No one person can own a beach in Hawai’i, nor can a hotel or a corporation buy up the beaches. There are a plethora of parks — some owned by the city of Honolulu, some owned by the State of Hawaii — and of course many hotels perched alongside the beaches, but the beaches are for the enjoyment of everyone.
I did not traipse down this steep path, but SuperDad and our hostess took the trail between million-dollar homes to check out the “spitting cave” and a memorial marker for those who had lost their lives jumping from the rocks (it’s not a good place for cliff diving). Beach access is part of keeping the beaches open to all.
Truly Paradise. *sigh*
Spokalulu 
You make me really really really want to head to a beach.
That’s only fair, because I really would like to go back and probably never will. It was a trip of a lifetime.