For more than a century, Waikiki has been a destination that continually lured visitors with its romanticized vision of a tropical paradise. But its heady heyday was the 1930s, a decade where even the Great Depression couldn't keep visitors away entirely.
Its crescent shoreline was known for two hotels, the Moana, which opened in 1901, and the Royal Hawaiian, which opened in 1927. They were like different siblings — the Moana with its conservative Victorian sensibilities and graceful dormers, and the $5 million
Royal Hawaiian with its pink, avant-garde paint job and 400 rooms. Both helped promote Waikiki's image as an international party scene.
Visitors were always notable and wealthy. Millionaires arrived on cruise liners with their own cars and stayed for a month. The Rockefellers, Fords and Du Ponts were guests.
International royalty rubbed shoulders with beachboys and learned to surf and play the 'ukulele.
And Hollywood celebrities vacationed and shot films along the shoreline. They were a who's who of the day: Mary Pickford with then-husband Douglas Fairbanks, Charlie Chaplin, Shirley Temple, Babe Ruth and Spencer Tracy, to name just a few. When Bing Crosby crooned "Sweet Leilani," penned by Royal Hawaiian bandleader Harry Owens for his daughter, the singer created a huge hit that won an Academy Award.
In those days, Waikiki was still lined with palm trees and the area was still mostly a residential district with small stores. The locals had the famous in their own backyard and they loved it.
But this was also the decade where the seductive image of Waikiki went out to middle America, to millions of Mainland listeners who tuned in regularly to the radio show "Hawaii Calls." Host Webley Edward started broadcasting in 1935 and he shared an exotic vision of Hawai'i to listeners who began dreaming of visits of their own.
