The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1900-02-05
PASSING Of SANS SOUC|
THE FAMOUS RESORT is NO
MORE.
1t Sheltered Robert Louis Stevenson
and Many other Choice Spirits.
Something of Its Romantic History.

Sans Souci is no more. The heavenly
sunsets which Robert Louis Stevenson
loved and described are hung out every
evening over the Pacific before the
place just as they used to be and there
is the same view of the distant Waia-
nae hills as before, but the Bohemian
hospitality and the convivial fellowship
of Sans Souci souls is at an end. The
roof that sheltered Stevenson while he
wrote that marvel of his pen The
Master of Ballentfae" now encloses but
barren rooms in which the casual
stranger would detect no spirit but the
spirit of decay and neglect. The rooms
in which Rudolph Spreckels was wont
to entertain his friends in an atmos-
phere of material plenty and gastrono-
mic affuence are now but bare walls
and unkept floors and ceilings. Where
Paul Neumann was the life of an ami
mated circle of wit and good fellowship
the spirit of emptiness has taken pos
session.
The afternoon sun still floods the
spacious lanais and the adjoining rooms
where j. D. Strong and his wife left so
many examples of their skilful brushes,
and the sunshine is still mellowed and
broken up by the shade of the gnarled
old hau tree and the banyan near the
door, but the lanais are deserted.
The modern, iconoclastic spirit Of
utilitarianism has ousted Sans Souct
and is getting ready to introduce the
strenuous life.
Today George Lycurgus the presiding
genius of the place for many years
past, takes his leave. A week ago the
last of the dinners, for which the place
is famous, was served. 1t was a fare
well dinner at which many of those
who knew the place in it's old estate
were present. 1t was a sumptuous re =
past gastronomically, and for the time
the old spirit of Sans Souc burned
brightly. Paul Neumann was there and
presided and wit and humor and fancy
had full play. Tomorrow the place
will be tenantless.
Sans Souci occupies what many con-
slider the finest point on the Waikiki
beach. Twenty years ago Allan Her
bert established the place as the sea-
side annex of the Hawaiian hotel. 1t
was designed as an ideal seaside resort.
1t was far out in the country then, and
the planting of trees and shrubs and
plants which have made the grounds
a rare botanical garden involved car
rying water in buckets from the little
stream which landscape gardening has
since made one of the beauties of Ka-
piOlani park. Many of the furnishings
were bought by Mrs. Herbert in Ell
rope and were of a sumptuousne and
years of use and sometimes neglect.
1t was at Sans Souci that Robert
Louis Stevenson lived during the times
he was in Honolulu and it was here
that much of his literary work was
done. ]. d. Strong, the well known
California artist, and his equally talen-
ted wife spent a winter here and on
doors and panels have left specimens
of their artistic work.
Members of the Spreckels family on
their visits to the Islands have made
Sans Souci their stopping place. It has
been the home of many choice spirits.
the memory of whom will remain after
grosser scenes of which it has been the
theater are forgotten.
Allan Herbert sold the place some
years ago to F. M. Hatch for $40 900.
Now it is said to be worth 1000 or
more. George Lycurgus whose lease
of the place has expired, has sold out
the furniture and furnishings and ex-
poets soon to go to Europe. 1t has not
been definitely decided just what will
be done with the place, though I'M
doubtedly the present rather dilapidat-
ed buildings must soon give place to
the general progress of improvement.