Images of Old Hawaiʻi

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Waikīkī Natatorium War Memorial

In 1921, the Territorial Legislature authorized the construction of a memorial dedicated to the men and women of Hawai‘i who served in World War I, on the former Irwin property – it is known as the Waikīkī Natatorium War Memorial.

The Natatorium was completed in the summer of 1927, the first “living” war memorial in the United States and as a symbol of the way of life those who served fought to defend.

It is a “living” memorial in that it included a 100 X 40 meter saltwater swimming pool, built to honor 102 who died and the nearly 10,000 others who served in WWI from Hawai‘i.

The pool is surrounded on four sides by a twenty-foot wide deck which is enclosed on the three ocean sides by a three-foot high wall.  On the fourth, mauka side, concrete bleachers rise thirteen levels in height and provide seating for approximately 2,500 people.

Olympic Gold Medalist and icon of modern surfing, Duke Kahanamoku swam the first ceremonial swim at its opening on August 24, 1927, his birthday.

An AAU National championship swimming meet, with swimmers from Japan and South America participating, capped the opening activities.

Olympic champion, Johnny Weissmuller, broke the world’s record for the 100-meter freestyle swim, and in the following three days of competition, set new world’s records for the 440 and 880-meter freestyles, cutting more than ten seconds off the previous world marks for these events.

Clarence “Buster” Crabbe, a local swimmer, who would later replace Weissmuller in the famous “Tarzan” series, won the 1,500-meter contest.

During its heyday, the Natatorium hosted celebrity swimmers including Esther Williams, as well as 34 members of the International Swimming Hall of Fame.

It was later also used by the DOE for its mandatory elementary school Learn to Swim Program (lots of kids learned to swim here.

Owned by the State but operated under an executive order to the City, the Natatorium was closed in 1979 due to thirty years of neglect.

The Natatorium is on both the National and State Registers of Historic Places.  In 1995, the National Trust for Historic Preservation placed it on its Most Endangered list.  In 2005, Historic Hawai‘i Foundation listed the site on its inaugural Most Endangered Historic Sites list.

In November 2009, Mayor Mufi Hannemann announced that he will accept the recommendation of the Waikīkī War Memorial Natatorium Task Force to preserve the historic Natatorium’s memorial arches by reconstructing them further inland, and to create additional beach space by demolishing the crumbling swimming pool and bleachers.

Despite the announcement, the natatorium didn’t get torn down anytime soon (it’s still standing.)  Demolition requires an environmental impact statement, permits, extensive planning, design and funding – about $15.1 million, according to the city.  The process could take eight years.

In May 2011, Mayor Peter Carlisle stated that the City is in the process of developing an Environmental Impact Statement according to the recommended option of the Natatorium Task Force and advanced the recommendation to tear down the long-closed Natatorium.

The Friends of the Natatorium, which maintains this site, advocates for the preservation and restoration of the Waikīkī Natatorium War Memorial, seeking the return of this facility to active recreational use by the families of O‘ahu and by visitors to Hawai‘i.

However, recent reporting notes that the City and State intend to tear down the Natatorium pool and replace it with a new beach and park area; the war memorial arches will be moved away from the shoreline.

Like a lot of other kids in those days, I swam in the Natatorium pool and walked its decks.

The image shows the natatorium in 1928.  In addition, I have added other related images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

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Kakaʻako Pumping Station

The word “Sewer” is derived from the term “seaward” in Old English, as in ditches and ravines slightly sloped to run waste water from land to sea.

From an 1857 story in the Commercial Pacific Advertiser it appears that the first sewer facility to be constructed on Oʻahu was a storm drain located at Queen Street at the foot of Kaʻahumanu Street opposite Pier 11.  (ASCE)

Despite three outbreaks of smallpox, a typhus epidemic and two cholera epidemics between 1853 and 1895, no other serious actions were taken to improve conditions.

Honolulu was a growing city and needed a better way of disposing its wastewater.

At that time, the city had grown to approximately 30,000-people, and it was estimated that about 1.8-million gallons of sewage was being disposed of in the City septic systems daily.  This was much more than septic tank excavators could keep up with – which caused sanitation and odor concerns.

In 1897, Rudolph Hering, a New York Sanitary Engineer, was hired to prepare specifications for a Honolulu sewerage system, pumping station and ocean outfall (Hering had previously designed the New York and other large city sewage systems.)

Hering recommended a “separate system” whereby separate networks of conduits would carry sewage and storm waters, a system still used today in Honolulu.

Work on the system began in 1899 and sewer lines were laid out in a gravity flow pattern in a rectangular fashion and ran along Alapaʻi, River and South Streets, past Thomas Square, and ended in the Punahou area.

The system was extended to the remaining portion of what was then considered to be “town,” between Liliha on the ʻEwa side, Artesian Street, beyond Punahou to Judd Street, and including the Kewalo District.

The expansion was later delayed, due to a lack of funding. Much of the extension work thereafter was performed by property owners who were furnished piping and sewer components by the government.

The collection lines terminated at a main reservoir (the underground reservoir was dubbed the Hering Reservoir) at the low point at the intersection of Keawe Street and Ala Moana Boulevard in Kakaʻako.  (Darnell)  The sewage would then be pumped out to sea.

In addition, OG Traphagen (designer of the Moana Hotel) was hired to design the steam-powered sewer pumping station at this low spot.

The cost was tremendous for the construction of the lines, and construction was stopped several times due to lack of funding. The sewer outfall to the ocean was built in 1899. The outfall ran some 3,800-feet out to sea at a depth of 40-feet of water, rather than farther out to a 100-foot depth (again, due to funding constraints.)  (Darnell)

In 1900, the Kakaʻako Pumping Station was constructed; with features such as large arched windows, exterior walls of local lava rock, roofs of green tile and a smokestack 76-feet tall.

The architectural style is Industrial Romanesque with the walls constructed of locally-cut bluestone and concrete with plaster finished interior walls.

The first sewer system connections (to the Department of Health building on Punchbowl and Queen Streets, and to the Post Office building on Bethel and Merchant) were completed in 1900. This was followed by the slow conversion of other properties from cesspools to sewers.

Two additions were built to support the Pumping Station facility. In 1925, an additional “Pump” building of brick to house a high-speed, electric powered pump was added and the original plant was turned into a machine shop, storeroom and office. In 1939 a second “New” Pump House was constructed on the southwestern side of the existing structures.

The use of the Kakaʻako Pumping Station was abandoned by the City and County of Honolulu when it built a new pumping station on the southwest portion of the block, adjacent to the Historic Ala Moana Pumping Station in 1955.

Now under the jurisdiction of the Hawaiʻi Community Development Authority, it is restored by the nonprofit Hawaiʻi Architectural Foundation.

Today, the interior of the 1900 Pumping Station does not contain any historic equipment or utilities.  (Lots of information here from HCDA, HHF, ASCE and Darnell.)

In addition to this early image of the Kakaʻako Pumping Station (HCDA.)

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Hawaiʻi State Capitol

Prior to contact (1778,) Royal Centers served as the rulers’ residence and governing location.  Aliʻi moved between several residences throughout the year; each served as his Royal Center and place of governance.

Typically such Royal Centers contained the ruler’s residence, residences of high chiefs, a major heiau (which became increasing larger in size in the AD 1600s-1700s,) other heiau and often a refuge area (puʻuhonua).

The Royal Centers were selected for their abundance of resources and recreation opportunities, with good surfing and canoe-landing sites being favored.

On August 21, 1959 Hawaiʻi became the 50th state.

Today, we reference the location of the governing seat as the ‘capital’ and official statehouse as its ‘capitol.’

The present Hawaiʻi capitol building opened in 1969.  Prior to that time, from about 1893 to 1969, ʻIolani Palace served as the statehouse.

After the overthrow in 1893, the Provisional Government first established its offices in the Aliʻiolani Hale; after a few months, the governmental offices were transferred to ʻIolani Palace (that later building’s name was temporarily changed to the “Executive Building” – the name “ʻIolani Palace” was restored by the  Legislature in 1935.)  (NPS)

The former throne room had been used for sessions of the Territorial House of Representatives. The state dining room was used as the chamber of the Territorial Senate. The private apartment of Kalākaua and later Liliʻuokalani was used as the Governor’s office.  (NPS)

The location of the present Capitol was selected in 1944. In 1959, an advisory committee was formed.  They selected the Honolulu firm of Belt, Lemmon & Lo and the San Francisco firm of John Carl Warnecke & Associates to design the new state capitol.

Their design was approved by the Legislature in 1961; construction commenced in November 1965.  The building opened on March 16, 1969, replacing the former statehouse, ʻIolani Palace.

To quote from an address given by Governor John A. Burns, “The open sea, the open sky, the open doorway, open arms and open hearts – these are the symbols of our Hawaiian heritage. In this great State Capitol there are no doors at the grand entrances which open toward the mountains and toward the sea. There is no roof or dome to separate its vast inner court from the heavens and from the same eternal stars which guided the first voyagers to the primeval beauty of these shores.”

“It is by means of the striking architecture of this new structure that Hawaii cries out to the nations of the Pacific and of the world, this message: We are a free people……we are an open society……we welcome all visitors to our island home. We invite all to watch our legislative deliberations; to study our administrative affairs; to see the examples of racial brotherhood in our rich cultures; to view our schools, churches, homes, businesses, our people, our children; to share in our burdens and our self-sorrows as well as our delights and our pleasures. We welcome you! E Komo Mai! Come In! The house is yours!”

The building is full of symbolism: the perimeter pool represents the ocean surrounding the islands; the 40-concrete columns are shaped like coconut trees; the conical chambers infer the volcanic origins of the Islands; and the open, airy central ground floor suggests the Islands’ open society and acceptance of our natural and cultural environment.

There are eight columns in the front and back of the building; groups of eight mini-columns on the balcony that surrounds the fourth floor; and eight panels on the doors leading to the Governor’s and Lieutenant Governor’s chambers – all symbolic of the eight main islands.

The Hawaiʻi State Capitol is a five-story building with an open central courtyard. According to the architects, “The center of the building, surrounded by a ring of columns, is a great entrance well open on all sides at ground level and reaching upward through four floors of open galleries to the crown canopy and the open sky. Visitors can walk directly into the spectators’ galleries overlooking the House and Senate chambers situated at ground level, and they can reach any of the upper floors by elevators.”

Caucus rooms, clerks’ and attorneys’ offices, a library, a public hearing room, and suite for the President are at the Chamber level. The three legislative office floors (2-4) are of similar design, with peripheral offices for the legislators.

The suites for the Governor and Lieutenant Governor are on the uppermost floors, overlooking the sea on the outside and the courtyard on the inside. Public circulation on the upper floors is through lanais that overlook the court. Parking is provided in the basement.

The Capitol building is a structure of steel reinforced concrete and structural steel. The building is rectangular with dimensions of 360 feet x 270 feet (although it is often referred to as the “Square Building on Beretania.”)  It is 100-feet high.

The image shows Hawaiʻi’s Capitol – lots of info here from NPS.

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Māla Wharf

“(T)he citizens of Maui in particular, and of the Territory or Hawaiʻi in general, as well as many strangers who, in the past, have visited Maui, up to the present time have been required to submit to the most unsatisfactory, antiquated, and often dangerous methods of landing”.

“After years of patient and persistent effort on the part of the citizens of this Island there has been constructed and brought to completion at Māla , one of the most modern and up to date wharves”.  (Maui Chamber Resolution 1922)

Māla Pier, dedicated in 1922, planned to eliminate the inconvenience of light freighters to load/unload steamers anchored in Lāhainā Roadstead.

The Maui Chamber of Commerce went on record as strongly opposed to the use at Māla Wharf of small boats from and to the steamers Mauna Kea and Kilauea.

Nearby was the Baldwin Packers pineapple cannery, it was hoped that this new pier would facilitate transporting the pineapple.

Likewise, sugar from the upslope Pioneer Mill was expected to be run out the wharf to be loaded directly onto large ocean voyaging cargo vessels.

Building the massive wharf in those days was no minor undertaking and the army corps of engineers developed the design and erected the wharf.

It was noted at the time that Hawaiians familiar with the local tides, coastline and ocean activity recommended against its construction in that location.

The ill-fated structure was built anyway and on the very first attempt to pull a cargo ship alongside the wharf for loading the vessel crashed into Māla Wharf causing serious damage to the structure.

It was soon discovered that the ocean currents at Māla Wharf were too treacherous for the ships to navigate safely.

Strong currents and heavy surf damaged many others when they tried to tie-up there.  (Reportedly, only a handful of steamers ever landed there successfully.)

Produce had to be taken by barge to awaiting ships.  By 1932, the roads have been improved enough to transport the fruit by truck to Kahului Harbor.

The State closed the wharf in the 1950s.  Several subsequent plans have been discussed to the pier and adjoining lands.

In 1971, proposals by the Xanadu Corp to construct a restaurant, museum, shops, offices, park, parking lot and small marina at the site were announced.  (Lahaina Sun)

Initial plans called for a 193-space parking lot situated at the Kaʻānapali side of the foot of the pier.  A park was planned between the parking lot and the shoreline which would block the parking area from sight while on the pier.  (Lahaina Sun)

Four buildings, housing 18 shops and 10 offices would be staggered on alternate sides of the pier. Park and fishing areas would be located between the buildings. Some of the shops would be cantilevered over the water.  (Lahaina Sun)

The bulk of the four buildings would be one story, with two sections of each building rising another story.   Near the end of the pier, a bait and tackle shop is planned.  Plans also call for construction of a one-story Hawaiiana Museum.   (Lahaina Sun)

At the pier’s end would be a two-story restaurant which could seat 200. Behind the restaurant would be an art gallery.  Plans also include a 40-ship marina. The marina would be situated close to shore and would require dredging operations.  (Lahaina Sun)

In 2012, principals of Harbor Quest LLC discussed plans for another boat harbor at Māla.

Their testimony before the council described the details: “A channel approximately 650 feet long and 125 (feet) in width would be constructed through what is now Māla Wharf access road. The channel would transect Front Street, opening into a harbor basin with a surface area approximately three times the size of Lahaina Small Board Harbor.”  (Lahaina News)

The vision is for a mixed-use, inland harbor village situated on 24-plus acres of land on the south side of Kahoma Stream between the ocean and Honoapiilani Highway.  (Lahaina News)

The proposed plans for the private venture are still on the drawing board but include 143 fifty-foot slips, three anchor restaurants, 160 retail establishments, 16 residential condominiums, haul-out facility and a four-story parking garage.  (Lahaina News)

Also in 2012, the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation and Stanford Carr released a draft Environmental Assessment for the Proposed Kahoma Village affordable housing project on lands mauka of Front Street, above Māla Wharf.  (This project site, proposed by its landowner, includes areas that Harbor Quest plans for its marina.)

While the discussions seem to continue, what appears constant is that Māla provides popular surfing and diving opportunities for Maui residents and visitors.

The image shows Māla Wharf at its blessing in 1922 (Maui News.)   In addition, I have added other related images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

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Alexander Young

Alexander Young was born in Blackburn, Scotland, December 14, 1833, the son of Robert and Agnes Young. His father was a contractor. When young, he apprenticed in a mechanical engineering and machinist department.

One of his first jobs included sailing around the Horn in 1860 to Vancouver Island with a shipload of machinery and a contract to build and operate a large sawmill at Alberni.

He left Vancouver Island for the distant “Sandwich Islands,” arriving in Honolulu February 5, 1865; he then formed a partnership with William Lidgate to operate a foundry and machine shop at Hilo, Hawaiʻi, continuing in this business for four years.

Moving to Honolulu, Young bought the interest of Thomas Hughes in the Honolulu Iron Works and continued in this business for 32 years. On his retirement from the iron works he invested in sugar plantation enterprises. He became president of the Waiakea Mill Co.

During the monarchy he served in the House of Nobles, 1889, was a member of the advisory council under the provisional Government and was a Minister of the Interior in President Dole’s cabinet.

With the new century he started a new career, when in 1900 he started construction of the Alexander Young Hotel, fronting Bishop Street and extending the full block between King and Hotel streets in downtown Honolulu.  The 192-room building was completed in 1903.

In 1905, Young acquired the Moana Hotel and later the Royal Hawaiian Hotel (the ‘old’ Royal Hawaiian in downtown Honolulu that was later (1917) purchased for the Army and Navy YMCA.)

The Honolulu businessman whose downtown hotel that bore his name helped him became known as the father of the hotel industry in Hawaiʻi.

“Mr. Young has sought the best money could buy, with the single purpose of attaining the beauty, comfort and convenience which modern architecture can supply, modern thought suggest and modern man can require.” (Evening Bulletin, August 3, 1900)

Extending a block in length and rising six stories in height, the Alexander Young Building was the largest edifice in Honolulu. It dominated the city-scape and was a major landmark in the downtown area.

At the time of its construction it was the foremost hotel in the Pacific and one of the manor hotels in America. The Advertiser noted, “San Francisco with its 400,000 people, has only one caravansary as good and is priding itself on the prospect of one more. Across the bay Oakland, with 100,000 people, has nothing to compare with it; and going East through Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Kansas and so on to the western limits of Chicago, no hotel of equal cost and splendor can be found. Between Chicago and Honolulu is a distance of 4,000 miles and a population of over thirty million people, yet but one hotel can be found in all that region which equals in size, modern fittings, and general attractiveness the hotel which bears the name Alexander Young.” (Honolulu Advertiser 1903)

It was four stories in height, six at the two ends, and built of grey granite; there was a roof garden tent where refreshments were served and concerts given.  At either end of this roof garden is a dance pavilion.  (The only major addition to the building was the fifth story placed on the roof garden in 1955.)

The Young Hotel was used by the military in both World Wars. During WW I, the US Army used the second floor. During WW II, the military occupied most of the hotel.   Other notable occupants of the hotel include the 1929 legislature, which maintained its offices there while ʻIolani Palace was refurbished.

In 1964, the hotel was converted to stores and offices.  The landmark (on the National Register of Historic Places) Alexander Young Building was demolished in 1981.

At about the same time, Young formed the von Hamm-Young Company with his son-in-law, Conrad Carl von Hamm and others (an automobile sales, textiles, wholesale sales, machinery and a host of other businesses, and forerunner of The Hawaiʻi Corporation.)  He also started Young Laundry.

Alexander Young died July 2, 1910.

The image shows the Alexander Young Hotel in 1904.  In addition, I have added other images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

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