Tuesday, November 21, 1961: Revolving restaurant

From The New York Times:

Honolulu's tallest office building has a revolving restaurant perched on its roof. The saucer-shaped restaurant, opened last week, offers diners a panoramic view of the city. A sixteen-foot-wide ring set into the floor of the restaurant, called La Ronde, makes one compete revolution every hour. Windows completely circle the restaurant and are tilted outward to reduce glare. The dining facilities are on the roof of the twenty-two-story Ala Moana Building. The office building, restaurant and an adjoining shopping center were designed by John Graham & Co., Seattle and New York architects. The restaurant seats 162 persons on the revolving floor. The seventy-two-foot-wide restaurant is cantilevered from a thirty-eight-foot-diameter concrete core which contains stairwells, elevators, kitchen and other facilities for La Ronde. A three-horsepower motor moves the floor of the restaurant. Two additional motors have been installed for emergency use."

From "Some Construction and Housing Firsts in Hawaii," by the Hawaiian Historical Society:

La Ronde is a revolving restaurant on the twenty-third floor of the Ala Moana Building, 1441 Kapiolani Boulevard. Opened to the public on November 21, 1961, it was variously described as "one of the first of its kind in the United States" and even as "the first revolving restaurant in the United States."

* Entry from "Firsts: Origins of Everyday Things That Changed the World" (book): @

* "Revolving Restaurants in the Americas" (from InterestingAmerica.com): @

* "Revolving architecture: A History of Buildings That Rotate, Swivel and Pivot" (book): @

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