Three years of hard work are coming to fruition for Hawai’i’s
Hula Girl Productions and director / producer Connie M.
Florez as shooting for a documentary film entitled The
Glades Project gets underway. The project is an exploration
of a period of Honolulu’s diverse history where
no comprehensive research work has ever been done before.
The Glades nightclub, located at 152 N. Hotel Street and
operating from the 1960s into the early 80s, served as
a gathering place for the local Mahus / transgendered
community. The Glades Project is an ongoing research of
The Glades and the people who frequented it, performer
and patron alike, and will result in not only an hour-long
documentary, but also in the creation of many research
resources. Fragile historical 16mm news reels are being
preserved; original still photos and news articles are
being digitized. Living histories are being recorded through
extensive interviews. The publication of a comprehensive
multi-media web site will bring together an archive all
of these materials for public use.
The production team is taking a road trip
through New York, California and Nevada and is looking for
people to share their stories about The Glades. We will
be in New York June 7 – 13, San Francisco June 15
– 30, Southern California July 1 – 14, and Las
Vegas July 15 – 20. We are looking for people connected
to The Glades in any capacity – as entertainers, as
audience members, as people familiar with the Honolulu Hotel
Street scene during the 1960s, 70s and early 80s.
The Glades Project is a collaborative effort
in preservation. It is with the help of the community’s
in kind contributions and the support that we are moving
forward. The Glades Project’s 501 (c) 3 Fiscal sponsor
is THE CENTER, located at 2424 S. Beretania St., Honolulu,
HI. Funding has been received through the following resources:
Pacific Islanders in Communications (A PBS Minority Consortia)
has awarded Research and Development funding; in December
of 2004, the Funding Exchange awarded The Glades Project
as a recipient of the Paul Robeson Media Fund for Pre-Production,
including the Hawai’i People’s Fund. Additional
funding sources are being sought during all phases of film
production.
The Glades Project has been and will continue
researching for the next year. There is also a need for
photographs, commemorative items, printed materials such
as newspaper articles, wardrobe from the shows, and film
of The Glades and Downtown Honolulu from this time.
The Glades Project team can be contacted by
email at info@TheGladesProject.com, or by phone at 808-782-5610/808-561-5749,
or via mail at THE GLADES PROJECT, P.O. Box 11884, Honolulu,
HI 96828.
Contact:
Connie M. Florez or Susan Harris
THE GLADES PROJECT
808-782-5610
808-561-5749
info@TheGladesProject.com
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