Leis, Luaus, and Alohas: The Lure of Hawai'i in the Fifties (Island Treasures) [Hardcover]

Fred E. Basten (Author), Charles Phoenix (Author)

Book Description

Series: Island Treasures | Publication Date: July 1999

All aboard for a fun-filled, nostalgic journey to the Hawai'i of yesteryear! More than 220 illustrations, ranging from watercolors for restaurant menus to catchy tourist brochures, fondly recall Hawai'i's "golden years." Come along for the ride!

Product Details

• Hardcover: 112 pages
• Publisher: Island Heritage; First edition. edition (July 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0896103978
• ISBN-13: 978-0896103979
• Product Dimensions: 12.4 x 10 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #871,698 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Get this Book if You Can Find It--Wiki, Wiki!!!, December 19, 2003

By 

chris meesey Food Czar (The Colony, TX United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Leis, Luaus, and Alohas: The Lure of Hawai'i in the Fifties (Island Treasures) (Hardcover)

Retro Hawaiian chic----it's a happening trend!! First published about five years too soon for the now-oh-so-hot design theme of Old Hawaii (assuming you consider the 1950's old, you old goat!), Fred Basten's book is nothing more or less than a 100+ page collection of vintage photos, postcards, matchbook covers, and (best of all) 1950's advertisements depicting the joys which await you in tropical, scenic Hawaii! Here are the famous Aloha Airlines advertising maps, the Dole Pineapple ads, and the delightful hotel ads that make you want to pick up a phone, dial the number (you had to do that back then---no buttons!), and book a room. There are plenty of breathtaking photographs as well, from scenic drives to sunsets to tourists at play (including a few of the author himself!). And it's nice to see some things never change: the luau menu printed on page 104 is almost exactly identical to the menu of the Old Lahina Luau, Maui, circa 2003. (Right down to the coconut cake for dessert!) Two minor quibbles: at 111 pages, it's at least two hundred pages too short! (With all the pictures, if it were longer it would cost $50, but I for one would gladly pay it.) Also, Basten has made the decision to keep the written text as short as possible and let the pictures speak for themselves. Even though I think this is a wise move, I would have welcomed some more discussion about Hawaii in the fifties, how it became a state, etc. Still, the fabulous photos and other displayed goodies will have you planning your next trip right away. Not an easy book to find outside of Hawaii (I found mine in a famous Hawaiian retail store.), but worth the effort. So, get this book wiki, wiki (quickly). Your coffee table is bare without it. Aloha!!!

11 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Very disappointing and incredibly pointless, November 18, 2006

By 

Marie - See all my reviews

This review is from: Leis, Luaus, and Alohas: The Lure of Hawai'i in the Fifties (Island Treasures) (Hardcover)

This book is very disappointing. I lived on Oahu in the late 50s and early 60s so I know the time period and what the Islands were like. They were heaven. No doubt about it. This book does not capture even an iota of that heaven. This is a mishmash of common ephemera poorly reproduced. There is no depth to the subject matter. To say there are two authors is a joke since what text is available could have been written by a travel agent in Manhattan who never left THAT island. Two guys with some old brochures is more like it. I had hoped that the book would deal with what the Islands were like during the time period, five years after the war and statehood in 1959. This is simply a mainlanders idea of what Hawaii was like and it goes no deeper than an aged worn brochure in the bottom of a dusty drawer.

And to make things worse they chose a large format trim size which allowed them to print a lot of poor quality photos, reproduced from much smaller brochures, at the books full trim size. Photos that originally were meant to be small are suddenly large and blurry because they had to worry about dot patterns when enlarged. Shame on the "authors" and publisher. A smaller trim size would have benefited the reader. The art ends up looking too often like filler. I'm sure the pages looked fine on the computer screen when the book was being layed out, but suddenly when the thing is sitting in your lap you have to wonder what they were thinking. The whole thing looks cheap, which at $24.99 it's not.

Though I have yet to find the definitive book about Hawaii pre-statehood I can recommend the following two far superior books, each also full of ephemera, but produced with much better production values, and cheaper than this bloated waste of paper:

"Hawai'i At Play" and

"To Honolulu in Five Days"

4.0 out of 5 stars Hawaii Travel, January 15, 2012

By 

AnneM "Anne McGill" (Lodi WI) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Leis, Luaus, and Alohas: The Lure of Hawai'i in the Fifties (Island Treasures) (Hardcover)

This book is a little step back in time when travel to Hawaii was new for most Americans.. If you enjoy mid-century style this book will take you back to the era of teased hair, tans, bright dresses and celebration. Nice coffee table book to help pass the long, dark, snowy winter and escape to the land of open arms, warm sunshine and hospitality.