Hawaii inducts 6 into tourism hall of fame

The Hawaii visitor industry will honor three hoteliers, a legendary entertainer, and two airline pioneers who each helped shape Hawaii tourism as they are inducted into the Hawaii Hospitality Hall of

The Hawaii visitor industry will honor three hoteliers, a legendary entertainer, and two airline pioneers who each helped shape Hawaii tourism as they are inducted into the Hawaii Hospitality Hall of Fame on October 29.

The inductees, all deceased, are being recognized at the “Celebrate a Legacy in Tourism” luncheon hosted by the Travel Industry Management School at the Hawaii Convention Center from 11:30 am to 1:30 pm.

The new inductees join 31 other individuals who were previously selected for the recognition on a Wall of Fame adjacent to the convention center’s third floor ballroom.

The honorees are:

โ€ข Alfred Apaka, the legendary “Golden Voice of Hawaii.” He began his career with Don McDiarmid’s orchestra at the Royal Hawaiian. He was a featured singer on the Hawaii Calls radio broadcasts and performed with the Moana Serenaders at the Moana Hotel. He is best remembered for performances in the Hawaiian Village Hotel’s Tapa room. Bob Hope discovered him at Don the Beachcomber’s, which led to national television exposure for him and Hawaii tourism.

โ€ข Stan Kennedy, Jr. was a third-generation kamaaina who played a role in the development of aviation in the Pacific. He was the son of Stanley C. Kennedy Sr. who founded and ran Inter-Island Airways, which became Hawaiian Airlines. Stan joined Hawaiian in 1946 as a mechanics helper and rose to vice president of sales by 1966.

โ€ข Ruddy Tongg founded Trans-Pacific Airlines in 1946, which was renamed Aloha Airlines in 1958. Tongg started the airline right after World War II, because during the war years, it had been difficult to get neighbor island flights unless you were in the military. He dubbed the carrier “the people’s airline,” with discounts for local families.

โ€ข Fred Dailey, with his wife and business partner, Elizabeth, developed the Waikikian Hotel in 1956 followed by the Tahitian Lanai, a landmark of the Waikiki restaurant scene. The family also opened the smaller Driftwood Hotel.

โ€ข Richard Kimball, known as “Kingie,” was a long-serving manager of the Halekulani Hotel, owned and operated by his family for 45 years. After selling the hotel in l962, Richard and his brother George built the Waiohai Hotel on Kauai.

โ€ข Annalie Tatibouet was a successful hotelier in an era when hotel management was almost exclusively a male domain. Born in Hoยญยญnoยญlulu in 1913 and married in 1938 to Joseph Tatibouet, she became manager of Pensacola Gardens, a small property built by her father. She began her own hotel company in 1948 by borrowing money to acquire the 15-room Royal Grove in Waikiki.

Proceeds from the luncheon benefit the University of Hawai’i School of Travel Industry Management.

For more information on the luncheon, contact Frank Haas at the School of Travel Industry Management at 808-956-6609 or go to www.tim.hawaii.edu. Registration must be received by Tuesday.

About the author

Avatar of Linda Hohnholz

Linda Hohnholz

Editor in chief for eTurboNews based in the eTN HQ.

Share to...