The Rainbow Towers Hotel, originally known as the Hilton Hawaiian Village Waikiki Beach Resort, boasts a storied past deeply intertwined with the evolution of tourism in Hawaii. Located on the Hawaiian island of O'ahu, this iconic resort has grown from humble beginnings to become the largest in the Hilton chain of hotels.
Rainbow Tower at Hilton Hawaiian Village
Early Beginnings: The Hawaiian Village Hotel
In 1954, Southern California housing developer Fritz Burns and American industrialist Henry J. Kaiser purchased the Niumalu Hotel. The Niumalu Hotel originally opened in 1928. In 1955 Burns and Kaiser began construction on guest cottages, the Tapa Room, gardens, and three swimming pools for Kaiser's Hawaiian Village.
In building the Hawaiian Village Hotel, Kaiser developed the "village plan" for his resort. In the village plan, various sections of the development were designed in specific types of motifs indicative of the culture of the hotel's surroundings. The Ocean Tower (now known as Ali'i Tower) was completed in 1957.
The Hawaiian Village Hotel was conceived, constructed and first administered by Henry J.
Hilton Hawaiian Village Waikiki (Honolulu) Beach Resort Walkthrough
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Hilton Hawaiian Village Waikiki Beach Resort
The Kaiser Aluminum Dome
In what was among many firsts for the Hawaiian Village, Kaiser erected the first public geodesic dome showroom in Honolulu. Wanting an auditorium at the Honolulu village, Henry Kaiser acquired the license to produce geodesic domes following the design work of Buckminster Fuller. An aluminum-skinned dome with a 145 ft (44 m)-wide span was manufactured at the company's plant in Oakland, California and shipped to Hawaii in 1957.
The showroom opened on February 17, 1957 during a 2.5-hour gala broadcast by NBC to an estimated 20 million people. Many records of the golden age of Exotica, notably most of Arthur Lyman's albums, were recorded at the dome, renowned for its acoustics and natural reverberation. It was demolished in 1999 to make room for the Kalia Tower.
The Hilton Era Begins
On January 19, 1961, legendary hotelier Conrad Hilton agreed to buy most of Kaiser’s Hawaiian Village for $21.5 million in one of the biggest hotel transactions of the time. Hilton Hotels & Resorts assumed management on February 1, 1961, renaming the resort the Hilton Hawaiian Village.
The purchase included close to 18 acres of property, plus another three acres of adjacent property. The land was originally fish ponds and the birthplace of Duke Paoa Kahanamoku, Hawaii’s Olympic Gold Medalist and its most iconic waterman.
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It cost $21.5 million USD when it was purchased in 1961, which was considered an unusually high price. Elvis Presley stayed at the hotel soon after while filming Blue Hawaii.
Expansion and Milestones
Over the next three years, two more towers were added, the Village Tower (now known as Tapa Tower) and the Diamond Head Tower. Kaiser also developed the 5-acre man-made lagoon fronting the Hawaiian Village.
The Hilton Hawaiian Village has been the site of many milestones throughout Hawaii's history and popular culture.
The Rainbow Tower
In 1968, the resort's iconic Rainbow Tower opened, with the world's largest and tallest ceramic tile mosaic on its facade, an image of a rainbow measuring 26 feet wide and 286 feet tall, which required over 16,000 individual tiles. In 1968, Hilton Hawaiian Village's famed Rainbow Tower opened with the world's largest ceramic-tile mosaic, spanning 286 feet high by 26 feet wide on each end of the tower.
More than 16,000 colorful tiles were used to complete the mosaic that has appeared in countless television shows and movies.
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Later Additions
The Tapa Tower was added in 1982, and the original Ocean Tower was gutted and rebuilt in 1987, with the addition of two floors, at which point it was renamed the Ali'i Tower.
Hilton Hawaiian Village Towers
Cultural Impact and Popular Culture
The hotel might be best known as the location for the popular TV series Hawaiian Eye, which aired on ABC from 1959 to 1963. The Hilton Hawaiian Village has been featured in multiple television shows, including Hawaiian Eye, Wheel of Fortune, Baywatch Hawaii, Magnum P.I., and Hawaii Five-0.
The world-renowned Blue Hawaii cocktail was invented at Hilton Hawaiian Village in 1957 by legendary Hilton bartender Harry Yee.
Today, the Hilton Hawaiian Village Hotel sits on over 22 acres (8.9 ha) of beachfront property, near the Ala Moana Center. The various villages in the present-day Hilton Hawaiian Village Beach Resort and Spa surround centerpiece towers: Diamond Head Tower, Ali'i Tower, Tapa Tower, Rainbow Tower, Lagoon Tower, Kalia Tower, Grand Waikikian and Grand Islander.
The Village Hotel includes a small pond filled with several types of turtles (box and soft-shelled). Other animals that live on the grounds include several types of ducks, lesser flamingos, sacred ibis, black-crowned night herons, koi fish, chameleons, macaws, and parakeets.
Recent Developments
Today, the Hilton Hawaiian Village Beach Resort & Spa consists of 22 acres of oceanfront paradise, continuing its growth and enhancements. One of the beach front towers, the Ali’i Tower has been the home-away-from-home for presidents, heads of state, movie stars and entertainers.
The recent decades have seen visitor arrivals, with the exception of the dip following the 2008 economic implosion, continue to grow, but not at the rate of the decades before. There is a shift now toward targeting the more affluent market, most easily observed in the main drag of Kalakaua Ave turning into a row of high-end designer stores lining both sides of the street.
It’s still relatively early, as this has only emerged fully after the Millennium, so there may be issues down the line with this form of property ownership. The twists and turns of Waikiki’s tourism industry has taken many turns, but always changing to meet demand as well as satisfy new tastes.
The Bulawayo Rainbow Hotel is strategically located in the historic “City of Kings”, as the city of Bulawayo is affectionately known. Sethule Bar The Sethule bar is a cocktail & sports bar which opens daily between 1130hrs - 2330hrs.Le-Rendezvous Coffee shopSituated on the Mezzanine Floor, the coffee shop offers a wide range of coffee and teas along with a selection of light meals, cakes and pastries. The Bulawayo Rainbow Hotel has the largest indoor capacity for hosting conferencing and banqueting events in Bulawayo.