Coco Palms…will it ever return?

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cocomenu Hawaii Magazine has a great article this month about Coco Palms. As many people know, Coco Palms was a beautiful hotel back in the day. It was used as a backdrop in the Elvis Presley film Blue Hawaii. Despite the fact it still remains one of the last reminders of Hurricane Iniki in 1992, it still beckons visitors to stop by. Whether they see it by Hawaii Movie Tours or pull into the parking lot and take pictures through the fence, people are still drawn to this landmark.

If you’d like to read more about Coco Palms, the possibility of future development as well as a surprising donor who donated seed money to help get some kind of revitalization of the property underway, you can click here to be taken to the Hawaii Magazine article.

Video: Final harvest of Maui Land and Pineapple

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Video courtesy of MauiNow.com

Fire hits Coco Palms

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The upper portion of the old retail site on the Coco Palms property was destroyed early Thursday causing about $80,000 worth of damage. Since there is no power to the site, this was obviously started by someone and the fire is under investigation.

For more on this story, click here.

Save Lanai City!

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I was shocked to read that despite the beautiful old plantation town being on the National Trust for Historic Preservation that Castle & Cooke “submitted a three-part plan calling for the demolition or alteration of 15-20 historic buildings in Lanai City to make way for large-scale commercial development. The new development proposal includes an oversized, out-of-scale grocery store, dramatically incompatible with the historic downtown. The grocery store’s parking lot alone would consume an entire city block.” By the way an entire city block is HALF of the size of the city! Imagine half of the city you live in being a parking lot! That is why it is listed on the 11 Most Historic Places Endangered list. To see more about it, click here for video of the city and leave your feedback of your favorite memories from Lanai. To read more about where I saw this, you can click here.

If you have ever been to Lanai, you know the biggest draw to this quaint island is the fact that it is a sleepy town and not at all developed except for the resorts and gee, guess who owns those? If you’d like to let Castle and Cooke know how you feel, here’s their contact information:

Castle & Cooke Hawaii
E-mail: info@castlecookehawaii.com

Coco Palms in the news

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After a long dry spell of no news on the fate of Coco Palms’ seemingly thwarted rebirth, an article popped up in last week’s Garden Island newspaper. The current owners are asking for an extension to see what the economy does. This looks to be another long bout of back and forth meetings. I know that residents want something done with this property…some want the Coco Palms project to go forward and others want it turned into a cultural park or something else. I’m one of the ones who would like to see Coco Palms come back just due to the history of the place with public access to the coconut groves and fishponds but that’s just my opinion. I suppose its for selfish reasons because I would like to renew my vows for our 25th anniversary. Who knows with the way this is going we might just get to break it in for the grand opening, 12 years from now. If the developers had just conceded with the fitness center/spa issue back to the way it originally was, this project would be well underway if not have an opening date. It’s frustrating.

To read the Garden Island article, click here.

Tribute to Mayor Brian Baptiste

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The special edition of Wala’au with Dickie Chang covering the passing of Kauai Mayor Brian Baptiste is available for viewing. Mayor Baptiste will be sorely missed. He was a sweet man whose aloha for Kauai was apparent in everything he did. A hui hou Mayor.

Click here to view Wala’au.

Aloha Coco Palms…

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Well it seems the investors, Coco Palms Ventures, LLC are taking their toys and going home. Those of us hoping to see the Coco Palms Hotel returned to its former grandeur as promised for years now by this investment group have come to an end. The group’s interest fizzled after the Kauai Planning Commission’s decision to not allow a previously approved spa/fitness facility by the old tennis courts. They felt this was a key component to be able to compete with other resorts. I really feel both sides are being selfish and stubborn in not thinking of all of the good this place could do for helping Kauai heal after the hotel was damaged by Hurricane Iniki in 1992. That is the last building still reminding folks of the natural disaster. This investment group really did jump through a lot of hoops to make sure that the cultural aspect and respect for the land was preserved. They were doing it right. I can’t believe after the time, money and passion they put into this project they’re throwing their hands up at the final sticking point. I almost wonder if it’s a power play. It’s a pretty big gamble to take with the future of a cultural and pop culture icon that people just want to see restored. As many know, Coco Palms was featured in the Elvis Presley movie “Blue Hawaii.” The property will be auctioned off by the end of the year to another developer.

Why is Pu’u O Kila still closed? (See update)

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If you live in or have ever wanted to visit Hawaii, or specifically Kauai, then there’s no doubt you’ve seen this picture. This is the Kalalau Valley on Kauai’s west side. Past Waimea Canyon and Koke’e State Park lies the Kalalau Valley overlook, which most people mistakenly call this picture. This picture was taken from the Pu’u O Kila lookout which is about 1 1/4 mile from the Kalalau Lookout. The Pu’u O Kila lookout has been closed since 2003 citing bad roads as the reason. Have you driven on Hawaii’s roads? Half of the roads are a complete mess and the more you get thrown around, the better the reward in most cases! (ie- the drive to Polihua Beach on Lanai, the drive to Polihale Beach on Kauai, the road around the top of Maui (340 I believe…Hana Highway’s got nothing on 340!), parts of the Big Island’s Saddle Road which has an outdated ominous reputation)

In early 2006 all of the local papers were gleefully reporting the money being allocated for improvements to the Koke’e area which included handrails for the physically handicapped being installed along the path from the parking area at Pu’u O Kila Lookout. That work was supposed to be completed by the end of 2006. I don’t know if it was or not but I’d love to know how you suggest the physically disabled get to use those brand spankin’ new handrails when their transportation can’t get to the lookout. The last time we were up there was in May and some of the roads have been sporadically closed but Pu’u O Kila Lookout was still closed. Sure, you can park at the road closed sign and walk for a mile if you want to but why when there’s no real reason the road should still be in disrepair after 4 years of being closed??

The Kauai Visitors Bureau still uses this image to entice visitors to come see this beautiful sight and while they can look into the valley from the Kalalau Lookout, it’s not the same view. Almost seems like false advertising to me. Don’t get me wrong, I would want to show off my most valuable assets when promoting something but I couldn’t find a disclaimer anywhere saying Pu’u O Kila was closed. Something needs to be done. Action needs to be taken to allow everyone to have access to this famous view that so many have been denied over the past few years.

Update: After a comment below by reader Tom, I contacted the Kauai Visitors Bureau who referred me to the state. I just got off the phone with them and Pu’u O Kila is in fact opened permanently! This is great news and I am very happy that locals and visitors will be able to enjoy this beautiful area without having to hike from the Kalalau lookout anymore. 4+ years of that was enough!

Keeping fingers crossed for Coco Palms

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Many know Coco Palms Resort on Kauai as the idyllic setting at the end of the movie Blue Hawaii starring Elvis Presley. Few know that the area is actually steeped in rich cultural history. The ancient home of Kauai’s royalty since the 13th century, the area surrounding the Coco Palms Resort was home of Kauai’s last reigning queen, Queen Deborah Kapule. In the 1950′s Grace Guslander was made manager of the Coco Palms Hotel and was credited with giving the hotel a grandiose, larger than life Polynesian feel. She was a smart businesswoman with a sense of what made the visitors and locals happy. She celebrated Queen Kapule’s birthday every year and started the torch lighting ceremony that became a trademark of the hotel. On September 11, 1992 Hurricane Iniki did a number on the hotel and it has been closed ever since. The one thing that always remained was the chapel donated by MGM Studios from the movie “Miss Sadie Thompson” has been used for at least 1-2 weddings per week by couples wanting to recreate the Blue Hawaii experience. Original Coco Palms entertainer Larry Rivera has been granting this wish for many couples over the years and so can you.

Talks of resurrecting the hotel have always swirled around but had come up empty in the past. I even contacted Lisa Marie Presley and president of Elvis Presley Enterprises, Jack Soden about our willingness to help in whatever capacity to restore this hotel and with the Elvis connection, should EPE be interested in backing the project. I got a nice letter back from Mr. Soden explaining it had been suggested in the past but just wasn’t feasible for them. Eh, the worst he could say was no, right? My biggest concern was preserving the bungalow Elvis used in Blue Hawaii. Our thought was it could be turned into a museum or memorial to the King and not be demolished when it had such pop culture history attached.