Royal Hawaiian Motel

Daytona Beach, Florida, United States

This motel was incorporated on April 21st, 1959.

Marvin Cooper, a Miami resident, built and owned the Royal Hawaiian Motel, operating under a corporate name (Royal Hawaiian Corporation).

Postcards describe it as: "Florida's most unique vacation resort featuring the authentic gracious atmosphere of exotic Hawaii. Apartments and motel rooms - air conditioned - & heated - swimming pool - coffee shop, and the intimate Grass Shack Lounge for your entertainment." The front of the building had a rock fireplace with a large tiki mask and there was a ten foot tall die-cut and neon-lit hula girl over the driveway.

Del & Kiki Perkins purchased the Royal Hawaiian Motel in 1968 from Marvin Cooper, then renovated it and renamed it to the Windjammer Motel.

It still retained its fountain and tiki mask out front for a time.

However, in the fall of 1971, Del Perkins, operating with his wife as the Schooner Corporation, began a renovation which combined the Windjammer Beach Motel (formerly the Royal Hawaiian Motel) with the adjacent Reef Beach Motel (a Quality Courts establishment), another property that he had purchased in 1964.

This began a series of acquisitions and remodeling and somewhere in later years the last vestiges of the old Royal Hawaiian were lost.