b'Hetotallyrevolutionizedthehotelindustryhereinquite a stir when it first opened, hed say. Critics Hawai`i, said Larry Johnson, retired chief executive ofsaid it wasnt Hawaiian enough, and now its the the Bank of Hawaii, upon Hemmeters passing. Until heiconic hotel in Waikk.started to build them, hotels were pretty generictheHemmeter left Hawai`i in 1990 to pursue develop-rooms and lobbies all kind of looked alike. But he hadment projects on the mainland, ultimately losing much waterfalls and birds and animals and unusual art. Comingof his wealth on a failed attempt to build a supersizeABOVE: Hemmeter was known for his fantastic to one of Hemmeters hotels, you didnt just get a hotel butcasino in New Orleans.flair, adding dramatic an experience. InHawai`i,thoughhavingbuilttheHyattarchitectural elements SomecriticscomplainedthatalthoughguestsgotanRegencyWaikk,theHyattRegencyMaui,theto his resorts, as well as experience, it wasnt a Hawaiian experience. Jerry Hulse,Westin Maui, Kauai Lagoons, and the Hyatt Regencyfascinating collections of Asian and Pacific art.then editor of the L.A. Times travel section, famously com- Waikoloahis legacy stands as a visionary who con-pared the Hyatt Regency Waikoloa to Disneyland. Whattributed greatly to the tourism industry in the state. we have here is another Anaheim, he wrote in 1990. AllHis resorts created thousands of jobs for the local thats missing is Sleeping Beautys Castle, a paddle wheelercommunities, attracted affluent Japanese tourists, and and the Matterhorn. helped fuel an economic boom in the islands.Hemmeter, undeterred by such criticism, would alwaysTheyaredramatic,magnificentstructuresthat reply, And look how successful Disneyland is. have all stood the test of time. When asked once about He would also frequently point to the flamingo pinkthe larger-than-life scale of his dreams, he boasted, Royal Hawaiian Hotel on Waikk Beach. That also causedJulius Caesar never saw anything like it.4 9'