Doris Duke invited us to snoop

By Mike Leidemann
Advertiser Staff Writer

In 14 years of being host to a series of lunch-time talks on historic preservation in Hawai'i, Bill Chapman had never seen a crowd like this.

"Usually, I'm out there willing people to come," he said. "Sometimes, we've had less than 10 people show up."

Not this time.

He had to add extra seats to handle the first 100 people. Then there was standing room. When people had to be turned away, the speaker agreed to do a second talk. That one was SRO, too.

The main draw, Doris Duke, wasn't even there. She died nearly eight years ago. But the promise of getting a glimpse (even secondhand) of her fabulous Kahala estate, Shangri-La, was more than enough to draw a crowd, on a Thursday afternoon.

We love to snoop. Who doesn't want to peek over those estate walls, or drive down those long driveways marked "Private Road. No access to beach"? Who doesn't want to know how our well-to-do neighbors really live?

This was the ultimate snoop. Duke, once known as the richest woman in the world, cherished her privacy. Although she lived in Hawai'i on and off for nearly 60 years, only a handful of people were ever inside her home. All most of us know of her Shangri-La is a forbidding seawall, glimpsed from a surf spot named after her first husband.

In her will, though, Duke mandated that the estate be made available to the public. The foundation entrusted with that task has moved slowly toward that goal, working to protect the treasures inside and the quiet residential neighborhood outside. Small public tours won't begin until late next year.

For those who couldn't wait, Thursday's talk by foundation director Deborah Pope, who came armed with plenty of slides and anecdotes, was the next best thing. No one went away disappointed; the home is truly a treasure.

There was plenty to ogle: the 1,000 square-foot living room with 16-foot ceilings; the extraordinary tile work, which Duke personally supervised; the huge glass doors that disappear into the ground on their own elevators; the Turkish room, brought in whole to Hawai'i from a Damascus home; the Islamic art work everywhere; the carefully tended gardens, complete with Eastern-style fountains; and the 75-foot pool, which Duke sometimes used three times a day.

There were also little homey touches. Much of Duke's clothing still hangs in the closet off her bedroom; in the kitchen, four large binders contain 832 of Duke's favorite recipes; in a hallway, a shelf of zoris and slippers, just like those you and I buy at Longs.

After all, isn't that why we love to snoop? Don't we really want to know that no matter how we guard our privacy, we all have some things in common.

Mike Leidemann's columns appear Thursdays and Saturdays in the Advertiser. He can be reached by phone (525-5460) or e-mail (mleidemann@honoluluadvertiser.com).

Correction: Deborah Pope is the executive director of the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art. An incorrect first name was included in an previous version of this column.