Honolulu, Hawaii · Founded 1957
A surviving Honolulu tiki bar and marina whose interior preserves furnishings from several closed mid-century island venues.
La Mariana Sailing Club sits beside Keehi Lagoon near Honolulu’s Sand Island industrial area. Accounts trace its marina roots to 1955 and describe the sailing club opening in 1957, while its interior incorporates furnishings and artifacts from shuttered Honolulu tiki establishments.
Annette La Mariana Nahinu’s journal, as quoted by the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, described her establishing a yacht-club vision with 13 boats berthed for 50 cents per month.
Source: Honolulu Star-Bulletin, “Restaurateur was beloved by island sailing community,” August 5, 2008
A National Trust for Historic Preservation account says work began in 1955 and La Mariana Sailing Club opened two years later.
Source: National Trust for Historic Preservation, “Honolulu’s La Mariana Sailing Club Tiki Bar and Restaurant,” December 18, 2014
The Honolulu Star-Bulletin reported that the sailing club was forced to move and relocated about 50 yards away, where Nahinu rebuilt at a former junkyard site.
Source: Honolulu Star-Bulletin, “Restaurateur was beloved by island sailing community,” August 5, 2008
After disputes over the site, Nahinu obtained a 35-year state lease at public auction, according to the Honolulu Star-Bulletin.
Source: Honolulu Star-Bulletin, “Restaurateur was beloved by island sailing community,” August 5, 2008
Founder Annette La Mariana Nahinu died at age 93. Contemporary reporting said the Annette L. Nahinu Revocable Living Trust held the business stock.
Source: Honolulu Star-Bulletin, “Restaurateur was beloved by island sailing community,” August 5, 2008
A tsunami following Japan’s March 2011 earthquake damaged boats at the docks, according to Honolulu Magazine.
Source: Honolulu Magazine, “Keeping the Tiki Torch Burning: La Mariana Sailing Club, Sand Island,” October 20, 2020
Every claim gets rated. A business's own website can never earn "documented."
The National Trust for Historic Preservation described La Mariana as the last of Honolulu’s original tiki bars in 2014. That supports the narrower Honolulu characterization, not a verified statewide claim that it is Hawaii’s oldest surviving tiki bar.
Available preservation and magazine coverage establishes La Mariana as an important surviving Honolulu tiki bar, but this pass did not locate a comparative statewide source sufficient to verify an “oldest surviving in Hawaii” superlative.
Honolulu Magazine and the National Trust identify material associated with closed venues including Trader Vic’s, the Sheraton Kon Tiki Room, Don the Beachcomber, South Seas, and Tahitian Lanai. This does not establish that every interior element dates to 1957 or came from another venue.
A 2019 Honolulu Star-Advertiser report states that a state judge dismissed Mendoza’s lawsuit in 2010 and that he was later sentenced federally for an unrelated mortgage-fraud case. A direct court docket or order should be obtained before treating the full dispute narrative as documented.
La Mariana Sailing Club is simply a 1957 business.
The record distinguishes between a marina origin in 1955 and a 1957 sailing-club opening, though one Honolulu Star-Bulletin account also described the restaurant and boat club as opening in 1955.
Source: Honolulu Star-Bulletin, “Restaurateur was beloved by island sailing community,” August 5, 2008; National Trust for Historic Preservation, “Honolulu’s La Mariana Sailing Club Tiki Bar and Restaurant,” December 18, 2014
The entire tiki interior has remained unchanged since the 1957 opening.
The interior includes artifacts and furnishings accumulated from closed Hawaii tiki venues. The available sources support a mixed collection rather than an entirely original 1957 interior.
Source: Honolulu Magazine, “Keeping the Tiki Torch Burning: La Mariana Sailing Club, Sand Island,” October 20, 2020; National Trust for Historic Preservation, “Honolulu’s La Mariana Sailing Club Tiki Bar and Restaurant,” December 18, 2014
La Mariana moved in a definitively established year and distance.
Published accounts conflict: the Honolulu Star-Bulletin reports a 1978 move of about 50 yards, while a National Trust article gives 1975 and about 50 feet. The discrepancy remains unresolved without primary lease or land records.
Source: Honolulu Star-Bulletin, “Restaurateur was beloved by island sailing community,” August 5, 2008; National Trust for Historic Preservation, “Honolulu’s La Mariana Sailing Club Tiki Bar and Restaurant,” December 18, 2014
La Mariana endured the death of founder Annette La Mariana Nahinu in 2008, a relocation of the club, and tsunami damage to its marina. Its distinctive setting and collection of material from Hawaii’s vanished tiki-bar era have made it a long-lived local landmark, though its current ownership and lease arrangements require fresh verification.
The date depends on what is being counted. Retrospective accounts say Annette La Mariana Nahinu began developing the marina in 1955, while the National Trust for Historic Preservation says the sailing club opened in 1957. The Honolulu Star-Bulletin also described the restaurant and boat club as opening in 1955, so the distinction should be stated rather than flattened into an unqualified single date.
That statewide superlative is not established by the sources reviewed here. The National Trust for Historic Preservation called La Mariana the last of Honolulu’s original tiki bars, which supports its significance in Honolulu but does not independently prove it is Hawaii’s oldest surviving tiki bar.
La Mariana’s interior includes furnishings and artifacts associated with shuttered Honolulu tiki venues. Honolulu Magazine and the National Trust for Historic Preservation identify pieces or decor from places including Trader Vic’s, the Sheraton Kon Tiki Room, Don the Beachcomber, South Seas, and Tahitian Lanai.
Current ownership has not been independently established in this review. The Honolulu Star-Bulletin reported in 2008 that the Annette L. Nahinu Revocable Living Trust held the business stock and that manager Judith Calma was its sole trustee and president at that time; a current Hawaii business filing or lease record is needed to confirm the present arrangement.
Yes, but published accounts conflict on the details. The Honolulu Star-Bulletin reported a 1978 move about 50 yards away and a 1979 state lease, while a National Trust article places the move in 1975 and describes it as about 50 feet. A primary state-land record is needed to resolve the discrepancy.
50 Sand Island Access Rd, Honolulu, HI 96819
(808) 848-2800
The club is on Sand Island Access Road near Keehi Lagoon; confirm current hours before visiting.