Whatever
Happened...
Question: What ever happened to the block-long Alexander Young Hotel on Bishop Street between King and Hotel streets? Downtown hotel gave way
to park and Pauahi TowerAnswer: It went the way of the wrecker's ball in 1981.
Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co., then the owner, announced the four-story building would be replaced with a 28-story tower and park. "Friends of the Alexander Young Building" opposed the plan, but replacement was cheaper than restoration.
It was leveled in about three months, and Pauahi Tower of the Pacific Trade Center and Tamarind Park were constructed.
At its 1903 opening,the Alexander Young was the grandest hotel in the Pacific Basin, with architecture borrowed from the Renaissance and from classical Rome. It boasted 22 elevators, 192 hotel rooms and a dozen retail establishments. It had a roof garden for dancing.
Bishop Street was built by the owner, Alexander Young, and donated to the city.
Young, a native of Scotland, arrived in Hawaii in 1865 and became a successful businessman, serving in the House of Nobles under the Hawaiian monarchy.
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