Army’s Cannon Club
will close on June 1

The club, which has been losing money,
may reopen under private contract

By Gregg K. Kakesako
Star-Bulletin

The Cannon Club, once considered the gem of the Army's club system, will be closing June 1.

The Army, however, hopes that will be only temporary while it tries to find a private contractor to run the food-and-beverage operations on Diamond Head.

Neighbors and others alarmed at the prospect of the Cannon Club shutting down forever plan to rally to keep it alive.

A meeting is planned for 6 tonight at the club.

Lee Ferguson, 25th Infantry Division spokeswoman, said the Army is seeking a private contractor because the Diamond Head club was "losing significant amounts of money."

Under a 1987 federal law, military clubs have to be self-supporting.

She said all party reservations for June will be honored.

Mona Wahlig, director of marketing for the Army's morale, welfare and recreation system, said the hope is to reopen the club this fall. Most of the Cannon Club's 30 full-time employees were told about the change Sunday.

With a panoramic view of Honolulu and the Pacific Ocean, patrons once dined by candlelight serenaded by orchestras. In 1976, steak-and-lobster dinners cost $9.25.

But like other military clubs, the Cannon Club has seen its membership decline. Its profitability has been elusive and competition from commercial sources fierce.

The Cannon Club, which opened in 1945, now serves dinners only on Friday and Saturday nights with a brunch menu on Sundays. Only military personnel and government civilian workers can dine at military clubs.

Wahlig said the Army used to have nine clubs in Hawaii, but was forced to close three at Schofield Barracks and one at Wheeler Army Air Field because they weren't making money.

"We even eliminated membership last July to get more people," Wahlig said. "We are competing with so many other operations, from fast-food restaurants to plate lunch places ... you name it."

Wahlig said the idea of using private contractors isn't new. At Norfolk Naval Base in Virginia, the club is operated by American Sports Bar, a private food-and-beverage company.

Bette Rodriguez, a patron of the Cannon Club for the past 40 years, calls the Army's decision "a sad one."

"It's an institution," Rodriguez said. "It should be retained for community use."

Michelle Matson, secretary of the Diamond Head Citizen Advisory Committee, said the club should be incorporated into the Diamond Head Monument under the master plan adopted by the Legislature in 1979.

"We are definitely working toward incorporating the Cannon Club into the monument and converting it into an interpretive cultural center focusing on the volcanic formation of the Hawaiian Islands and Diamond Head," Matson said.

The master plan calls for reforesting the crater, improving the trail system in and around the crater, fixing the lighting system in the tunnel, adding an irrigation system and landscaping the entrance to the crater, Matson said.