Ilikai Hotel in Waikiki closes, forcing guests to find other accommodations

Illikai Hotel in Waikiki closed its doors just after midnight Thursday, ousting guests from the iconic ’60s structure on Ala Moana Boulevard. ”We only had 24 hours’ notice to get everyone out,” said employee Shelly Okubo, who spent a trying day Thursday attempting to place guests in other accommodations.

It’s a sad turn of events for the Waikiki Beach hotel, which gained fame in the late ’60s when the cop show “Hawaii Five-O”  featured it in an opening sequence. Square-jawed detective Steve McGarrett (the late Jack Lord) was pictured standing on an Illikai balcony with Diamond Head in the background while the throbbing beat of the show’s theme music played.

The Y-shaped Illikai fell victim to mounting operating losses and was closed by its new owner, iStar Financial Inc., which acquired the hotel for $51 million after a foreclosure auction in May. The 1,000-unit building has 203 guest rooms, plus condos and timeshares. Non-hotel parts of the property will not be affected. New York-based iStar has not disclosed its plans for the hotel part of the building and could not be reached for additional comment.

The 30-story Illikai opened in 1964 and was touted as Oahu’s first luxury high-rise hotel, featuring views of Honolulu and the beaches. During its heyday, it hosted U.S. presidents and celebrities such as Elvis Presley, Stevie Wonder, Lucille Ball and Mickey Mantle.

— Rosemary McClure/special to The Times

[Photo: Ilikai Hotel, located at the Waikiki beach gateway and overlooking the Ala Wai Yacht Harbor. Credit: Courtesy of Ilikai Hotel)

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This entry was posted on Friday, July 10, 2009 at 12:21 pm by admin and is filed under Hawaii, Hotels, Islands & Beaches, Oahu. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.