In the 1960s, many hotels in Hawaii produced postcards showing what the interiors of their rooms looked like. Besides being good advertising to the relatives of the tourists who mailed these back home, the postcards unwittingly captured a moment in Hawaiian history that doesn't exist anymore. The vintage rattan furniture, colorful bedspreads tiki lamps and tapa wall hangings are all relics of a bygone age. The only thing that remains unchanged is the view of Diamondhead out the windows.

I've been collecting these postcards for some time now and thought I'd share them with the group. There always seems to be new ones out there.

3 rooms from the Hotel King Kamehameha on the Kona Coast.

2 rooms from The Kona Inn, Kailua-Kona, Hawaii (The second one with tiki lamps)

2 from the Coco Palms Hotel, Island of Kauai.

2 from The Hanalei Plantation, Hanalei Bay, Kauai.

The Kauai Beachboy Hotel, Waipouli Beach, Kauai.

The Kauai Inn, Lihue, Kauai, (Tiki art?)

A couple from the Kauai Surf Hotel, Kalapaki Beach, Kauai (nice moai lamp!)

The Royal Lahaina Hotel, Kaanipali Beach, Maui.

The Holiday Isle Hotel, Honolulu.

2 rooms from The Islander, Waikiki

Sabu

What a great bed! Makes you kinda wonder what Ethel and Merl plan on doing with those Outrigger Paddles later on. Saucy! Sabu you never dissapoint! These images are great! Thanks ~

[ Edited by: DawnTiki on 2005-02-28 07:07 ]

That clam shell bathroom sink is the coolest!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[ Edited by: ErichTroudt on 2005-02-28 01:17 ]

This is part of what this board so great! I could look at thiese post cards all day! It's a very gray cold slushy day here in the midwest, and these pictures really brighten up my day! Thanks for your time and sharing spirit Sabu!

Great collection Sabu. Really makes you miss the former glory of these places. At what point did everyone decide dull and generic was better for all aspects of life? sigh

Excellent Post! (cards)

Thanks Sabu, that little 5 minute getaway was exactly what I needed on this snowy monday morning.

-Z

The man in this picture is one lucky guy! Check out the girl playing the uke, think she's been playing for very long?

These are great pictures, thanks for sharing.

My thoughts were so loud I couldn't hear my mouth...

[ Edited by: finkdaddy on 2005-02-28 07:45 ]

On 2005-02-28 00:57, DawnTiki wrote:
What a great bed! Makes you kinda wonder what Ethel and Merl plan on doing with those Outrigger Paddles later on. Saucy! Sabu you never dissapoint! These images are great! Thanks ~

[ Edited by: DawnTiki on 2005-02-28 07:07 ]

Selector Lopaka & Puamana own that headboard, but not the side pieces or paddles.

https://tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=11236&forum=5

I swear that with their beautiful view out the window, alnshelly's bedroom could fit right in with these photos! Post one, you two, for comparison's sake? I so envy that room!! (Shelley can pose in a vintage dress, looking absentmindedly out the window, with a vague but pleasant look on her face, a al hotel postcards)

Thanks for loverly mini-vacation, Sabu!

Great post, Sabu ! Many of those I hadn't even seen before ( the middle postcard from the King Kamehameha, the great ones from the Kauai Surf, especially the one w/ the moai lamp, and the Kauai Inn w/ nice tiki art on the wall, Islander Waikiki ). I love the gourd wall sconces & tapa / lauhala walls on the King Kamehameha postcards. I think I might have a few others... I'll check and post some pics later. Thanks for sharing these !

Amazing! What I find interesting is the variety and quality of the outdoor furniture in these photos. Check out those incredible chairs in the first postcard!

It seems like now every place, with the exception of the most expensive hotels, uses that cheap, ugly resin furniture.

Nice man! Your postcard collection is amazing......

Do you know why hotels no longer furnish hotel rooms to that degree?

Answer: Tiki Central Members

I love the great wall decorations, but I guess they ran out of ideas and material when it cam to the beds. White sheets? No comforter? And look at that those comfy pillows!! A real neck killer. :)

[i]On 2005-02-28 10:14, mrsmiley wrote:[/iAnd look at that those comfy pillows!! A real neck killer.

It's authentic polynesian. In Samoa they sleep with a piece of bamboo for a pillow! Well, they used to anyway.

On 2005-02-28 10:42, thejab wrote:

[i]On 2005-02-28 10:14, mrsmiley wrote:[/iAnd look at that those comfy pillows!! A real neck killer.

It's authentic polynesian. In Samoa they sleep with a piece of bamboo for a pillow! Well, they used to anyway.

AUTHENTIC!?!? Curses, that takes all the fun out of Poly Pop!! :)

I'm not sure about hotel decor in Hawaii, but I know that all of the condos my parents have owned on the Big Island are artfully and tastefully decorated much in the style as you see in the postcards - bamboo and rattan everything, tropical prints, cool details (although no tikis so far). My mother, inspired in part by my style of interior decorating, has even gone so far as to pick a different tropical "theme" for each of the condos: palm trees, orchids, birds, etc. She also likes to collect local artist's paintings of the area, which is a nice touch I think.

when you rent a vacation rental, it's kind of guessy how it's going to be decorated, as it depends on the individual owner (and you certainly are risking quality furnishings if rented to a disrespectful person who steals or thrashes them); but most units have extensive pictures online of the furnishings so if you are looking for that kind of decor (it would be new and retro at most, but most unlikely not vintage), you can find it.

I recently watched Elvis' "Blue Hawaii" and wondered aloud why the hotels aren't as cool as they used to be. I wonder if the Coco Palms had survived if would've stayed traditional or renovated? I wish I could stay in a place like that. My Aunt has a condo in Maui and it has a 80's Miami Vice kind of vibe. Lots of chrome and mirrors. Thanks for sharing those postcards. Too bad you can't complie them in a book!

[ Edited by: stuff-o-rama on 2005-02-28 12:00 ]

On 2005-02-28 11:59, stuff-o-rama wrote:
I wonder if the Coco Palms had survived if would've stayed traditional or renovated?

FYI: The Coco Palms is shooting to re-open in 2007.
http://www.coco-palms.com/articles/restore.html

Maybe now is the time to start flooding them emails prompting for a traditional style.

Update:
Excerpt from another article (http://starbulletin.com/2004/10/10/news/story6.html):

Weiser, a South Carolina developer who lives part-time in Princeville, wants to spend $200 million to rebuild the Coco Palms to look the way it did at the peak of its popularity.

"It won't be absolutely the same. The rooms will be larger than they were in the 1950s," Weiser said in an interview. "But the buildings will look the same, the lobby will be the same, everything will look as much as possible like the original."

[ Edited by: Hakalugi on 2005-02-28 12:23 ]

Simply amazing collection of photos! Thanks for posting these!

I swear that with their beautiful view out the window, alnshelly's bedroom could fit right in with these photos! Post one, you two, for comparison's sake? I so envy that room!! (Shelley can pose in a vintage dress, looking absentmindedly out the window, with a vague but pleasant look on her face, a al hotel postcards)

A few years ago we stayed at the Breakers hotel in Waikiki, it had this cool James bond vibe going on. The rooms sliding glass door opened to this cool Japanese tea house, the kitchenette was hiding behind a soji screen. The room had nelson bubble lamps. It was really something. I wish I had a picture.

PER-fect, alnshelly!!

That's eXACTly what I was thinking!!
Am I not right - that it goes right in with the rest of the postcards?!

Thank you for the shots and indulging my whim :)