Public restrooms that were renovated as part of a $4.4 million makeover of the Waikiki War Memorial Natatorium have been closed for two years, leaving visitors and locals to use portable facilities.

The set of five blue portable toilets that sit in front of the monument offers some relief to beachgoers. But they also frustrate those who know the permanent restrooms are there and would rather avoid the unsightly and smelly portables. And they cost about $2,000 a month.

James Brainerd, 45, said he's been going to nearby Kaimana Beach twice a week for the past 25 years but only uses the portable toilets in an emergency.

Brainerd can't believe that after millions were spent on work there, "we don't even have a functioning bathroom."

The restrooms were closed in 2004 after some plaster on the ceiling cracked and split.

"At one time it's functioning, then the next thing you know, it's locked up," said Brainerd. "It's really sad. They went through all this trouble to refinish this thing."

Eugene Lee, acting director of the Department of Design and Construction, said the city is assessing the condition of the restrooms to see if they can be used again.

"I feel comfortable that it's still OK as far as the structural integrity," Lee said. But to be safe, city crews will re-assess the building, check the fixtures and see if anything more would be needed to re-open it.

Modernization of the restrooms was completed in 2000 as part of the $4.4 million renovation that also included work on the famous arch and the bleachers. Political battles stopped the restoration of the rest of the complex and the Olympic-sized ocean-water pool.

After years of controversy over whether the memorial built to honor Hawai'i's war dead from World War I should be restored or torn down, Mayor Mufi Hannemann last year put the brakes on spending more money on it. With the city focusing on core public health and safety issues, money wasn't there for the monument, he said.

The pool was once the site of gala festivities that included world-famous waterman Duke Kahanamoku, but it began to crumble within just a few years of opening in 1927. The pool has been closed to swimming since 1979, and debate on what should happen to the historic structure has swirled since then.

Brainerd said the situation with the bathrooms is especially disappointing because the beach is one of the few in the area that draws residents. "It's sad because this is for locals. Most of the people here, we don't go into Waikiki very much."

Haunani Igawa and her husband, James, live in Moanalua and take their two children to the beach near the Natatorium about once a week.

"It would be really great if it was open," she said, after pronouncing the portable toilets "gross" and unacceptable for even changing clothes.

Annette Gingerich, of Hawai'i Kai, would welcome back the restrooms for her family and residents and visitors.

Gingerich, who has been going to the beach near the Natatorium for 15 years, remembers when the renovation was finished six years ago and how happy they were to be able to use clean, convenient public restrooms. "They were really nice. I remember giving my kids showers there," she said.

Before those restrooms opened, she said, beachgoers would sometimes sneak into nearby hotels. So when those bathrooms closed again, just two years after opening, she was disappointed: "It's too bad. They spent all that money renovating the bathrooms and it seemed a shame that they were closed."

City Councilman Charles Djou, who represents Waikiki, said he received a lot of complaints two years ago when the renovated bathrooms were closed, but the calls have tapered off.

He thinks people just assumed after a while that the restrooms became a casualty of the political battle.

Nancy Bannick, longtime member of the Friends of the Natatorium, also was sad to see the restrooms closed so soon after they were fixed up.

"I went in there several times; such a good job." Bannick said. "They kept them up very nicely."

As a longtime backer of restoration of the whole complex, Bannick remains hopeful that progress will be made.

Reach Robbie Dingeman at rdingeman@honoluluadvertiser.com.