Liu Taufa, a musician and entertainment lead at Paradise Cove Lū‘au, has spent more than three decades entertaining guests at the West O‘ahu attraction.
But Paradise Cove Lū‘au will close next month after 47 years in Ko Olina. Its final curtain call is Dec. 31.
The closure allows the landowner, James Campbell Co., to proceed with a planned redevelopment of the 10.9-acre oceanfront property next year.
For Taufa, who is Tongan, the closure is seemingly bittersweet. It’s the end of an “awesome era,” but she’s looking forward to what the future will bring.
“I’ve been here for almost 35 years,” she recently told Aloha State Daily. “This place has given me such fond memories. I was able to raise my children from kid time all the way up to high school [and beyond]. … Paradise Cove was really good to me because it’s more of a friendly oriented place.”
She says that previous stage director O’Brian Eselu, a noted kumu hula who died in 2012, wanted lū‘au employees to make guests feel like ‘ohana when they leave, “to make them feel like that they are part of Paradise Cove. That makes them want to come back and bring their family. That’s been going on for all these years.”
Taufa auditioned in November 1990, when she says the directors wanted to bring more Polynesian music to the show.
When asked about her favorite part of working at the lū‘au over the years, Taufa says she loves entertaining — and making the days better for the guests who attend.
“To me, this is like my happy place because my favorite part of it is when I come to work, it doesn’t feel like work, and I’m making somebody else happy or making somebody that maybe wasn’t feeling well and now they’re feeling OK. … It just kind of gives you that satisfaction that what I’m doing, it mattered and it made a difference for that individual — and that’s what I love the most.”
She won’t miss the drive, she says with a laugh. She will, however, miss “this beautiful place,” and the people she works with who are like family, her work ‘ohana.
Her children, as well as family from Australia, will come to see her perform one last time before the show closes.
The lū‘au, she says, was like a home for her now-grown children, whom she would sometimes bring with her to work. She’s excited for them to come for one “last hurrah” at Paradise Cove.
At the same time, Taufa says it’s hard to move on to somewhere new. Later in the conversation, though, when asked how she feels to see things wrap up after so long, she says she feels good about the transition.
“I feel good because before I came here, I did 10 years in Waikīkī, playing music. Actually, when I came here, I didn’t think … I would be here for this long. But, you know, the years just went by real fast and [the] next minute, I’m 60 years old — and I’m still here and I’ve enjoyed it. For me, it’s time for something new.”
As for what’s next, Taufa says she’ll probably still play music somewhere in Waikīkī.
As previously reported, the lū‘au property — acquired by James Campbell in 1877 — has been used commercially since the 1970s and was last redeveloped in the early 1990s.
A final environmental impact statement published in late January says that the project aims to "update the commercial lū‘au show and create an authentic Hawaiian outdoor recreation facility and community gathering place for kama‘āina and visitors that honors and reflects history, culture and connection to place."
According to the EIS, plans call for demolishing several existing dated structures at the site and existing concrete walls within the shoreline setback area, after which the site will be restored to pre-existing conditions before being redeveloped.
In addition to a new amphitheater and performing arts venue, other planned updates noted in the EIS include an improved main arrival area, retail shops hosting Hawai‘i-made goods, restaurants and a marketplace, and common areas.
All 167 employees of PC Services, Inc., doing business as Paradise Cove Lū‘au, will be terminated when it closes, according to an Oct. 24 WARN (Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification) notice, citing its permanent closure due to the loss of its lease.
An announcement about the closure in late October noted that the company had been helping its employees prepare for the closure and, in partnership with the city, state and James Campbell Co., offered several job and resource fairs.
"We are so grateful to the people of Hawai‘i for allowing us to be part of their lives in so many ways over so many generations,” Keith Horita, president of Paradise Cove Lū‘au, said in the announcement, which noted that in addition to its nightly shows, the lū‘au’s grounds have hosted weddings, baby lū‘au, birthday parties, graduation celebrations and corporate events. “We have loved helping people celebrate the milestones of life, and we invite our kamaʻāina ʻohana to join us in creating lasting memories as we enter the final chapter of our journey."
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Stephanie Salmons can be reached at stephanie@alohastatedaily.com.
