LOCATION: ROOM 1404
If Honolulu residents are missing a daughter and she is over four, they might check the security police on the 14th floor of the Hilton Hawaiian Village. That, as anybody on the Hawaiian Islands can tell you, is where Elvis Presley is staying during the island location of "Blue Hawaii."
Since his arrival, police have been stationed 'round the clock' in the corridor leading to Elvis's rooms to ensure that he has a little peace and privacy after working hours. Theres, it seems, is anything but a lonely vigil.
"Fans come out of the elevator in droves: they crawl up the fire escape, the service stairs: but they are all heading straight for Elvis's room until I stop them." Age-wise, they range from the tiny five-year-old blonde who emerged from the elevator to inform the startled guard: "I came up on the alligator to see Elvis ..." to the white-haired bejewelled lady who took her French poodle up "... So Mimi could get just a teeny peek at Elvis - she missed him at the airport, you know."
Their ruses to get to their idol are multiple and Machiavellian. Three little girls - none over ten - insisted that they worked for the hotel and had to dust Elvis's room. Another made repeated attempts by saying that she was living on the 14th floor but had forgotten her key! Several had registered letters which "must be signed for by Elvis himself."
"Thus far, none have been successful," said one of the night shift guards, whose duties have made him a solid Presley fan. "Elvis couldn't be nicer," he says. "Why, some nights after things quieten down, Elvis comes out and says he wants a little fresh air, and do you know what he does? He sits in the chair in the hall, while I walk around and stretch my legs - just sits there guarding his own room without him in it!"
Elvis Monthly, June 1961