Since March 11, 1901, the Moana Surfrider Hotel in front of you has been welcoming guests as the First Lady of Waikiki and the oldest hotel in Hawaii. In that era, reaching Waikiki required taking a horse-drawn streetcar from downtown Honolulu — the beach was considered practically in the countryside. The Moana was built to serve the small but growing number of wealthy travelers who were making their way to Hawaii by steamship, and it represented a level of luxury that Honolulu had not previously offered.
At the center of the hotel's social life was a great banyan tree, planted around 1885, whose aerial roots have spread into a magnificent canopy that covers much of the courtyard today. Under this tree, from 1935 onward, Hazel Ai hosted 'Hawaii Calls,' a live radio program that broadcast Hawaiian music across the United States and introduced millions of mainlanders to the sound of the steel guitar and the 'ukulele. The beachboys of the Moana — Native Hawaiian watermen who gave surfing lessons and outrigger canoe rides to hotel guests — were among the first ambassadors of surf culture to the outside world.
Their easy mastery of the waves, their warmth and humor, became the human face of Waikiki for generations of visitors.