Capitol Modern - Art in an Old YMCA

A stop on Historic Downtown Honolulu Walk, a free self-guided tour.

Across Hotel Street, the handsome building with the tiled roof and arched windows is the state art museum, now called Capitol Modern and long known as the Hawaii State Art Museum. Its site has a long history of welcoming guests. Hawaii's first hotel opened here in 1872, the Royal Hawaiian Hotel of its day. The present building went up in 1928 as a YMCA for soldiers and sailors, with a pool, gym, cafeteria and rooms for hundreds of servicemen passing through the port.

The state bought the building in 2000 and opened the museum upstairs in 2002. Much of what hangs here comes from Hawaii's Art in Public Places program, which sets aside a share of state construction money to buy art by island artists. You may see work by painters, potters and sculptors who shaped modern Hawaiian art.

Admission is free, and there is an outdoor sculpture garden behind the building. Check the website for current hours before you go in.

Getting here: Leave the palace grounds by the gate near the barracks and cross Hotel Street at Richards Street; the museum is on the corner.

Did you know?: In 1967 Hawaii became the first state to pass a percent-for-art law, setting aside part of the cost of new public buildings for artwork.

Photo op: From the palace side of Hotel Street, frame the building's arched entrance and tiled roofline, with palm trees along the sidewalk.

Capitol Modern - Art in an Old YMCA

Stops on this tour