up the flag pole

It was a beautiful early summer day. The sun was shining brightly and not a cloud could be seen. A cool breeze wafted over Taharaa. It was a great day for a "Topping Out Party." For those of you who are not familiar with that term I will explain. When all the steel construction is complete on a high rise building, the work crews celebrate with a party. On this festive day, all the workers, their families and friends were there. There was plenty of food, drink and games for the kids. But the highlight of the day was the flag pole climb. All these men were experts at grabbing a coconut from the top of a coconut tree. Heck, they had been doing that all their lives. However, this flag pole was a little different. High grade machinery lubricant made the climb very difficult. To a number they all wanted to give it a go because at the top of the flag pole was a $1000 bill!!! The cheering and laughter lasted, it seemed, for hours. The last climbers benefited from the fact that most of the grease was gone. Finally, the prize was won......a wonderful and fitting end to a beautiful day. I think No No had the most fun!

Hello No No - Loving these stories. Entertaining and fun, plus a glimpse back to a different era.

I much appreciate you taking the time to share these.

                       Living off the Land

While I was living in Tahiti, I learned to respect the ways and culture of the local people. One of the things I learned was how to prepare a delicious meal with food growing all around me. I will walk you through the process. First, I picked some nice ripe avocados from a tree behind my fare' (three sided bungalow). Cut in half, pitted and the mashed, these little beauties were ready for a topping of fresh water shrimp from the near by creek. Since the lagoon was right in front of me, it was easy to spear any one of several kinds of small fish which I did, The cleaned fish was cooked by pouring cocoanut milk and lime juice over it and leaving it in the sun for about 2 hours before serving it. Desert was the hardest part of the meal to prepare. There is a special tree, name unknown to me, that has giant seed pods. When they are opened, a light fluffy lining is revealed. It is the "cotton candy" of Tahiti!! A ball of this stuff is served for desert along with a few segments of a Pomplemous grapefruit from a tree behind my home. Who would have known such a wonderful meal was hiding right in plain sight! No No

                                                  The Tomato King

As the project was winding down, I was made aware of the fact that some of the workers who had become very attached to Tahiti were trying to to figure out what work to do if they stayed. One such person was the electrician. As I recall, we did a little brainstorming and came up with the idea to provide fresh tomatoes to all the local restaurants. You see, most supplies arrived by ship and the passage of time meant things like tomatoes weren't exactly fresh. So, he found a small plot of good fertile land and started raising tomatoes. It didn't take long before most all the restaurants were signing up for deliveries. A nice success story to end my postings. I have contracted cancer and am undergoing treatment at the present time. If all goes well I just might be back. If not, it's been a great run.......No No

For several years I have been talking to Don the Beachcomber's nephew Paul Gantt. He was very involved in this project. He says he did all the interior design work.

He's so quiet and soft spoken that I have to ask direct questions to get information. He remembers so much, but doesn't offer. He is not a story teller.

But if someone has anything they want to ask, I can ask it.