Hawaii Theater – Honolulu, Hawaii

On the eastern edge of Chinatown, I found this gem of a building. Built in 1922, it became a grand movie palace in the mid-1930s. The advent of television in the 1950s hastened its decline until it closed in 1984. Luckily an organization called the Hawaii Theater Center stopped its demolition.

The interior was fully renovated in 1996 and the exterior in 2004. With a 35mm equivalent lens, it was hard to capture the entire building. The structure is surrounded by a grid of densely-packed downtown buildings that prevented me from backing up. Unlike the Paramount in Austin. The renovated building has some wonderful neon. Unlit, of course, during the middle of the day.

A Google search revealed a worthwhile evening urban landscape. The fully decked-out neon would look fabulous during blue hour. I’m tempted to visit again someday, at night. Perhaps with a wider lens. Although the marginal Chinatown neighborhood gives me some pause after dark.

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