 If we can get the first slide up here, we're doing this in the midst of a couple of unimaginable things like the racial rise we have or the corona chaos. And on top of that, related to the two of them, we have sort of economical exorcises on the horizon, but we keep plugging along and do even more, do the volume three of our Killingsworth-Kahala Hilton Hospitality Show with my guest who is was, and we're Killingsworth long-term friend and business partner, Ron Lindgren, and he's with us again from his home in Long Beach, California, Iran. Hello, everyone. Good to have you back, Ron. And we're going to our friend and our co-host, the Soto Browne, back to Honolulu, Haida Soto. Hello, everybody, and I'm back from the capital of my country in Berlin, heading back to the South, and this shows my commute. You see me at the top right with my mandatory facial mask, and this is a high-speed train, so it's like 260 kilometers per hour, so it's hard to do what seems to what we've always been talking about, that easy-breezy is the thing, and now it seems to be so more true in the corona era we're having. But at this speed, you really can't. At the bottom left, I was changing multiple transportation going into the commuter train as you see at the bottom right. And as we're hoping when things clear up, you guys can join me to study browser in Germany who will visit this light rail transportation that started out by my practice with. And in that train, I recognize you can actually open the windows, and I know. So this is the recommendation for Honolulu. When the hard train comes, if the windows are not operable, we say knock them out and get the fresh breeze through. That's going to be the healthy way for us to do it. Don't advocate that at this moment. This would be a good riot. Let's go to the next slide here and go back a little bit to where I was previously in Berlin, and you just sort of share with us what your response about these impressions. The left is a picture of a very wide and ample-sized Lanai. But this is your son Joey's apartment, and this picture of you and Joey there. We think that all apartments built in Honolulu should have Lanai at least this big tropical, popular, and bi-form weather, and they love to dream about the tropical islands. And so here are two crazy pictures showing the Ritter Sport 1 that is called Now You Can Lie On Your Couch and Pretend That You're In Paradise by Eating That. And below that is, it says, Tropical Islands. So those Germans love to dream, though they're in the cold country. The lure of the tropics never get old here. And that's actually the river that runs by Farah and Joey's apartment there. Let's go to the next slide. Bill, staying in Berlin, and you guys share with me your impressions you had when I was showing this to you. Yeah, so Ron, tell us about the Hilton. Yeah, I'd like to jump in. You see the Berlin Hilton at the upper right. Conrad Hilton was a red, white, and blue American through and through. He used his hotels worldwide, really, as sort of propaganda devices through the United States. He wanted every one of his hotels to be modern because, and I quote him, that sort of modernism best represented American power, success, and technological superiority. And so Mark, DeSoto, you jump in where there's an American flag fluttering above some beautiful German ladies. That's right. So those are obviously the champagne girls, as you can tell by their carrying bottles of champagne. But in the right corner of this slide, we see a tropical drink menu from the Berlin Hilton. And if I remember correctly, it says something like, you know, enjoy these drinks. I presume they offer tropical cocktails from the tropical Hilton Hotel. And I said, well, that tropical, but we were thinking that maybe they were referring to the other tropical Hilton's such as the ones which were going to be built here in the White Islands that we're going to be focusing on. Exactly. And I have to say, sadly, that one is not existing anymore. Next slide, even more sadly, the one we're having right now at the very top left, or one of the ones we have right now, almost looks like it could have been a product of President Trump's stupid mandate of classicist style because this is his hideous kind of whatever you want to call it. And then even more sadly, it's actually an embarrassing news for us. Our embassy, our American Embassy in Berlin at the top right, which the architect, who's the guy who took over Charles Wood's firm with Charles would probably turn around in his grave if he would see that. And in contrast, going back to our islands at the bottom left, although environmentally not a good example there's still a glass box that is not protected from the south and the west, our sun. But architects actually have a way of using this is the Trump Hotel and ironically, or maybe symptomatically on his little pit stop on our island, he doesn't even stay there, but he stays in what Kurt Sandburn has pointed out as scandalous projects in the U.S. Carton and YPP. And this is where probably fittingly Trump stayed when he was there. So, wow. Let's go to the next slide and basically get our spirits up again. Carlos Santana at the last election was trying to therapeutically come up with a suggestion of having kind of a world peace gathering with influential people from all over the world. And he said two possible locations for that would be one, the Sydney Opera House and one, a resort in Honolulu. And we were thinking which one did he have in mind? And we were thinking probably the one we had in mind, which is the Kahala Hilton. We've been talking about for the last three shows. So, let's go to the next slide. Trump is the only president who has not stayed in that hotel, which we're proud of and you guys can be proud of. And I don't want to have, and there are some who are equally not as bad as this one here, but getting close, this one here was at least knocked down from the presidency. And the pictures on the left are still from the treasure archive box to explain what it particularly showed us. Well, something that the Kahala Hilton had to its advantage, although initially it was not to its advantage, is that it is off by itself in a non-urban area. So, it was used as a place where presidents stayed, as you just said. And in 1969, Richard Nixon, when he was in his first stint as president, stayed there for an upper level discussion hotel. He was flown in a helicopter that took off and landed from the golf course, the Wildlife Country Club golf course. That's what you see in the picture on the lower left, them standing next to the helicopter with the Kahala Hilton hotel in the background. And next slide, a guy who was sort of going back in order out there when they were running. Johnson, who we hear was equally sort of caloric and angry, but never mind that, but share with us what the pictures show, which kind of setting when he used it. Well, again, during South Vietnamese war talks, the president of South Vietnam came here more than once to meet with President John in one of their early meetings at the Kahala Hilton. There was a power failure briefly, and so they had to have their room lit by candles for a short time. And that is also the time that I got to shake hands when you were on Dull Street in 1966. Exactly, and that's probably very interesting for you, Ron, because you're a proud Vietnam veteran. I must say that the fact that these presidents put the Kahala on the world stage in a way actually helped the hotel out quite a bit, because people got superseded in the hotel as a tourist destination as a result. Yeah, and let's go to the next slide. To President, we'd like more, and we're going from Bobby Wright and but words. And this is Jonathan Kennedy, who was driving through Waikiki, just missed it for obvious reasons because of his death, his destination. He just missed to have the chance to stay there. One of our favorite ones then is Jimmy Carter stayed there. And at the top left, Barack Obama didn't need to stay there because the island is his home, but he died there. And at the top right, we threw in that something we have been whispering or hearing whispering that he is going to, Hawaii is going to be his home again even more because he is just building a house on the former Magnum PI scenery property. And then on the top right, we got very excited about when Wayne Johnson, who spent some significant years on the island, was saying, I could think of getting nominating myself as the president. So hopefully he's going to rethink that at some point and going to run for it, go for it, rock. So go to the next slide, because not only presidents has been on the island, but also other important people and a brief outline about that. Yeah, when you go to the Kahala, you see in the upper right hand a picture of a lot of photographs. And it's Kahala's wall of fame where they've shown so many of the celebrities and politicians who have stayed there. It reminds me of something I haven't really been able to say yet. And most people don't really remember that we talk about the Kahala as a great success. When it first opened, it was disastrous in the sense that it was perceived as just being too far away from where the action was, which was white to teeth. And so to try to even fill guest rooms, the management had to sort of give some of the way to airline flight crews at very low rates. But then, thank heavens, three consecutive events occurred. First of all, the Los Angeles TV and movie people discovered it because it was quiet, secluded, and the paparazzi were excluded. And it became affectionately known as Kahala would. And then second, President Nixon, President Johnson. And in fact, all governments around the world realize that if they wanted to have privacy and security for their heads of state, that the Kahala was the place to do it in Hawaii as compared to the sort of sniper damages or sniper dangers that might occur in white to teeth. And lastly, discriminating travelers were hearing about all these celebrities and Saudi princes and emperors of Japan and Queens of England coming there and wondering why. So when they booked their own rooms there, they discovered why. All of a sudden, the good word spread through the traveling public occupancy sword. And after a couple very sad years, hotel investors were finally amply rewarded in terms of what they invested into the Kahala Hilton hotel. You might well ask why the lovely head and shoulders of Farrah Fawcett is there in the upper right. That is a reminder that my closest brush with celebrity was watching the lovely Farrah Fawcett slug Rod Stewart in the face while we three were standing together at the hotel checkout desk. That is even better than me shaking hands with President Johnson. Yeah, and unbelievable. I mean, I'm all that generation, you know, we have Bravo magazine pictures of Farrah Fawcett on our wall as a teenager in the 70s. And then, of course, my parents listened to Rod Stewart and later on. So this is just great background stories. Let's move on, go to the next slide here. Because famous celebrities, for us, this bridge is the celebrity because we've been talking about it enthusiastically in the last few shows. The guy on the top left picture with a red top is actually another gentleman mentioned in the previous slide in the category of the musicians of the rock stars. And this is Michael Jackson. And while Michael has gone, unfortunately, as far as we, and probably unfortunately won't come back, but the bridge, we actually, we start out with some suggestions here for when the hotel would be remodeled next time. And again, exotic escapism expert is continuously reminding us there, the intervals, when you have to remodel, and you know about that as well, Ron, so the two of you remind us. So when the next remodeling will happen, we would like to see, for example, this beautiful bridge coming back. And you, Ron, share with us some sort of, you know, relative thoughts about pros and cons about dolphins in particular. You know, ever since the hotel opened, animal activists in Hawaii have protested the dolphin captivity in the lagoons. But the fact is that these animals have thrived and reproduced there. Not only that, my sources have told me that they've also managed to live out their at least 40 year average lifespan as being Atlantic bottlenose dolphins. So even though I'm not a fan of visiting zoos, I always enjoyed the company of the three or four dolphins that were in the lagoons each time I visited the hotel. Well, and, you know, when you look at the guy, the dolphin guy, and at the bottom right, and you guys shared the memories that the dolphin supposedly jumped over the bridge, it was probably healthy for them. That was that June. Right. So give them back their workout. Get in the way when they happen to jump and run into you. Yes. Oh, then you get your workout too. Exactly. Perfect. So let's go to the next slide here. Because another thing we like to obviously keep and get back and you guys share with us what that is on this slide. I really love seeing these three pictures because it's one of the most exciting things to do at the Gala Hilfing to visit, or if you stay there, is just to sweep on down that beautiful curving stairway. And the combination of a modern building, warm traditional touches of that curving stair and the beautiful wood railing, and then some very appropriate and non-kichi Hawaiiana, it's all melded there by Ed in what I think is a terrific blending. Yeah. I would say, too, that Martin and I, years ago, by now, did a show about the use of lava rock in architecture, both traditional and modern. And I have always really enjoyed the contrast of the very rough textured lava basalt against our width, and that's exactly what goes on right here. Yeah, and we would say next remodel, you know, bring us some of that lava surface back, there's a little too much orchid there, so you don't see there's a lava rock. So clean this out a little bit, and let us enjoy both, as you see on the top in the left picture. So the next slide, because another keeper is what, Ron, we're at the chandeliers back to them. Yeah, we're looking at the traditional lighting features that were designed by a New York lighting designer who was also a Broadway veteran of lighting, many plays and musicals on Broadway. And a woman by the name of Irene McGowan designed these wonderfully unforgettable chandeliers, but also on the left-hand side, some sconces. And they used all of this sort of chunky glass bits, and I've always thought that if you look at each of those individual chunks of glass, that they actually look like sort of the beach glass that you'd find if you were out scavenging a beach. Yeah, and you know, that always reminds me that when the hotel opened, I remember my mother saying that. So either she read that as publicity, or she herself got that same idea. And just by the way, we got a couple of days to go until your mother is hungry for a kid. Yes, that's right. Our suggestion is, again, both your mother and the hotel are keeper, their vintage, their gen. Yes. So we got a treatment well, and you thankfully do with your mom, and the owners should do with your hotel. And so we're saying, obviously, do what, again, we're recalling when Ed was talking to Harvey Keller in that video that you were on when you remodeled it. We're convincing the Mandarin owner, the new owner to keep the channel here, is that they have thought of being sort of a loud baby, and said, no, there are as fresh as there have always been. So we're saying, obviously, keep them in the future. But maybe some have been replaced. Maybe you've got to remodel them. Because, again, you've got to bring this back to its original because it is an original. Yeah. So let's go to the next slide. Why all that? Not just because we say this in repeating the many shows, but because this gentleman, Don Hibbert, has featured the Kahala Hilton in his very famous book, Designing Paradise. And has given it, again, major attention. And tell us a little bit briefly about, because that's the time when you first met Don when he was doing the book, and you were also preparing for your legendary local momo talk. You've talked stories on, right? Yes. Don Hibbert had asked myself and my design partner, Larry Stricker, for some help in writing his chapter seven, which is on killing source contributions to Hawaiian hospitality architecture. And that suddenly led to Don asking me if I'd come over and make a presentation to about 30 people, architects, Martin Desfang, by the way, some architectural photographers, some students, which I really enjoyed. And that was the first of what now has been 14 different separate species all around the place on Ed's career. So thank you, Don Hibbert, for getting me started on such a good endeavor. Yeah. It's worth your time, Ron. Yes. What could come. But from the next slide, maybe you can share with us another reason why you think it is a keeper. Well, one of the things that I've done in the past, in conjunction with you, Martin, has been to talk about the history of innovation here in the Hawaiian Islands. And that's what you see in the upper right corner of this slide. But to also point out that the Carl Hilton Hotel, as designed by Ed Kellingsworth, is an extremely innovative hotel, extremely innovative structure. We won't get into all the details about that because we've talked about that in the previous shows. But this is also another reason why this structure needs to be kept and preserved because of its innovative nature and its uniqueness, not only here in Hawaii, but anywhere in the world. Well, speaking of that, let's go to the next slide because it's so unique because it was such a pioneer, also in environmentalism. And this isn't the case anymore in current development. You know, on the island, which we see at the top right, which we've talked about before, and not somewhere overseas. And you, Ron, shared with us when you were shocked to hear and see what we see in the large picture. You know, that large picture, which has an industrial design sparkle on it to try to make it interesting, is something that does not make me particularly happy. For some reason, the Kahala Management has decided to put a sort of inappropriate title to a new hotel that is planned. And I think it's under construction already in Yokohama, Japan. Now, this is so inappropriate. Yokohama is certainly not tropical. And also, this building looks like anything else but a hotel. It looks like some sort of office building. When you see that swoop or curve at the end of the building's mass, here's a kind of vain attempt to make a banal building look at all interesting to the human eye. I'm sorry that management is following Trump's footsteps in sort of cynically packaging names for reasons that I don't want to discuss. Yeah. The next slide showing or proving that this is sort of a sad trend, even, is that even the IU Prey's rendering room, because they were very good, you honor this way back when you were remodeling the Kahala Healthy and they bought it from Mr. Healthy and you get to remodel for them. This is what they're proposing right now. And you just sort of said it hasn't been breaking ground and hasn't been going up. So we're hoping it won't for a while as one of the few good things from this very bad things happening around us because this is another microwave. And the rendering at the bottom, we've seen it as it's facing behind the head. So we know this means south and west. No overhead. No line. As you say, it's a microwave. And that being said, next slide. Also in this travel online blog, there's the office of community advocacy, sharing environmental systems in a hotel there is so unique. And we have been pointing to south a while ago. The top right of the hotel is positioned perfectly facing south and north. And what that does with a north elevation, which we see at the top left, you want to explain to us a little bit more detail. Yeah. It faces north and those people don't have direct ocean views. But they have this glorious view across the burden while I go of course to the mountains. And they don't get, they don't get sunlight. They just sit out there in the lines and enjoy the beautiful tropical weather. I have to mention one quick thing about that particular photographs. The very last thing that Ed Killingsworth's office did at the Kahala was that in 2001, some guest rooms at grade were remodeled into a spa where guests could be pampered. And that's some outdoor seating that ties into the spa. And this was designed by my partner, Larry Stricker, who also designed the Montelani Bay Hotel on the Big Island and the original Elani Hotel at Coalina on Oahu. Yeah, and we will have Larry doing two shows about things with us soon. So Larry, good to have you on air soon. And the next slide, which shows us the southern elevation of the hotel. And the one eyes, the room to have an eye shape a glass below. And this is touching now because I might be thrown off my local MOMO board membership when I'm saying touching an icon somehow. But as you just saw, and I, thankfully, you run as the creator agrees that things shouldn't be like mummies and dad, but they should evolve. So I remember in the kindergarten we designed, which I referenced up right there. We used some vertical text out of shading that maybe could be added behind the beams and could be retractable and roll out and roll back in. So you hardly see them. But again, they improve the bike already perfectly plays, you know, originally by command performance. And then the next slide runs, we got a rush because we got a few minutes left. But there we see you in the hallway, pointing out how large the hallway is. And again, in Corona times, social distancing is the thing. So you said why once you stay close to one side of the hallway and the other person on the other side, you might get that distance that that's recommended to us. Also, from the team that I met the top line, I remember the technology that allows you to get air through while keeping fire and sound out. So that might be another suggestion to retrofit and make this hotel actually a really good post pandemic production. And being once again or continues to be at the forefront of tropical hotel design in the changed day. And the next slide is basically, so if you want to nominate someone for the job, maybe we can get through model again. Well, our friend Bundit and his design partner, Janice, we both admire them. And I did a show a while back about the small loft apartments that they built in the McCulley district and appeared, which appeared in an episode of Magnum PI. And we know that they're sensitive. We know that they're talented and maybe they're people who could work on this as well. Exactly. And I was going to just jump in and say that I certainly hope that a local architect and interior designers are involved. There's no question that you can bring good taste from anywhere from New York, from Los Angeles, whatever. But unless these people know the islands, perhaps they've even lived there. They aren't really going to provide the sort of appropriate and non-chichi Hawaii Anna that the Kahala has shown all these years and deserves to continue showing. Yeah. And thank you for saying that, Ron, because I'm totally with you 100% on that. And Janice, by the way, works for the other firm that has become big in hospitality on P. Wimbledon. And you want to share it and yet collaborate with them on the remodel of the Hawaii Hawaii. So if they get the job or not, or otherwise, I think Bundit and you all are going to do the job because they're going to fall shy. And Bundit came out with the last 50. Well, maybe Ron is retired now. He doesn't want to deal with that anymore, I think. Oh, he has to, he has to get out of retirement. All right. Unrequired. All right. There's been a last slide here and throw out another sort of provocative thing, Ron. And there's still a second show about the Kahala, a lot more. After we've been in it together, we were saying probably not the first choice for the current inhabitants, but maybe still to keep the building would be that the hotel takes over to basically maybe in the suite. But now that things have changed so dramatically through the virus, maybe it's the other way around that basically while tourism is down, but the demand for housing on the island will stay and continue to increase. Maybe the hotel becomes kind of median. And without one more out of time. So thank you guys very much about our final show about this masterpiece of Ed and you, Ron. This was super exciting and we wish project all the best for the future. We're very hopeful. And so, again, we're going to see each other again sometime soon. We're going to see Larry for the two shows. We're going to see you a long back to show a couple of examples where this work has lessened to working on the tropics than ours in one moment. Yeah. And with that, next week it's going to be a meet with Jay Fidel, talking about how you work long and add inspired other generations of art. With projects under a very different territory than what we have right now. So thank you guys again. And we'll all be back. Goodbye. Bye-bye.