Iconic Waikiki Hotel Closes

The Y-shaped Ilikai hotel that has graced the Waikiki skyline for nearly five decades and hosted everyone from U.S. presidents to Elvis Presley has closed.

The new owner ceased hotel operations on the iconic property on Thursday because of mounting operating losses.

The 30-story Ilikai was considered Hawaii's first luxury high-rise hotel when it opened in 1964. It gained prominence in the 1970s when it was featured in the opening sequence of the hit TV series "Hawaii Five-0."

However, by Thursday afternoon, the open-air lobby had turned into a virtual ghost town as the last guests checked out and were relocated to other hotels. Ballrooms and several shops had already been closed for years. The condos and time-share units will not be affected.

Arnal Chandra, of San Francisco, was one of the last guests to check out. Chandra, who has stayed at the Ilikai every two months or so for business, said he'll miss the hotel and employees he's gotten to know personally.

"The service is always great," he said. "It's very sad to know they won't be here or I won't be able to come back to this hotel and see them."

The final hours for the roughly 75 full-time employees who abruptly lost their jobs were filled with hugs, picture taking and emotions. Wearing bright floral leis and black buttons to show support for their union, they tearfully turned in their hotel ID cards and uniforms before they punched out one last time and were handed their final paycheck.

New York-based iStar Financial Inc., which acquired the hotel for $51 million at a foreclosure auction in May, hasn't indicated what it will do with the 203 hotel rooms in the 1,000-unit hotel-condo-timeshare property. It announced the closure Tuesday.

"It's a shock to us. We never thought we would be on the streets tomorrow," said guest services employee Joli Tokusato. "A lot of us have worked here for so long, we don't know how to write resumes any more and the job market is extremely tight, so a lot of us are very, very scared for what the future might hold."