75th Anniversary of the Hawaiian Room in NYC

By her early 20s, TeMoana Makolo had met more celebrities than most of us will ever see in a lifetime, including Ella Fitzgerald, Barbra Streisand, Richard Burton, Buddy Hackett and many more. The vivacious Makolo was a dancer and, later, a choreographer at the storied Hawaiian Room in the Lexington Hotel in Manhattan from 1962 until it closed in 1966 (because it needed fireproofing renovations that were too expensive). “I’m from Kalihi, and Molokai, but I always say I grew up in New York,” she says with a laugh.

At the end of this month, Makolo and her fellow dancers and singers will celebrate the 75th anniversary of the opening of the Hawaiian Room in 1937 with a free photo exhibit at Honolulu Hale.

— Honolulu Magazine