A member of Historic Hotels of America, The Royal Hawaiian is located in Waikiki Beach, which is one of Honolulu’s most celebrated neighborhoods. Known for its warm sand and turquoise waters, Waikiki Beach has long been a popular holiday destination for travelers around the world. Hawaiian noblemen first used the area as a vacation retreat as ancient chieftains settled the area centuries ago for tis tranquil atmosphere. The great King Kamehameha I even established his royal residence on the spot where The Royal Hawaiian stands today, when he established the Kingdom of the Hawaiian Islands toward the end of the 1700s. Foreigners then gradually began arriving to Waikiki over the next 100 years, slowly transforming the location into a preeminent tourist hotspot. By the time Hawaii became an American territory in the 1890s, Waikiki Beach and the rest of Honolulu were hosting hundreds of Americans ever year.

Recreational travel to Honolulu at the turn of the century was confined exclusively to luxury-class steamers that only the wealthiest could afford. These these commercial passenger ships were operated by the Matson Navigation Company, which ran its cruise lines out of Los Angeles and San Francisco. Trips out to Hawaii were known to be arduous, as they lasted for close to a week. But passengers encountered a tropical paradise once they disembarked from their cramped quarters. Dozens of lodgings soon emerged throughout Honolulu to accommodate these travelers, with the first—the Moana Hotel—opening in 1901. Waikiki Beach was predominately a wetland at the time, inspiring local inhabitants to create the Ala Wai Canal. This trench drained the area, which rid it of mosquitoes and provided a solid foundation that aspiring hoteliers could build upon. Waikiki Beach became one of the main centers of development for these new hotels, with The Royal Hawaiian appearing along its Waikiki Bay in 1927.

One of the unique cultural activities that made Waikiki so attractive to American vacation-goers was the sport of surfing. Native Hawaiians viewed surfing as an art form in antiquity, where journeys out to sea sought to connect the human spirit with that of the ocean. Westerners observed surfing for the first time during the 1700s when they started exploring the Hawaiian archipelago but did not become truly exposed to it until the early 20th century. By this point in the region’s history, surfing had become a popular outdoor activity. Some locals even started to make something of a career out of it, traveling across Hawaii to teach others about the sport. Waikiki Beach soon became a gathering place for many surfers, who entertained countless tourists with their acrobatic skill. Among the most talented of these historic surfers was Duke Kahanamoku, a two-time Olympic Gold Medalist. Duke Kahanamoku practiced frequently at Waikiki Beach during the 1920s, and even visited The Royal Hawaiian on a regular basis.

The Royal Hawaiian—a member of Historic Hotels of America—debuted with a spectacular black-tie gala on February 1, 1927. This outstanding even heralded the start of a storied legacy of world-class hospitality that was to last for more than a century. Amazingly, The Royal Hawaiian only took around 18 months to complete. The original owners, Territorial Hotel Company, were the driving force behind its construction. Tearing down the Honolulu Seaside Hotel, the Territorial Hotel Company hired architectural firm, Warren and Wetmore, to design its replacement. Warren and Wetmore had crafted the appearance for many other renowned buildings throughout the country by that time, including the entire layout of Grand Central Terminal. They had even created the designs for several other historic hotels that are now a part of Historic Hotels of America, such as the Condado Vanderbilt Hotel, The Mayflower Hotel, and the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel (the Pantlind Hotel when it first opened).

Warren and Wetmore set about designing a beautiful H-shaped resort hotel along the shores of the famous Waikiki Beach. Standing six stories tall, the building originally had 400 beautiful accommodations that possessed their very own baths and balconies. The Royal Hawaiian did not come cheaply for The Territorial Hotel Company for it had spent some $4 million to construct the entire structure. The resort’s exterior was its most striking feature as the architects constructed it with pink stucco concrete. Inspired by Hollywood star Rudolph Valentino and his iconic Arabian-themed movies, the architects chose to erect the hotel’s stunning façade with a combination of Spanish Revival and Moorish-style architecture. This unique structural appearance managed to differentiate it completely from the rest of Honolulu’s skyline. The hotel’s stunning appearance even led guests to call it “The Pink Palace of the Pacific” within a matter of months after opening.

The Royal Hawaiian did not undergo another extensive construction project for the next eight decades, even after the hotel reopened following its use as a military facility in World War II. Starwood Hotels eventually acquired the location in 2008, which it subjected to an extensive restoration for the first time in its entire history. The project only took six months to complete, debuting as it originally did at the height of the “Roaring Twenties.” Starwood Hotels further continued its renovation in 2010 by refurbishing the fabulous Royal Beach Tower. When construction finally concluded, it featured state-of-the-art amenities and reinvigorated elegance. Additional construction work transpired on the structure five years later, which saw its rebranding as the luxurious “Mailani Tower” before awe-struck crowds.

Attack on Pearl Harbor (1941): Like the rest of Honolulu, The Royal Hawaiian was on the frontline when the Japanese Empire staged its surprise attack on the naval base at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. The battle was an aerial assault consisting of three waves of Japanese planes that were launched from six aircraft carriers stationed several miles out at sea. The Japanese specifically intended for the attack to cripple the strength of the United States Navy in the Pacific by sinking all eight of its battleships moored nearby. All of the vessels were badly damaged, with four sunk. One battleship—the USS Arizona—was blown in half, taking more than two-thirds of its crew with her. Many other ships were damaged and over 3,000 Americans were wounded as a result of the three-hour-long strike.

The Attack on Pearl Harbor coincided with a simultaneous series of Japanese invasions across the Pacific, in which Japan began assailing American, British, and Dutch military bases throughout Southeast Asia. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt gave his famous “Infamy Speech” later that afternoon, in which he galvanized a shocked nation to preserve in the face of such reckless aggression. Japan later formally declared war against the United States on December 8, followed shortly thereafter by its allies, Germany and Italy. But while Japan had won the battle, it would lose the war. Becoming a central figure in the Allied cause, Americans across the nation headed Roosevelt’s call to triumph over its enemies. By the summer of 1945, America and its other allies had summarily defeated all three of the major Axis powers.

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