A return trip to Hawaii rekindles memories of 1962

Eileen Sherrill, now living in Prescott, Arizona, is returning to Hawaii after a six-year absence. She said she first came to Honolulu for summer session at the University of Hawaii in 1962 and had many interesting memories.

Sherrill worked for a number of years at the front desk of the Reef Towers hotel on Lewers Street and said, “Roy and Estelle Kelley, who started the Reef hotel — later named Outrigger Hotels — lived upstairs in the penthouse. Every morning they walked around the front desk from the back elevator which went to their penthouse. They checked out the traffic sheet, listing check-ins and check-outs for the day, then went over to the Edgewater hotel where they worked in central reservations for the chain.

“Our least expensive single rooms went for $8.50 a night and a double was $12.”

Click here to read her story.