Kaneohe | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

October 7, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

He‘eia Combat Training Area

The ahupuaʻa of Heʻeia (as well as Kāneʻohe) includes portions of Mōkapu Peninsula. (Heʻeia runs from the mountains to the sea, but also crosses over a portion of the water in Kāneʻohe Bay and includes a portion of a Mōkapu peninsula across the Bay.) Heʻeia also includes Moku o Loʻe (Coconut Island).

The name of the land of Heʻeia is traditionally associated with Heʻeia, the handsome foster son of the goddess Haumea and grandson of the demigod ʻOlopana, who was an uncle of Kamapuaʻa.

Heʻeia was named in commemoration of a tsunami-type wave that washed Haumea and others into the sea – a great tidal wave that “washed (he‘e ‘ia) … out to sea and back” (Lit., surfed, or washed (out to sea,) or swept away.) (Devaney)

Kalo (taro) was a main staple in the diet of nearly all Hawaiians prior to European contact and was extensively cultivated. As early as 1789, Portlock described this area:

“… the bay all around has a very beautiful appearance, the low land and valleys being in high state of cultivation, and crowded with plantations of taro, sweet potatoes, sugar-cane, etc. interspersed with a great number of coconut trees ….” The region had a considerable amount of land cultivated in taro up through the early-1800s.

“Southeastward along the windward coast, beginning with Waikāne and continuing through Waiāhole, Kaʻalaea, Kahaluʻu, Heʻeia and Kāne’ohe, were broad valley bottoms and flatlands between the mountains and the sea which, taken all together, represent the most extensive wet-taro area on Oʻahu.” (Handy, Devaney)

The earliest of the modern large commercial agricultural ventures started with the cultivation of sugar cane in Kualoa in the 1860s. By 1880, three more sugar companies had emerged in Kahaluʻu, Heʻeia and Kāne’ohe. Heʻeia Sugar Company (also called Heʻeia Agricultural Co. Ltd) operated from 1878 to 1903.

In 1880, the region reported 7,000-acres available for cultivation; in 1883 a railroad was installed at Heʻeia, and by the summer of that year it was noted that the railroad had allowed a much greater amount of land to be harvested, even allowing cane from Kāneʻohe to be ground at Heʻeia; however, the commercial cultivation of sugar cane was short-lived. (Devaney)

The US military first established a presence on the Mōkapu peninsula in 1918 when President Woodrow Wilson signed an executive order establishing Fort Kuwaʻaohe Military Reservation (the western portion of Mōkapu is within the Heʻeia ahupuaʻa.)

Today, Marine Corps Base Hawaiʻi continues to serve as a fully functional operational and training base for US Marine Corps forces. The Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) here operates a 7,800-foot runway (on the ahupuaʻa of Heʻeia) that can accommodate both fixed wing and rotor-driven aircraft.

With World War II underway, an encampment supporting as many as 4,500 enlisted personnel and officers comprising up to four infantry battalions with attached units of the 98th Regimental Combat Team was constructed in October 1943 at He‘eia Kea.

The He‘eia Combat Training Area was on leased or licensed land from the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Estate, Sing Chong Company, Ltd., and numerous other smaller private land owners.

Training facilities established at He‘eia Combat Training Area included a 12-target (1,000-inch) machine gun range; an 11-target pistol range; and a 20-target (100-200-300 yard) known distance rifle range.

In addition, there were two obstacle courses; a bayonet course; dummy hand grenade courts; a live hand grenade range; an infiltration course; a shipside platform and maneuver and impact areas for jungle and assault training with the remainder of training facilities being situated at He‘eia Kea.

The impact area purportedly was established for the firing of field artillery pieces, mortar, bazooka, and other assault weapons using live and practice rounds.

Site improvements included barracks, roads, a mess hall, an open-air theater, a motor pool, ammunition storage facilities, training areas and obstacle and bayonet courses. Nearby were maneuver and impact areas for jungle and assault training.

Following the ending of hostilities on September 2, 1945, the end of WWII, the camp was dismantled, and land leases were terminated by the Army after October 8, 1945.

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Camp Heeia 98th Infantry Division Bennett-1944

Camp Heeia Bennett-1944

December 5, 2016 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Seth Parker

In 1933, radio broadcaster Phillips Lord purchased the schooner ‘Georgette,’ which he renamed as ‘Seth Parker’ after the character he played on his popular radio show, ‘Sunday Evening at Seth Parker’s.’ (The character ‘Seth Parker’ was a clergyman and backwoods philosopher based on his real-life grandfather.)

Lord first broadcast the program from his hometown of Jonesport, Maine, and then aboard the four-masted Seth Parker. With on-location reports from Lord each week, the program was billed as ‘The Cruise of the Seth Parker.’

Phillips Lord conceived an idea to sail his new ship to various exotic ports, with a team of celebrities, to broadcast his radio programs. The Seth Parker sailed from Portland Maine on December 5, (Woram) calling at various ports on the East Coast to broadcast the show. (Offshore Radio Guide)

The ship passed through the Panama Canal and sailed to the South Pacific. “For a while the plan worked. Then, mid-way between Samoa and Tahiti, the Seth Parker on Feb 8, 1935, ran into a storm. She radioed for help describing ‘mountainous’ waves breaking over the decks.”

“Next came a report from the schooner that the storm had subsided and ‘all’s well.’ (However,) On Feb 10 the Seth Parker was again in trouble, again calling for help.”

“The ‘Australia,’ 300 miles away by that time, returned to repeat her ‘rescue’ act. This time she took off the schooner’s nine crew members. Lord and four others remained aboard, and the vessel was towed by navy tug to Pago Pago.” (Advertiser, June 12, 1936)

The damage to the ship during the typhoons was so great that the radio crew ended any thoughts of further broadcasts aboard the wounded ship. (Offshore Radio Guide)

“About that time Hawaiian Tuna Packers, Ltd, decided to buy her as a bait boat and sent representatives to Samoa to inspect her. Upon hearing from scouts that the big schooner was in ‘good shape’ the company completed the purchase”. (Advertiser, June 12, 1936)

In April 1935, Hawaiian Tuna Packers took an option on the schooner. Chris Holmes had tanks fitted in the ship, with the idea of filling them with sardines to use as bait for tuna.

The ship was sold to Chris Holmes’ company for $10,000, a tenth of what it cost Phillips Lord to buy and outfit the Seth Parker for his exotic radio junkets. The vessel sailed for Honolulu on July 3. (Offshore Radio Guide)

“En route, the Seth Parker began to leak badly. Her new skipper radioed for help, and the coast guard cutter Tiger was dispatched to her assistance. The trip from Pago Pago to Honolulu took the schooner 64 days.”

“Reconciled to its bad bargain, Tuna Packers abandoned hope of putting the schooner to any use. It was then that Christian R Holmes, company president, decided to take the ship to Coconut Island.”

“And there she has been … bedded in concrete almost up to her waterline. At a glance, however, the ship seemed to be moored in a specially-constructed berth and ready at any time to take off again to the open seas.”

“For a long while she was immaculately groomed. Her hull was kept spotless white, her decks polished, her four masts ready for sails, but it was just a front.”

“Her whole interior was fitted with a bar, a theater and other entertainment, features for amusement of Mr Holmes’ guests on his fabulous island retreat.” (Advertiser, June 12, 1936)

Holmes bought the island from Bishop Estate to use as a tuna-packing factory. As he wasn’t satisfied with the size of the island, he decided to enlarge it to 28 acres, more than double its original size, using material taken from a sandbar in Kaneohe Bay.

Holmes had a vision of creating a private paradise, so while working on increasing the size of the island he also enhanced it by building a saltwater swimming pool and fishponds (which later became useful for HIMB) and adding numerous exotic plants and trees.

He also built a bowling alley, brought a shooting gallery from an amusement park in San Francisco, and built bars at several spots on the island. The boat was used in the movie ‘Wake of the Red Witch,’ starring John Wayne. (Parkvall)

The stately silhouette of the Seth Parker remained intact until Holmes’ death in 1944. The masts were removed around 1945. Some attempt was made to maintain the hull during the next few years, but the ship slowly rotted away.

A fire in the 1960s accelerated the ship’s demise. As the paint on the hull wore off, the original name Georgette and home port of San Francisco became visible. (Offshore Radio Guide)

“If you’ve ever seen a bleached and crumbling skeleton of some large animal on the sands of a mainland desert, you’ll have an idea what the Seth Parker looks like today.”

“Her masts are gone, her bow sprit has long since rotted away, her hull is drab and peeling, part of her deck rail has disintegrated and hunks have rotted out of her decks. Even the bar and theater and baubles that gave her her final claim to glory have been stripped away.” (Advertiser, June 12, 1936)

Today all that is left is a mound of green vegetation where the Seth Parker once was berthed. For many years the wheel of the ship was on display in the main house on Coconut Island, but the wheel was later donated to the Hawai‘i Maritime Center at Honolulu Harbor. (Offshore Radio Guide)

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Seth Parker – Moku O Loe – Coconut Island

Moku_o_Loe-Seth Parker-Silva

Coconut Island-Seth Parker in Background- 1940

Seth Parker-Woram

Seth Parket (lower left) Moku_o_Loe-Life-1937

Coconut Island-1946

Aboard the Seth Parker-Spokane Daily Chronicle-Feb_17,_1934

Coconut Island Club International

Phillips_Lord_as_Seth_Parker_1939

Wake of the Red Witch

September 16, 2016 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Battery 405

The windward region of Koʻolaupoko has long been considered the ‘bread basket’ of Oʻahu and highly favored with well-watered agricultural lands and verdant fishing grounds. (Sinoto)

Based on the oral traditions and legendary accounts, the Kaneʻohe Bay region was favored as a rich and productive agricultural, as well as marine resources area during the prehistoric period.

Dry land cultivation of such crops as sweet potato, yams, and breadfruit; wetland cultivation of taro; and aquaculture in the coastal fishponds and in the estuarine areas were practiced along with fishing in the near shore, lagoon and deep ocean zones. (Sinoto)

Mokapu ‘to separate by imposing a taboo’ is derived from the combination of two words, Mo is short for Moku (‘district or island’ and kapu ‘sacred, no trespassing, or keep out.’ If you entered a kapu district, you were killed.

Mokapu was named this because this is where King Kamehameha met with chiefs. The name of the meeting place was named ‘the sacred land of Kamehameha.’ (ksbe)

Mahinui, named for a legendary hero (translates as ‘great champion’ (Pukui) was known as a “regular place of rest for the travelers, called oioina by the ancients”. (Hoku Hawai‘i, 1925; Cultural Surveys)

The US military first established a presence on the Mokapu peninsula in 1918 when President Woodrow Wilson signed an executive order establishing Fort Kuwaʻaohe Military Reservation on 322-acres on the northeast side of Mokapu.

The army was responsible for the seacoast defense of Naval Air Station Kaneohe Bay, commissioned in 1939 on the Mokapu Peninsula. Permanent seacoast batteries were needed for long-term defense, while temporary defenses were necessary until the permanent defenses could be funded and constructed. (Bennett)

The Army stayed there until August 1940 when the Navy decided to acquire all of Mokapu Peninsula to expand Naval Air Station Kaneʻohe; it included a sea plane base, it began building in September 1939 and commissioned on February 15, 1941.

Between 1939 and 1943, large sections of Kāneʻohe Bay were dredged for the dual purposes of deepening the channel for a sea plane runway and extending the western coastline of the peninsula with 280-acres of coral fill.

On Sunday morning, December 7, 1941, two waves of Japanese Imperial Navy aircraft bombed and strafed Kaneʻohe Naval Air Station, several minutes before Pearl Harbor was attacked.

The bulk of the Harbor Defense facilities were equipped and deployed for a naval attack or amphibious landing; their defenses against an air attack failed to keep up with the magnitude of the aerial assault on December 7, 1941. (Williford)

Following the attack, to defend the military facility at Mokapu, a number of gun batteries were built. On June 14, 1942, authorization was given for installation of coast artillery armament for the defense of the Kaneohe Bay Air Station.

The battery site, and most others built on Oʻahu during World War II, was chosen for its field of fire coverage and ease and economy of construction. Preliminary reconnaissance of potential locations was made by the Corps of Engineers Design Division and the Hawaiian Seacoast Artillery Command. (Bennett)

In 1944, with two 8-inch guns, Battery 405 was built on the northeast lower slope of Puʻu Papaʻa, about 145- feet above sea level. The 542-foot peak is at the north terminus of the Oneawa Hills, on the dividing line between Kailua and Kaneʻohe.

Two tunnels were excavated into the hillside; each tunnel measured about 210-feet long by 10-feet wide, with 12-foot crowns, arched ceilings, and slab sidewalls. The walls and floors were concrete. The tunnels converged somewhat as they penetrated the hillside. (Bennett)

The guns were mounted in the open with no protection from bombardment, besides camouflage. The powder magazines, shell rooms, plotting room and support facilities were tunneled into the hillside.

The 8-inch guns did not have armored shields, leaving them and their crews vulnerable to enemy surface attack and even more to air attack. A metal lath structure resembling a farmhouse rooftop affixed to the carriage traversed with the guns, but only provided minimal camouflage. *Bennett)

Command and control functions were centered in the battery commander’s station above the gun emplacements, about the 300-foot elevation of Puʻu Papaʻa.

A single-story rectangular reinforced-concrete building dug into the ground was equipped with three narrow horizontal observation slots on the front and both side walls, with dropdown outside-hinged steel shutters. (Bennett)

Following the war (August 27, 1946,) Battery 405 was named Battery DeMerritt, after Robert E DeMerritt, a Colonel with the Coast Artillery Corps during World War II (he died in the “Line of Duty” of a non-battle related incident on July 25, 1942.)

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BCN 405-Metal lath camouflage resembled a rooftop-Bennett

8-inch Mark VI M3A2 Gun and M1 Carriage, USA TM 9-442-1

BCN 405-projectile_magazine-Bennett

BCN 405-powder magazines-Bennett

8-inch MkVIM3A2 #2 Gun at BCN-405. USAMH

BCN-405-Plot.-Rm.-USAMH.

BCN 405-tunnel-Bennett

BCN 405-Bennett

Fort Hase from the southwest rim of Ulupau Head. Arrow points to BCN 405-Bennett

BCN 405-map-Bennett

Battery_405_Plan

Battery_405

January 17, 2015 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Kolo Wharf

In 1907, McNeill & Libby started its first fruit cannery in Sunnyvale, California. It quickly became the largest employer with a predominantly female workforce.

In the early 1900s, it established a pineapple canning subsidiary in Hawaiʻi and began to advertise its canned produce using the ‘Libby’s’ brand name. Unlike the other bigger pineapple producers, Libby did not start in Central Oʻahu, it started in Windward O‘ahu.

Libby’s pineapple covered the southern portion of Kāne’ohe, what is now the Pali Golf Course, Hawaiian Memorial Park and the surrounding area. By 1923, it was evident that pineapple cultivation on the Windward area could not keep up with that in other O‘ahu areas.

Then, Libby began to grow pineapple on land leased from Molokaʻi Ranch; their activities were focused primarily in the Kaluakoʻi section of the island. Lacking facilities and housing, the plantation began building clusters of dwellings (“camps”) around Maunaloa.

By 1927, it started to grow into a small town – as pineapple production grew, so did the town. By the 1930s, more that 12 million cases of pineapple were being produced in Hawaiʻi every year; Libby accounted for 23 percent.

There were two main pineapple growers on Molokai, Libby, situated on the west side at Maunaloa and California Packing Corporation (later known as Del Monte) in Kualapuʻu in the central part of Molokaʻi.

Then steps in a fledgling Hawaiʻi company, also seeing expansion opportunities, and it was through shipment of Libby’s pineapple from Molokaʻi to Libby’s processing plant in Honolulu that Young Brothers expanded into the freight business.

In 1900, three brothers, William, Herbert and Jack, got into business along Honolulu’s waterfront. What started out working small, odd jobs running lines, delivering supplies and providing harbor tours ended up to be a company that has played an important role in the maritime community of the State.

In those days, there might be from five to twenty sailing ships off Sand Island. When a ship came in, the anchor line had to be run out to secure the ship; if the ship was coming to the dock, a line had to be carried to the pier.

In the early years of the company, the brothers carried supplies and sailors to ships at anchor outside the harbor, as well as run lines for anchoring or docking vessels. They also gave harbor tours and took paying passengers to participate in shark hunts.

Libby’s need to ship fruit from the growing area on Molokaʻi, to pineapple processing on Oʻahu created an opportunity for the brothers. The brothers, using their first wooden barges, YB1 and YB2, hauled pineapples from Libby’s wharf to Honolulu. “That’s how (Young Brothers) started the freight.” (Jack Young Jr)

Libby constructed paved roads, a warehouse and worker housing in Maunaloa. In addition, they dredged a harbor and built a wharf at Kolo on the south-west side of the Island (between what is now Hale O Lono and Kaunakakai.)

“A natural channel thru the coral reef was blown and dredged to give a minimal depth of nine feet with two hundred feet width. Spar buoys mark the outer and inner ends of this channel.”

“The wharf is a heavily built wooden structure, having a road constructed for heavy truck traffic between it and the plantation on the summit of Mauna Loa. The only buildings at Kolo are those of the construction camp.” (Dept of Commerce, 1925)

Back then, there was competition in hauling freight. “The Inter-Island Steam Navigation Co, established in 1883, own(ed) and operate(d) a fleet of first-class vessels engaged exclusively in the transportation of passengers and freight between ports on the islands of the Hawaiian group.” (Annual Report of the Governor, 1939)

Regular sailings of passenger vessels are maintained from Honolulu four times weekly to ports on the island of Hawaiʻi, four times weekly to Molokaʻi, twice weekly to Kauaʻi, three times weekly to Lānaʻi and daily, except Monday and Saturday, to ports on the island of Maui. Included in the fleet are 12 passenger and freight vessels.” (Report of the Governor, 1930)

During the 1920s, 30s, and 40s, Inter-Island Steam Navigation had the SS Haleakalā, Hualālai, Kilauea and Waiʻaleʻale. There were others that carried 12-passengers such as the SS Humuʻula, which was primarily a cattle boat. “(Inter-Island) would run their passenger ships and heave to off Kaunakakai. And it would be passengers and mail which just went (ashore) by boat.” (Jack Young Jr)

But those vessels had deeper drafts than the shallow barges and couldn’t service Kolo; “Kolo was a very shallow draft channel, and it was a privately owned port, owned entirely by Libby McNeil & Libby. They had bigger acreage on the west end. That was a shorter haul for them. But the bulk of Libby’s pineapples came from Maunaloa which was shipped out of Kolo.” (Jack Young Jr)

To handle the conditions there, Young Brothers had a special tender built, the ‘Kolo.’ “My father had the Kolo built for that. He had the propellers swung into the hull of the launch because of the shallow depth. … The tug had to remain off port.” (Jack Young Jr)

With expanded freight service to Molokaʻi (Kolo and Kaunakakai,) around 1929, Young Brothers initiated a practice of towing two barges with one tug and became known as tandem towing.

The system was pioneered because two barges were needed to serve Molokaʻi – they would drop one barge off at Kolo and then carry on to Kaunakakai; they’d pick up the Kolo barge on the way back to Honolulu.

Then, the 1946 tidal wave struck. “Libby would have to spend $1-million to restore it, and redredge it. And so instead of that they bought a fleet of trucks and hauled their fruit from Maunaloa to Kaunakakai. Everything went out of Kaunakakai, Libbys and (California Packing Corporation (later known as Del Monte.)) So Kolo was abandoned.” (Jack Young Jr)

The end of the pineapple era began in 1972 when Libby sold to Dole Corp and was finalized three years later when Dole closed its Maunaloa facility. The very last pineapple harvest took place in 1986. (West Molokai Association)

Young Brothers continues today. In 1999, Saltchuk Resources, Inc of Seattle, Washington, the parent company of Foss Maritime, acquired Young Brothers and selected assets of Hawaiian Tug & Barge. In 2013, Hawaiian Tug & Barge was rebranded and incorporated into the Foss Maritime fleet, while Young Brothers remains a wholly own subsidiary of Foss.

The youngest of the Young Brothers, “Captain Jack,” is my grandfather; several quotes in this piece include statements from my uncle, also known as Captain Jack.

The image shows remnants of the Kolo Wharf (Google Earth.) 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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December 9, 2013 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Moku O Loʻe

Three brothers, Kahoe, Kahuauli and Pahu, and their sister, Loʻe, were sent from ʻEwa to live in Kāneʻohe. Loʻe lived on Moku o Loʻe (Loʻe’s island). Kahuauli was a farmer at Luluku (in the area of Puʻu Kahuauli). Kahoe was a farmer near Haiku and Keaʻahala; and Pahu was a fisherman in Pohakea (in the area of Puʻu Pahu). (Jokiel, HIMB)

When Pahu went to visit Kahoe he always received poi from him. In return, he gave Kahoe small leftover baitfish instead of good large ulua that he caught daily. Kahoe eventually learned of Pahu’s deceit from Loʻe who came over from her island to visit him. (Jokiel, HIMB)

Several months later there was a famine and everyone hid the smoke from their cooking fires to avoid having to share their food with others. Kahoe was able to conceal his smoke in his valley. It traveled one to two kilometers before appearing on the summit of the cliff. One evening Loʻe caught Pahu looking longingly at Keaʻahala and said, “So, standing with eyes looking at Keahiakahoe (Kahoe’s fire).” To this day the peak carries this name. (Jokiel, HIMB)

Surrounding Kāneʻohe Bay landward are, again, the Koʻolau Mountains. Seen to the right of Mōkapu Peninsula’s Puʻu Papaʻa and in the foreground is Puʻu Pahu, a hill on the mainland overlooking Moku o Loe. Lilipuna Pier, which provides access by boat to Moku o Loʻe, is located here. This headland is known as Pōhākea.

To the right and continuing southwest are the peaks of Puʻu Kōnāhuanui, Puʻu Lanihuli, Puʻu Kahuauli and Puʻu Keahiakahoe. These surround the large valley of Kaneohe.

It came under the ownership of Bishop Estate. In 1933, Chris Holmes, owner of Hawaiian Tuna Packers (later, Coral Tuna) and heir to the Fleischmann yeast fortune, purchased the island for his tuna-packing factory.

Later, Holmes tried to transform Coconut Island into his own private paradise. He enlarged the island, built the ponds, harbors and seawall surrounding the island. He also planted large numbers of coconut palms which gave rise to its popular name, “Coconut Island”.

Holmes bought a 4-masted schooner in Samoa, the Seth Parker, and had it sailed north to Hawai‘i. It leaked so much on the trip that it was declared unseaworthy. He permanently moved the Seth Parker to Coconut Island. This boat was used in the movie “Wake of the Red Witch”, starring John Wayne. (HIMB)

Christian Holmes built outdoor bars at various points around the island. He had a bowling alley built, and reconstructed a shooting gallery on the island that he had bought at an amusement park in San Francisco. (HIMB)

That’s not all. Coconut Island even housed a small zoo for a short time. Animal residents included: donkeys, a giraffe, monkeys and a baby elephant. Upon Holmes’s death, these animals became the basis for the Honolulu Zoo (along with the Honolulu Bird Park at the Kapiʻolani Park site). The baby elephant was known as “Empress” at the zoo and died of old age in 1986. Zookeepers believe her to be the longest living captive elephant. (HIMB)

After Chris Holmes passed away in 1944 Coconut Island was used for an Army Rest & Recreation center until it was bought by five investors. Eventually Edwin Pauley became principal owner.

During World War II the army used the island as a rest camp for combat officers, building barracks and adding electrical, plumbing and a sewage disposal plant and improving the dock facilities. After the war, Holmes put the island up for sale and Edwin W Pauley, his brother Harold, SB Mosher, Poncet Davis and Allen Chase (wealthy oil men) purchased it for $250,000.

Pauley, the leader of the group, was a Los Angeles oilman, former treasurer of the National Democratic Party and Reparations Commissioner after the end of World War II.

Through a collaboration of Paul R Williams and A Quincy Jones, a concept plan was developed to use the island as a millionaire’s playground and exclusive resort – Coconut Island Club International.

Described by Ed Pauley as the ultimate “retreat for tired businessmen,” the drawing shows the four-story, 26-suite hostel and proposed amenities. Swimming pools, boathouses, tennis courts, bowling alley, and a lookout tower with a view of Kaneohe Bay and Oahu were all part of the master plan.

Forty-five minutes by speedboat from Honolulu, Coconut Island was the south sea location of the 1940s paradise for five wealthy American businessmen. With year-round temperate weather, luxuriant plantings, natural wading pools and a world-class dock for expensive pleasure boats, the island was the perfect setting for a private resort where “members and their families can enjoy vacations under the most delightful conditions possible anywhere in the world.” (Los Angeles Times, February 16, 1947)

Their vision of the resort island as an exclusive private club, a “combination millionaire’s playground and crossroads hostel for high level international citizens,” owned and frequented by “substantial people – important people, if you will, notables, or call them what you like…” proved to be too restrictive to support the grand building project. Soon after the drawing was completed, the venture was abandoned.

Eventually, Edwin Pauley, bought out the interests of the other four and became the sole owner of the island. Here, his family spent their summers. Many famous people spent time on Coconut Island as a guest of Edwin Pauley. Some of these include: Harry Truman, Lyndon B Johnson, Red Skelton, Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan.

By the early 1950s Edwin Pauley was approached by the marine biologists at the University of Hawaii’s fledgling Marine Laboratory to use the island’s boat facilities as a base for their research vessel. Pauley responded, “We have a lot of other facilities here. Could you use anything else on the Island?” (Kamins, A History of the UH)

He leased the necessary land to the State “rent free.” The original main laboratory building burned down. Pauley donated the funds to replace it (it was completed in 1965.)

Following the death of Edwin Pauley in the early 1980s, the island was put up for sale. A Japanese real estate developer, Katsuhiro Kawaguchi, offered $8.5 million in cash and purchased the island.

Later, the Pauley Foundation and Trustees approved a grant of $7.615 million to build a marine laboratory to be named the Pauley-Pagen Laboratory. The Pauley family provided the UH Foundation with the $2 million necessary to buy the private portion of the island from Mr. Kawaguchi.

Instead of a millionaire’s playground, the island became a haven for world-class scientists at the Hawaiʻi Institute for Marine Biology (HIMB.) While some generally refer to the island as “Coconut Island,” (and it was featured in the opening scene of Gilligan’s Island, a 1960s television sitcom,) let us not forget its original name, Moku O Loʻe.

The image shows Moku O Loʻe, as seen in Life Magazine, 1937. 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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