Post #619481 by TikiTomD on Sun, Jan 1, 2012 7:46 PM

Last night at Ohana Luau’s New Year’s Eve Party in the Hawaiian Inn (Daytona Beach Shores, FL), Wailana McFall shared several family photos. Wailana leads the group of Polynesian performers there called “Silhouettes of Polynesia.” Her dad was Prince Benjamin Pokii Hele Loa I Ko Aina Kelii Waiwaiole, an actual member of the Hawaiian royalty before statehood. He organized and led a group of performers called “Silhouettes of the Tropics” that appeared mainly at the Bali Hai on Northport, Long Island, but also elsewhere, including at the Hawaiian Inn in Daytona Beach and at the South Pacific in Hallandale, Florida. In this photo, he is sitting with his family inside the South Pacific, circa 1966...

Wailana, about 2 years old, is shown sitting in front of her mother, Darlene Dawn Wharton Waiwaiole, on the left. I met Wailana’s mother last night and she gave me the information for this photo. Sitting on her father’s lap is her brother, Kelii. A step-sister is on the right.

Here is an old ad for the South Pacific...

The Miami News August 3, 1963 (page 35)

This note from the Google News archives indicates that the South Pacific opened in December of 1959...

The Miami News November 15, 1959 (page 54)

This article suggests it closed in May of 1975 (didn’t find any evidence that it reopened)...

The Miami News May 7, 1975 (page 32)

Hollywood stars evidently dined there, as in this article...

The Miami News November 5, 1964 (page 18)

Beautiful young ladies served in the South Pacific...

The Miami News March 2, 1961 (page 13)

-Tom