WAILUA — At 83 years young, Larry Rivera, Kauai’s living treasure of music, is synonymous with Coco Palms Resort. Rivera’s one dream is to witness the renovation of the 16.4-acre property that was once one of the most popular Pacific
WAILUA — At 83 years young, Larry Rivera, Kauai’s living treasure of music, is synonymous with Coco Palms Resort.
Rivera’s one dream is to witness the renovation of the 16.4-acre property that was once one of the most popular Pacific destinations. This includes the lounge he used to sing in for half a century, and continues to visit daily.
“I hope to live long enough to see this place in full swing and then I will just walk away and wave to it and be very happy,” Rivera said, touring the familiar grounds last week. “After fighting for 21 years, we finally got the OK and in three more years you can come back and hopefully I will be there on stage.”
Soon after starting work at Coco Palms on Sept. 14, 1951, Rivera was called to serve in the U.S. Army during the Korean War. He was stationed at Schofield Barracks on Oahu, and found his true calling after placing first in a talent show.
“It was a blessing because they held the first all-Army talent contest and 35 installations in Hawaii competed,” Rivera said. “I had two boys with me and we called ourselves ‘The Beach Boys.’”
But Rivera’s musical liftoff happened on Kauai
He said Charlie Fern was the first to play his recordings on KTOH Radio.
His trademark song, “Where Is My Love,” was written while he was an employee of Coco Palms. He was down with the flu and said the hotel manager Grace Guslander called and told him, “don’t stay home with the flu, write a song about a frog,” he recalled.
“I said yes,” Rivera added. “If she tells you to do something, you better do it.”
Grace managed the hotel until 1986 and resided in a nearby Wailua apartment until she died in 2000. She had taken over from her husband Lyle “Gus” Guslander, who died in 1984.
Starting in 1953, Gus expanded a 24-room Coco Palms Lodge into nearly 400 rooms and cottages by the late 1970s. Grace was a manager and the two married.
The hotel became part of the Hawaii tourism company AMFAC with Gus as vice president into the early 1980s. It was purchased by Wailua Associates in 1985 and fell into disrepair after Grace retired, with Hurricane Iniki the final knockout blow in 1992.
After several failed attempts at redeveloping the property, Coco Palms Ventures moved ahead with plans that ended with the economic downturn in 2008. Coco Palms Hui LLC took the lead in 2013 with investors ready to move forward.
“Coco Palms is not about me, it is about love and aloha and the jobs that people can get here,” Rivera said. “This is the heart of Kauai, and what a gift Coco Palms would be once again if it were brought to life.”
The only time that Rivera became upset during the tour was when pointing out the Native Hawaiian burial site where copper thieves stole a plaque that covered reinterred remains that were discovered during construction.
Memories
Before the speed and cost of flying overseas made it preferable to sailing in the early 1960s, Rivera recalled the days when ocean liners brought tourists to Hawaii. He named a daughter after the Matson owned cruise ship S. S. Lurline that sailed until 1962.
“The Lurline was the only cruise ship that went from island to island at the time,” he said.
There was also an S.S. Leilani cruise ship that traveled to and from the Mainland in the late 1950s. Rivera has another daughter named Leilani Rivera Low, along with a third daughter, Ilima.
Rivera and his wife Gloria have been married for 56 years.
“I am still on my honeymoon,” Rivera said.
Bing Crosby once picnicked with Rivera’s wife and children. Rivera recalled that Crosby wanted the musician to teach him his song, “Love And Aloha,” after hearing it in the show.
Rivera doesn’t recall getting too close to Frank Sinatra. He didn’t make an impression and had bodyguards walking with him so the crowds didn’t chase after him, he said.
But Rivera recalled the day when Sinatra nearly drowned at Wailua Beach. The uber-famous singer survived and the close call prompted Sinatra to donate funds for some mobile thing to help rescue people, but Rivera said he is not sure what it was or what came of it.
“He learned a lesson out there in the ocean,” Rivera said. “He was already blue and almost died, if it wasn’t for the boys with the surf boards.”
Patti Page, Don Ho, and Elvis Presley all came to watch Rivera’s show when they stayed at Coco Palms. They became his friends and sang with him on stage.
“They all came to my shows and Elvis and Patti Page sang background vocals for me right there in the cocktail lounge,” Rivera said. “He (Elvis) was a very wonderful man and very soft spoken. He was very humorous and extremely polite.”
The one regret was never getting a photo to help remember the great fun they had together.
Elvis was a frequent guest of the hotel and the ruins of his bungalow are still a tour attraction. The tour guides tell stories of a humble young man who would bus tables when the waitresses were busy.
After Elvis died in 1977, Rivera said he and his wife Gloria were invited to Memphis to attend an Elvis impersonator event that was organized by the estate. He was able to sing and tell the stories about Elvis at Coco Palms and of their friendship.
Musical highlights
Rivera also ran the Coco Palms coffee shop on the second floor above the lounge. He would sing into the night and then open the shop in the morning.
It was there that he met a young tourist, a Japanese girl who told him she was sad to leave Kauai, and inspired his song, “I Don’t Want To Say Good-bye To America.”
Rivera and Gloria were invited to attend a bicentennial celebration in Los Angeles in 1976. Cam Floria, producer and director of the Continental Singers, wanted to include Rivera’s song in the nation’s birthday celebration.
“There were seven bands and 200 voices all wearing Red White and Blue, and they sang my song and had me stand to be recognized as the composer from Hawaii,” Rivera said. “That gave me chicken skin.”
One of Rivera’s favorite moments was the day he convinced Bob Denver to surprise a group of guests by jumping in and joining a hukilau dance with his daughters for a charity event at the state convention hall. It was the height of Denver’s popularity on the television sitcom “Gilligan’s Island.”
“I didn’t tell anybody,” Rivera said. “We were singing, “Oh we’re going,” and he stayed on the side and was wearing that hat. My three daughters danced and I gave them the sign and he came up and danced and the audience went bananas.”
The 50th anniversary of the release of Elvis Presley’s “Blue Hawaii” was celebrated in 2012. The Kauai portion of the filming occurred during 1961, including the closing wedding scene at the Coco Palms lagoon and 17-acre coconut grove that was planted by William Lindeman in 1896, and now conservation-zoned leased from the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources.
In the film, the characters Chad Gates (Elvis Presley) and Maile Duval (Joan Blackman) are married after standing on a large canoe that is paddled to the north end of the lagoon to end the movie. The scene was so popular that visitors and locals still come to get married or renew their vows at the lagoon.
The flowered canoe wedding experience continued with Blue Hawaii Weddings at Coco Palms.
“Just like the end of the Elvis Presley movie, we do the canoe, the torch lighting, the conch, the arches, the entire wedding,” Rivera said. “I have had 100 weddings and they just love it.”
Still performing
As a minister, Rivera may marry couples by request, but said he prefers to sing and leave the ceremony to the ministers. He said it is important to avoid routine and to make each wedding unique and special.
At one point in the ceremony, Rivera sings “Beautiful Rainbow.” At the same time he directs the bride and groom to look away from the group and toward the northern sky in a private meditation.
“I treat the bride like she is my own daughter,” Rivera said. “I make sure everything is perfect.”
The concern today is that people think the hotel is destroyed and can’t have a wedding there anymore, Rivera said. That concern grew with the recent redevelopment plans and more people think the tours and weddings have stopped.
“It’s slow now because they think the whole place is wrecked,” Rivera said. “But those that find out it is still beautiful right here at the lagoon, really don’t care about the rest of the place.”
The ruins of a hotel frozen in time make it possible for a tour company to showcase a proud history with a living memory. As a new project prepares to move forward, Rivera said he is ready to move the wedding operation across the Wailua River to Smith’s Landing, if and when the construction brings his business to a halt.
Coco Palms Hui LLC Principal Chad Waters, said the project plans to allow the tours to continue through the construction with Craig Kawakami Builders.
Coco Palms Site Manager Bob Jasper still provides weekday tours at 2 p.m. He provides stories of the hotel as he guides people through the movie locations, lagoon and hotel.
Rivera comes by when larger tours are scheduled to sing and sell his CDs.
Rivera continues to perform weekly at Cafe Portofino at 7 p.m. Wednesdays, at Coconut Marketplace at 5 p.m. Fridays and at the Kauai Museum at 1 p.m. Saturdays.
• Tom LaVenture, staff writer, can be reached at 245-0424 or by emailing tlaventure@thegardenisland.com.
