The House Without a Key is a novel that was written in 1925 by Earl Derr Biggers -- the first of the Charlie Chan mysteries. But it is also a real life place in Waikiki. The Halekulani hotel and its House Without A Key restaurant/bar began its life in 1907 as the Hau Tree Residential Hotel, a relatively modest establishment with a beachfront house and five bungalows. By the 1980s, the Halekulani hotel had grown, but the skyrocketing costs of Waikiki beachfront property made such a small resort impractical so it was sold to Japan’s Mitsui Corporation, which then created the “new” Halekulani around the old grounds and original building, with 453 elegant new rooms, updating it into a modern resort.