About 35 years ago I was living in Kauai on Mala Street and I used to bring many Europeans groups from HNL for lunch at the Coco Palms, much to their delight.
My wife and I had our wedding there in the chapel. Magic indeed.
This was another era which will never come back, only leaving us with sweet memories.
That time is gone for sure and yet, so many futile attempts to revive it.
Why not making a beautiful public park for tourists and Locals to enjoy it, a bit like Kapiolani park in HNL.
Thank you Claude. I agree with you. I would not want to even drive that way again. Stayed at the wonderful Coco Palms many times. My memories will be with me forever. Good times with my dear husband. Thanks again.
Since Steve Zuckerberg has claimed Kauai as home, and he has billions of dollars, maybe he could lead an effort to redevelop Coco Palms. What a nice civic duty that message would send to the residents of Kauai!
Go watch the 1978 movie “Death Moon” filmed at CoCo Palms. CLASSIC! Any time the Hawaiian government can step in and wrap their red tape around something, they will. Sad.
I’d like to see it come back as old Hawaiiana classic style of swanky tiki. Give us the tiki bar on the beach side at least. I’d hate to see it as a modern design, crammed full of retail garbage. Simple, natural, and basic old school Hawaii, I think that’s the problem though, these developers are reaching for too much change. Definitely NOT condos or housing in that area as another commenter suggests. Keep it simple Kauai. In the meantime, I’ll be at Happy Talk Lounge. Aloha!
My family stayed at the Coco Palms in the early 80’s, right after one of the horrific hurricanes. It was kind of a dump then, I can only imagine what it looks like now.
Replying to MiMA , We stayed at the Coco Palms in 1981, and every year thereafter until 1987. IT WAS NOT A DUMP! It was a gorgeous structure, rooms lovely. It’s very sad, but the memories I have of Coco Palms will last me for ever.
Kauai roads are so awfully overcrowded, as is the whole island during normal times. Make it into a park please, or return it to the native Hawaiians but not for development. It is so terrible already give the island a break.
Kauai roads are not that bad. There are two pain points, one at Wailua-Kapaa and one down by Poipu. Regrettably it does not take much traffic on Kauai to cause jams. Locals are not as used to heavy traffic as residents of Oahu or the mainland and tourists tend to be looking at the ocean and the views and not where they are going. There is an old cane road that runs as a bypass behind Kapaa but it is not designed for tourists looking at the view, with lots of tight bends and bridges and the possibility to meet big trucks coming the other way. It would be nice to return Kapaa to a quiet backwater and build a modern bypass as happened on other parts of Kauai but then it would not be Kauai. “There are so few places like Kauai left on the earth we should not try to turn it into another California…”
As to Mima’s comments about being a dump; if you do not get Kauai then perhaps you should try somewhere else. The land speaks to some but not all and for some folks the big bed factories in Orlando or Southern California are more to their taste. Strokes/ folks
This is the classic case of you snooze, you lose. Rather than doing whatever to get another hotel in immediately to rebuild on the Coco Palms name and persona, the opportunity is gone. Iniki is long over and very few casual visitors know or care about it or what was Coco Palms. Now we are in a different time with different expectations and the chance to grow with the times has long gone. Having worked with planning in my hometown of Bloomington, IN for many years, (I am a winter bird here, also for many years), I know that government planning offices are in general not knowledgeable and very short-sighted. While trying to require the “perfect” development they have lost 30 years of tax revenue and employment. Tear it down and put homes or condos in there. Don’t be picky, just do something! Anything is better than what will continue to be there forever if there’s not immediate movement. The price of the land is way too high for the government to buy it. Give some developer 30 years of tax abatement to get the job done. Otherwise, 30 more years of income will be lost. I remember the old Coco Palms and it was charming and different from a regular hotel. A new concept, whatever type of housing or hotel it is, must be jazzy and unique. It will have to be very special to get beyond the traffic and development mess that is Kapaa. It will require creative thinking to get beyond the ideas that are currently in place and what restrictions currently allow.
Having dealt both with Hawaii county planning department and many other planning departments around the country before, I can assure you that the biggest impediment to the redevelopment of this property is the government. At the end of the day, the government needs to decide if it want a resort there or not. If not, they should simply stop granting or issuing permits and either require the current owners to clear the land–or do it themselves. They could certainly use public funds / tax dollars / eminent domain to purchase the property turn it into a state or county park–or some other type of use. But that’s not how these government agencies work. For some reason they will passive-aggressively dangle the possibility of allowing you to develop the property over your head–while at the same time allowing other interest (like squatters… or claims of ancient artifacts / ruins on the property) to endlessly slow or prevent the development from moving forward.
And it’s puzzling… because just think about the jobs, wages, and tax revenue that have been lost forever by creating these impediments to the re-development of that property. Hundreds employed–both in the construction phase and the operational phase. Millions and millions of dollars in wages, sales, and hotel tax lost. Someone could definitely do that math–and I assure you, the numbers would be shocking. But that’s how governments think–or DON’T think. They’re not called pencil pushers for nothing. Instead of opening doors and building bridges to make these projects happen–they build walls and put up road blocks–and then point their fingers at other agencies / branches of government to explain it away and shrug off responsibility.
And, frankly, it’s this kind of massive failure at the government level that keeps so many of the locals poor and on welfare across the islands. Instead of doing everything they can to help produce jobs and opportunities–like the rebuildng of a world famouns 100-room resort destroyed by a hurricane–they just continue taxing the rich and the tourists–and handing that money out instead.
Oh, and let’s not forget about the small buy always VERY vocal minority of “original” Hawaiians that come out of the woodwork to throw monkey wrenches and molotov cocktails into any proposed developments–anywhere on the islands. You know… the ones camped out up on Mauna Kea… the ones that file lawsuit after lawsuit to try and block virtually every new development on the islands–claiming the land is ancestral or has burial grounds or has religious signficance, etc, etc, etc. These are the death by a thousand cuts that eventually discourage these developments by making them too time consuming and too expensive. These types would literally rather have the decaying ruins of a former hotel than a nice new resort on that property… because they’re haters. They don’t like tourists or tourism. They don’t like international conglomerates owning and making millions off their “homelands”.
So… Hawaii… you only have your self to blame for the rot and decay at Coco Palms. You love their money but you hate the tourists. But you can’t have one without the other.
Let’s all think back to the time before tourists came to Hawaii. I believe these “Oh, and let’s not forget about the small buy always VERY vocal minority of “original” Hawaiians that come out of the woodwork to throw monkey wrenches and molotov cocktails into any proposed developments–anywhere on the islands. You know… the ones camped out up on Mauna Kea… the ones that file lawsuit after lawsuit to try and block virtually every new development on the islands–claiming the land is ancestral or has burial grounds or has religious significance, etc, etc, etc. ” using their own communal system of working and living off of their own lands (and under fule of their own government) before the draw of tiki tacky hotels even arrived. No tourist dollars were needed then….
Don’t get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoyed this article and quickly went on to other articles and youtube videos about the history of this resort, but this person’s comment remains pretty insensitive to the Kanaka Maoli.
Momilani A, we’re not talking about the 1500’s here. It’s 2020. The genie is out of the bottle. He’s not going back in. And maybe you should study real / actual Hawaiian history. It was no picnic for anyone but the royals and priests. Everyone else was basically a slave. Google it. It’s a thing. I assure you that life is as good or better today for the average “native” Hawaiian as it ever was under that feudal system.
I hear you, but there’s something to recognize. I am reminded of the Bible talking about how the children will suffer under the sins of their fathers. I see a parallel with the Hawaiians and the Blacks in the Mainland. The Blacks didn’t ask to be put in chains and become slaves in the U.S. for the financial benefit of plantation owners. Neither did the Hawaiians ask to have U.S. businessmen enlist the U.S. military to “acquire” the Hawaiian Islands for the financial benefit of plantation owners. Almost 160 years after the Civil War and emancipation, we still are suffering “for the sins of our fathers” on the Mainland. And it’s the same for the Hawaiians. It’s all too easy (especially for Caucasians – and I am “the Old White Guy”) to say “that was long ago get over it.” It’s not so easy if your ancestors are Hawaiian or African. And, no, we can’t turn back the clock or change history, but we can try to be a little more understanding. Otherwise, we are The Ugly Americans. Aloha
Yep. And no more funds of any kind from the U.S. Federal Government. You want to be your own sovereign nation, go ahead. And while you are at it give back all the modern technology and conveniences you have benefited from while part of the United States.
There is nothing peaceful about Hawaiian history. Kings were sailing from island to island to conquer each other. I don’t think of human sacrifices to appease angry gods as a peaceful way of life. But then again I am just a evil haole. Oh and by the way, if no tourists are going to Hawaii anymore how will you have extra money to go to Las Vegas? Las Vegas and flying are modern day conveniences. Better start rowing that outrigger.
We stayed at the Coco Palms first on our honeymoon February, 1968. We loved it. It was sooo old time Hawaii. We brought our children back in 1985 and were specially treated to a dinner with the manager as returning guests. We visited Kauai once again with our now teens in the 90’s and were lucky to be allowed to walk the grounds to see the destruction. It was sad. We had hoped it would be brought back and were waiting to stay there once more. We’re now Hawaii residents and it would have been nice to hop over for a week’s stay there. We’re very disheartened that Mother Nature had her way with the Coco Palms and vary sad we’ll not see anything there to take its place.
I toured the grounds twice with the old movie tour, probably 2003 and 2005, and while the grounds still looked respected by the public. The talk then and I followed since about redeveloping the place using the shells of the old buildings as the base, similar to what was done at the Koa Kea in the Poipu area. It never made much sense to me.
First, it’s on the wrong side of the highway, a busy highway at that. The Koa Kea, although it doesn’t front on a sand beach is still oceanfront quite removed from the road which is much less traveled than the one by Coco.
Second, I think the rooms at the Koa Kea are on the small side for today’s standards. I heard someone from the Hyatt talk about the evolving concepts needed for the new Hawaii visitor. The Coco rooms frameworks as seen from the highway certainly are the old school small rooms and only the old bungalows seemed worthy.
Koa Kea has the upside of being located in a pretty nice resort area with nicer tourist eateries and shops in abundance, well for Kauai. I don’t feel the same for the area surrounding the Coco.
The idea that the resort could survive with Larry Rivera rekindling memories of Elvis just seems weak, and weaker with the vi rus going on. I’ve enjoyed Mr. Rivera and I enjoyed the Elvis films. I just think the concept there is a losing one. When we did the tour almost 20 years ago, so much of the place looked like it just didn’t some paint, new furniture, and a gardener, and it was easy to see the Elvis shots and such. I saw Darren Lee do an Elvis show on Maui that just did not draw audiences and folded saying to me that magic is fading.
Two possible uses: If a bridge or tunnel to the beach were built, the grounds could be a nice condo resort preserving some parts of the lagoon. Far fetched, perhaps Mr. Zuckerberg would purchase and make it into a nice park for the citizens of Kauai as a way of making nice. Thanks for the opportunity to comment again.
Oh, Karen, Karen, Karen…. Again, typical Hawaiian / local view-point: “Let the rich mainlander solve / pay for our problems for us. As I stated above, if the people of Hawaii / Kauai want to make that property into a public park or nature preserve–they have that power. All they have to do is be willing to write the checks. And why shouldn’t they? All of their money comes from the tourists ANYWAY… right? I mean, what real industry is there on Kauai aside from tourism? (Answer: None). The tourist already pay for your schools, and your free health care and your roads and your airports and your police and fire departments…. It’s all paid for by tax dollars collected from the tourists in one form or another.
move the highway and build a new bridge. then build a beach front park from the highway to the beach
About 35 years ago I was living in Kauai on Mala Street and I used to bring many Europeans groups from HNL for lunch at the Coco Palms, much to their delight.
My wife and I had our wedding there in the chapel. Magic indeed.
This was another era which will never come back, only leaving us with sweet memories.
That time is gone for sure and yet, so many futile attempts to revive it.
Why not making a beautiful public park for tourists and Locals to enjoy it, a bit like Kapiolani park in HNL.
Thank you Claude. I agree with you. I would not want to even drive that way again. Stayed at the wonderful Coco Palms many times. My memories will be with me forever. Good times with my dear husband. Thanks again.
Since Steve Zuckerberg has claimed Kauai as home, and he has billions of dollars, maybe he could lead an effort to redevelop Coco Palms. What a nice civic duty that message would send to the residents of Kauai!
Yeah; right. That will happen. Not in this lifetime. Do you KNOW Zuckerberg?
Go watch the 1978 movie “Death Moon” filmed at CoCo Palms. CLASSIC! Any time the Hawaiian government can step in and wrap their red tape around something, they will. Sad.
I’d like to see it come back as old Hawaiiana classic style of swanky tiki. Give us the tiki bar on the beach side at least. I’d hate to see it as a modern design, crammed full of retail garbage. Simple, natural, and basic old school Hawaii, I think that’s the problem though, these developers are reaching for too much change. Definitely NOT condos or housing in that area as another commenter suggests. Keep it simple Kauai. In the meantime, I’ll be at Happy Talk Lounge. Aloha!
Hi Tammy.
Thank you. Have a good weekend.
Aloha.
My family stayed at the Coco Palms in the early 80’s, right after one of the horrific hurricanes. It was kind of a dump then, I can only imagine what it looks like now.
We got married in the chapel in 1987 and it was not a dump then. It was beautiful!
Replying to MiMA , We stayed at the Coco Palms in 1981, and every year thereafter until 1987. IT WAS NOT A DUMP! It was a gorgeous structure, rooms lovely. It’s very sad, but the memories I have of Coco Palms will last me for ever.
Thank you.
Hi Linda.
Thanks.
Aloha.
Kauai roads are so awfully overcrowded, as is the whole island during normal times. Make it into a park please, or return it to the native Hawaiians but not for development. It is so terrible already give the island a break.
Kauai roads are not that bad. There are two pain points, one at Wailua-Kapaa and one down by Poipu. Regrettably it does not take much traffic on Kauai to cause jams. Locals are not as used to heavy traffic as residents of Oahu or the mainland and tourists tend to be looking at the ocean and the views and not where they are going. There is an old cane road that runs as a bypass behind Kapaa but it is not designed for tourists looking at the view, with lots of tight bends and bridges and the possibility to meet big trucks coming the other way. It would be nice to return Kapaa to a quiet backwater and build a modern bypass as happened on other parts of Kauai but then it would not be Kauai. “There are so few places like Kauai left on the earth we should not try to turn it into another California…”
As to Mima’s comments about being a dump; if you do not get Kauai then perhaps you should try somewhere else. The land speaks to some but not all and for some folks the big bed factories in Orlando or Southern California are more to their taste. Strokes/ folks
Hi Rich.
Thanks again for all your comments over the past 7 years.
Aloha.
This is the classic case of you snooze, you lose. Rather than doing whatever to get another hotel in immediately to rebuild on the Coco Palms name and persona, the opportunity is gone. Iniki is long over and very few casual visitors know or care about it or what was Coco Palms. Now we are in a different time with different expectations and the chance to grow with the times has long gone. Having worked with planning in my hometown of Bloomington, IN for many years, (I am a winter bird here, also for many years), I know that government planning offices are in general not knowledgeable and very short-sighted. While trying to require the “perfect” development they have lost 30 years of tax revenue and employment. Tear it down and put homes or condos in there. Don’t be picky, just do something! Anything is better than what will continue to be there forever if there’s not immediate movement. The price of the land is way too high for the government to buy it. Give some developer 30 years of tax abatement to get the job done. Otherwise, 30 more years of income will be lost. I remember the old Coco Palms and it was charming and different from a regular hotel. A new concept, whatever type of housing or hotel it is, must be jazzy and unique. It will have to be very special to get beyond the traffic and development mess that is Kapaa. It will require creative thinking to get beyond the ideas that are currently in place and what restrictions currently allow.
Having dealt both with Hawaii county planning department and many other planning departments around the country before, I can assure you that the biggest impediment to the redevelopment of this property is the government. At the end of the day, the government needs to decide if it want a resort there or not. If not, they should simply stop granting or issuing permits and either require the current owners to clear the land–or do it themselves. They could certainly use public funds / tax dollars / eminent domain to purchase the property turn it into a state or county park–or some other type of use. But that’s not how these government agencies work. For some reason they will passive-aggressively dangle the possibility of allowing you to develop the property over your head–while at the same time allowing other interest (like squatters… or claims of ancient artifacts / ruins on the property) to endlessly slow or prevent the development from moving forward.
And it’s puzzling… because just think about the jobs, wages, and tax revenue that have been lost forever by creating these impediments to the re-development of that property. Hundreds employed–both in the construction phase and the operational phase. Millions and millions of dollars in wages, sales, and hotel tax lost. Someone could definitely do that math–and I assure you, the numbers would be shocking. But that’s how governments think–or DON’T think. They’re not called pencil pushers for nothing. Instead of opening doors and building bridges to make these projects happen–they build walls and put up road blocks–and then point their fingers at other agencies / branches of government to explain it away and shrug off responsibility.
And, frankly, it’s this kind of massive failure at the government level that keeps so many of the locals poor and on welfare across the islands. Instead of doing everything they can to help produce jobs and opportunities–like the rebuildng of a world famouns 100-room resort destroyed by a hurricane–they just continue taxing the rich and the tourists–and handing that money out instead.
Oh, and let’s not forget about the small buy always VERY vocal minority of “original” Hawaiians that come out of the woodwork to throw monkey wrenches and molotov cocktails into any proposed developments–anywhere on the islands. You know… the ones camped out up on Mauna Kea… the ones that file lawsuit after lawsuit to try and block virtually every new development on the islands–claiming the land is ancestral or has burial grounds or has religious signficance, etc, etc, etc. These are the death by a thousand cuts that eventually discourage these developments by making them too time consuming and too expensive. These types would literally rather have the decaying ruins of a former hotel than a nice new resort on that property… because they’re haters. They don’t like tourists or tourism. They don’t like international conglomerates owning and making millions off their “homelands”.
So… Hawaii… you only have your self to blame for the rot and decay at Coco Palms. You love their money but you hate the tourists. But you can’t have one without the other.
wow…..perfectly said!
Let’s all think back to the time before tourists came to Hawaii. I believe these “Oh, and let’s not forget about the small buy always VERY vocal minority of “original” Hawaiians that come out of the woodwork to throw monkey wrenches and molotov cocktails into any proposed developments–anywhere on the islands. You know… the ones camped out up on Mauna Kea… the ones that file lawsuit after lawsuit to try and block virtually every new development on the islands–claiming the land is ancestral or has burial grounds or has religious significance, etc, etc, etc. ” using their own communal system of working and living off of their own lands (and under fule of their own government) before the draw of tiki tacky hotels even arrived. No tourist dollars were needed then….
Don’t get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoyed this article and quickly went on to other articles and youtube videos about the history of this resort, but this person’s comment remains pretty insensitive to the Kanaka Maoli.
Sometimes the truth is uncomfortable
Momilani A, we’re not talking about the 1500’s here. It’s 2020. The genie is out of the bottle. He’s not going back in. And maybe you should study real / actual Hawaiian history. It was no picnic for anyone but the royals and priests. Everyone else was basically a slave. Google it. It’s a thing. I assure you that life is as good or better today for the average “native” Hawaiian as it ever was under that feudal system.
I hear you, but there’s something to recognize. I am reminded of the Bible talking about how the children will suffer under the sins of their fathers. I see a parallel with the Hawaiians and the Blacks in the Mainland. The Blacks didn’t ask to be put in chains and become slaves in the U.S. for the financial benefit of plantation owners. Neither did the Hawaiians ask to have U.S. businessmen enlist the U.S. military to “acquire” the Hawaiian Islands for the financial benefit of plantation owners. Almost 160 years after the Civil War and emancipation, we still are suffering “for the sins of our fathers” on the Mainland. And it’s the same for the Hawaiians. It’s all too easy (especially for Caucasians – and I am “the Old White Guy”) to say “that was long ago get over it.” It’s not so easy if your ancestors are Hawaiian or African. And, no, we can’t turn back the clock or change history, but we can try to be a little more understanding. Otherwise, we are The Ugly Americans. Aloha
Absolutely Spot On!!!
Yep. And no more funds of any kind from the U.S. Federal Government. You want to be your own sovereign nation, go ahead. And while you are at it give back all the modern technology and conveniences you have benefited from while part of the United States.
There is nothing peaceful about Hawaiian history. Kings were sailing from island to island to conquer each other. I don’t think of human sacrifices to appease angry gods as a peaceful way of life. But then again I am just a evil haole. Oh and by the way, if no tourists are going to Hawaii anymore how will you have extra money to go to Las Vegas? Las Vegas and flying are modern day conveniences. Better start rowing that outrigger.
We stayed at the Coco Palms first on our honeymoon February, 1968. We loved it. It was sooo old time Hawaii. We brought our children back in 1985 and were specially treated to a dinner with the manager as returning guests. We visited Kauai once again with our now teens in the 90’s and were lucky to be allowed to walk the grounds to see the destruction. It was sad. We had hoped it would be brought back and were waiting to stay there once more. We’re now Hawaii residents and it would have been nice to hop over for a week’s stay there. We’re very disheartened that Mother Nature had her way with the Coco Palms and vary sad we’ll not see anything there to take its place.
I toured the grounds twice with the old movie tour, probably 2003 and 2005, and while the grounds still looked respected by the public. The talk then and I followed since about redeveloping the place using the shells of the old buildings as the base, similar to what was done at the Koa Kea in the Poipu area. It never made much sense to me.
First, it’s on the wrong side of the highway, a busy highway at that. The Koa Kea, although it doesn’t front on a sand beach is still oceanfront quite removed from the road which is much less traveled than the one by Coco.
Second, I think the rooms at the Koa Kea are on the small side for today’s standards. I heard someone from the Hyatt talk about the evolving concepts needed for the new Hawaii visitor. The Coco rooms frameworks as seen from the highway certainly are the old school small rooms and only the old bungalows seemed worthy.
Koa Kea has the upside of being located in a pretty nice resort area with nicer tourist eateries and shops in abundance, well for Kauai. I don’t feel the same for the area surrounding the Coco.
The idea that the resort could survive with Larry Rivera rekindling memories of Elvis just seems weak, and weaker with the vi rus going on. I’ve enjoyed Mr. Rivera and I enjoyed the Elvis films. I just think the concept there is a losing one. When we did the tour almost 20 years ago, so much of the place looked like it just didn’t some paint, new furniture, and a gardener, and it was easy to see the Elvis shots and such. I saw Darren Lee do an Elvis show on Maui that just did not draw audiences and folded saying to me that magic is fading.
Two possible uses: If a bridge or tunnel to the beach were built, the grounds could be a nice condo resort preserving some parts of the lagoon. Far fetched, perhaps Mr. Zuckerberg would purchase and make it into a nice park for the citizens of Kauai as a way of making nice. Thanks for the opportunity to comment again.
Hi Thomas.
Thanks, as always. We concur with your contrast between Coco Palms and Koa Kea.
Aloha.
I agree, Zuckerberg put your $$$ to preserve the grounds of Coco, no resort, just a very respectful, nice park, garden area.
Oh, Karen, Karen, Karen…. Again, typical Hawaiian / local view-point: “Let the rich mainlander solve / pay for our problems for us. As I stated above, if the people of Hawaii / Kauai want to make that property into a public park or nature preserve–they have that power. All they have to do is be willing to write the checks. And why shouldn’t they? All of their money comes from the tourists ANYWAY… right? I mean, what real industry is there on Kauai aside from tourism? (Answer: None). The tourist already pay for your schools, and your free health care and your roads and your airports and your police and fire departments…. It’s all paid for by tax dollars collected from the tourists in one form or another.