Pearl Harbor's USS Arizona visitors center getting needed revamp

The USS Arizona Memorial visitors center, which processes visitors for the most popular attraction in Hawaii, is in danger of being loved to death.

With about 1.5 million visitors a year, the shoreside Pearl Harbor facility has deteriorated and is sinking into the mud. But help is on the way in the form of a new $52-million center, which will begin construction in September, according to the National Park Service, which oversees the memorial.

The new visitors center will be built in phases to prevent the closure of the existing museum and center. It will house comprehensive galleries, open-air exhibits and interpretive displays, an outdoor amphitheater and two movie theaters, which will be used for education and visitor orientation.

Visitors pick up tickets at the center, then go by boat to the USS Arizona Memorial, which straddles the sunken ship. It is the final resting place for many of the battleship’s 1,177 crew members who lost their lives on Dec. 7, 1941, during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the event that hastened U.S. entry into World War II.

The estimated date for completion of the new center is Dec. 7, 2010.

When finished, the updated visitors center will serve as a gateway to the Pearl Harbor Historic Partners, a coalition of World War II memorials, which include the USS Missouri and USS Bowfin.

For more information about visiting the USS Arizona, click here.

– Rosemary McClure, Los Angeles Times assistant Travel editor

[Images: Renderings of the new USS Arizona Memorial visitors center, provided by Arizona Memorial Museum Assn.]

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 8, 2008 at 3:08 pm by Rosemary McClure and is filed under Hawaii, News, Tips & Advice, 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.