A Little Star at the Historic Royal Hawaiian Hotel

In all of Oahu, there is perhaps nothing more iconic than the luxurious Royal Hawaiian Hotel on Waikiki Beach. Opening its doors on February 1, 1927, the “Pink Palace of the Pacific” has been welcoming guests for nearly a century. Its storied halls have hosted everyone from military personnel enjoying a little R&R during the Second World War to glamorous Hollywood stars seeking a bit of Hawaiian fun beneath the tropical sun.

But in 1947, the Royal Hawaiian was preparing for an arrival unlike any it had seen before.

Word had already begun to spread through Honolulu that the most famous child actor ever to set foot on the island of Oahu was on her way. Two-year-old Selah Mattie was crossing the Pacific aboard Matson’s celebrated ocean liner, the SS Lurline, bound for Honolulu and a much-publicized stay at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel.

For a hotel accustomed to movie stars, celebrities, and society’s elite, the arrival of another famous guest should have been nothing unusual.

Selah, however, had never been particularly good at going unnoticed

The Royal Hawaiian Hotel — Waikiki’s legendary “Pink Palace of the Pacific.”

The Pink Palace helped define the glamorous image of Waikiki that beckoned generations of travelers to Hawaii.

Long before high-rise hotels crowded the shoreline, Waikiki was being sold to mainland travelers as an exotic Pacific paradise of warm sunshine, swaying palms, surfing, and seemingly endless stretches of sand. Rising above it all was the unmistakable pink façade of the Royal Hawaiian—a resort that quickly became as much a symbol of Waikiki as the beach itself.

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