Theater to get face-lift

By Mike Leidemann
Advertiser Staff Writer

Hawai'i Theatre now

An interior renovation completed in 1996 allowed "The Pride of the Pacific" to reopen but left the Neoclassical exterior as it is. Advertiser library photo • July 8, 2002

Hawai'i Theatre then

The photo above, from 1941, shows the theater's facade, including the marquee announcing current and upcoming shows. Hawai'i Theatre

Hawai'i Theatre's future

Plans for renovating the Hawai'i Theatre call for restoring the 1940s look to the building's exterior. Work is expected to begin early next year. Hawai'i Theatre

Construction is expected to start early next year on the facade. Community leaders hope the project will add new sparkle to a cultural renaissance in the downtown neighborhood of sometimes struggling boutiques, art galleries and small restaurants.

"It's going to make all the difference," said Sarah Richards, president of the theater. "We've been up and running for a while, but this is like the wrapping on the present. Having a wonderful new marquee will be a recognizable symbol that the theater is fully functional once again."

When the theater opened in 1922, it was hailed in local newspapers as "The Pride of the Pacific," and for decades it served as the cultural cornerstone of activities in Honolulu. By the 1960s, though, it had fallen on hard times and was shuttered in disrepair.

For nearly 20 years, several groups of determined people worked to bring the theater back to life, efforts which finally paid off six years ago with completion of a $20 million renovation that modernized the inner workings of the facility without changing the extravagant Beaux Arts interior look.

At the time, there wasn't enough money left over to restore the Neoclassical exterior, which dominates an entire block of Bethel Street with its Byzantine and Corinthian ornamentation, Moorish grillwork and a marbled entry way.

"We had a choice to make back then," Richards said. "We could continue fund-raising until we had all the money to do the inside and outside, or we could open the theater right away. We decided that the existing facade might not be very attractive, but it wasn't critical to operations."

In hindsight, getting the theater opened proved to be the right decision, Richards said. The theater has hosted hundreds of shows that have lured thousands of new visitors into the neighborhood.

The theater this year received a $1 million grant from the Legislature to help complete its fund-raising efforts. The money will be added to more than $8 million raised from private sources to restore the facade and retire the theater's mortgage, Richards said.

Part of the facade project will include widening the front sidewalk by about four feet, moving into street space now used for parking. "We won't lose any traffic space, but the sidewalk will make a huge difference to those getting into the theater," Richards said. "The city has been very supportive."

Before the new facade can be put up, workers will have to take down the old face of the building, remove lead paint and repair the elaborate plasterwork above the entry way. Then a new marquee will be built, enabling the theater to announce upcoming shows much the way it did in its 1930s and 1940s heyday as a movie house. (Theater officials chose not to go back to the look of its original 1922 facade, Richards said.)

The final piece of the new look will be the installation of a 30-foot-tall vertical sign on the corner of Bethel and Pauahi streets with a single-word message: "Hawai'i."

Local leaders hope the new marquee will provide another boost for the area, which still has its share of empty storefronts and struggling shops. They hope the theater will be the artistic anchor for a new Honolulu Culture and Arts district, a 17-block area from Downtown to Chinatown where artists and musicians, art lovers, residents, theatergoers and small businesses all can come together with new energy.

"We've been talking and planning it for a long time, but now we're ready to actually go out and do it," said Christina Kemmer, a vice president of Communications Hawai'i and a driving force behind the cultural-district proposal.

"We're all in this together," she says of the dozens of businesses and organizations that have been pushing to create the arts district and are planning to go public with an arts festival in mid-October, timed to coincide with the 80th anniversary of the Hawai'i Theatre opening.

The event would include art, cultural events, food and entertainment highlighting the diversity and depth of the area, she said.

Similar cultural districts, often built around a historic theater, have proven popular and financially successful around the country:

• In Pittsburgh, a former "red-light district" has been transformed into a 14-block cultural area that includes theaters, galleries, restored building facades, open spaces, art projects, redesigned streetscapes, and commercial and residential development. Its first project, completed in 1987, was a $43 million restoration of a historic theater. Since then, the area has attracted more than $300 million in private investment and created more than 8,000 full-time jobs.
• Philadelphia's mile-long Avenue of the Arts generates more than $157 million in annual revenues and 2,800 jobs. At least six new cultural facilities have opened on the avenue in recent years.
• In downtown Phoenix, a 90-block improvement district includes 19 arts, cultural and entertainment venues, and nearly 100 bars and restaurants. Business revenues and visitor numbers have soared, while crime in the district has dropped 66 percent in the past 10 years.

In Hawai'i the group, which includes well-known businessmen, landowners and artists, has put together a master plan that mirrors those developments. It already has received a $90,000 grant to nurture small businesses, which would increase employment opportunities in the area. It also plans to hire a small staff to help promote and market the district idea to government officials, property owners and businesses.

The area has "all the ingredients needed to be a center for culture, arts, recreation, retail and entertainment — a center made up of niche multicultural markets," the group's plan says. "Such a district would be a desirable place to live and visit, would provide a home for artists' and actors' studios, and would create demand for residential lofts and artists in residence housing."

One of the group's most successful partnerships so far has been with the ARTS at Marks Garage, a nonprofit center for art groups founded 16 months ago just around the corner from the Hawai'i Theatre.

With mix of seven nonprofit arts organization and five arts-related businesses sharing 4,200 square feet office, performing and gallery space in a former storefront area, the project has gone out of its way to bring new visitors into the area with a wide variety of programs, said executive director Kim Coffee-Isaak.

The ARTS at Marks Garage has hosted everything from off-off Broadway shows to a summer surf film festival to a bonsai exhibit.

"From March to December 2001, we presented over 680 artists, opened the door to 8,900 people and grossed $78,400 from artwork and ticket sales at the arts center," Coffee-Isaak said.

The center also tries to work with businesses in the district, ordering its flowers and lei from local vendors, using catering services of nearby restaurants and reaching out to the student base of Hawai'i Pacific University's downtown campus. "We're keeping it local," Coffee-Isaak said.

The Hawai'i Theatre continues to be a marquee attraction in the neighborhood, with its larger shows that can fill up all the nearby restaurants, shops and bars before and afterward.

"We've been able to demonstrate that the theater really does work in helping the neighborhood," Richards said. "We're providing a major community service, and the cultural district is the next step. We want to work together to revitalize the whole downtown area."