How a crumbling Hawaii monument will finally be restored

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By Christine Hitt, Hawaii Contributing Editor to SF Gate

Sep 9, 2024

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Its cream-colored, beaux arts archway easily catches the eye. The Waikiki Natatorium War Memorial, located between the Waikiki Aquarium and Kaimana Beach, is the only Hawaii memorial dedicated to World War I and the 10,000 Hawaii citizens who served.

It opened on Aug. 24, 1927, nine years after the war ended, on Duke Kahanamoku’s birthday. It is intended to be a living memorial. On the other side of the archway is a 100-meter-long by 40-meter-wide saltwater swimming pool, where Kahanamoku was the first to jump in on opening day. It’s a place where the community can gather and create memories.

But after years of neglect, the deteriorating natatorium was closed. It was deemed unsafe, and it has been locked since 1979.

“When you’re on the bleachers and you’re in the corner looking across the pool toward Waikiki, it’s really stupefying. I mean, you’re like, ‘Why are we not using this?’ Because it’s eye-popping, when you’re in there and you see the scale of it, you’re like, ‘This is incredible,’” Donna Ching, vice president of the Friends of the Natatorium, told SFGATE...

Full story at https://www.sfgate.com/hawaii/article/hawaii-waikiki-natatorium-19740316.php?fbclid=IwY2xjawFQKuxleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHclgdhce5ZwnDsDyNr1BMdRtsTMN-awaicKl4_hiu2ROasNjE46jzJySPg_aem_SJbYTuQGBta15eYP9jLqpA

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