Moana Surfrider

The hotel provides the public with little information about its history. Our team researches the hotel's past, from the very beginning, verifying its exact opening date and providing an overview of its history up to the present day.?If you have any useful information and would like to share it, please send it to archives@famoushotels.org.?Thank you This is what we know so far (attention: unverified history!): Originally with 75 rooms the hotel Moana, Waikiki first opened in 1901. In 1918 two wings were added, the Banyan Court created (home to the famed Hawaii Calls-radio broadcast for 40 years). A historic banyan tree, planted in 1885, is focal point of this ocean front venue, the Pacific Ocean beyond. 'The First Lady of Waikiki' also offers a ghoststory: "Oh yes, I can tell you about the murder," Tony Bissen whispers to us (this sotry was found on the wwweb, authored by Lora J. Finnegan). His historical tour, at Honolulu's Sheraton Moana Surfrider, is one of several backstage tours offered at historic hotels around the West, from Yosemite's Ahwahnee to Spokane's Davenport. The tours (all but one open to nonguests) recount a little history and some really good gossip. Bissen leads us to the 1901 hotel's restored historic section. "This is where staff are said to have seen Mrs. Leland Stanford's ghost," he notes outside room 244. In 1905, Stanford University cofounder Jane Stanford checked in for a vacation, and perhaps to escape a conflict with university president David Starr Jordan. One night Mrs. Stanford took a drink from her bottle of water and screamed. "She died a horrible death," Bissen says. "A doctor concluded she had been poisoned with strychnine." But an inquest, spurred by university trustees, found Mrs. Stanford died from "natural causes," Bissen notes, "so it's hard to say what happened." It's a chilling tale. But it doesn't prevent us from wanting to check into the Sheraton Moana Surfrider for a good long stay.

'The First Lady of Waikiki' also offers a ghoststory: "Oh yes, I can tell you about the murder," Tony Bissen whispers to us (this sotry was found on the wwweb, authored by Lora J. Finnegan). Bissen leads us to the 1901 hotel's restored historic section. "This is where staff are said to have seen Mrs. Leland Stanford's ghost," he notes outside room 244. In 1905, Stanford University cofounder Jane Stanford checked in for a vacation, and perhaps to escape a conflict with university president David Starr Jordan. One night Mrs. Stanford took a drink from her bottle of water and screamed. "She died a horrible death," Bissen says. "A doctor concluded she had been poisoned with strychnine." But an inquest, spurred by university trustees, found Mrs. Stanford died from "natural causes," Bissen notes, "so it's hard to say what happened." It's a chilling tale. But it doesn't prevent us from wanting to check into the Sheraton Moana Surfrider for a good long stay.