There's aloha in the architecture of Waikiki hotels

Written by Mildred Bergman photos provided by Kathy Boast.

There's aloha in the architecture of Waikiki hotels. At the Sheraton Hotel, walls of windows in the Esprit Lounge are open to the ocean, and past the rail at the balcony, a tall plumeria tree wafts the heavenly perfume of its blossoms across the dance floor. The orchestra's grand music with Nohelani Cypriano and the Hot Line musicians has its own architecture in the phenomenal beats of Danny Couch on drums.
In the pink luxury of the Royal Hawaiian, Lee and I danced at the tea dances for hundreds of dancers in the Monarch room that stretches with open walls beyond lawns to the seawall beside the ocean sidewalk. The huge orchestra takes on the touch of Jimmy Borges who conducts or adds his voice to give it such class.
In the soft glow of the large room upstairs in the Rainbow Hilton, we danced to Jimmy Borges music in the Paradise Lounge, and, one night at the far end of the dining area, sudden whirls of wind swept twelve-foot high draperies away from tall open windows. Streaks of jagged lightening lit the room in flashes of intense forces from the sky. Then the thunder rumbled in room-shaking crashes until windows were closed and the sounds of storm faded away. Jimmy Borges asked how we liked that message from the heavens and sang something about how deep is the ocean, how high is the sky?
It was there that Jimmy Borges introduced us to Ginny Tiu, whose feet now reach the pedals at the piano. They didn't when she was a five-year-old Chinese doll playing piano on the Ed Sullivan television show. She went from there into show business that kept her working until two or three in the mornings. She never got a taste of breakfast, but she didn't care. She liked working with nice people in entertainment or White House. Elvis Presley, she said, laughed with her and always called her Ma'am.
	On the veranda of the Victorian Moana Hotel, Ginny Tiu translates her own feelings into her piano music. No one can forget the rhapsody of her flying fingers flinging out the sounds of eighty-eight piano keys.  At tables on the grass, people feel the moment of her music and the wonder of God's architecture in the banyan tree that stretches from veranda to ocean side. It's branches dangle vines that grow down to root and grow strong enough to support heavy banyan tree branches. Robert Lewie Stevenson once sat in its shade while he wrote Treasure Island. Did he feel the aloha spirit there?
	This article was written by Romance Novelist Mildred Bergman who lives in Washington State, but LOVES Hawaii and the people. This photo of Mildred with her beloved husband, Lee, was taken December 1999 at the Sheraton Waikiki*   Mildred has the Aloha Spirit and has published a few books.  Mildred's books are available at Amazon.com, or telephone toll free at 1-877-874-6334.

Other articles on this site written by Mildred.

An Article written by Romance Novelist, Mildred Bergman

*Starwood Hawaii features 13 of Hawaii’s signature hotels and resorts located on five islands with spectacular beaches.  They include the Sheraton Moana Surfrider, The Royal Hawaiian, Sheraton Waikiki, W Honolulu Diamond Head, and the Sheraton Princess Kaiulani, on Oahu; the Sheraton Maui, Westin Maui, Kapalua Bay Hotel; Princeville Resort and the Sheraton Kauai Resort; and the Sheraton Molokai Lodge & Beach Village. 

©1999-2004. Photos, Kathy Boast, Written text Mildred Bergman.