![]() ![]() Initially, the new owners considered turning the resort into a timeshare. In 2014, the Kahala Hotel & Resort was sold for nearly $300 million to Resorttrust Hawaii, a Japanese-owned company. ![]() In 2006, it changed owners again and became known as The Kahala. It closed in 1995, and for a period became the Kahala Mandarin Oriental. Initially part of the Hilton Hotels Corporation, the Kahala Hilton was spun off in March 1968, and was taken over by Hilton International. Within five years, it became the "best drawing Hawaiian show in the islands", and continued for 28 years. Starting in 1967, singer Danny Kaleikini was the headline entertainer at the Hala Terrace at the Kahala Hilton, with a popular nightly show featuring Polynesian dancers. Johnson to Barack Obama has been a guest at the hotel. The Kahala soon became known for its famous guests, including world leaders, Hollywood and TV stars, rock-and-roll artists, and wealthy business executives. Ī major turning point came when NBC booked every room at the Kahala Hilton for its annual meeting of affiliates, and brought in major stars including singer Andy Williams. A 1964 article in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin noted that famous guests at the Kahala Hilton had included heiress Barbara Hutton actors Kirk Douglas, James Garner, and Henry Fonda adventurer Lowell Thomas ex-Princess Suga of Japan financier David Rockefeller actress and singer Rhonda Fleming and TV comedian Steve Allen. In the early months, the hotel openly provided "comps" (complimentarys, free of charge) to well-known personalities who helped to build its image. When the Kahala Hilton opened in January 1964, it had 302 rooms, including rooms within suites, built at a cost of $12 million. Elevated on two-story-high concrete pillars set in a man-made salt-water lagoon, the building has been called "a work of art distinguished by its overall 'elegant informality'." Architect Edward Killingsworth designed the main building as a modernist 10-story structure in the shape of two rectangles. Pietsch Jr., who partnered with hotelier Conrad Hilton, and commissioned the architectural firm of Killingsworth, Brady and Smith of Long Beach, California. In 1959, the land next to the Waialae Country Club was leased from the Bishop Estate by developer Charles J. History The Dolphin Lagoon at the Kahala Hotel & Resortīefore the hotel was built, the residential neighborhood of Kahala, a 12-minute drive from Waikiki, was still relatively unknown to tourists. The resort has had captive dolphins or porpoises in its private lagoon since its first year of operation. In the mid-1990s, it was renamed the Kahala Mandarin Oriental and was later known simply as The Kahala. Developed as an exclusive retreat away from Waikiki, the resort became a popular destination for celebrities such as Frank Sinatra and Elton John foreign dignitaries including Queen Elizabeth II, the Reverend Desmond Tutu, and the Dalai Lama and eight United States presidents. It first opened in 1964 as the Kahala Hilton. The Kahala Hotel & Resort is a luxury hotel on the island of Oahu in the state of Hawaii. ![]()
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