ELVIS RADIO ARTICLE

HONOLULU (AP) — Demolition is soon to begin on a resort that was once a favorite of Elvis Presley before a hurricane badly damaged it three decades ago.

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The Coco Palms Resort on the island of Kauai will be torn down for a new 350-room hotel, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported.

The resort is best known in film lore as the location where Presley and Joan Blackman’s characters were married in the 1961 film “Blue Hawaii.”

It’s also the site of other key scenes in the film, including the last one in which Presley sings the “Hawaiian Wedding Song” and holds Blackman’s hand as they board a raft across a lagoon.

In its heyday, it was famous for being frequented by other Hollywood stars like Frank Sinatra, Rita Hayworth, and Bing Crosby.

The 46-acre (19-hectare) grounds were also home to Kauai’s last queen, Deborah Kapule, who died in 1853.

The resort opened in 1953 next to a historic coconut grove and an old Hawaiian fish pond.