A true Hawaii tourism hero died earlier this month. His name was Richard Wassman Kimi. He did not do a specific heroic thing, but what he did lastingly affected Hawaii tourism.
Back in the mid-1950s, Kimi, who lived in Hilo on the Big Island, noticed that the tourists who came to the island arrived on large ships or airplanes. That meant they had money and could afford fine accommodations. But the then-29-year-old noticed that there were very few affordable places to stay for local residents and neighbor-island residents who wanted to visit Hilo for a day or two.
In 1956, even though friends and experts told him he was crazy, Kimi built the 30-room Hotel Hukilau in Hilo. It was a small hotel, one of the first along Banyan Drive, which now is lined with East Hawaii’s largest hotels such as the Naniloa and Hilo Hawaiian.
The Hotel Hukilau was consistently packed, mostly with people who lived in the islands. Soon, budget-conscious visitors discovered that the rooms were nicely-furnished and clean, and that the service at the hotel was excellent. Realizing that his concept was working, Kimi went on to build the Hukilau and Seaside hotels in Kona (on the other side of the Big Island), on Maui, and on Kaua’i, and he would also purchase the old Waikiki Biltmore Hotel, now the site of the Hyatt Regency Waikiki.
Kimi never wanted to build large hotels. His objective was to serve local residents and budget-minded visitors. He was one of the first to put together air, room and car packages for residents, and he was a leader in taking reservations via fax machines and toll-free numbers.
He also enjoyed teaching and sharing his sales, marketing and business knowledge. One of his students was Robert Kiyosaki, author of the "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" books, who based his original "rich dad" on Kimi,.
Kimi, the visionary who pioneered the reasonably-priced “family” accommodations still available in Hawaii, died on December 19th in Honolulu. He was 83.
Posted by Jim Winpenny
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February 5th, 2009
Some come to see Waikiki, Diamond Head and the view from the Nuuanu Pali Lookout. Others want to see the lava flows or the telescopes on the summit of Mauna Kea. Still others want to gaze at Waimea Canyon or the Na Pali Coast. Haleakala attracts more than a million visitors every year.
Now entrepreneurs are scrambling onto a new tourism bandwagon: Places with Connections to Barack Obama, who will become our 44th president in January.
Tour companies are reporting that there’s a growing demand from visitors who are eager to learn more about the Hawaii-born Obama, who spent all his formative years in the Islands, and they’re cranking up the tour machines. Several companies have modified existing bus tours to create smaller companies that offer special Obama tours; others are creating tours from scratch.
- Here are some of the stops being considered or already incorporated:
- A stroll past the apartment tower where Obama and his late grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, lived
- Another apartment building where Obama’s mother and sister lived briefly
- The Baskin-Robbins ice cream parlor where he worked as a teenager
- Sandy Beach, on Oahu’s east shore, where he surfed as a teenager, and then swam during his vacation in August
- The Chowder House restaurant, a modest local eatery in a shopping center near Downtown Honolulu
- The site where Obama’s high-school basketball team regularly went to eat
- The bakery where the team devoured malasadas
- The local fast-food places where they consumed plate lunches
- His birthplace, Kapiolani Medical Center for Women and Children
- The school where he went to kindergarten
- The University of Hawaii, where his parents met
- Halona Blowhole, where Obama scattered his mother’s ashes and tossed a lei into the water in her memory in August
There also are stops outside of Punahou School, where Obama attended from 1971 until high school graduation in 1979. The school is politely referring people to its Web site (www.punahou.edu) instead of the campus, where they are not equipped to handle public tours.
Will this be a tourism boom, or will the interest fade after the inauguration in January? A lot of companies are betting on the boom, but only time will tell.
Stay tuned.
December 5th, 2008
To have seen the original 1949 Broadway production of James Michener’s Pulitzer Prize winning “South Pacific,” you’d be a septuagenarian now, and you’re in your 60s if you saw the movie in a theater. The show is considered one of the greatest ever. It was nominated for ten Tony awards and won all of them, and it remains the only show to land all four acting awards. Set during World War II, the story still holds up and you won’t be disappointed if you rent the video.
The March 2008 revival of the show, still a hot ticket on Broadway, was nominated for 11 Tonys and won seven. (The part of Bloody Mary is performed by Hawaii entertainer Loretta Ables Sayre, who earned one of the nominations.)
Director Josh Logan chose Kauai as the principal location for the 1958 film version. The publicity for its release provided a huge boost for Hawaii tourism, and put Kauai on the map as a major film location for Hollywood productions.
The movie starred Mitzi Gaynor and Rossano Brazzi, a prominent Italian actor who appeared in some U.S.-produced films (Interlude, The Barefoot Contessa, Three Coins in the Fountain).
Now there’s a local revival of the Broadway production at the Hilton Kauai Beach Resort, a well-produced dinner show in the resort’s main ballroom with local talent. The show begins at 6:45 p.m. on Wednesday evenings and is followed by a cocktail and buffet dinner. The performance allows you to re-experience the classic score — "Some Enchanted Evening," "Bali Hai," “Happy Talk,” “I’m in Love with A Wonderful Guy,” and it’s enjoying good reviews.
If your vacation plans include Kauai, you might consider taking the show in. Book well ahead. Hawaii-Aloha.com can help you with that. Pick an agent from our Web site home page (hawaii-aloha.com) or call 1-800-843-8771.
Your Blogger’s Sidebar:
Back in 1982, I produced a mini movie for a local developer to promote his high-end residences that were to be built on the promontory above where the Hanalei River’s mouth meets Hanalei Bay. Since the homes were to be exorbitantly priced, the marketing strategy was to produce a film that would highlight the beauty of the Hanalei area and relate it to the South Pacific movie. In lieu of advertising and brochures, the plan was to identify the few people in the world who could qualify for the purchase and deliver a copy of our film to every one of them.
We brought Rossano Brazzi to Hanalei from Italy. His beloved wife Lydia had died just the year before, and he was more than willing to return and rekindle the memories he and Lydia had shared while Rossano was shooting the South Pacific picture. We hired Michael Gleason, who had created the “Remington Steele” TV series but was unable to work in Hollywood because of a writer’s strike, to write our script. Rossano was accompanied by his brother Oscar Brazzi, a famous Italian director and producer, to provide creative input. Oscar spoke no English whatsoever, but he and I discovered we could communicate by sketching little storyboards that expressed our thoughts and ideas. It allowed us to amuse ourselves and feel important, but Michael Gleason closeted himself in his hotel room for two weeks and generated the entire script without any help from Oscar or me.
Michael had brought along his beautiful young wife (He has since remarried), who was left on her own while he worked. An aspiring actress and full of ambition and moxie, she spent her time attempting to get close to anyone who might help her career along. She realized early on that I was a mere local advertising guy and not of much use, and our director, Mique Quenzer, had made it clear from the outset that he wanted nothing to do with her. She turned her attention to Rossano and followed him everywhere. Rossano was a gentleman and tolerant, but he said to me every day when he got me alone, “That woman! She-sa driving me crazy!”
Our film – Rossano providing a tour of the area and recalling all the things he loved about making the movie and Hanalei – did its job to everyone’s satisfaction.
Unfortunately, the homes were indeed overpriced and the entire development was scrapped before ground was broken, before copies of our film were delivered to prospects, and before any homes were pre-sold. The master copy of the film is in storage somewhere, I suppose, and I don’t know of anyone who has a copy. Too bad. It was pretty good.
Jim Winpenny
November 7th, 2008
