the resort behind the lawn
Hilton Hawaiian Village: from Kaiser's village to the Rainbow Tower
How a 1950s hotel on this shoreline grew into one of Waikiki's largest resorts.
Reserve your seats on the lawn ↗The resort's history, in brief
| Year | What happened |
|---|---|
| 1955 | Henry J. Kaiser opens the Hawaiian Village Hotel |
| 1961 | Conrad Hilton buys half the resort; Hilton takes over management |
| 1968 | The Rainbow Tower opens with its ceramic-tile mosaic |
| 2017 | The Grand Islander tower opens, March 1 |
Kaiser's village
Industrialist Henry J. Kaiser built and first ran the Hawaiian Village Hotel on this site, opening it in September 1955.
Hilton takes over
Conrad Hilton bought half the resort from Kaiser in 1961, and Hilton Hotels has managed the property since February of that year.
The Rainbow Tower's mosaic
The 1968 Rainbow Tower carries what's reported as the world's largest and tallest ceramic-tile mosaic on its face — over 16,000 tiles across a panel 26 feet wide and 286 feet tall.
Growing into a village
More towers followed over the decades, including the Grand Islander, which opened on 1 March 2017, building the resort into one of the largest hotels in the United States outside Las Vegas.
The lagoon the luau looks over
The resort's lagoon sits between the towers and the beach, with the Great Lawn where the Starlight Luau is staged running along its edge.
What's changed, what hasn't
The towers and restaurants have multiplied since 1955, but the stretch of shoreline the resort sits on — and the luau held on it after dark — is still the same ground Duke Kahanamoku swam as a boy.