From the Big Island, Jim Reddekopp sends this retro-awesome Waikiki War Memorial Natatorium photo from his family archive. We only know two of the four guys in the picture, taken (we don’t know when) on the Ewa end of the Natatorium deck. On the left is Jim’s grandfather, Gene Froiseth, and on the right is Gene’s brother, legendary surfer Wally Froiseth, one of the developers of the Hot Curl board and a pioneer in the 1930s and 1940s of big wave surfing on the North Shore of Oahu. The Froiseth boys were part of the Natatorium’s glory days. Gene and
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Archives for Natatorium photos
Time Travel: The Natatorium 59 Years Ago
This’ll take you back! A look at photos taken across territorial Honolulu and Oahu in 1954, five years before statehood. Ala Wai Canal. Ala Moana Park. Waikiki. Chinatown. Schofield Barracks. Kaneohe Bay. Kamehameha Highway. Wow; how things have changed in less than six decades! And pay particular attention to the three photos onscreen from 35 seconds to 50 seconds into the video. Yup: That’s the Natatorium. Being used. Being enjoyed. Being exactly what it was meant to be: A place to honor those from Hawaii who served in World War I, simply by enjoying the freedoms they fought to protect.
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