ABOVE: Rick Mazurowski plays the Palace Theater's storied pipe organ during silent movie nights.
For every crisis that might have spelled the end for Hilo's Palace Theater over the last hundred years—two tsunamis, termites, faulty sprinklers and a pandemic—the community has stepped up to keep it going. Not only has the theater kept a full schedule of music, films and productions, it's listed on the Hawaii and National Register of Historic Places.
Now a century old, the Palace's longevity is a legacy of perseverance, adaptability and ingenuity. "We've had this surge of people appreciating this gathering space again," says executive director Phillips Payson. "You're taking in the history of the venue, and you're sitting in a seat your grandmother sat in fifty years ago."
The Palace was ahead of its time. Built in the heyday of American movie theaters—the fifth theater in downtown Hilo—it was part of a small family of cinemas owned by Adam C. Baker, from Maui. He billed the new Hilo Palace Theater as a state-of-the-art movie house with stadium seating for eight hundred, a grand lobby, a painted ceiling and, perhaps its crown jewel, a pipe organ to accompany silent movies.
The organ, like the beloved Hilo theater, is unique on Hawaii Island and almost as long-lived; it was installed in 1929, while the venerable grande dame of Hawaii theaters celebrates its centennial throughout 2025.
It was the first on Hawaii Island to show 3D and Cinemascope movies. Modifications extended the stage for live theater, along with an orchestra pit that doubles as a dance floor. The Palace is one of only a handful of locations nationwide that still features an original pipe organ, with its 1,406 pipes built into the walls of the auditorium. The organ is played regularly by various members of the Hilo Theater Organ Society. Its pandemic "Live From the Empty Palace" video series was also nominated for a Na Hoku Hanohano Award and featured in a weekly program on PBS Hawaii.
The year-long centennial events include a live concert series featuring top Hawaiian music performers like Jake Shimabukuro, Na Palapalai and the Makaha Sons. There will be a summer celebration, a licensed Broadway fall musical production, special events, organ performances and movies with the new state-of-the-art laser projector. The Palace will get a "glow-up," too, with a fresh coat of paint and repairs to complement its vintage red velvet chairs and new theater air-conditioning.
"You can feel the echoes of decades of experiences still reverberating here," says Payson. "This is the year we can all come together to really make her shine."
