Waikiki Natatorium War Memorial to the memorial includes an arch featuring four stone eagles typical of this style. Inside the memorial is a 100 meter by 40 meter salt water swimming pool. In the opening ceremonies on August 24, 1927, the local Olympic gold medal holder Duke Kahanamoku made the first swim (it was his birthday). In the following swim meet, world record holder Johnny Weissmuller won the 100, 400 and 800 meter events, and Buster Crabbe (also local) won the 1500 meters. After the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, the natatorium was taken over by the US Army and used for training
Waikiki Natatorium War Memorial a fine, discriminating taste and ability in architectural design, and in such landscape treatment as reflects the highly individual color and flavor of Hawaii and Honolulu; it forecasts a memorial which will sustain an appropriate interest into the distant future, and perpetuate the noble thought and purpose which animated the original conception of the project." - The judges of the War Memorial Commission's design contest of the winning design by Architect Lewis P. Hobart Located in Honolulu, at the shore west of Kapiolani Park and completed in 1927, the natatorium was built in the Hawaiian Beaux-Arts architectural style. The entrance