Despite the fact that the entire Estate was built in just 29 days, careful attention was given to aesthetic touches such as carved wood and ornamental iron decoration throughout the Estate.

An awning over the stone deck outside Harbor House created a favorite Summertime location for lounging and relaxation.

When Henry's engineers reclaimed the land on which Fleur du Lac was built, they carefully routed one of the distributaries of Blackwood Creek through the grounds as a water feature.

Glocca Mora was considered by many to be the most grand of the cottages created by Henry Kaiser.

The furnishings inside the main residences on the Kaiser Estate were exquisite.  This is the bedroom of "Glocca Mora", the house Henry and second wife Ale chose to occupy after the death of Henry's first wife, Bess.  You may recognize this room as the location for the failed assassination attempt on Michael Corleone in Godfather II.

This is a 1946 era photograph of the recently constructed Boat House. Henry had this structure created to house his growing collection of racing boats that were too large for the boat garages under Harbor House.

Edgar Kaiser arranged for the Kaiser's two new race boats, "Scooter Too" and "Hawaii Kai", to be shipped to Hawaii for a match race called the Honolulu Mile in 1956. You can see video of this race in the Classic Video section of this website.

Kaiser's "Scooter Too" race boat had a very interesting, albeit largely unsuccessful, racing career that we cover in some detail in the book.

Henry Kaiser's greatest construction triumph was the Hoover Dam. These conceptual, drawn by Bureau of Reclamation engineers, display the beauty, and the intricacy of the project. As usual, Henry's team completed the project ahead of time and below budget.

Henry was very persuasive in one-on-one conversations. Here, he makes a point in a conversation with an associate.

Kaiser's interest in all things mechanical led him to encourage his engineers to create this first of its kind reticulating bus capable of carrying more than 60 passengers. His idea was to cut commuting times for residents of his Kaiser Homes developments in southern California. The project was a success, but Henry soon lost interest.

This image was taken from a comic book created by the US Government during WW II to commemorate Americans making important contributions to the War effort. Henry had been dubbed "Shipbuilder No. 1" because of this can-do attitude and refusal to take "no" for an answer. He was also known as the "Miracle Man" and "Hurry-up Henry."

"Scooter Too" was an unlimited hydroplane racing boat built by Kaiser's gravel yard staff and raced by Jack Regas. This photograph was taken in the harbor at Fleur du Lac in 1955.

As a reward to the Kaiser Companies gravel yard crew who had salvaged one of Henry's failed 1949 race boats, "Scooter", and turned it into a winner, Henry provided the money and Allison engine for the same crew to build a new racer they named "Scooter Too."

Always the promoter, Henry ordered his engineers to construct Buckminster Fuller's classic geodesic dome design from Kaiser Aluminum panels. The Dome was the theater in which the world premier of the movies "Around the World in 80 Days" was shown. Expected to take several months to construct, Henry's engineers finished construction in 2 days!

One of the 17 original structures at Fleur du Lac, Rain Barrel was a visiting family favorite because of its spaciousness and proximity to the beach.

The photograph of Bess and Henry Kaiser was taken at the founding of the Kaiser Permanente Foundation in 1942.

Henry Kaiser Sr. loved automobiles! The beautiful Cord L 29 model was one the more than 50 automobiles (not including Kaiser-Frazers) Henry owned during his life.

This comic book was printed by the US Government during WW II to commemorate American citizens making an important contribution to the War effort. You can view the entire story in the Classic Text section of this website.

This early 1950's era photograph shows the beautiful sunny indoor terrace adjacent to the Harbor House and the Fleur du Lac harbor.

By the mid 1950's, Kaiser Industries was a multi-billion dollar behemouth operating in more than 50 countries around the world. It was time for a new headquarters building to project that image of success. Working with the best architects of the day, Henry, Edgar, and Henry Jr. all had a part in creating this corporate masterpiece on the shores of Lake Merritt in Oakland.

Henry Kaiser had big plans for the housing market to serve soldiers returning from WW II. He planned to apply the assembly line technologies he had used so successfully in ship building to homebuilding. But, although he offered a very attractive product at a greta price-point, he badly mis-judged what consumers wanted. Instead of an assembly line business with few major competitors, the housing market became a fragmented market with 1000's of individual home builders.

Henry Kaiser was an idea machine. Among the thousands of ideas his Kaiser Companies tried was a plan to produce a fleet of large reticulating busses that would carry thousands of workers from his Kaiser Community Homes developments to factories and businesses in Southern California.

Kaiser envisioned the day when each family in America would have one car and one airplane! The personal airplanes would take off and land at thousands of small airports across America. Of course, Kaiser planned to build both the airplanes AND the airports.

Henry Kaiser's partner in Kaiser Permanente was Dr. Sidney Garfield. Henry and his team ran the business side of Permanente, while Garfield headed the medical operations.

The only commercial movie ever made about Henry Kaiser's life, "Man From Frisco" featured glamorous Michael O'Shea and Anne Shirley as Henry and Bess Kaiser. The movie included wonderful period film from the Kaiser shipyards.

Because of his success and "can-do" attitude, US Government officials of all types, even Generals, were anxious to hear Henry Kaiser's opinions. Here General George C. Marshall gives his rapt attention to Henry during a conversation.

Henry Senior was not the only Kaiser whose opinions were welcomed in Washington. Here Edgar Kaiser briefs Kennedy on how Kaiser Steel plans to avoid a strike at critical moment just after the Cuban missile crisis.

Alfred Apaka was a famous Hawaiian singer "discovered" by Henry and Ale. Apaka became very close to the Kaisers, Henry called him "another son", and he actually lived at the Kaiser's Portlock Road estate for a while. Here the three are at the christening of Henry's new race boat "Hawaii Kai".

Perhaps the most disappointing, and expensive, boat of Kaiser's1949 national racing campaign was "Aluminum First." Costing Kaiser more that $1 million in today's dollars, the boat was ultimately scrapped without participating in any race.