Waikiki Biltmore Hotel

Waikiki Biltmore Hotel
General information
Address	2424 Kalākaua Avenue
Town or city	Honolulu, Hawaiʻi
Country	United States
Coordinates	21°16′34″N 157°49′31″W / 21.27611°N 157.82528°W / 21.27611; -157.82528
Groundbreaking	November 1953
Opened	February 19, 1955
Demolished	May 28, 1974
Cost	$4,000,000
Technical details
Floor count	11
Lifts/elevators	3
Design and construction
Architect(s)	D.N. Ivanitsky and R.G. Waanabe
Developer	Joseph Greenbach
Main contractor	Sawai Brothers
Other information
Number of rooms	274
Parking	underground

The Waikiki Biltmore Hotel was a resort hotel in Waikīkī, Honolulu, Hawaiʻi, that operated from 1955 to 1974. The Biltmore was the first high-rise hotel on Waikīkī but operated for only 19 years, after which it was demolished and replaced with the Hyatt Regency.^[1]

Permits were filed for an eight-story hotel in March 1953, with groundbreaking taking place in November of that year.^[2] Joseph Greenbach constructed the building, which opened on February 19, 1955. Construction cost $4 million.^[3][4] The hotel was built on the site of Canlis Charcoal Broiler, the first restaurant opened by Peter Canlis, which opened in 1947.^[5] The opening was met with great fanfare, including a flight from California chartered by Greenbach.^[6]

The hotel opened with 247 rooms, featuring amenities such as the Top of the Isle club on the 11th floor, the Kiki Room, and the Luau Lounge.^[3] D.N. Ivanitsky and R.G. Wanabe were the architects of record.^[7]

In late 1955, Greenbach sold the hotel to Massaglia Hotels, Inc.^[8]

The hotel was sold again to the Kimi chain, operator of the Hukilau hotels, in 1966 for $2.5 million. The Kimi owners spent $100,000 on a renovation, but a planned renaming never occurred.^[9]

In 1973, a man fired a shot at a woman sitting at an adjacent hotel from a room at the Biltmore.^[10]

The hotel suffered a small fire on the 10th floor in August 1973 caused by a discarded cigarette, and a larger fire in November 1973 that destroyed the second-story Port O' Paradise nightclub.^[11]

The King's Alley shopping center opened near the hotel in 1972, and after the hotel's purchase by developer Christopher Hemmeter there were plans to renovate the hotel as part of a $20 million area rejuvenation.^[12][13] In 1973, the hotel began offering monthly rentals due to an oversupply of hotel rooms.^[14] By 1974, the plans had changed to redevelop the hotel as two 40-story towers, which became the Hyatt Regency.^[15]

The hotel was imploded at 8 a.m. on May 28, 1974.^[4]