Opened in 1927 on Olympic gold medalist and Hawaiian legend Duke
Kahanamoku's birthday and closed in 1979, the Natatorium stands as a
memorial of those from Hawaii who served in World War I and is listed on
both the State and National Historic Registers. Kahanamoku, several
other known swimmers of the day, and pretty much all of our relatives
swam here. While the 'ewa end of Waikiki gets further developed into a
Millionaire's Mile, the Diamond Head end of Waikiki is rich in historic
gems like the Natatorium, Kapiolani Park, and Waikiki Aquarium (also the
more recently added Waikiki Shell and Honolulu Zoo).
Some folks
think we should scrape off what remains of the Natatorium (it has
withered from decades of neglect) to make way for a beach. This island
has miles and miles of beach. Waikiki itself has over a mile of man-made
beach, and it's nice, but it ain't great. We've built beach on
coralline tide pools, on wetlands, on regular land. You know what we
don't have? An ocean-front, ocean-fed swimming pool. Well, we had one,
but now we (functionally) don't. They exist in many other places.
They're beautiful and amazing, but none of them were built in 1920s
Hawaii to memorialize our folks that served in WWI and had Duke
Kahanamoku swim in it on opening day.
Across the street from the Natatorium is a stone with a "Roll of Honor" plaque that lists the names of those from Hawaii that served in WWI.