HISTORY
Chronology
The success of the Polynesian Cultural Center has been achieved through hard work, constant faith and numerous blessings. To review some of these great events and accomplishments on the decade you wish to review below.
1960s Events Highlights
February to July 1921
President McKay approves a twelve-acre location, a taro/kalo lo‘i or patch, running along Kamehameha Highway on the opposite side of the CCH from the temple. In this fourth site the PCC finally finds its permanent home.
They wear traditional Samoan adornments, including fine mats and tapa cloth wrap-arounds, shell necklaces, and Elder McKay is holding a to’oto’o or staff, symbol of a talking chief’s authority.
— Photo courtesy of BYU–Hawaii Archives
March 1951
The idea of constructing Polynesian houses in Lā’ie as a place in which temple- bound Polynesians can stay and work in a possible tourist attraction is born in a conversation between Elder Matthew Cowley and Edward L. Clissold. Elder Cowley also speaks prophetically at the O‘ahu Stake conference (Sunday, March 11) of his hope that Polynesian houses and villages will be built at Lā’ie. Wendell B. Mendenhall is brought into the conversation and becomes a major contributor to creation of the PCC.
July 21, 1954
President McKay, following studies that he had initiated since 1951, announces the establishment of the Church College of Hawaii and its planned opening in September 1955. At the conclusion of a forty-five-day, 45,000-mile tour of Church sites in the Pacific, President McKay visits Hawai‘i and dedicates land for construction of the Church College of Hawaii. President McKay includes in his prayer prophetic words: “We dedicate our actions in this service unto thee and unto thy glory and the salvation of the children of men, that this college, and the temple, and the town of Lā’ie may become a missionary factor, influencing not thousands, not tens of thousands, but millions of people who will come seeking to know what this town and its significance are.”
1958
Wylie Swapp, professor of art at the CCH, organizes around seventy-five students and local youth as “Halau Imi Noeau” (Organization Seeking Wisdom and Skill). The word halau, seldom used for dance and musical troops before this time, is suggested by Latter-day Saint Hawaiian culture specialist Mary Kawena Pukui. It is now common for hula groups.
1959 to 1961
Discussions regarding a possible Polynesian village where student performers can dance, play, and sing and townspeople can work are carried on by members of the Pacific Board of Education and CCH administrators and faculty. Sites at Hukilau Beach and in front of the temple are considered and rejected. Initially, a site between the temple and CCH is accepted.
February 12, 1961
President McKay authorizes funds for planning and development. In part, these funds retain the services of Church architect Harold Burton and his son Douglas W. Burton, who do the major design work of the Center. Under direction of Joseph F. Wilson, supervisor of construction, and labor missionaries in Lā’ie, initial site work begins with the digging of a lagoon in a cane field between the temple and the CCH. In the wake of this move, complaints reach President McKay stating that the construction site is too close to the temple, worried that there will be too much noise and too many people who do not appreciate the sacred nature of the temple and its grounds.
November 29, 1961
Elders Delbert L. Stapley and Gordon B. Hinckley of the Quorum of the Twelve, acting as an investigative committee sent by President McKay, survey all aspects of the project and recommend that construction be deferred because the site is too near the temple.
February 1962
Construction of the PCC begins in earnest. Labor missionaries from the South Pacific and the US mainland (most of whom are now called to serve another term), townspeople, faculty, and students work together to create their dream.
August 24, 1963
Edward L. Clissold, Howard B. Stone, Richard T. Wootton, Clinton J. Kanahele, and Lawrence Haneberg (all Hawai‘i residents) incorporate the PCC, a Hawai‘i corporation responsible to the Church’s First Presidency through the Pacific Board of Education.
January–May 1964
Edward L. Clissold serves as acting general manager of the PCC.
July 4, 1964
The PCC’s first major food service, the Polynesian Feast, is inaugurated and served in the Sāmoan chief’s fale. Guests sit on mats on the floor. The menu features foods from Sāmoa, Tonga, Fiji, Aotearoa (Māori), Tahiti, and Hawai‘i.
October 1964
Lester C. Hawthorne becomes general manager.
January 1966
F. Wayne Glaus is appointed general manager of the PCC.
August 31, 1966
Night show performers start a four-night performance at Hollywood Bowl. Nearly a hundred thousand people attend, setting an attendance record that year.
October 1967
Lawrence Haneberg of the board of directors becomes PCC general manager.
December 31, 1968
Cumulative guest attendance reaches 1,132,547 by the end of the year. By this time the PCC has been profitable for two years.
1957–58
The search for places for student employment begins. Clissold says, “When the need came for finding work for the students, our thoughts turned to tourist dollars and the possibility of getting some of those [tourists] going around the island in big buses. . . . We thought of Brother Cowley’s prophecy, and so out of that . . . grew the first beginnings of the Polynesian Center.”
1959
The Polynesian Institute is organized as an adjunct of the CCH. Professor Jerry K. Loveland becomes its longtime director. The Pacific Institute is the mother of the Institute for Polynesian Studies, the Pacific Institute, and the present-day Jonathan Nāpela Center for Hawaiian and Pacific Islands Studies. The Institute was responsible for researching and collecting media and materials on various Polynesian cultures. These materials were to provide authentic information and models for Polynesian costumes, songs, and dance styles.
March 3, 1960
Around seventy labor missionaries from New Zealand, Sāmoa, and Tonga arrive in Lā’ie to begin construction on the PCC. Since the project is not ready to commence, they build four dormitories (known as hale ever since) at the CCH, many faculty houses, some chapels, and a new, larger visitors’ center near the temple.
August 10, 1961
Edward L. Clissold, in response to a personal phone call from President McKay, sends a statement concerning the proposed PCC that addresses three points: purpose, location, and proposed programs.
January 1962
President McKay approves a twelve-acre location, a taro/ lo‘i kalo or patch, running along Kamehameha Highway on the opposite side of the CCH from the temple. In this fourth site the PCC finally finds its permanent home.
March 17, 1962
Over three thousand people watch the CCH’s Polynesian Panorama at the Waikiki Shell.
August 25, 1963
The first PCC board of directors, with Wendell B. Mendenhall as chair and Edward L. Clissold as vice-chair, is organized with twenty other men as members.
October 11, 1963
Under direction of the First Presidency, the PCC is officially incorporated as a not-for-profit corporation in Hawai‘i by Wendell B. Mendenhall and Edward L. Clissold.
May–August 1964
Rad B. Robinson leads the Center as general manager.
August–October 1964
Michel M. Grilikhes serves as acting general manager of the PCC.
April 10, 1966
A canoe pageant premieres and is staged daily on the lagoon by the village workers. PCC musicians provide music atop Coconut Island (now Rapa Nui).
July 1967
The PCC stages an island fashion show called “Styles of the Isles.” One couple from each village models male and female clothing from their respective island.
1970s Events Highlights
1970
By the end of its sixth year, the PCC is so successful that leaders commence planning for future expansion.
October 5, 1972
PCC administrator Norman Nielsen conceived and introduced the Lā’ie and Hawaii Temple Visitors’ Center Tour with a 1903-style tram ride to the Hawaii Temple and visitors’ center, the community of Lā’ie, and the Church College of Hawaii. At this time President Harold B. Lee approves expansion of the Center, a project that extends over the next several years.
April 1976
Elder Marvin J. Ashton of the Church’s Quorum of Twelve Apostles is appointed president and chair of the board of directors. Ashton assigns the title “president” to William H. Cravens in January 1983 but continues as chair of the board of directors until July 1988.
1971
President Joseph Fielding Smith visits the Center. He is the first President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to do so. His father, President Joseph F. Smith, known in Hawaiian as “Iosepa,” served missions in Hawai‘i, built the Laie Hawaii Temple, and became the namesake for the Iosepa colony in Utah, Iosepa Street in Lā’ie, and the great double-hulled canoe Iosepa.
March 1975
William H. Cravens, a part Sāmoan, begins eight years of service as general manager of the PCC. In January 1983 his position title is changed to president.
July 4, 1976
Elder Hunter dedicates a major expansion of the Center from sixteen acres to forty-two acres; a new entranceway and reservations building; and a new 2,700-seat amphitheater called the Pacific Theater. He is assisted by Elder Ashton.
January 12, 1979
The PCC celebrates the grand opening of the Gateway Restaurant.
1980s Events Highlights
June 4, 1980
PCC general manager William Cravens hosts vice premier Geng Biao of the People’s Republic of China. This is the first of numerous visits by distinguished Chinese leaders and diplomats. Geng’s visit leads to admission of the first six PRC students at BYU–Hawaii.
April 1983
Ralph G. Rodgers Jr. is appointed president and general manager of the PCC.
January 7, 1984
PRC premier Zhao Ziyang, on a state visit to the United States en route to Washington, DC, to meet with President Ronald Reagan, visits the Polynesian Cultural Center. He is hosted by Elder Ashton, chair of the board. His daughter, Wang Yannan, had been among the first six students to attend BYU–Hawaii.
October 1984
PCC maintenance crews and volunteers work after hours in a revitalization of villages. To the surprise of other employees, they construct a mountain between the Sāmoa and Aotearoa Villages overnight. They also build a waterfall and stream in the Hawaiian Village. Walkways and gardens are added during this time.
January 1986
The former Orientation Building is converted to a new marketplace to sell Polynesian crafts, artifacts, arts, and mementos.
August 1987
The villages inaugurate a final canoe ride at the end of the day’s activities. Each village sings its farewell song to the passing guests. The serene calm on the lagoon provides guests with reverie.
November 11, 1989
Church leaders and PCC officials break ground for the new IMAX theater.
November 23, 1982
Hurricane Iwa temporarily shuts down the PCC and causes considerable damage throughout Hawai‘i.
October 1983
The PCC celebrates its twentieth anniversary.
November 1, 1984
The First Presidency calls the first volunteer Church- service missionary couple to serve at the PCC. Elder Ivin and Sister Pearl Gee of Lander, Wyoming, are assigned as host and hostess at the new Mission Settlement. What starts with one couple grows to around twenty-five couples in 2003.
May 2, 1987
Hawai‘i governor George Waihee and the PCC cohost the first annual Sterling Scholar Awards Program, in which outstanding high school seniors from throughout the state compete for scholarships and academic recognition.
July 8, 1988
The Tongan Village, having been relocated to make way for construction of the new IMAX theater, is rededicated by Elder Ashton, chair of the board of directors. President Thomas S. Monson, second counselor in the First Presidency, presides.
July 8, 1988
James P. Christensen is appointed president of the Center.
1990s Events Highlights
April 1990
Sister missionaries from the Hawaii Honolulu Mission begin hosting the Lā‘ie and Temple Visitors’ Center Tour.
January 18, 1991
President Monson dedicates the first IMAX theater in Hawai‘i, located at the PCC. Polynesian Odyssey, created by and produced for the PCC, is first shown in this six-hundred-seat theater.
October 1991
Lester W. B. Moore is appointed president and CEO of the PCC. He serves until June 2000.
November 10, 1992
PCC president and CEO Lester W. B. Moore signs a “Sister Culture Centers” memorandum with the China Folk Culture Villages, represented by Ma Chi Man.
July 1994
The PCC board of directors approve a new $1.3 million shopping plaza at the Ali‘i Lū‘au location to strengthen retail sales and concession revenues (completed in 1995).
May 2, 1996
Ralph G. Rodgers Jr., president and general manager of the PCC from 1983 to 1988, dies in Bountiful, Utah, at age fifty-nine.
June 1996
Theodore “Ted” M. Jacobsen becomes chair of the board of directors.
June 1996
Theodore “Ted” M. Jacobsen becomes chair of the board of directors.
July 1, 1997
Thirty PCC performers participate in celebrations following the turnover of Hong Kong from British to Chinese control.
July 1, 1997
Thirty PCC performers participate in celebrations following the turnover of Hong Kong from British to Chinese control.
July 1, 1997
Thirty PCC performers participate in celebrations following the turnover of Hong Kong from British to Chinese control.
April 1, 1999
The Center’s retail area, Treasures of Polynesia, opens to the general public.
October 1990
Twenty-five performers and leaders from the PCC participate in the first China International Folk Arts Festival in Beijing.
June–October 1991
Eric B. Shumway, academic vice president of BYU–Hawaii, serves as acting president and general manager of the PCC.
September 11, 1992
Hurricane Iniki temporarily closes the PCC and causes considerable damage to the Hawaiian Islands.
January 4, 1993
The PCC’s “million-dollar face-lift” takes place and involves as many as six hundred volunteers from four Lā‘ie stakes. Crews spend several days widening walkways, dredging the lagoon, building eight canoe landings, pulling weeds, and removing rubbish.
July 17, 1993
King Taufa‘ahau Tupou IV of Tonga bestows the Tongan chiefly title Mafi Fakapotu, meaning “champion of the rear guard,” on Lester W. B. Moore, president and CEO, acknowledging the PCC’s world-renowned efforts to preserve and portray the cultures, arts, and crafts of Polynesia.
November 12, 1994
Li Lanqing, one of the four vice premiers of China, with responsibility over culture (including religious and educational affairs) and economics, is a special guest at the PCC. He is hosted by Elder Russell M. Nelson of the Quorum of the Twelve, Elder Loren C. Dunn of the Seventy and president of the North America West Area, and Elder Donald L. Hallstrom, regional representative.
July 13, 1996
Grand opening of the new “Ali‘i Lū‘au,” housed in the relocated marketplace building. A replica of a large fale with a soaring roof, it provides Hawai‘i’s finest lū‘au venue. It is built at a cost of $1.4 million.
Summer 1997
Twelve PCC student performers appear at the Window of the World in Shenzhen, China.
August 18, 1997
Grand opening of the new four-million-dollar, sixteen- thousand-square-foot Food Preparation and Distribution Center, adding ample space for food and beverage workers, freezers, coolers, and staff offices.
October 22, 1997
Hawai‘i presents the PCC with its ‘Oihana Maika’i Endeavor of Excellence (analogous to the national Malcolm Baldridge Award): “The award is presented annually to one business, military, or not-for-profit organization that demonstrates unique leadership, management, planning, and customer satisfaction.”
June 1998
Economic challenges resulting from the Asian financial crisis of that time cause the Center to restructure its organization. About 25 percent of the full-time workforce accept an excellent retirement package.
2000s Events Highlights
January 2001
By working with the Missionary Department of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the PCC begins to dramatically increase the number of full- time senior Church-service missionaries serving at the Center. Numbers grow from an average of eight to as many as forty-eight full-time volunteers and to twenty- eight part-time.
October 2001
Terrorist attacks of September 11, on New York City and Washington, DC, create a disastrous effect on the PCC. Travel comes to a standstill, and tourists disappear from Hawai‘i. To keep the Center open, full- time employees accept salary reductions between 10 and 30 percent. Salaries are not fully restored until early 2003.
March 25, 2002
Showings of The Testaments begin at the Hukilau Theater. Thousands of interested viewers enjoy the spirit and learning provided by this inspiring movie.
February 2003
The Center completes a $2.4 million highway and front entry renovation project. The remodeled front entrance becomes a spacious museum, while the landscaping projects in front beautify the highway and parking lot areas. New flagpoles for flags of the Polynesian nations are installed. Eighteen large tikis are placed along Kamehameha Highway. The Welcome Mound hut and lali (drum) are installed.
April 25, 2003
The thirty-millionth guest, Cheri Hill, is welcomed to the Polynesian Cultural Center along with her husband, John.
July 2003
The PCC employs 260 men and women full-time and 160 people part-time (mostly high school students and other locals) at an annual rate of compensation (including benefits) of $15 million. Seven hundred twenty BYU–Hawaii students are employed at the PCC at total annual wages amounting to $4.4 million. In addition, the PCC pays $1.3 million annually in rent to BYU–Hawaii. This practice is later discontinued because the two entities are considered by the Church to be one. Since 1963 the Center has employed thirteen thousand students and paid to them and BYU–H $140million in wages and rent.
October 20–26, 2003
The PCC celebrates its fortieth anniversary with reunions, employee awards, performances planned and impromptu, athletic contests, dances, and a special visit by President Hinckley and his wife, Sister Marjorie Hinckley.
Thousands of people help the PCC celebrate its fortieth anniversary.
March 2004
PCC vice president of human resources John Muaina, along with BYU–Hawaii vice president Isileli Kongaika, makes the first recruiting visit to the Marquesas Islands.
April 1, 2004
The Hawaii Visitor and Convention Bureau bestows its Kahili Award in the Performing Arts and Shows category on the PCC’s new Ali‘i Lū‘au.
August 5, 2005
Forty-eight surviving members of Te Arohanui Māori labor missionary and performing group return to the Center to participate in the Māori Village Whakataetae Festival. Group members came at their own expense to help apply finishing touches and perform at the Center’s grand opening in October 1963.
May 26, 2006
PCC Promo Team member Sina Nauahi captures the Miss Tonga USA title in San Francisco.
November 14, 2006
The University of Hawai‘i system—for its inaugural “Stars of Oceania” program recognizing individuals and organizations that have contributed to development in the Pacific—honors three people from the PCC: Kalolaine “Kalo” Mataele Soukop, one of its original dancers, a businesswoman, and a member of the board; Tuione Pulotu, a labor missionary and master carver; and Pulefano Galea’i, a retired senior PCC manager. In addition, the PCC Promo Team presents a ho’okupu performance at the event.
November 6, 2007
Participants in the second annual International Business Conference meet in the PCC’s Hawaiian Village to break ground for the new halau wa’a.
April 1, 2008
The Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau awards the PCC’s Ali‘i Lū‘au its “Keep It Hawai‘i” Certificate of Merit.
February 25, 2009
The board of directors approves the PCC’s new night show, Ha: Breath of Life, after watching a conceptual preview in the Pacific Theater.
October 29, 2009
The Laie Inn—the motel near the PCC originally known as the Laniloa Lodge—closes to the public.
Fall 2000
After careful study of the needs of the Center, the PCC begins a multiyear renovation of its aging facilities
August 2001
As part of the senior service missionary program, retired kūpuna (venerable older people from the Lā’ie area) begin serving as volunteer cultural specialists in the villages, adding much needed knowledge and experience to the mix of students and full-time employees.
January 2002
The PCC assumes control of most motor coach transportation of guests from Waikīkī to the Center. Levels of customer satisfaction immediately improve dramatically.
November 11, 2002
The First Presidency of the Church approves joint fundraising with BYU– Hawaii for the endowment and benefit of the PCC and student work-study scholarship funds.
February 3, 2003
Four carver-artisans from Rapa Nui and President Von D. Orgill insert eyes in the concrete moai statues in the newly completed Rapa Nui (Easter Island) exhibit that stands on the former Coconut Island. As part of the ceremony, carvers name the ahu (platform) after Tukoihu, the ancient high chief of Rapa Nui credited with starting the practice of carving moai. Authentic figures, an altar, two types of housing, and
a protected planting niche showcase this easternmost Polynesian culture.
March 1, 2003
Hale Aloha (the original amphitheater) undergoes a $2.4 million reconstruction and becomes the principle venue for the Ali‘i Lū‘au. And the Banyan Tree Snack Bar, completely rebuilt at a cost of $1.6 million, opens to the public.
March 12, 2004
Queen Halaevalu Mataaho of the Kingdom of Tonga visits BYU–Hawaii and the PCC.
August 2, 2004
The Center serves its first Ali‘i Lū‘au in the newly renovated Hale Kū‘ai—formerly part of a gift shop and site of the PCC’s first dedicated dining facility.
January 2005
The Honpa Hongwanji Mission of Hawaii bestows its prestigious Living Treasure Award on former labor missionary and PCC artisan Sione Tuione Pulotu.
September 2005
The Hawaii State Board of Education praises the PCC for its twenty years of sponsoring Teacher of the Year cash prizes.
October 22, 2005
The PCC Promo Team participates in BYU–Hawaii’s Golden Jubilee Parade through Lā‘ie.
Summer 2006
For the first time, a PCC performing group appears in Branson, Missouri, at the 3,800-seat Grand Palace Theater.
May 2007
Vice president of human resources “Uncle” John Muaina represents the Center on a BYU–Hawaii Concert Choir tour of China to celebrate twenty-five years of the two institutions’ successful joint Asian Executive Management internship training program.
October 2007
PCC president Von D. Orgill announces private donations have made it possible for the Center to build a $2.65 million hālau wa’a (canoe house) in the Hawaiian Village that will become the berth for the BYU–Hawaii sailing canoe Iosepa.
March 5, 2008
LDS Philanthropies, which coordinates Church fundraising beyond tithing and fast offerings, announces the creation of the new Matthew Cowley Society to honor donors who make estate-planning gift contributions to BYU–Hawaii or the PCC.
June 25, 2008
PCC board chair Mark Willes dedicates the new halau wa’a for the fifty-seven-foot twin-hulled Hawaiian sailing ship Iosepa when it is not on the water. (Weather delays the canoe’s actual arrival in its new home until July 22, 2008.)
July 22, 2009
The PCC lowers the final curtain on its night show Horizons: Where the Sea Meets the Sky after fourteen-plus years and more than four thousand performances. Elder Dallin H. Oaks, a former chairman of the board who has been in Hawai‘i on vacation, meets with the cast on stage after the final show.
2010s Events Highlights
January 25, 2010
Demolition work begins on the Laie Inn to make way for a proposed new hotel on the site.
June 2011
President and CEO Von D. Orgill announces the PCC will spend thirty-eight million dollars over a five-year period to enhance facilities and programs, including a major makeover of the Gateway Restaurant into a multipurpose building that is nearing completion, expanding the shopping plaza, and converting the Hukilau Theater into a 4D experience featuring a new digital Hawai‘i-themed film. The theater was renamed The Hawaii Journey Theater.
November 10, 2011
The Gateway Restaurant celebrates a grand reopening following renovations that include new entrance portals, food lines, and multipurpose capabilities.
January 2012
Major renovations begin in the Hawaiian Village that include replacing everything but the Hale Ali‘i, the Kauaiwiulaokalani Halau Wa‘a, and the Halau Hula. Major renovations for later in the year are also announced for the Sāmoan Village that include upgrading most of the fale (houses), creating a new entrance to the village near the Hale Aloha, and replacing the Chief’s House (maota).
December 14, 2012
President Orgill, with special permission from the First Presidency, announces in an employee team meeting that P. Alfred Grace will succeed him as president and CEO of the Center. Grace, a New Zealand Māori who started as a student employee in the mid-1980s, will be the first PCC president to come up through the ranks.
January 28, 2013
Extra-heavy seasonal rain caused flooding at the PCC, which closes for three days for cleanup.
May 1, 2013
The Promo Team performs on the Good Morning America TV show in Manhattan in celebration of Lei Day and to promote the fiftieth anniversary of the PCC. The Promo Team also performs a mini Hā: Breath of Life show at the United Nations during their New York City tour.
May 2013
Contractors begin construction projects that (1) demolish the existing Pacific Marketplace and set up temporary gift shops under tents; (2) renovate the Hale Aloha roof; and (3) while the Hale Aloha is temporarily closed, renovate the Sāmoan Village malae, pave it, and temporarily set up a large tent as the home of the new Island Lū‘au.
August 13, 2013
The Promo Team appears at the sixty-fourth Sapporo Snow Festival in Hokkaido, Japan. Dancers perform their first show in bare feet on ice (with subsequent adjustments). They also perform for Hokkaido prefectural government leaders at the prefectural office.
September 1–8, 2013
An especially large crowd of Polynesian Cultural Center alumni gathers in Lā‘ie for the PCC’s fiftieth-anniversary celebration.
November 30, 2013
As part of the Center’s fiftieth anniversary, carvers, community members, and others meet before sunrise for a special kawanga ceremony to mark the reopening of the Aotearoa Village following extensive renovations.
January 2014
The Center customizes and implements BYU–Hawaii’s iLead program, starting with new student hires. The program helps the participants take responsibility, know their duties, be good followers, communicate, give good customer service, and learn how to be trusted and trust others (integrity).
March 15, 2014
PCC president and CEO P. Alfred Grace joins Hawaii Reserves Inc., Church, community, Marriott, and Laie Ventures representatives in breaking ground for the new three-story, 144-room Courtyard by Marriott hotel to be built near the PCC’s Aotearoa Village.
April 5, 2014
The PCC is one of thirteen organizations to receive the prestigious Themed Entertainment Association’s “Thea” Award for outstanding achievement, during a special gala at Disneyland in California. Other winners of the worldwide award include Gardens by the Bay in Singapore and the Song of an Angel Performance at Universal Studios in Japan.
May 30, 2014
Hawaiian cultural expert Cy Bridges—who started working at the PCC in 1967, while still in high school—retires after an official forty-five years of service. A colleague stated, “He is a man of countless talent including hula, music, and Hawaiian genealogy. . . . No one knows Hawaiian genealogy like Cy Bridges. He’s a respected cultural icon not only here but throughout the state of Hawaii and internationally.” Cy is credited with composing the original chants for the Ali‘i Lū‘au and Ha: Breath of Life.
September 20, 2014
The Sāmoan Village holds an umusaga (dedication) ceremony, including oratorical speeches, gifts of food to visiting chiefs and officials, and a blessing, for the official opening of their new māota tōfā, or chief’s fale.
November 2014
Experienced carvers Tuione Pulotu, Jared Pere, Doug Christy, Kawika Eskaran, and William Mahoni began renovating the waka taua (war canoe), Te Ika Roa a Maui, in the Aotearoa Village. The waka, originally intended as a gift for King George VI of England (who passed before the canoe could be completed), lay abandoned in the bush until 1962, when labor missionaries brought the uncompleted canoe to Temple View, where it was completed before being shipped to the PCC along with buildings that were constructed there.
January 24, 2015
The PCC and Polynesian Football Hall of Fame open a new permanent exhibit in the guest orientation center (formerly the PCC ticket office, now called the Welcome Center). The PFHOF inducts its class of 2015 as part of the event.
February 20, 2015
Lā‘ie kūpuna participate in untying a traditional maile lei as part of the PCC’s “soft” opening for its new Hukilau Marketplace.
May 2015
The Center installs astatue of Lā‘ie-born JosephKekuku—the creator of the Hawaiian steel guitar—near the Mahinalani Gift Shop. PCC alumnus Leroy Transfield, a Māori from New Zealand, sculpts the Kekuku statue (as well as the Lā‘ie- born Hamana Kalili statue waving his “shaka” sign that was installed earlier). The statues are part of the new Hukilau Marketplace theme to recognize and honor Lā‘ie’s past and present kūpuna (elders/ancestors).
December 2015
The PCC board of directors names Delsa Atoa Moe, originally from Sāmoa, as vice president of cultural presentations and Fifita Finau Unga, originally from Tonga, as vice president of food services.
March 2016
Following the retirement of PCC kumu hula Keith Awai (after forty-three years of service), the Center names Pōmaika‘i Krueger as the new kumu hula. Krueger, who is from Wailuku, Maui, is a former PCC student worker with strong family ties to Lā‘ie.
Also this month, PCC contractors finish a complete overhaul of the Mahinalani Gift Shop, including the addition of the ‘Ukulele Experience visitor participatory display.
April 29, 2016
The PCC’s ‘Ukulele Experience has its grand opening. Veteran ‘ukulele manufacturers Fred Kamaka and Sam Kamaka Jr., Joe Souza of Kanile‘a ‘Ukulele, and others who share a passion for the Hawaiian instrument attend the event.
October 2016
The Polynesian Football Hall of Fame inducts Junior Ah You of Lā‘ie into its class of 2017. Ah You, an all-America at Arizona State University who played most of his professional career with the Montreal Alouettes in the CFL, performed at the PCC when it first opened in 1963. He and his family operate Tita’s Grill in the Hukilau Marketplace.
January 2017
Hawaii Magazine presents the PCC with its 2017 “Best Oahu Luau” and “Best Oahu Museum” Awards.
June 2017
The PCC participates in a media blitz on the US East Coast that includes preparing a fine lū‘au food event for approximately three hundred guests at the National Football League draft in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. PCC’s Polynesian Football Hall of Fame partners cohosted the event.
The PCC grants J. Alan Walker, executive manager of strategic development and research and reservations, extended leave to fulfill a mission call (along with his wife, Harumi) as president of the New Zealand Auckland Mission.
July 17, 2017
Seventeen performers, plus leaders, from the Cook Islands National Arts Theater arrive for a six-week run (through August 24) at the PCC. The PCC sets up a mini-village display area for them between the Hawaiian and Tahitian Villages. This is the first extended Cook Islanders’ appearance at the Center.
October 2017
The PCC receives two distinguished awards this month: USA Today recognizes the PCC as the Best Hawaii Attraction; and Travel Weekly Magazine presents the PCC with its annual Magellan Silver Award in the United States and Canada Overall Destinations-Cultural Arts category.
March 3, 2018
The Center has one of its largest-attendance-ever days with 8,430 visitors.
October 9, 2018
Tausilinu‘u David Hannemann passes away at his Lā‘ie Point home. He started as the Center’s first paid employee and original operations manager. Following a midcareer break, he returned in the early 1980s and retired as a senior vice president in 1995 to serve as the first Polynesian president of the Laie Hawaii Temple (with his wife, Carolyn, as matron). Afterward, he returned as the PCC’s historian until his second retirement in September 2017.
February 9, 2018
Seasider Sports sponsors its first annual canoe race in the lagoon at the Polynesian Cultural Center. Eleven teams and more than one hundred students compete.
May 8–11, 2019
The Center’s twenty-seventh annual World Fireknife Championships includes a women’s division competition for the first time. Women previously competed in the men’s divisions. Jeri Galea‘i of Lā‘ie was the first female winner.
July 12, 2019
The Center replaces the Rainbows of Paradise canoe pageant after more than five thousand performances with the soft opening of Huki: One ‘Ohana Sharing Aloha. The all-new pageant tells the story of Lā‘ie and how all the Polynesians came together here.
August 16, 2019
PCC marks the tenth anniversary of its Hā: Breath of Life night show, which an estimated seven million guests have seen.
September 7, 2019
The PCC Hawaiian Village debuts its new pā hula (dance mound) during the opening of the twenty-ninth annual Moanikeala Hula Festival.
October 15–17, 2019
The Center cosponsors the 2019 Global Breadfruit, Technology & Health Summit in Lā‘ie in conjunction with the Pacific Business Center Program in the University of Hawai‘i / Manoa Shidler College of Business.
November 19, 2019
The Center hosts “Giving Machines” for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in partnership with other local and international charities. Giving Machines, which look like regular vending machines, are located near the Pacific Theater and provide visitors and locals the opportunity to donate requested goods and services to the featured charity of their choice.
May 7, 2010
Most Reverend Clarence “Larry” Silva, bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Honolulu, presents a special certificate of appreciation to the PCC “in gratitude for the collaboration” of Jonathan Nāpela and Father Damien during the time they concurrently served Hansen’s disease (leprosy) patients at Kalaupapa, Moloka‘i, in the 1870s.
December 2010
The Gateway Restaurant closes for extensive renovations.
Mid-2011
The Honolulu City Council and related city government agencies deliberate on a permit application by Hawaii Reserves Inc. to build a 222-room hotel on the site of the former Laie Inn next to the PCC.
November 2011
Ground is broken to turn the Hukilau Theater into a 4D virtual experience.
August 3, 2012
As part of its 2012 Te Manahua Māori Arts Festival, the PCC concert series features Māori singing stars Ria Hall and Maisey Rika from New Zealand.
March 29, 2013
A large crowd of VIPs, community kūpuna, and invited guests attend the grand opening of the renovated Hawaiian Village and Hawaiian Journey Theater (formerly the Hukilau Theater), featuring the premiere of the PCC’s new cinematic experience, Hawaiian Journey—a large-format, twelve-minute depiction of Hawaiians’ deep respect for their islands and the islands’ ties to our ancestors. Theater renovations include a digital 4K projection system plus seat movement, spraying water, and aromatic effects.
May 8–11, 2013
Top fireknife dancers come from around the world to the PCC for the twenty-first annual World Fireknife Championship and high school Sāmoan Arts Festival.
July 2013
During this month, the Center announces its partnership with the Polynesian Football Hall of Fame that includes establishing a permanent exhibit to open in January 2015. Several inaugural members of the PFHOF board of directors play key roles in the agreement, including Vai Sikahema—a Tongan NFL player whose father worked at the PCC when Vai was a boy. His wife, Keala Heder Sikahema, was a student worker in the Hawaiian Village.
July 24, 2013
The PCC’s 50th anniversary float made a “big splash” in Salt Lake City’s Days of ‘47 parade.
August 2013
PCC maintenance crews and contractors complete major renovations to the “new” Hale Aloha, including new back-area equipment.
October 12, 2013
Mayor Kirk Caldwell and the City and County of Honolulu proclaim Polynesian Cultural Center Day.
December 2–21, 2013
Every night (closed on Sundays), the PCC cast and community volunteers convert the Center’s lagoon into a delightful Christmas experience, as well as associated holiday season celebrations.
January 24, 2014
The PCC announces its partnership with the Polynesian Football Hall of Fame (formed about six months earlier) during a press conference in Lā‘ie.
March 28, 2014
Queen Nanasipau‘u Tuku‘aho of Tonga joins other alumni of the Queen Salote College, Tonga’s only all-female school, along with others from the community for a reunion at the PCC.
April 25, 2014
PCC alumna Ke‘alohilani Tara Eliga Serrao— dancing with Ka La ‘Onohi Mai O Ha‘eha‘e—wins the Miss Aloha Hula title at the Merrie Monarch Festival in Hilo, Hawai‘i.
July 14, 2014
Prince Ata of Tonga—HisRoyal Highness Viliami ‘Unuaki-‘o-Tonga Lalaka mo‘e ‘Eiki Tuku‘aho—visits the Center as part of a weeklong reunion of the Latter-day Saint Liahona/Saineha schools in Tonga. Alumni, family, and friends came from around the world for the event.
October 2014
A group of Aotearoa Village students performs at the New Zealand Consul’s home in Honolulu for more than sixty guests, including former All Blacks, Olympic paddling champions, and other New Zealand and Australian dignitaries.
December 2014
The Tongan Village temporarily relocates to the Marquesan tohua for about six months while extensive renovations take place. Also, longtime Tongan cultural expert and ambassador Fakasi‘ieiki “Fasi” Tovo retires after forty-five years of service.
February 12–14, 2015
Devin Graham, also known as YouTube videographer Devinsupertramp, shoots a new video to promote the PCC during a visit to Hawai‘i. Devin previously visited BYU–Hawaii as a judge for the Great Ideas video contest.
July 11, 2015
The PCC’s Aotearoa Village brings its Te Manahua Festival back onto the marae. The day before (July 10), the village welcomed the visiting Māori groups with a special powhiri ceremony.
August 29, 2015
President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, Second Counselor in the First Presidency, dedicates the PCC’s Hukilau Marketplace in the morning. He also dedicates the new Courtyard Oahu North Shore hotel—located next to the PCC—that afternoon.
January 16, 2016
The PCC hosts a New Year’s Eve celebration with a fireknife “street battle,” where some of the island’s best young Polynesian fireknife dancers gather to compete. Some of their performances include hip-hop dance moves and music, ninja costumes, other characters, and props such as rip stick skateboards and snare drums.
April 2016
The PCC installs two twenty-six-foot-tall Hawaiian ki‘i (tikis) that hold up the entrance sign to the villages, near the Hamana Kalili “shaka” statue. Master carver Kawika Eskaran is largely responsible for creating the new tiki.
June 10–11, 2016
The king and queen of Tonga—His Majesty King Tupou VI and Her Majesty Queen Nanasipau‘u—come to Lā‘ie for two days of ceremonies honoring the grand reopening of the renovated Tongan Village. Elder Dale G. Renlund of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles offers dedicatory remarks. Speakers include Elder O. Vincent Haleck of the South Pacific Area Presidency, originally from American Samoa, and Elder ‘Aisake K. Tukuafu, Area Seventy in Tonga. King Tupou also addresses the crowd.
October 21, 2016
PCC hosts emeritus General Authority Elder John H. Groberg and his wife, Jean, as the keynote speakers for the opening session of the Mormon Pacific Historical Society’s annual conference, held in the Hawaiian Journey Theater. As a young missionary in Tonga, Elder Groberg was known as Kolipoki. He later served as mission president in Tonga. At the urging of President Thomas S. Monson, he wrote In the Eye of the Storm and The Fire of Faith, books about his missionary experiences (which have since been made into movies).
December 14, 2016
The PCC shares the story of Christmas by lighting its lagoon and offering seasonal Nativity canoe rides commemorating the story of the Savior’s birth.
February 2017
Filipe Tohi, a widely respected tufunga lalava kafa (traditional Tongan lashing expert), who is originally from Kolofo‘ou, Tonga, but lives in Auckland, New Zealand, spends three weeks at the Center with former labor missionary and Tongan artisan Tuione Pulotu to lash the new buildings in the renovated Tongan Village. They estimate they will use about ten thousand yards of kafa (coconut sennit cord), which was imported from the Lau Islands in Fiji to finish lashing the village.
July 16, 2017
The Moanalua Gardens Foundation, which sponsors the annual Prince Lot Hula Festival, presents PCC retiree Cy Bridges with its inaugural Nāmakahelu Oli Master Chanter’s Award at the ‘Iolani Palace bandstand in Honolulu. (Bridges retired in 2014 after more than forty years of full-time service to the Center.)
September 1, 2017
Tai Vuniwai succeeds John Muaina as PCC vice president of human resources. Muaina retired from the Center after more than forty years of full-time service. Jarod Hester is named the Center’s vice president of finance and chief financial officer.
December 28, 2017
The PCC puts on a second retirement to honor Tausilinu‘u David Hannemann for his exceptional service.
July 2018
The PCC grants Francis Ho Ching, westbound director of sales, a three-year leave to serve as president of the Samoa Mission.
January 2019
The PCC board of directors names former CFO Jarod Hester as the new chief operating officer (COO), with responsibilities over the business office, management information systems, supply chain management, physical facilities, and food services.
February 2019
PCC stages its employee recognition event, “Mission Possible,” in the Hawaiian Journey Theater and presents students Steve Revillo and Michael Mendoza with the Spirit of Aloha Award.
July 2019
For the second consecutive year, the government of the Cook Islands sends its National Arts Theater troupe and leaders to perform at PCC.
September 2, 2019
Former PCC president and general manager William H. “Bill” Cravens passes away in Vallejo, California.
November 16 & 23, 2019
The PCC’s hula halau, Hui Hooulu Aloha (under kumu Pōmaika‘i Krueger), along with BYU–H Hawaiian Club dancers and others, put on a special program in the Hawaiian Journey Theater to celebrate the centennial (1919–2019) of the Laie Hawaii Temple.
2020s Events Highlights
March 14, 2020
After consulting with the board of directors, the Presiding Bishopric and other Church leaders, PCC executive management issues a notice the Center would shut down on March 16 to help the State of Hawaii contain the spread of COVID-19. Most employees and senior missionaries are affected for approximately one year.
June 17, 2020
As part of COVID-19 furlough belt tightening, PCC president Alfred Grace announces pay reductions for all full-time employees, and the nonexempt employee workweek is cut to four days (or thirty-two hours)
July 2020
Each village begins an initiative to grow cultural “focus plants”: for example, the Sāmoan Village selects lau talotalo (spider lily), whose leaves are often used to make traditional decorations and ula (lei).
September 4, 2020
President Grace notifies “all active full-time employees” they will return to “standard pay and work hours” on September 28 in preparation for a projected reopening in early January 2021. Grace also announces inactive staff remain on furlough “until PCC is ready to reopen.”
Also in September, the Center begins to simplify its external landscaping by using lower-maintenance grass and naupaka bushes.
November 2020
The Pacific Theater replaces its eleven-year-old speaker system. This month the Hukilau Marketplace offers drive-in movies in its parking lot.
February 2021
The Center updates the villages dioramas in front of the Gateway Restaurant.
March 9, 2021
Heavy rains flood the PCC and the surrounding communities.
April 6, 2021
Hawaii governor David Ige reviews and honors the Center as a leader in establishing COVID-19 safety measures and policies.
May 2021
Prince Tungi of the Kingdom of Tonga visits the PCC
June 27, 2021
Most of the PCC senior service missionaries who evacuated in March 2020 to counter the effects of COVID-19 return to Lā‘ie.
August 12, 2021
Brett Grow joins the PCC team as director of digital marketing, the Human Resources Department releases a PCC employee app, and Carolyn Momilani Kawelo Purcell retires after forty-eight years of service
October 2021
The PCC receives an international Marcom Award, which “honors excellence in marketing and communication while recognizing the creativity, hard work and generosity of industry professionals.”
Also this month, as part of the COVID-19 safety program, the Hukilau Marketplace closes on Wednesdays. Also, Ratu Kalivati Volavola returns from several years of military leave and becomes the Fijian Village manager.
January 24, 2022
The Polynesian Football Hall of Fame resumes its partnership with the Polynesian Cultural Center by inducting its most recent class of all-stars.
February 28, 2022
The Hawaii Restaurant Association inducts Greg Maples, PCC vice president of culinary services, into its Hall of Fame at a banquet in Waikīkī and honors him as one of its “pandemic champions and industry advocates.”
March 14, 2022
The PCC welcomes with VIP treatment movie superstar Seiuli Dwayne Johnson—who is part Sāmoan and still has family living in the area.
June 11, 2022
The PCC enters a float and marching unit in the King Kamehameha Day Parade in Waikīkī—for the first time since the PCC participated in the 2013 Kamehameha Day Parade.
June 2020
PCC maintenance workers renovate the Sāmoan Village, adding a new farm area and idewalk improvements and “refreshing” the fale tele (chief’s house) for indoor presentations.
June 22, 2020
President Grace announces that after the COVID-19 furlough lifts, the Center will initially remain closed on Wednesdays, discontinue the Huki canoe celebration, and offer only lū‘au dining service (plus concessions, Pounders Restaurant and Hukilau Marketplace eating options) “until our attendance numbers are large enough to support them and we can staff them adequately.”
July 28, 2020
The Center completes its Honua Project, a series of seven videos showing how we help preserve the “purity of Polynesian cultures.”
September 2020
The PCC gradually begins vacating all its office space in the BYU–Hawaii Snow Administration Building and begins to move into realigned and remodeled office space on the PCC campus. For example, the president’s, CFO’s, and CMO’s offices moved into the training room in the old administrative building. Theater offices were centralized. Guest services shifted into the Hale Kū‘ai, and HR moved into their former space on the other end of the old admin. building. First aid and security relocated to the Kahuku end of the Welcome Center. Finance moved into the food services administrative offices area. The mail room shifted to the facilities warehouse, and marketing relocated to the upstairs offices in the Gateway.
Also in September, PCC maintenance installs safety bumpers along the lagoon to better protect passengers and canoes.
September 25, 2020
Employees put on a grand graduation farewell for senior retiring employees with over a thousand cumulative years of experience, including Fifita Unga, vice president of food services; Ella Manumaleuna, reservations manager; and Gail Heffernan and Kamaka Bridges, in the business office.
Also this day, Pounders Restaurant reopens for sit-down dining, both inside and in the lanai area.
January 28, 2021
After being closed because of COVID-19 for ten months, the Center begins a limited soft reopening (with COVID-19 precautions in place throughout).
March 2, 2021
Kamehameha Schools recognizes PCC carver Jared Pere for collaborating with KS specialist Kumula‘au Sing on the creation of a poupou (ancestral panel) that was then presented to the esteemed Māori elder Sir Hector Busby for his contributions to traditional canoe building and wayfinding.
April 3, 2021
The Center hosts the Oceania Task Force, a group of soldiers assigned to visit and serve in various Pacific islands.
April 26, 2021
The Center returns to the full-day schedule of services and entertainment.
Also this month, the Center promotes Greg Maples to vice president of culinary services.
June 5, 2021
Pulefano Galea‘i—a longtime PCC manager, former professional performer, and founder of the PCC’s popular World Fireknife Championship—passes away.
July 2021
The Center names Graham Elliot as its executive chef at Pounders Restaurant. Professionally trained at the prestigious Johnson & Wales University, Graham has received numerous awards and is globally recognized as a master chef and restaurateur.
Also this month, PCC director of facilities Kealii Haverly becomes a board member of the Native Hawaiian Hospitality Association.
November 2021
The PCC Senior Management Team participates in a two-day workshop to review our cultural beliefs and make necessary adjustments (to the version first adopted in 2006). Our restated Cultural Beliefs are:
Radiate the Spirit—I live to radiate the spirit of God, every day, in every way.
Embrace Learning—I take every opportunity to learn and grow from my experiences at the PCC!
Wow Customers—I constantly ask “What more can I do to exceed customer expectations?”
Achieve Results—I communicate thoroughly and align my daily actions to achieve our desired results.
Take Charge—I take accountability to See It, Own It, Solve It and then Do It with excellence.
Cultivate Trust—I extend trust and am responsible to be worthy of yours.
Honor Our Legacy—I nurture, cultivate, and magnify “Our PCC Legacy” with passion and commitment.
January 26, 2022
As Hawai‘i’s visitor industry continues to rebound following effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Center reopens its second lū‘au venue, Hale ‘Ohana.
March 2022
The PCC names John “Sione” Milford as the Sāmoan Village manager after he has served twenty-two years as the Tongan Village ambassador. The PCC also names Walter Tonga as the Tonga Islands manager.
