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Lyle and Grace Guslander built their hotel empire from what
started out as a 24-room hotel with five employees, that
everyone on the island of Kauai had bet would go under,
especially when they heard that a pretty, blonde haole
from Pennsylvania had arrived on the island to manage it.
Previously, all of the former operators of the Coco Palm Lodge
had failed miserably.
Within a year, Grace Buscher (as she was known in the fifties)
had created one of the most famous destinations in the world by
incorporating the host culture she had learned from her Hawaiian
friends and fusing it with her own unique creativity and vision.
Grace had conjured up a magical tropical fantasy that people
from all over the world had dreamed they would find in Hawaii,
and the Coco Palms became renowned as one of the first hotels in
Hawaii that actually celebrated Hawaiian culture. Within a
decade, Grace Buscher was named the most successful hotel
manager in the travel industry.
Movies and television shows were filmed at the Coco Palms Hotel,
most famously Blue Hawaii starring Elvis Presley.
Paramount producer Hal Wallis was quoted as saying that the
grounds of the Coco Palms was chosen for filming because he
couldn’t find any
hotel in the Hawaiian Islands as authentically "Hawaiian"
or as romantic as the Coco Palms! The hotel has also seen its
share of dignitaries and celebrities; among them, the Shah of
Iran, Prince and Princess Hitachi of Japan, and Bing Crosby.
Even after Lyle and Grace had married and had sold their Island
Holidays hotel chain for twenty million dollars to American
Factors in 1969, the Coco Palms story continued for another two
decades. Lyle became a major force in the hospitality industry,
overseeing hotels for American Factors, and Grace continued to
manage the Coco Palms Hotel until her retirement in 1985.
Tragically, the devastating effects of Hurricane Iniki in 1992
left the Coco Palms Hotel severely damaged. As the island of
Kauai grappled with a recession and a downturn in tourism in the
wake of the hurricane, the resort was eventually left to decay
as repairs and insurance issues proved too costly. However
countless thousands around the world can still recall a time
when gentle tradewinds blew through hundreds of coconut trees
beside a silvery lagoon; where Hawaiian hospitality and the true
aloha spirit reigned supreme, all because of Grace Guslander.
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David P. Penhallow, author and playwright, was
raised on the island of Kauai. Educated at Punahou School in
Honolulu and Stanford University, Penhallow is a former director
of the Kauai Museum, a former director of Economic Development
for the County of Kauai and served as assistant to Mayor Tony
Kunimura in the 1980’s. He retired in 1998 as an instructor at
Kauai Community College and is the author of two novels,
"After the Ball" and "The
Betrayers". Penhallow had also been employed as an assistant
manager at the Coco Palms Hotel. |
