Kuhio 1 & 2 Theater

Many memories of another grand twin theater thats no longer there. The Kuhio Twins as I remembered sat on the corner of Kuhio Avenue & the cross street (darn I forget) I always checked out and stared for hours at their streamline of current movie posters that were playing at the Cinerama, Kapiolani & Waikiki's 1-3 which are no longer there. The interiors of the theater and lobby always fascinated me. The auditoriums were so dimly lit I often had a heck of a time trying to see where I was going.

I visit Hawaii at least three times a year as a vacation spot. I remember well the Kuhio. While on honeymoon my wife and I saw a movie there and on the way out of the theatre we stopped in the Sun Glass shop to the left of the theatre lobby and bought sun glasses. The movier we saw was "Arthur". We seemed to make the Kuhio a movie house favorite everytime we were in Hawaii until it closed. What a lovely theatre and a sad shame that it is now gone. With the closing of the Wakiki 3 there is no other tehatre left in Wakiki proprer to see a movier.

I remember when the Kuhio was "twinned" and I realized this was marked the beginning of the end for the theater. "The Sound of Music" and "South Pacific" played here as well as "Hawaii" though I was not living in Honolulu when they did. With the Waikiki theaters (Waikii 1, 2, &3) and the Cinerama gone - no more big screen experience in Honolulu. Anyone remember the Royal? That housed "Fiddler on the Roof" and all the Disney movies!

This is a small 1960's photo of the Kuhio Theater.

We were married in the Soldier's Chapel on 30 June 1956 at Schofield Barracks. Our first home was an efficiency apartment one block from the Kuhio Theater We're going back for our 50th next year and wanted to have our picture taken in front of our apartment building with the Kuhio Theater in the background. Sorry to hear that the theater is gone. I had a picture of the theater, but can't attach it. sorry

The Kuhio Theatre opened on 21st June 1945. It was designed by San Francisco architect Vincent G. Raney for the Consolidated Amusement Co.

Here's a pre-construction architect's rendering of the Kuhio Theatre.

The theater block is at the intersection where Kuhio runs into Kualakua. A Niketown store is the primary tenant of the current building. This area has a mile of upscale stores including Tiffany, Gucci, Prada and so on.

I headed the sight and sound team that turned the Kuhio into a twin. At the time, the original plan was to quad the Waikiki Twins, but the Kuhio was twinned instead. A lot od discusion went on about removing the Noreclco 35/70mm projectors, but in the end we replaced them with straight Century 35mm projectors and Orcon platters.

Here is an undated photo:
http://tinyurl.com/2febcd

In 1954 I saw "The Student Prince" featuring Edmund Purdom and "the singing voice of Mario Lanza" at the Kuhio, and the following year, Martin & Lewis' "You're Never Too Young". In '56 they featured "Away All Boats" and the management put a Radioplane target drone in the lobby and a M95(?) armored personnel carrier out front. I recall that someone said that the AAPC had to be trucked in because the tracks would have chewed up the pavement. Coincidentally, the Radioplane company was owned by actor Reginald Denny.

There are two theater photos on this site, but they don't seem to resemble the Kuhio as seen in the photos above. Perhaps after the conversion to a twin?
http://tinyurl.com/6flla5

Was this also known as the Royal Hawaiian Kuhio theater?

I don't know. I'm not sure those photos are of this theater.

Then why post them?

There aren't any other Kuhios listed. Royal Hawaiian looks to be the chain when the photos were taken. If it can be confirmed that these photos are the Kuhio after the conversion, then Royal should be added as an aka. The few pictures we have are of the single screen theater.

The photos are of the Royal theatre located on Kuhio Ave.
The theatre was built and operated by Royal Development company and was closed and demolished in 1982. I do not recall the theatre being called the Royal Hawaiian Kuhio.
The Kuhio was of course the single screen theatre operated by Consolidated theatres and later twinned.

Thanks for clearing that up.

My pleasure.
I loved the Royal with its garden entrance and large orchestra seating area. The presidium hosted two curtains, a Royal Blue traveler curtain and a Gold Contour curtain.
I had the unpleasant responsibility of dismantling the theatre when it was closed, a very sad experience,
I remember thinking I hope never to have to do that again to another theatre. I had driven Royal theatres CEO Herman Rosen to the theatre the last night it was open for one last look. He hated closing it, but he had sold the company and we began downsizing, starting with closing the home office and then the Royal and Sunset Drive in. Consolidated took over the Marina and ran it for a while before selling to a steak house operation.

The Kuhio had a rather plan auditorium with no draperies or screen curtains.

Here is another photo of the Kuhio Theater.

1985 photo of the Kuhio Theatre.
http://americanclassicimages.com/Default.aspx?tabid=141&txtSearch=CATAdvancedSearch1%2c11%2c3%2c-1&ProductID=25853

Couple more photos of the Kuhio Theatre from different angles.
http://americanclassicimages.com/Default.aspx?tabid=141&txtSearch=CATAdvancedSearch1%2c11%2c3%2c-1&catpageindex=2&ProductID=25855

This shot is from one of the hotels, from the angle I would say the Outrigger/Ohana West.
http://americanclassicimages.com/Default.aspx?tabid=141&txtSearch=CATAdvancedSearch1%2c11%2c3%2c-1&catpageindex=2&ProductID=25856