It took 31,000 tiles to redo the two rainbows on the Rainbow Tower, at a cost of $11 million for the tiles alone and $45 million for the tower’s overall upgrade. The hotel is constantly renovating; in 2013, the Hilton says it spent $25 million just on upgrades to the Alii tower.
As hate crimes rise and the federal government rolls back protections for trans and others in the LGBTQ+ community, Hawai‘i’s cultural history of recognizing three genders offers a path forward — and a lesson for the rest of the country.
Geckos are iconic in Hawaiʻi, as much as pineapples or ukuleles, and, like them, are not native to the Islands. The Polynesians brought them here about 1,500 years ago along with other plants and animals.
