From Kauai comes the news that plans to rebuild the venerable Coco Palms Resort have fallen through, making it the latest in a series of failed promises over the last 20 years to restore the unique hotel to its former glory or to reimagine a mix of that old-time grace with a more contemporary sensibility.

From Oahu comes the news that the venerable La Mariana Sailing Club is facing an uncertain future as its lease on state land comes to an end next month without any assurances that the beloved tiki bar hideaway will be allowed to continue.

Both properties hark back to a different era, when there was less pressure to maximize profit on every inch of land, and there was still a sense of well-being in the community that gave rise to a kind of graciousness that overflowed to visitors. To be sure, tourism in the 1950s did at times chafe against local residents, and there were concerns even then that too much of Hawaii was being offered up to visitors rather than being kept as powerful links to the past and preserved for future generations.

But tourism wasn’t high-rise then. It wasn’t gleaming shopping meccas filled with designer- brand storefronts. Everything was more leisurely and genteel, all poolside lounge chairs, cheerful local tour guides and slow nights of cocktails and laughter. There was time to make friends with visitors. It was kitschy as heck but somehow much more authentic than a modern soaring hotel tower.

In truth, Coco Palms was struggling even before Hurricane Iniki blasted through in 1992 and made it inoperable. The faded rooms paled in comparison with the luxury of the Hyatt Regency Poipu, and the green lagoon was a pond compared with the sprawling waterways of what was then called the Westin Kauai at Kalapaki Bay. Tourists wanted bigger and flashier, swans and fountains, hotels that sat right up on the beach, not separated from the sand by a busy thoroughfare.

It seems like those days of mega-resorts and hotel towers have waned and that we’ve moved into a new era of “alternative” lodging and a taste for unique accommodations. Hotel occupancy is down a few percentage points this year as compared with last, and hotel executives are crying into their infinity pools. Tourism numbers have skyrocketed, but more and more, tourists want to stay in a funky cottage in somebody’s backyard or rent an entire beachfront house for a week with 10 of their friends. They’re looking for the authenticity of the 1950s experience mixed with the activities of the 1990s experience wrapped in a spirit of independence that is very much the mark of this era.

If you look online at those neighborhood-based vacation rentals, many of them are trying to replicate the aura and kitsch of Coco Palms or La Mariana, all beaded curtains and shell lamps.

If anything can be gleaned from this, it’s that tastes change and what tourists want today will be passe tomorrow. Maybe the next thing they’ll want is more like the old Coco Palms, where hospitality was an attitude, not a description of the industry.

Reach Lee Cataluna at 529-4315 or lcataluna@staradvertiser.com.