Did you see it? The Natatorium made its first guest-starring appearance in Monday night’s episode of the new Hawaii Five-0.
If you missed it, you can catch the episode, titled “Powa Maka Moana,” on streaming video on the Hawaii Five-0 web site.
A little over 11 minutes in, there’s a beautiful aerial shot from the ocean side, followed immediately by an establishing shot of the Natatorium’s gateway arch. That places Five-0 detectives Steve McGarrett (Alex O’Loughlin) and Danny “Danno” Williams (Scott Caan) in Kapiolani Park, where they’re looking for informant Kamekona (Taylor Wiley) who may have information to help them break a kidnapping case.
Hollywood obviously recognizes that the Waikiki Natatorium is a jewel. When will Hawaii recognize that this jewel must be preserved and restored to use?
As it stands today, the Natatorium looks great in the background of a TV series. But take a closer look: We can’t swim in it. We can’t use it, the way we were intended to use it when it was built in 1927 as Hawaii’s official memorial to the territory’s World War I soldiers and sailors.
The Friends of the Natatorium are fighting, as they have for 25 years, to get the Natatorium fixed so we can all swim there again. Help us.
The Natatorium: It’s ready for prime time. But when will it be ready for its closeup?
