This week’s big news about the Natatorium prompted The Atlantic to publish an absolutely must-read overview and thought piece. The story, headlined “The Improbable Persistence of Swimming Pools Built in the Ocean,” carries the byline of The Atlantic senior associate editor Adrienne LaFrance. She’s a former reporter for Honolulu Civil Beat, and has written about the Natatorium issue before. But the format of The Atlantic really gives her room to write a “big picture” analysis with knowledge, insight, grace and passion. The issue, she writes, isn’t just what to do with a unique 100-meter ocean pool anchoring one end of
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Monthly Archives May 2014
Natatorium Named a "National Treasure" by National Trust
Big, big news! The National Trust for Historic Preservation announces today that the War Memorial Natatorium is now a National Treasure. That designation means that the National Trust is (pardon the expression) diving headfirst into the effort to preserve, revitalize and reopen our amazing, historic 100-meter ocean pool in Waikiki. They’ll provide manpower, resources, partnerships, planning, expertise. Whatever it takes. Why? The president and CEO of the National Trust, Stepanie Meeks, says the Natatorium is a “one-of-a-kind resource.” “There is no comparable structure elsewhere in the nation,” Meeks says. “This Treasure designation reflects our commitment to developing a collaborative preservation
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Get a Great Natatorium Shirt… and Support the Friends!
For a limited time, these great Friends of the Natatorium “Remember. Respect. Renew.” T-shirts are available in navy blue. And even better, our friends at Ōiwi Ocean Gear are donating $10 from the sale of each $25 shirt to the Friends! That’s a big help in our efforts to preserve and renew the War Memorial Natatorium in Waikiki. 100 percent super-soft, lightweight cotton. The Friends of the Natatorium logo on the front. On the back, a graphic of swimmers doing what we’ll all be doing again in Waikiki’s beautiful, monumental ocean pool once we get it fixed and reopened. Here’s
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We Need your Natatorium Stories!
Did you learn to swim at the Natatorium? Spend weekends there with your best buddies? Cannonball off the old high dive? Did your kupuna tell you Natatorium tales of Duke Kahanamoku, or Keo Nakama, Halo Hirose and the ditch boys? Did you grow up with sagas of Johnny Weissmuller or Esther Williams? Then come talk story with us! Natatorium Oral History Project This Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday – May 20-22 – we’re videotaping the stories of people who spent the better part of their lives swimming at the War Memorial Natatorium. People who grew up there. And people who never
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Attend Natatorium Memorial Day May 25, 2014
There are many reasons to join us at 10 a.m. on Sunday, May 25, 2014 for the Memorial Day observance at the Natatorium. Of course, there are always very good reasons to observe Memorial Day. In fact, there are about 1.3 million of them. That’s an estimate of the number of American men and women who have served and died in our nation’s armed conflicts. It is their memory that brings us to the Natatorium each May on the Sunday before the Memorial Day holiday. Their memory, and the obligation that we feel – the privilege we have – to
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