Ah, the civilized way to travel to the islands, by boat. This book is the story of the Matson's companies ship the S.S. Lurline.
The book is total eye candy for anyone who loves to collect ephemera from that time period. After I finished it, I was looking ebay to see what kind of things can be obtained.
It was interesting to learn how much effort and thought was put into the journey to and from Hawaii, from theme nights to entertainment. And of course hula instructions. If anyone sees one of those green hula cards, let me know.
Matson had two hotels in Oahu, the Royal Hawaiian and the Moana, and I can personally attest to them both having fine outdoor bars.
Both hotels are also great to visit for the items and art work they still have on display like the Eugene Savage prints.
Sadly, Matson no longer cruises to Hawaii, at least in this manner. They are still a shipping company and I sometimes I see their shipping containers in Oakland.
I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in pre-flight travel and the early days of Hawaii as a tourist destination.
Special note, you might recognize the little tiki on their stationary in the bottom photo. He sure does look familiar and he kinda looks like he is reading a book.
