The Hawaiian Regent Hotel (1971-2000) was among the largest hotels in Waikiki at the time, occupying five acres and featuring over 1,300 rooms spread across two towers: the original L-shaped Kealohilani Tower and the 33-story Paoakalani Tower, added in 1979. The hotel's design incorporated spacious lanais, giving each tower a distinctive character and contributing to the architectural texture of the area.
Architects: Before the Hawaiian Regent Hotel was built, the site was part of old Waikiki’s patchwork of small guesthouses, beach cottages, and low-rise apartment buildings. In the decades before Hawaii’s statehood, this part of Waikiki was known for its quiet, residential feel — a mix of local homes and modest vacation rentals, rather than the high-rise hotels we associate with the area today. In the late 1960s, there was the Hawaii’s Tourism Golden Era with Jet travel that brought more visitors to the islands, developers began clearing older properties to make way for modern resorts. The Hawaiian Regent was one of the major projects of this redevelopment wave... The architects of the Hawaiian Regent Hotel were John Tatom and Chamberlain and Associates, who also were in charge of the 1979 extension addition to the hotel.
Regent Ballroom: A
The Hawaiian Regent Hotel "Lobby Bar": A place where there was live music and it was a good place to drink. The bar had a polynesian feel with its bamboo wrap and carvings on the pillars.
Live Talent: Hawaiian Blend, Naipo Serenaders (Charlene and Alma), Kulia Ika Nu'u (Chris Kamaka, Walter Kawaiaiea, Jeff Kealaokala Teves)
"I Remember Frank de Lima used to perform, he was hilarious." -Christmas Party
Summery Restaurant: Summery Restaurant was in the Hawaiian Regent Hotel as a part of the Old hotels from the 1970s–1990s. The design used a lot of mid-century modern and floral designs and the menus reflected the time period. While it catered mainly to hotel guests it was known by the locals seeking a convenient buffet and a known bakery. It would be described as casual, family‐friendly, and blending island and mainstream food. Breaking down the foods there is inspiration from American food that was relevant to Hawaii under the name Continental Cuisine. The one in Hawaii had chefs who cooked Continental Cuisine used French Cuisine, New York Cuisine, German-American Cuisine, North California Cuisine (San Francisco), and South California Cuisine (Los Angeles).
American-French Cuisine: as most hotels the cooking was based from American-French Cuisine and traditional French Cuisine. And anyone who knows about that knows that the french love their butter, so the hotel butter that was often used originated from Beurre Maitre d'Hotel or Hotel Butter. It was served with the Steak Dishes (Top Sirloin) at the Summery and was a sort of a fancy compound butter, so the recipe isn't something uncommon of the hotels at the time. It had: unsalted butter block, chopped fresh parsley, lemon juice, kosher salt, and black pepper. At the time all sorts of hotels were really into French cuisine and hotel butter was the status quo of butter at the time, people wanted compound butters cause it seemed fancy.
Sides: it was pretty standard to have things like tomato slices, cottage cheese was big back then and people really liked their Smoked Salmon and Cream Cheese Bagels, because new york was all the jam back then. Customers use to order the "Flaky Tuna Salad" that was a sort of tuna coleslaw that was a bit upscale and wasn't just a lump of tuna with mayonnaise. It was a must to have cottage cheese, but that sort of was like a fad and its not eaten too much these days, but if people had a hard time deciding they would usually go for the "Hawaiian Regent Special Salad". The Sandwiches came with a side "Jumbo Dill Pickle" like the old school delis. And the "Jumbo Kona Avocado" came with "Bay Shrimp Salad" like those old Shrimp Louie Salads in San Francisco.
German Potato Salad: There were creative ways to make use of ingredients like the BLT sandwiches had a lot of extra bacon, so a tender-cubed German Potato salad would use things like bacon (potato, bacon, onion, vinegar, sugar, herbs). While the German Potato salad was something delicious to people at the time, people wouldn't know that there would be an assortment of potato salads that would come from the hotel scene of Waikiki. Many people say that the place that popularized it was called "The Hofbrau" that was in Honolulu a popular German Restaurant.
Hawaiian Creamsicle Cake was popularized by The Summery Restaurant for its
light, sticky, and sophisticated sweetness with the flavor of the Creamsicle. This traced back to the executive pastry chef there named Freddy Drosch-Halmes who made creamsicle cake popular in the Hawaii baking spaces of peoples homes as a nice treat that tasted like creamsicle ice cream.
The Summery Restaurant ceased operations around the turn of the 21st century when the Hawaiian Regent was rebranded under Marriott.
Staff: Lily Vidal, Violet, Ginny, Sharon, Harriet
The Third Floor (1972-????) was in the Hawaiian Regent Hotel and owned by the management company Regent International.
It was described as a evening of comfortable elegance, quiet intimate privacy, and really fancy food.
The furniture they used were high-back wicker chairs.
"A Third Floor king of evening, a winner of honolulu magazine restaurant of the year award... Waves echoing from the beach...A night of romance...Expectations fulfilled... at the Hawaiian Regent Hotel"
Siegfried M. Poesch "Siggy" (1940-1997) he was born in Germany and came to Hawaii. He was sort of the face of the Third Floor and people kinda thought it was his restaurant, just because they would always see him all over the place. to some it might have been the luxurious. He worked at the location for 20 years, since the Third Floors opening (1972) and when it became "The Secret". He really had a need to have things in a very controlled environment and that showed in everything he had down on the to do lists for the staff that started from the intensive training. Everyday was about learning something new and about growth and seen as everyday training for the staff every day.
Starters were a complimentary hot Signature Naan bread (flat bread). No one had that sort of food and it was looking real classy with handsome wait staff and all. One of the notable Wait Staff Captains was Maria Houghtailing which at that time was seen as exotic to people in Hawaii. There was also the ramekins that had the Chicken Liver Pate, Sweet Butter, and a Relish Tray. The different livers were chosen by the chefs and sometimes if guests were lucky it was duck liver pate that evening.
Hors d'Oeuvre Buffet (Cold Appetizers) "The Promising Start": On the menu there was what was called "Promising Start" and it was stated it was a provocative assortment of cold-appetizers and selected items from the Hors d'Oeuvre buffet.
"So as my brother sat there enjoying a meal with his salesmen, he says I wonder what the poor people are doing. Then one of the 3 waiters attending to their table says...We're here waiting on you." -Lawrence Cloutier
When the hotel sold around 1987 they took the name The Third Floor with them. So when the Third Floor closed down it would later become a place called "The Secret". It would then become Aqua Restaurant at that spot and then Sansei (DK Kodamas)
Chef Rum made all the bread and would sneak some behind the service bar for the hungry staff.
Tiffany's Steak House
The Library
The Hawaiian Regent Purchase: The Hawaiian Regent Hotel did not "close" in the traditional sense of ceasing operations. Instead, it was purchased by Marriott International and transitioned through a $60 million rebrand as the Waikiki Beach Marriott Resort & Spa in late 2000 that took almost a year or more to finish. This was justified after the major renovations around 2001 had completed. The Paoakalani Tower (back tower) had all 658 of its rooms redone, the Kealohilani Tower (tower closest to the beach) 74 rooms on top of the previously done renovations of 578 rooms. Creation of an open-air entrance, addition of water features, a courtyard, retiling the pool areas, renovating the restaurant, refurbishment of Hamohamo Cafe and the Kuhio Beach Grill and other existing restaurants on the property.
Current: The Hawaiian Regent Hotel, now operating as the Waikiki Beach Marriott Resort & Spa, holds a significant place in Honolulu's hospitality history. Opened in 1971, it was among the largest hotels in Waikiki at the time, occupying five acres and featuring over 1,300 rooms spread across two towers: the original L-shaped Kealohilani Tower and the 33-story Paoakalani Tower, added in 1979 (Kuhio Tower).
Management: Raynard Suganuma, Sandy Terada (Tiffany)
Housekeeping: John Sananikone
Room Service: Karen Yoneda
Kitchen: Alex Ramos,
Food & Beverage: Andy Goo, Mark Shishido, Earl, Mairi, Laine, Susan, Mike, Leimomi, Mark, Monet, Randy (Bartender), Jeannie (Bartender), Michael Misaka (Bartender), Earl Kikuyama (Bartender), Leona, Brenda, Greta, Jeff, Ginger.
Business Office: Harry Yee (accounting),
Doorman:
Security: John Barret Keli'i Kaho'onei "Big John" (1962-2022), Spencer, Thomas, Willy Pia,
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