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Saving the Queen of Kaimuki

friendsofqueentheater.org Via historichawaii.org
friendsofqueentheater.org Via historichawaii.org
friendsofqueentheater.org
Credit friendsofqueentheater.org
The Queen Theatre as it looks today.

A historic theater in Kaimuki may be getting an encore.

The Queen theater first opened its doors in the 1936.  But after years of dwindling ticket sales, the theater closed its doors.  Currently the building is privately owned, not on the historic register, and slowly falling apart from neglect, and age.  A few stores, rent the spaces along the street, but its 850 seat theater sits empty.  But for many residents, it’s a link to Kaimuki’s past, as well as a landmark sitting on top the hill, and now a group of supporters is trying to save the Queen. The Friends of Queen Theater is a community group that’s working to restore the space to a multi-purpose venue.  They’ve been organizing lawmakers, neighborhood boards, and the buildings reclusive owner to discuss options for restoration, and possibly reopening.  Nancy Wilcox is the president of the Board of Directors of Friends of the Queen Theater. 

For more information or to get involved visit Friends of Queen Theater or read it's history at Hawaii Historic Foundation.

Nick Yee’s passion for music developed at an early age, as he collected jazz and rock records pulled from dusty locations while growing up in both Southern California and Honolulu. In college he started DJing around Honolulu, playing Jazz and Bossa Nova sets at various lounges and clubs under the name dj mr.nick. He started to incorporate Downtempo, House and Breaks into his sets as his popularity grew, eventually getting DJ residences at different Chinatown locations. To this day, he is a fixture in the Honolulu underground club scene, where his live sets are famous for being able to link musical and cultural boundaries, starting mellow and building the audience into a frenzy while steering free of mainstream clichés.
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