Elvis and The Hilton Hawaiian Village

Above, the Hilton Hawaiian Village with its "Rainbow Tower" in the
 background from the Duke Kahanamoku Lagoon. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

On our first full day in Honolulu, Hawaii last May, our party spent part of the time at the Duke Kahanamoku Lagoon, which is right next to the famous Hilton Hawaiian Village.

We spent an hour or so at the lagoon before two of our party went parasailing. While they went parasailing, the young son of one of them and I wandered over to the Hilton Hawaiian Village. It is a beautiful facility with rocks all around the pools. We stopped at the Hilton's ice cream shop and treated ourselves to some ice cream.

Above, the Hilton Hawaiian Village and the Duke Kahanamoku Lagoon in the background
(at left), a large crowd waits for Elvis Presley's helicopter to arrive in January 1973. 

I was watching the 40th Anniversary Edition DVD of Elvis Presley's 1973 Aloha From Hawaii concert special. (That concert was seen via satellite live and later on tape-delayed broadcast by people around the world. It is estimated that 1.5 billion people watched that concert in total.) The Hilton Hawaiian Village and the Duke Kahanamoku Lagoon can be seen in the background during his arrival by helicopter. The hotel and lagoon looked pretty much the same as they did in 1973 when we visited there last May. According to one of the extras in the DVD, Elvis Presley stayed at the Hilton Hawaiian Village several times.

Above, the Hilton Hawaiian Village Rainbow Tower and the Duke Kahanamoku Lagoon.

According to Elvisinfonet.com:

First stop was the Hilton Hawaiian Village. Elvis stayed here on many occasions, the first being in 1957 when he was in Oahu to perform two concerts at the Honolulu Stadium. 

Back then the Hilton was the tallest building in Waikiki and Elvis and his entourage hired out the entire top floor. The "Rainbow Tower" where Elvis stayed in the late 60’s/early 70’s, can be seen in the helicopter arrival footage (video below) from Aloha from Hawaii.

Elvis also stayed at the Hilton while filming Blue Hawaii in 1961.

On November 20, 1972, Elvis held the second of two press conferences at the Hilton Hawaii Village on his upcoming January 14, 1973 Aloha From Hawaii concert.

Suggested reading: Aloha Elvis by Jerry Hopkins, Bess Press, 2007. The book details Elvis Presley's Hawaii visits from the 1950s to 1970s.