The Innkeeper and His Wife: Nostalgia and Romance from the Heyday of the Kona Inn

By Ann C. Peterson

Lee Taylor walks into the doctor’s office in Kailua-Kona, and then there are four of us sitting in typical waiting-room fashion with our faces down, or in an old magazine — but not for long. I watch in amazement as Lee nudges first one and eventually all of us into conversation. By the time he leaves, everyone is standing up and giving him a hug and a shake of the hand. What seems like social magic is second hand to this self-described “rascal,” of whom I’ll also label hotelier, Realtor, broker, entrepreneur, traveler, and friend to all he meets.

Just think of someone famous in the 1950s, and Taylor, who was manager of the Kona Inn back when it was the hotel on Hawai‘i Island, has probably tipped a glass with him or her. Those coming to Kona since 1976, when the Kona Inn closed the hotel, know its most recent incarnation as the meandering shopping village in Kailua Village. But back in the day this place was hoppin’ with celebrities and was full of aloha. It was the last in a string of famous resorts that Taylor managed, where he had collected scores of celebrity pals.

The road to celebrity hob-nobbing began when Lee’s mother, a widow caring for three young boys, had the foresight to encourage her sons to get involved in activities to help them excel in life. Lee attained an Eagle rank in Boy Scouts, a merit that earned him a full scholarship to a New Jersey prep school. With an eye toward getting her sons an Ivy-League education, the mother moved her brood to Ithaca, New York. She bought what was once a fraternity house close to Cornell University and opened a student rooming house.

Lee’s choice of study was made easy, “I was dating the daughter of the dean in the School of Hotel Administration,” he laughs. Cornell had the only college of hotel administration in the nation and so Lee, class of 1947, was set up with all the credentials and contacts needed for his fascinating and storied career…and oh, my gosh, does he have the stories!

His operational skills earned him jobs in upper management at many of the top hotels in the nation—New York, California, Oregon, Florida—and then abroad to Villars Palace in Switzerland, now a Club Med Hotel. It was at resorts such as the Greenbrier in West Virginia; Sun Valley in Idaho; Timberline Lodge in Oregon; and Squaw Valley Ski Resort in California where Lee met famous folks like Gregory Peck, Norma Shearer, Gary Cooper, Ann Southern, Ben Hogan, and many more. In his business, Lee got to see the best and the worst in people, but true to the confidentialities of his profession, he kept all the dirty secrets in the closet and told only the fun and harmless ones.

I especially liked his bad-boy stories of Ernest Hemingway, with whom he spent a few late nights while at Sun Valley, the author’s last home— particularly the one night in the Ram Bar when the establishment’s motto, a ram’s head, was taken down for an extended game of after-hours toreador-ing. And of course Lee met his share of infamous figures like Virginia (Jinny) Hill, girlfriend of mobster Bugsy Siegel. “She received her money in shoe boxes and was followed around by treasury agents,” he explained. Lee had to settle all the ruffled feathers when Jinny unloaded her handgun from her balcony after an especially frustrating encounter with the feds.

It was at the Greenbrier, which remains one of the top ten resorts in the nation, that Lee met his bride-to-be, Dolly Fuller. Dolly, who was raised at the foot of the Appalachian Mountains near the resort, was a supervisor and, “I knew in short order that I wanted to marry her,” Lee said. Though he sure took his sweet time about asking her. He took a three-month sojourn through Europe on a “beer and pizza budget,” and then traveled to Cuba. His adventures were legendary, especially in pre-Castro Cuba, where he was almost distracted by the daughter of a hotel owner who suggested marriage, but “I kept thinking about Dolly,” he added with a smile.

Timberline Lodge, the spatial masterpiece built by President Roosevelt’s WPA in 1936 in Northern Oregon, was set to reopen after years of neglect, and Lee was hired to revamp the operations. He had gone back to the Greenbrier just long enough to marry Dolly on June 6, 1955, and that same day they took off in her Cadillac for Timberline. Exactly 12 months later, Lee was recruited by Howard Donnelly, an old alumni chum and manager of the Moana/Surfrider on O‘ahu. He worked a year in Waikiki as executive assistant manager of the resort before coming over to Hawai`i Island as general manager of the Kona Inn and the Waiaka Lodge, two Interisland Resort hotels on Ali‘i Drive.

After getting past the tidal wave that breached the Inn’s front lawn soon after their arrival, Lee and Dolly played host and hostess to such notables as Duke Kahanamoku, Arthur Godfrey, Billy Graham, and even the Shah of Iran. Taylor insured that all guests had an authentic Hawaiian experience by bringing in cultural legend Nona Beamer, who created shows popular with visitors and locals alike. “The best time of the day was when all the work was done and the staff retired to the little grass shack in front of the Inn to enjoy music and dancing,” he reminisces with a hula move signifying an ocean wave.

Kailua was still a sleepy little village when they arrived. While the Kona Inn had the luxury of “fresh water in each room,” county water had been piped into the village only a few years before. The young couple was among just a handful that lived in the village along Ali‘i Drive; their cute little island-green home was later moved to its current location just mauka on Hualalai Road. The newcomers were busy having fun, making what were to become lifelong friends, and it was a sad occasion when Lee was offered a new position as general manager of a chain of five hotels back in Pennsylvania. They headed back east, but only for a couple years; the islands kept calling.

A job offer came in to join a cruise company and Lee became the VP for Kona Coast Cruises, and they were back. After all the moving around necessitated by the hotel industry, it was an easy decision to switch to a new career in paradise. Along with oversight of the Captain Cook Cruises, Taylor started a small trucking company. It was the early 60s and Young Brothers’ barges had been delivering freight to Kawaihae Harbor for just a few years. Soon the little company had its headquarters on the pier and became the largest trucking company in West Hawai‘i. He shakes his head remembering, “This was in the days before Queen Ka‘ahumanu Highway and only the steeper slopes on Mamalahoa Highway were paved…then the boys had to snake down Kawaihae Road. It wasn’t easy,” he adds.

Lee was an entrepreneur before there was a fancy name for it. When he sold his trucking company in 1970, he became involved in other ventures: a warehouse at what is now the locale of Kona Brewing Company; an automated car wash; a hotel and golf course venture called Pacific Empress, now the site of the University of the Nations; and a first-of-its-kind, interisland jetfoil operation called Seaflite. “These enterprises were a bit ahead of their time,” he said as he explains part of the reason these early businesses failed.

Still a social networker, Taylor became involved in many of the local community groups like Rotary and Shriners, and served as VP for Kai Opua Canoe Club and the first president for Kailua Lions Club.

In the mid 70s, Taylor became a Realtor and a broker, first with Gold Coast Realty and later Mauna Kea Properties. With his affable personality and kind mannerism, Taylor was often recognized as the Salesman, and Listor of the Year before retiring in the 1980s.

Lee keeps in contact with his network of friends around the world through the Internet and remains one of the most kind and genteel men in the district. After “retiring,” he and Dolly traveled to most every country in the world. Only this time, they were guests at the hotels. ❖

Kona Inn photos by Randall Moen