Timeless Magic, 1965 - 2015
22 TIMELESS MAGIC ABOVE An aerial view of the undeveloped Kohala Coast much as Rockefeller must have seen it in 1960 OPPOSITE Touring the undeveloped site B efore there was a hotel before there was a beach there was a mountain Mauna Kea And the mauna is the beginning Mauna Kea is ancient a million years old In the language of geology it is a volcano a conduit for molten rock bubbling beneath the earths crust Released as lava this molten rock flows down the slopes of the mountain toward the ocean makai the liquid solidifying building the mauna 13803 feet above sea level and also creating transcendent beauty as the lava meets the sea cools and forms jagged shorelines and perfect bays Such a place is Kauna oa the magnificent crescentshaped beach and bay fronting Mauna Kea Beach Hotel Today standing in the sand at Kauna oa looking out to sea its not so difficult to imagine this infinitely blue panorama backdropped by the towering mountain created by raw volcanic power practically unchanged from half a century ago when Laurance S Rockefeller stood here took a swim here looked up at the long slope of the mauna and back to the Pacific horizon and felt inspired to build a hotel THE R IGHT T IME AND PLACE On the day Mr Rockefeller LSR as he was called by many visited in 1960 one year after statehood Kauna oa belonged to Parker Ranch in Waimea owned by sixth generation heir Richard Smart The Ranch gave its employees the extended ohana of paniolo families free use of the beach for camping fishing and recreation Kiyomi Yoshimatsu Smarts secretary for many years fondly remembers visiting Kauna oa as a
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