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Coco Palms Resort Hotel, Kauai, HI (Hotel) |
Dustycajun
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Nov 16, 2007
Posts: 3946
From: Santa Barbara, CA
|  Posted: 2011-01-21 5:54 pm Permalink
Bongofury,
Thanks for the post on the book, I had not heard about that one before. Will have to keep an eye out for it.
Here is beautiful postcard rendering I have showing the main compound of the Coco Palms from the waterside view.
The back of the card states that the buildings include the Queens Audience Hall, the Coconut Palace Dining Room and Suite, and in the background the Chapel, Library, Museum and Prince of Hawaii Cottages.
Here is a postcard of the main building.
Bigbro, great photo in front of the sign, wished I had taken that one when I was there in the 90's.
Now picture yourself in this photo when it was open!
What a gem.
DC
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bongofury
Grand Member (6 years) 
Joined: Oct 15, 2002
Posts: 1487
From: Ventura County
| Posted: 2011-04-28 09:02 am Permalink
Olive Pick
Ash Tray
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Inkville
Member
Joined: Aug 27, 2011
Posts: 3
From: Eugene, Oregon
| Posted: 2011-08-27 9:59 pm Permalink
Aloha, all. My wahine and I are headed to Kauai for the first time next month, and watched Blue Hawaii (again) in preparation. How did those of you who have been on the Coco Palms grounds get in? Were you worried about getting prosecuted for trespassing? Does anyone know if Coco Palms' status (or access to it) has changed dramatically since these shots were posted?
Mahalo!
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tikicoma
Grand Member (2 years) 
Joined: Jan 16, 2010
Posts: 262
From: city of destiny
| Posted: 2011-08-27 10:11 pm Permalink
Hi Inkville. My wife and I were on Kauai last February and someone was at the gate with a sign for tours, 20 bucks I think. Have fun.
aloha, tikicoma
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Inkville
Member
Joined: Aug 27, 2011
Posts: 3
From: Eugene, Oregon
| Posted: 2011-08-30 6:34 pm Permalink
Mahalo!
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CraigtheKeg
Tiki Centralite
Joined: May 26, 2011
Posts: 18
From: Anaheim Calif...Disneyland
| Posted: 2011-09-03 12:13 pm Permalink
I've been going to Kauai since 1996, when my wife and I bought a timeshare condo in Poipu Point. 21 trips there so far. The Coco Palms was hit in 1992 by Iniki and was in litigation for 10 years with the insurance company, and was finally paid off. The insurance won't re-insure unless the Coco Palms raises the elevation 15 feet.
The reason is that the ROAD and beach in front of the Coco Palms is the barrier between it and the ocean. It sits at SEA level.
If another BIG storm comes, waves wash over the road and flood the Coco Palms. It would have to be torn down and rebuilt on top of 15 added elevation to be insurable. Makes sense to me, but it's going to be EXPENSIVE.
I hope this answers some questions asked earlier here. I too would like to see this place reopened, but not as it is. If ever I could buy some of the things there, I would grab those big doors with the palm trees on them.
Craig the Keg.
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Bora Boris
Mr. Unreasonable
Joined: Mar 25, 2005
Posts: 2416
From: Boogie Wonderland
| Posted: 2011-10-27 09:11 am Permalink
Coco Palms on the Travel Channel's Off Limits, check it out.
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tikiskip
Grand Member (6 years)
Joined: Nov 26, 2005
Posts: 2137 | Posted: 2011-11-03 11:50 am Permalink
Hey Mr Boris I saw that too.
Your link does not work now.
This may work.
I have lamp shades from the Kahiki here in Columbus
that are from the first lamps made by Mrs. Sapp 1961
and they are the same shades as the ones on the table in this clip.
Kinda odd to see that.
Now I would guess that Mrs. Sapp did not make the shades but still
from here to the Coco Palms.Cool!
http://www.travelchannel.com/Video/buried-past-of-coco-palms-16433
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Dustycajun
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Nov 16, 2007
Posts: 3946
From: Santa Barbara, CA
| Posted: 2011-11-26 5:12 pm Permalink
I finally managed to find one of the postcards showing the interior of the Lagoon Lanai rooms that were built over the lagoon at the Coco Palms resort.
Also picked up a nice napkin with the conch blower logo.
DC
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Phillip Roberts
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Sep 09, 2003
Posts: 1496
From: OAHU, Hawaii.
| Posted: 2011-12-02 11:58 pm Permalink
Aloha,
1968, this slide is notated as the "Coco Palm Wedding Church." Anyone get married there?
labled 6K but should actually be Outtake 67Zed
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[ This Message was edited by: Phillip Roberts 2011-12-02 23:59 ]
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christiki295
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Apr 09, 2003
Posts: 3616
From: LA-2547 mls east Hawaii &5500 Easter Is
| Posted: 2011-12-04 1:15 pm Permalink
Quote:
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On 2011-08-27 22:11, tikicoma wrote:
Hi Inkville. My wife and I were on Kauai last February and someone was at the gate with a sign for tours, 20 bucks I think. Have fun.
aloha, tikicoma
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Everyday at 2:00 p.m.
$20.00 seems steep.
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4WDtiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Aug 03, 2004
Posts: 1742
From: Omao, Kauai
| Posted: 2012-01-01 12:29 pm Permalink
One of the local weekly papers did a cover story on "Mr. Coco Palms" Larry Rivera last week.
http://www.midweekkauai.com/2011/12/mr-coco-palms-larry-rivera/
It mentions that he still does performances at the hotel's lagoon, but didn't mention details, so I emailed him. He got right back to me(!) saying
"I meet the Roberts Buses that come to Coco Palms just by the bridge area. I sing a song or two and tell them a short story about my life there. It is only for the people on the bus that come from the cruise lines for the day.
I also do a luncheon Luau show at Smith Gardens from time to time for 400 people from the ship.
The other thing I do at Coco Palms is weddings by the lagoon. I do the Blue Hawaii Wedding and renewals.
There is no actual show.
My shows are at the Café Portofino every Wednesdays from7-9 PM
First Fridays of the month. This Friday Jan 6 I do one at Kukui Grove Shopping Center at 7 PM.
Thanks for reading the article.
Larry Rivera"
Hope this info fits in with this thread.
_________________
Viva Kate!
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aquarj
Grand Member (8 years) 
Joined: Apr 02, 2002
Posts: 1040
From: SF bay area, CA
| Posted: 2012-09-06 12:42 am Permalink
We got a chance to visit the Coco Palms in June, so I have a ton of photos to post. There'll be some unavoidable repeats from the great pictures posted earlier, but hopefully some new views. Also, some things have clearly changed since Primo Kimo's visit in 2008.
Our visit started thanks to this thread, in fact the preceding post from 4WDtiki with the info about Larry Rivera. My parents went to Kauai for their 10th anniversary in 1972, and stayed at the Coco Palms. So this year the family gathered in Kauai for my parents' 50th anniversary, 40 years later. I wanted to see if it'd be possible to arrange an official visit. After contacting Larry Rivera (a living legend who's definitely worth another story), I learned that a guy named Bob Jasper conducts tours of the Coco Palms for a decent fee. We decided to take the whole family to that, and I have to say it was really outstanding. Naturally we couldn't explore on our own, but it was 2+ hours of pretty thorough walking around and tons of great stories about the land, the Guslanders, and a wealth of movie trivia.
Here's a first batch of pics...
The view just inside the gates, looking toward the lagoon. That's one of the King's Cottages (thatching long gone), and in fact it is THEE cottage where they filmed scenes with Elvis' character Chad Gates in Blue Hawaii. 
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Same little maintenance shack in the foreground
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Looking back from the cottage
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A little more of the lagoon
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Looking down along the lagoon, and the first glimpse of the great A-frame with the giant conch shell over the dining room and cocktail terrace
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Now we're inside the cottage that had scenes in Blue Hawaii. This is the door that Elvis sends the girls out to hide. (Stay tuned for a later post with some movie screenshots for comparison)
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Funny kind of lava rock bath / basin thing in the back of the cottage
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Inside the cottage again, looking toward the front door
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Inside another cottage
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Inside Elvis' favorite cottage. This is the one that he always stayed in when he visited the Coco Palms. By an unbelievable coincidence, Elvis happened to be there when we visited.
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The (former) bathroom sink in the Elvis cottage. The giant shell sink has been poached, along with many of the little gold tiles.
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The sink area in another cottage - more gold tiles.
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That's Bob the tour guide, and his gaze is roughly directed at two famous coconut palms. As Bob told us, there's considerable history in the coconut grove, both old and very recent. These two palms (the curved trunk next to the straight trunk) starred in the Pirates of the Caribbean Stranger Tides flick, in a scene where Johnny Depp and Geoffrey Rush are tied at their bases.
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Telling the story of Kamalani (more on that later)
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Storage shed
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Inside the storage shed, this had been a poolside piano
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Inside the chapel, which also starred in many movies, notably Miss Sadie Thompson
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Another glimpse of the dining area A-frame
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Looking through the overgrown area, across the lagoon, toward the dining area. Also you can see the toppling lobby roofline in the background.
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Looking back after crossing the first small bridge on the path to the dining area
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A couple views up the lagoon
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And the other way
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Now straight ahead, toward that fantastic A-frame!
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Again looking along the lagoon. And supposedly that is THEE outrigger that appeared in many movies, like the Blue Hawaii wedding scene. Here's a story about the restoration of the outrigger.
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Kamalani. This is the name of the boat, and the name of a song created by Larry Rivera for Grace Guslander, telling the legend of a frog (read about it here).
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Lots more coming up.
-Randy
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bigbrotiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 25, 2002
Posts: 10600
From: Tiki Island, above the Silverlake
| Posted: 2012-09-06 03:45 am Permalink
Wow, you lucky buck! One of my dream sites to explore! 
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VampiressRN
Grand Member (5 years) 
Joined: Nov 23, 2006
Posts: 5137
From: Sin City Lincoln Hills (NorCal)
| Posted: 2012-09-06 06:49 am Permalink
I agree...thanks for posting those pictures. I stayed there prior to the destructions...it was indeed an amazing place. So wish someone with $$$$$ would snap it up and restore it.
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 "Oh waiter, another cocktail please!!!"
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