Kuhio 1 & 2 Theater
2095 Kuhio Avenue,
Honolulu,
HI
96815
2095 Kuhio Avenue,
Honolulu,
HI
96815
2 people
favorited this theater
The late Streamline style Kuhio Theater opened in 1946, in Waikiki, Honolulu. It could originally seat over 880.
During the 1960’s, the Kuhio Theater featured road shows, and in October of 1966, the Hawaiian premiere of the movie “Hawaii”, based on the James Michener novel of the same name, was held at the theater.
The Kuhio’s 70mm screening capabilites were removed when the theater was twinned in the 1980’s after it was acquired by Pacific Theatres.
After it closed in the 1990’s, the twin was demolished in 1996 to make way for a new shopping center.
Contributed by
Bryan Krefft
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Recent comments (view all 28 comments)
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.
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Couple more photos of the Kuhio Theatre from different angles.
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This shot is from one of the hotels, from the angle I would say the Outrigger/Ohana West.
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look at all the one sheet frames! You sure it was a TWIN.Lol.
Are the Varsity 1 and 2 on Cinema Treasures they were in Honolulu and I can’t find them on the SEARCH.
Varsity Twin Cinema
MikeRogers: It is listed as Varsity Twin Cinema.
thanks Michael.
I’ll be posting a picture from February 1994. Some great first run movies from the 1980’s at the Kuhio 1 and 2 that I saw : The Four Seasons, The Outsiders, Mr Mom, Streets of Fire, Revenge of the Nerds, All of Me, Mischief, Vision Quest, The Breakfast Club, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, The Secret of My Success, Evil Dead 2 : Dead by Dawn.