 Well, hello, we're still looking for traces of human humane architecture on our islands and specifically here our island of Oahu and We're connecting to where we have left about a month ago Where we talked about Kaisers Henry J. Kaisers We called it avant-garde exotic Hawaii and we promised we're gonna revisit if he has always done some How did you pronounce it main stream? I can't remember what I said about mainstream things so so we have our co-hosts once a month co-hosts to sort of brown back Here I am. Thank you. That's rock and roll. Let's rock and roll. Mr. Exotic Let's bring the first picture, please. Yeah Well, let's get started. We're talking about the Hawaiian Village Hotel which opened in Waikiki in 1955 and when it started it really was like a village it had Individual houses and they had this sort of faux thatching on them that was actually woven by Samoans But really wasn't part of the structure and there was this pool, etc So it really started out as kind of a low-key thing And in the background behind me you can see the original opening or the original This was the original appearance of the Hawaiian Village Hotel when it opened off Kalia Road And it's the same that it's the same driveway that's there today But as you know because you go there all the time Doesn't look anything like this anymore because it didn't stain like a village very long and Henry J. Kaiser wanted to build things at a really fast pace and so very quickly the Hawaiian Village started to grow and he wanted things to be successful, right? You wanted things to be successful the next picture We showed some goofy cars next time because that was the avant-garde category Correct things that were sort of Space agey, but then he needed to make some money, right, right? Well, he actually already had Started his own car company starting in 1947. He partnered with a guy named Charles Frazier and they created what was called the Kaiser Frazier automobile company and the Kaiser Automobiles sold quite well Initially, but by the early 50s. They were backlogged because they weren't selling as well So they created this kind of kooky thing called a Kaiser traveler Which was essentially an older model car from like a year or two earlier. They turned it into the first hatchback They made this whole big cut out in the back a tailgate that came down instead of a trunk and then you had this whole huge Interior opening that you could create and that was a Kaiser traveler So that was a way of trying to get those cars out of the factory that people weren't buying as much and we say if the other One's there even more mainstream for later when we're going to talk about Kaiser's other projects I was other project that we choose this one here to be a synonym for this sort of more mainstream But still pretty sort of sort of edgy, you know, and a little bit of different So next picture is there he is. There's the man. That's Henry J. Kaiser on the left and Talking with some other guy in the grounds of the Hawaiian Village Hotel and I showed we just showed those Village-like settings. Well, as you can see within a few years it turned into a very modern type of structure They had elements very interestingly of the primitive and the modern juxtaposed together And that was very typical of the 1950s in the the rough textured primitive things Next to the smooth for example that as I as I was saying to you the rough textured natural walls that they used in the lobby Contrasted with a smooth terrazzo floor. So that was considered kind of the edgy way to do it in those days So we're talking the other genre of art music We were talking about exotica music and we had selected for last time some rare ones which were actually little about the sort of erotic Exotic very generally speaking next picture. They were pretty much erotic They were very much so and this is a cover of a record by Martin Denny Martin Denny is important because he got his start at the Hawaiian Village Hotel And he created a genre of music which today we call exotica at the time It didn't really have a name like that, but it was a combination of jazz along with a lot of Instruments and sound effects that were either from the natural world or Instruments from other cultures non-western cultures and he put them together at the Hawaiian Village Hotel and created this wonderful Type of music, which is very very much of that time period. So it really goes with that early architecture That's kind of the soundtrack for the architecture And and and sort of the eye candy version of that his next picture is the And here so here's an early view of one of the first high-rises at the Hawaiian Village They got built very quickly Kaiser wanted things done fast And so he between 1955 and 1960 had a whole series of high-rises built Which at the time was very much ahead of the rest of wiki keys development and as I was mentioning earlier This again is a really good indication of the natural world in which these existing tall palm trees are there And there's this artificial natural like pool contrasted with the very clean stark lines of the building and The lobby which was located on the left on the ground floor in the image that you can see there was entirely open and That was an interesting thing to do at that time to really bring the outdoors in Rather than making a wall between the inside and the outside This was the trade winds go through and right out there. You see The natural world you hear the birds etc. etc. Just quoted the author miss Kaili Chun easy breezy. All right, and this was pretty air-conditioning anyway That's right. That's right. That's right. So the next picture Kaiser being a marketing genius That's it. That's it So the the Kaiser Hawaiian Village Hotel as we called it at the time. It wasn't really that wasn't really its name was promoted endlessly in every way that possibly they could do it so it was used as the setting for the First TV show that was filmed in Hawaii. They've set in Hawaii, which was called Hawaiian eye This is a panel from a comic book from 1958 Dennis the menace in Hawaii and Dennis and his parents when they first arrived Stay at the Hawaiian Village Hotel and there you see right there clearly Dennis is sitting on top of where the sign is just So that the hotel gets promotion even in a comic book, which is pretty out there But and worked one one more back to music here also very iconic vinyl here Yes, and the cool thing is Kaiser used music as part of the promotion he used Not only this is a record by Alfred Apaka who was his star singer until Alfred Apaka died Unexpectedly in 1960, but you also see not only the association with Alfred Apaka in the village But you see that it's got this cool logo type at the top of this record label Which is a 45 RPM disc and you see it's got the signature Henry J. Kaiser presents Hawaiian Village records with this cool Kind of primitive looking HV logo for the combination of the word Hawaiian and village With a grass house down in the corner right below the age So a total package to to promote This is an exotic Hawaiian village, but it's also modern comforts and it's part of your exotic experience There will be the native Hawaiian music has performed by some of the artists on Hawaiian Village records Awesome, the man knew what he was doing awesome awesome. So next picture is another all these fast popping up buildings exactly That's the ocean tower You and I were going to try to keep track of what happened when I think this is about 1950 58 59 And it's on the beach looking forward to looking in from the beach and Those people are not just happened to be in those locations when the photographer snapped the picture this again is part of the promotion Everybody's placed in the right place the umbrellas are placed correctly the models are in the right place And you got two guys with surfboards to emphasize this is the Hawaiian Islands Yeah, and this has all been dramatically as you were referring to I go there I want to get this straight. You know, I run by there, right right in person. That's right I do it every morning. So I become a self-trained expert every morning and a little bit more So this piece here, I think it's called the Alihi tower now and has been dramatically changed Okay in the 80s they added two more stories. Okay. Okay, and if we go back to the picture They took away this wonderful easy breezy External staircase. Oh, right. Thanks to our host colleague Howard wick and his insisting at the DPP We're able to do again. So I think it's come full circle, right? We did them way back then the IBC the International Building Code came asked us to enclose them How are it now convinced and take it down so we can do them again. So we're okay See, I didn't that that's a very good important architectural point because in that view you've got a very clear architectural dramatic element that that zigzag and the shadows it casts and the fact that it's kind of a floating Stairway and that it's just the stairs and railing is a dramatic and interesting element on the exterior of the building Which I wouldn't have known until you just said that legally that Unfortunately too late or never too late, but for this building here has been changed So the easy reason is gone and probably not gonna brought back, but in you buildings We're gonna get this back. Okay. So this is we would cease if you step back a little bit more from here You see another feature of that's right village, which is there it is that we'll see on the left You can see the lagoon which was constructed by Henry J. Kaiser in what had been a shallow part of the ocean And it was a shallow rocky area that was not conducive to be able to go to the beach So now these were Duke's fish pond and these were this is part of where Duke Hanamoku grew up And it was where also too for native Hawaiians that type of shallow water is where you can get Certain types of seaweed limo as well as other sea creatures that you would eat Or you do the hookie law right well, and you know and by the time the 1950s is here You don't want that anymore. You want a nice beach. So Henry J. Kaiser Got government permission to do a huge amount of dredging they dredged out this Lagoon which as we were just saying looks sort of natural, but he's not it's in fact entirely created they built a new Wide beach on the ocean side, which is called the Duke Hanamoku Beach And in this photograph also the center in the photograph of our attention is that pink jeep well Henry J. Kaiser had purchased the company that made those jeeps and They created what was called the jeep gala model Which was meant to be sold and used at different resorts and tropical areas Including of course the Hawaiian Village Hotel at the time we thought here that those pink jeeps as we called them We're uniquely sold and used at the Hawaiian Village Hotel We didn't realize that first of all they made them in blue and green also But secondly that they sold them and use them in other places We didn't know that you and I saw the one that Elvis had in Graceland that and we both have seen and touched And I have a photo of me with the pink jeep that Elvis got in Graceland So that that pink jeep that we just saw in that postcard view is part of the whole Kaiser Kaiser Domain and dynasty and in fact, you know, we thought it's specific to but you say it's more generally alluring to other tropics because Car was the star in another movie. That was one of the first movies you saw Yeah, well, it was it also appeared in an Elvis film called fun in Acapulco Which is obviously Mexico and yes, I saw that film at the Kymake theater Not because I wanted to but because I had to sit through it before the movie. I really wanted to see which was called go-go mania Okay, we're gonna go into our little break in a minute But we bring up the next picture really quick, which is what then is to come after the break as we look at Some of the artifacts from the past from a today's perspective and do a little bit of reflection on that one And this is just me the other day when the the cleaning guy was there so that pond I know it smells pretty badly every now and then you said someone got almost killed there or got killed So this is nature under dictatorship. It's staging it, right? Something like Lagoon doesn't want to be there and other topics. Yes blue Lagoon. There's another movie with Brooke Shields Which reminds me of some childhood. Okay, this is a point to get some break here Yeah, and see you back in a minute with the Soto and Martin about Kaiser's mainstream exotic Hawaii Aloha Howard wig. I am the proud host of cold green sink tech Hawaii I appear every other Monday at three in the afternoon. Do not tune in in the morning my topic is Energy efficiency it sounds dry as heck, but it's not we're paying five billion dollars a year For imported oil my job is to shave that shave that shave that down in homes and buildings While delivering better comfort better light better air conditioning better Everything so if you're interested in your future, you'd better tune in to me three o'clock every other Monday cold green Aloha and thank you very much Looking to energize your Friday afternoon tune in to stand the energy man at 12 noon Aloha Friday here on big tech We'll get back to Kaiser's mainstream exotic Hawaii and we're looking at the lagoon again But we talked enough about the lagoon. Let's talk about the two buildings that came next right 158 Which is the lagoon tower? No, that's no, no, that's 67. Oh, sorry man. You got your numbers. Yeah I know what about you know, that's why you have me on as a history. That's the Lagoon tower true There it is. Yeah, this is just just so we make it clear Kaiser Henry J. Kaiser was no longer involved in the in the company At this point he was no longer involved with hotel. In fact, he had died. So this is the same site, but now it's under new management So I took this picture on my daily run here. The architect is the name is Bauer and It's it's rather interesting to look at if you analyze it in the next picture I I'm I'm deeply in love with these curves here Since the last couple days when I was looking at it, I mean can't get it more curvy This is most curvy you can get in plan and then section And it gives you this amazing sort of feeling of like being free and almost like on a cliff Because these taper back as you can see on the center of the of the picture there We talked before to show that Most likely no one would ever do this anymore would go through the effort the sort of financial effort But also sort of the philosophy of philosophical background and ambition to kind of do that, right, right? And I you know again, I'm not an architect I'm not a builder, but I do know that the more complex and the more individual work You've got to do the more expensive something is going to be so making a completely curved form It's probably not going to be economically viable and and top of that We always massage ideas for new shows and we talked about some crazy cantilevers Potential show for the future. These are razorly cantilever. That's they are they are right, right? I understand what you're saying to that degree and and the next picture you can be on these on these Lanais and and have the feeling you're out there you're floating but as well There are these slabs left and right and in fact the lagoon tower has them buttress Meaning they're they're larger at the bottom larger at the top, right? And this is different than these days where everything is literal and symbolic. This was abstract and basically pretty much Alluding to something right and and you could see some kind of mangrove trees in there And I can also see the curves of palm tree trunks, too You can you can and and that's you know, that's the interpretation Anybody can have when they want to look at it and say well I use what you want to see yeah and different today symbolism of four-liner imprint palm leaves You can credit some functionality to all these things which if you buttress something This is why the Gothic architecture has introduced that it's a structural means right something. That's that's why nature does it Something is stronger closer to the roots and tapers to get smaller at the top correct with the correct That's what a big tree trunk looks like exactly and the next picture is another feature that I call the cool Lanai And you know what I'm looking at that that looks like the state capital It does so we have this little thing going on here, right right about these very much inspired by nature and mushrooms They call these mushroom pillars a friend our right has done them in the What's it called Johnson wax building. Oh, yeah, okay. Yes, right great, right and so But what I want to point out to this is a cool crown because we see there's some shadow in the back So this thing is shading at the top something that towers today's we'll see in a little bit Don't do any more and you can see two round one eyes right below it, too Yeah, so very sophisticated and metaphorical I would say yes, I agree not not symbolical but metaphorical And there are certain meanings and multiple duties behind So done fairly well in the next picture is then the other tower that most people associate with a wine village right? That's that that's the rainbow tower and that followed the following year that followed in 1968 And and the rainbow tower you I don't think we got a picture of it, but it's it's famous because it's got this Tile motif that goes runs from the bit the base all the way to the top and it's one of the largest Yeah, tile claims to be actually the largest largest in the world It just went through a underwent a restoration a short time ago So that's why it's called the rainbow tower, but this is the more sort of utilitarian as you know Me by now intentionally didn't she was that one right everyone knows that already I want to point out that some of the most people We want not not see so the building orientation, which we always talk about orientation is key This facade is facing southeast so the morning Sun is going to be kept away from these vertical Pelastres and slabs that separate the units and once the Sun comes around and this is by the way the north facade So thank you. This is the other father. This is in the Sun as you can see So on the other one that we saw previously I have to correct myself That's facing northwest so the slabs are facing from the pretty brutal and low with Sun. So here on the other picture That's in the Sun. We can see the opposite way. So once again, it's like there is some floral You sort of Inspiration going on. There's some googiness to be soft edged Dockinies, but rather than what we would do these today We're going to literally allure to some kind of a nature We do this here in a performative new way and and this building Let's just say and go wild knock out the glass This would be an easy breezy stack tonight as Kurt Sandburne likes to call it that gets us to the next picture, right? We're a Kurt our most activist journalism and critical voice on the islands which has to come back by the way and right our seats here That's right. He does So good because in San Francisco now we take you up on that and so this is Something that we actually don't want to talk about in depth too much because it's Pointing out to the potential new show another show which is about the white kick Ian right which is Pete Wimbley And by the way, we have to do the homework, but I think picture number four. I'm still pretty sure this is Pete Yeah, I have to check that's my picture the guy with Henry Kaiser, right? That's okay, right? But the this this building on the on 18 is called the grand white kick Ian and very tragically like the Kalea tower I think it was called we talked in the last show with replacing the innovative Kaiser dome This grand white kick Ian is unfortunately has been replacing the white kick kick Ian, which was a rather very very exotic very exotic very iconic and very interesting and dramatic and Kind of kooky out there structure and the wakey key in hotel and property were located on a little skinny strip of land right next to The Hawaiian village property and eventually the Hawaiian village will say but to take over that property build this timeshare Tower on what had been this cool fifties thing And the next picture gives us sort of a panoramic number 19 gives us a panoramic overview that I shot The other morning about what we see to the left the rainbow tower that we just saw the little thing in the little space in between is the lagoon tower and Then the one next to that is what we're talking about how dramatically that former called ocean town All right, he taught has been transformed or modified right and in the back But the very back you see the grand white kick Ian and then to the to the very right You see the recent trend which is basically not even hotel anymore It's called timeshare correct, so they built these huge humongous pieces there and this sort of grant white kick Ian I think was the first one of these series and we want to point out now number 20 There's a little picture sequence here going on that I again pictures. I took ones the newest ones called the Grand Islander was under construction and it made me think about when these really heavy Prefab concrete skirts came on the building I couldn't help myself to think about the mumalization of architecture right right and that's another show We want to do is about so we're gonna do the first right second and the third one so This is again a glimpse of that to just saying why in the world do we start to sort of missionary these buildings? Right and basically overdress them if we want so right and the next picture Is a courtesy to our traffic hearing friend David Rockwood With whom I share that and at the certain point they started to put these things on the on the roof of the building and he said That looks like she wants to be a queen. Mm-hmm Because she's got a crown she's got a crown and then on the right We've got a picture of Queen Kapiolani who was the wife of King David Kauakawa And she's wearing a crown because she is legitimately a queen and she was more legitimate to wear than the building That's right. You took the words out of my mouth. And the next picture is even more critical Because you see some people They're very typical for our time in the front. These are homeless people on the beach, right? So I would say the queen to my knowledge and you tell me because you're the historian actually took care of her people That was there was a great the Ali the nobility of Hawaii in the 19th century felt a very strong Commitment to take care of their people So here was like it's decorated as to be the queen, but it's actually Uncle Sam It sure is who who was whose improves in control now who invented that exactly so that gets us to the last more extreme Thing that this is what it's all about, right? It's the Grand Islander and here the Grand Islanders Islanders I took this from the website. You can see it as a subtitle. It's called the 10 things not to wear in Hawaii And again it reminds us of how important it is to make this show about the three skins. Yes, right? Correct So you really wonder what are we doing, right? I mean we came from these really really sort of very imaginative You know very sort of interestingly spicy Interpretations of the local culture and blending it with With the mainland stuff and it was really it was really I try to avoid to say the cool the word cool But it was right I think that one of the things that also to that we see that's differed a great deal is the First as we keep talking about the openness of the lack of air conditioning Not only in individual rooms within the public spaces as well. Yeah, we see a more enclosed environment We see a more controlled artificial environment I think we also see some level of and you just said there's all there's a lot less risk-taking There's a lot less edginess and you always have to be in a safe space for people to want to come and stay in your place So you don't want to be too kooky, but at the same time particularly in this early Hawaiian village era, they were being quite innovative. They were they were doing some really crazy stuff there That was kind of and I get the feeling that Henry Kaiser was sort of Let's just go ahead and do it. Let's just try it. Let's build this thing and we'll see how it works Maybe that's a good point to close off with the last picture Which is like why don't we reconnect to so I love myself to from what we saw from, you know, the Grand Islander I call this, you know, the evolution and I think we should re-evolve Yeah, and by the way, you know, you as the historian and sort of responsible about the subject matter our Political or cultural correctness, right? Kaiser by the way did not wear in a lower shirt. I recognize right So he didn't come to pretend like he knows about Hawaiian culture, right? But he brought something to Hawaiian culture that Hawaiian culture didn't have which was basically make a living after the plantation went away Right, and you know what else he did to and this is what we talked about earlier He did in fact showcase elements of Hawaiian culture very actively in his choice of musicians and his promotion of the music that he associated with the Hawaiian Village Hotel and With that we're gonna close with picture number 24 one more time Which is our provocation and saying let's reconnect. This is primitiva. Let's wear less Let's be easy breezy. Let's bring the stecklin eyes work But most importantly let's house all people right, so that's what we need So we have some severe serious issues here going on that tourism. It's just covering up So probably typology wise, you know when we build high we got to take care of other people, too Right and and we have to acknowledge to that Honolulu is a high-rise city Yeah, and it is not a sleepy Polynesian village like the early Hawaiian Village Hotel It is a very densely populated congested urban city with a lot of big buildings a lot of people Absolutely perfect closing notes to solo. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you Thank you, and see you back for our once a month show. You shall. Alrighty. Okay