pinkgurugal: Dalat's DHL Lagacy

Larry's Bar On my final evening Dalat, I decided to go head “down into town” (my hotel is on the hill) to check out The Sofitel Dalat Palace Hotel and a bar fondly named “Larry’s Bar” for good reason. Even 13 years after his death, homage is paid to “Larry” for effectively saving this 1920’s high end French hotel from destruction. Larry is credited with also having the vision to put Dalat on the map for foreign travel at a time when Vietnam’s tourism industry was virtually nonexistent. I’m sure he would be very proud to see the fruits of his labor, not just with the hotel, but also with other development projects he had going across Vietnam. I didn’t know Larry, but I know his story all to well. When I lived in Saipan , I used to work for TV station that was part of a holding company in largely owned by “Larry.” He died in May 1995, less than a year before I arrived. But Larry wasn’t just any Larry. He was Larry Hillblom, an eccentric billionaire who moved to Saipan to escape paying Uncle Sam his fortune. You would know Larry as the “H” in DHL He founded it with a couple of buddies in college. Actually, DHL started the air shipping business. There would be no Fed Ex without DHL. The guy’s professional life is impressive. His personal story is wildly interesting…the stuff movies are made of. Apparently Larry had a penchant for young, virgin prostitutes, several of whom would father his children. Larry apparently was not much for condoms. In the end, DNA tests would prove Larry fathered kids from Palau, three from Vietnam and one from the Phillipines. After he died there was a hard fought legal struggle for his estate. He willed everything he owned to UCLA for medical research. But his kids wanted the dough. So after years in a Saipan probate court ….. (insert Chau’s involvement here: young, hungry reporter, interviews parties involved in “Hillblom” case, lawyers, experts and even my “bosses”… can we say conflict of interest?) Larry’s billion dollar estate (that included the Dalat property) was ultimately dissolved, and everyone, including UCLA, the kids, lawyers and parents, got a slice of that billion dollar pie. Oh and how did Larry die? In a plane crash near Saipan. His body was never recovered, so lawyers fought over the mole he had removed following his first plane crash (yep, he survived the first one) , and for some reason, still kept at UCLA. Getting his DNA was key to this. I could go on and on about the zany stories I heard about Larry as well as details of his case (everyone in Saipan had some connection). But suffice it to say if you visit Dalat, come to Larry’s Bar, and you now know.