Hawaii at Play

Queen's Surf. The Palace Theatre. Stewart's Pharmacy. Kau Kau Korner. They are names and places of an era long past, a time when Hawaii's modern culture was coming of age. Islanders dined on Swanky Burgers or danced at La Hula Rhumba, while vacationers arrived by luxury liner, lured by romantic images of lovely hula maidens and a low-rise Waikiki. This golden era is captured in some 300 images — menus and matchbooks, postcards and magazine ads, posters and coasters — from the extensive personal collection of Bishop Museum archivist DeSoto Brown. Here is leisure-time Hawaii — from the Territorial years through early Statehood — seen through the eyes of those who marketed the magic of the Islands.