The Hawaii Theatre is a historic Vaudeville theatre and cinema located in downtown Honolulu.

Listed on the State and National Register of historical Places, when the Hawaii Theatre opened it in 1922, local newspapers called it “The Pride of the Pacific” and considered it the equal in opulence to any theatre in San Francisco or beyond.

Honolulu architects employed elements of Neoclassical architecture for the exterior with Byzantine, Corinthian, and Moorish ornamentation—and a rich panoply of Beaux-Arts architecture  inside—Corinthian columns, a gilded dome, marble statuary, plush carpets, silk hangings, and a Lionel Waldren Lionel mural on the proscenium. They also installed an innovative cooling system that allowed air from an ice storage room under the stage to flow through vents beneath the seats The large neon marquee was the largest ever built in Honolulu.

The Hawaii Theatre presented both Vaudeville entertainment and movies through the 1920s. Following the introduction of sound films, it operated as a deluxe movie theatre through the 1960s, gradually declining in the 1970s and falling into disrepair in the 1980s, until it finally closed in 1984.

Concerned citizens united to save and restore it and formed the non-profit Hawaii Theatre Center, which purchased the theatre and several adjacent buildings in 1986. They raised funds for an extensive, $20.8 million renovation of the interior in 1994 which included a hydraulic lift to raise and lower the original pipe organ that used to accompany silent films. The theatre reopened in 1996, while exterior renovations continued through 2005.

The Hawaii Theatre has once again become a popular venue for stage shows and concerts.

Check out the historical Hawaii Theatre when you are taking a walking tour of Chinatown by day on the Waikiki Trolley Red line Stop#9

Red Line Stop Schedule

	Trolley Stop	First	Last
Previous	Aloha Tower Marketplace	9:18AM	4:53PM
Current:	Chinatown	9:23AM	3:48PM
Next:	King Kamehameha Statue	9:27AM	3:52PM