People often think that the stilt house is an ancient Polynesian tradition. Not at all! It is a 100% “system D” invention that originated in 1967. The legendary “Bali Hai Boys” (the three Americans Jay, Muk, and Kel) had a problem with their new hotel on the island of Raiatea. The land had no sandy beach, just a rocky coral shore that was difficult to access.
The genius idea? Since they couldn’t bring the beach to the guests, they brought the guests to the water! They planted coconut tree posts in the lagoon and built the rooms directly above the fish.
To top it all off, they cut a hole in the floor, covered it with glass, and called it the “Tahitian Television.”
What started out as a makeshift solution has, 50 years later, become synonymous with absolute luxury around the world.
The Bali Hai Boys, inventors of the overwater bungalow
The Bali Hai Boys were originally three Californians, all brothers from the University of Southern California fraternity who had well-established careers in 1950s American society:
- Hugh Kelley: a lawyer in Los Angeles and sailing enthusiast. It was a trip in 1959, following a transpacific yacht race, that inspired him to escape to Tahiti.
- Jay Carlisle: stockbroker.
- Donald “Muk” McCallum: head of the family timber business.
Taking the Hollywood myth to its commercial peak, they named their first establishment “Bali Hai” (after James A. Michener’s mystical island, popularized by the musical South Pacific) .
Their stroke of genius came in 1967 in Raiatea. Faced with a purely logistical problem—their new property had no beach—it was Hugh Kelley who came up with the idea of adapting the modest local fishermen’s huts: they would build bungalows directly on the lagoon. The concept of the fare (house) on stilts was born. What began as a simple engineering solution became a global symbol of luxury and total seclusion. By detaching the bedroom from the shore, the Bali Hai Boys offered travelers the ultimate bubble of privacy, transforming the ocean into a private, paid-for carpet. They proved that the dream of Paradise Lost could now be bought, encapsulated in a refuge floating perfectly above the coral.