89 years ago today the Hawai‘i Theatre, “Pride of the Pacific”, opened its beautifully decorated doors. Several decades, a couple of renovations and countless shows later, the theater is still entertaining residents and visitors alike. Its neoclassical exterior and colorful neon sign have made the theatre center an icon of Downtown Honolulu. Celebrate this historic jewel by perusing some pictures from the website (btw, if you haven’t done the docent led tour of this place, you should!).
Or you could check out this wonderful book by Lowell Angell, Theatres of Hawai‘i (Arcadia Publishing, 2011). There’s a lot of great photos of Hawai‘i Theatre, and many more. I didn’t get to read much of this book but from what I saw it’s very detailed and well produced. A great deal of research and love went into putting it together.
Lowell Angell is cofounder and past president of the Hawai‘i Theatre Center, the group that saved and restored Hawai‘i Theatre. He’s also the past president and current secretary of the Theatre Historical Society of America. If anyone is qualified to write about Hawai‘i’s theatres, it’s certainly Lowell. Honolulu Magazine did an interesting author interview with him and he talks a little bit about how he got involved in saving the Hawai‘i Theatre. And thank goodness for passionate people like him, because I can’t imagine how sad I would be without the Hawai‘i Theatre. I practically had a fit when they closed and tore down Waikiki Theatre (Alex and I had one of our first dates there) and then a few years later we lost Varsity Theatre. 🙁
Anyway, happy birthday Hawai‘i Theatre… and many more!
