She dresses in pink and heads the A-list. Clark Gable, Kevin Costner, the Shah of Iran, all four Beatles, Adam Sandler (no accounting for taste) and seemingly half of the U.S marines have slept with her. She stops you in your tracks as you wander along the white sands of Waikiki. You may not remember her official title, The Royal Hawaiian Hotel, but everyone remembers their first sighting of the so-called “ Pink Palace of the Pacific.”

The Royal Hawaiian opened her doors in 1927 on Oahu, the third largest of the Hawaiian islands, as a six-story, 400-room luxury resort hotel for wealthy travelers. She was built on 15 acres (6 hectares) of coconut palm–fringed beach that was once the playground of the Hawaiian royal family — hence her exalted name.

The presidential suite features posh accomodations and a spectacular ocean view.

The architecture, by the highly regarded New York architectural firm Warren & Wetmore, remains striking. It was built of pink stucco in the fanciful Spanish-Moorish style popularized by silent-screen star Rudolph Valentino (The Sheik, 1922), and then topped with cupolas (mission-style bell towers), reflecting a California influence.

Her owner, Captain William Matson, was the founder of Matson Navigation Company. His incoming luxury liners would pay tribute to the pink lady with three blasts of the whistle as they passed by. There would then be a great scurry as two tug boats would be sent out to the meet the ship with hula dancers, photographers, hotel staff and bundles of leis.

During the 1920s and 30s, only the rich, leisured class could afford the time and expense of traveling to Hawaii. That list included the Rockefellers, Fords and Duponts. They stayed at the Pink Palace for months at a time, bringing with them numerous steamer trunks, personal servants and even their own Rolls-Royces.

They were welcomed into the lobby, the same lobby that you can see today with its black terrazzo–marble floor, heavy chandeliers, handwoven carpets and giant floral arrangements . There they were met by some of the 300 staff, including 10 elevator operators, and bellhops dressed in Chinese costumes.

Then it was off to the best suites, which faced the garden, rather than the ocean. It was felt that after a five-day ocean voyage eyes needed lush green rather than more staring at the horizon.

Hollywood’s large movie studios also scrambled to gain publicity by having their stars visit this exotic location. Spencer Tracy, Shirley Temple, Mary Pickford, William Powell, Peter Lawford and Carole Lombard were all guests during this era.

Life at the pink palace was an endless whirl of tea dances, beach picnics, grand banquets and champagne parties. Men socialized in their private smoking room, while the women had a separate lounge, entered by parting long strands of pearls.

The wealth and frivolity came to a dramatic halt on the 7th of December, 1941, when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor; the United States entered the war the following day. Thousands of defense-related personnel moved through Hawaii during World War II, and of them many stayed at The Royal Hawaiian, which was leased exclusively by the U.S. Navy as a place for rest and relaxation.