See my link at posting #2518. It said construction continued into the 70’s.
So this fixes the place, if not the time. It's also the ticket area, not the departure lounge.
I don't know if that means anything in 1961, but since the sign at the ticket counter where the Obama photo was taken says "San Francisco," what are we to discern from that? Did they stop there to take the picture, and then move on? Were they getting tickets to San Francisco? Were they going in or going out? International or domestic?
Today, with jetways to the plane, departures are often on the second level while arrivals are routed to the ground level. At Honolulu, I think everything (even today) is all one level.
-PJ