Honolulu · Oʻahu: Waikīkī
Moana Surfrider
Waikīkī's first hotel, opened in 1901; book the Banyan Wing, the National Register-listed original, not the 1952 Surfrider or 1969 Tower wing.
- Built
- 1901Built 1901 as the Moana Hotel, Waikīkī's first hotel (opened March 11, 1901); two floors and concrete side wings added in 1918, giving the H-shaped Banyan Wing seen today. The Surfrider Wing (1952) and Tower Wing (1969) are separate later buildings.
- Style
- Colonial clapboard wood structure with Ionic columns (1901); Italian Renaissance–style concrete wings (1918)
- Architect
- Oliver G. Traphagen
- Type
- Grand hotel
- Rooms
- 791
- Area
- Oʻahu: Waikīkī
- Credentials
- Listed on the National Register of Historic Places; Historic Hotels of America member; Local landmark
The story
Honolulu landowner Walter Chamberlain Peacock incorporated the Moana Hotel Company in 1896, and the four-story wooden hotel designed by Oliver G. Traphagen opened on March 11, 1901, as the first hotel on Waikīkī Beach. Two floors and Italian Renaissance–style concrete wings were added in 1918, and from 1935 to 1975 the courtyard under the banyan tree hosted the ‘Hawaii Calls’ radio broadcast. Jane Stanford, co-founder of Stanford University, died of strychnine poisoning in a room at the hotel in February 1905. A $50 million restoration in 1989 returned the Moana to its 1901 appearance and joined it with the 1952 and 1969 Surfrider buildings; a property-wide renovation finished in 2026, when the 1952 wing took back the name Surfrider Wing.
Good to know
- Address: 2365 Kalākaua Avenue, Honolulu, HI 96815
Things to do
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Sources (3)
Last verified October 2026. Details change; confirm with the inn before you book.