Waikiki | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

May 11, 2019 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

“The Queen’s Retreat” (Waikīkī)

“In 1868, the year of her 30th birthday and the sixth anniversary of her marriage to John (Dominis), Lili‘uokalani inherited valuable property in Waikiki”. (Star Bulletin)

“The Queen’s Retreat” was in the district of Hamohamo (“rub gently,”) it consisted of two homes – one, called Paoakalani (“the royal perfume,”) was her principal home in Waikīkī.

The other was Ke‘alohilani (“the royal brightness,”) located opposite Kūhiō Beach, which she referred to in her memoirs as “my pretty seaside cottage.”

“In contrast to stately Washington Place, the one-story Ke‘alohilani was open on two sides with a large and inviting living room ‘filled with all things Hawaiian,’ where Lili‘uokalani and her ohana could gather in joy and hospitality”.

“Next to a satin pillow, embroidered in heavy thread proclaiming ‘There Is No Place Like Home,’ stood feathered kahilis. … A feather cape, a knitted afghan, a dog’s tooth necklace, a gold-plated bracelet …”

“… all intermingled in the home Lili‘uokalani came to love so dearly. ‘I danced around the rooms. It was my own!’” (Lili‘uokalani; Hawaii Bar Assn)

Here, she retreated to relax and informally entertain family, friends and on occasion, visiting royalty. She also spent much of her time composing her songs and translating Hawaiian stories into English.

Her home served as a comforting getaway from the pressures of business at ʻIolani Palace, several miles away.

“Hamohamo is justly considered to be the most life-giving and healthy district in the whole extent of the island of Oʻahu; there is something unexplainable and peculiar in the atmosphere of that place, which seldom fails to bring back the glow of health to the patient, no matter from what disease suffering.”

The Queen “derived much amusement, as well as pleasure: for as the sun shines on the evil and the good, and the rain falls on the just and the unjust, I have not felt called upon to limit the enjoyment of my beach and shade-trees to any party in politics …”

“While in exile it has ever been a pleasant thought to me that my people, in spite of differences of opinions, are enjoying together the free use of my seashore home.” (Lili‘uokalani)

In setting up the Lili‘uokalani trust, “Assisted by her attorneys, Lili‘uokalani conveyed all her real property to three trustees (brother-in-law Archibald S Cleghorn, business agent Curtis P Iaukea, and attorney William O Smith) on December 2, 1909. She retained the right to use Washington Place and Ke‘alohilani as her residences”. (Hawaii Bar Assn)

After the Queen’s death, Ke‘alohilani, as well as the pier and beach fronting the area (including the fisheries,) was transferred to Prince Kūhiō.

The Prince and his wife, Princess Elizabeth Kahanu, temporarily lived in Queen Lili‘uokalani’s Waikīkī cottage, Ke‘alohilani, for about a year.

They razed it and constructed a new home, which they called Pualeilani (“heavenly flower lei” or “flower from wreath of heaven.”)

After Prince Kūhiō died at Pualeilani on Jan. 7, 1922, the property was given to the city; by 1938 the name of the pier, as well as the beach area fronting it, became known as Kūhiō Beach.

The surf break in front of this is still known as Queen’s, because this was facing the Queen’s home.

Kuekaunahi stream used to run through the property; this small stream paralleled Kapahulu Avenue and crossed Waikīkī Beach at the intersection of Kalākaua and Kapahulu Avenue.

The stream was eventually enclosed in a culvert and at the shore its waters were channeled into the ocean through the Kapahulu Groin.

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Waikiki-Queen’s_Pier-Private_Beach_Houses

Queen_Liliuokalani-1891

Waikiki-Queen_Liliuokalani’s_Pier

Paoakalani_Hamohamo_c.1880

Home believed to be one of Liliuokalani’s residences

Hamohamo-now the corner of Liliuokalani Street and Kuhio Avenue

‘Diamond_Head_from_Waikiki’,_oil_on_canvas_painting_by_Enoch_Wood_Perry,_Jr.,_c._1865

Alohilani location map-Beall

April 25, 2019 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Helumoa

Waikīkī was once a vast marshland whose boundaries encompassed more than 2,000-acres (as compared to its present 500-acres we call Waikīkī, today).

The name Waikīkī, which means “water spurting from many sources,” was well adapted to the character of the swampy land of ancient Waikīkī, where water from the upland valleys would gush forth from underground.

Three main valleys Makiki, Mānoa, and Pālolo are mauka of Waikīkī and through them their respective streams (and springs in Mānoa (Punahou and Kānewai)) watered the marshland below.

As they entered the flat Waikīkī Plain, the names of the streams changed; the Mānoa became the Kālia and the Pālolo became the Pāhoa (they joined near Hamohamo (now an area mauka of the Kapahulu Library.))

While at the upper elevations, the streams have the ahupuaʻa names, at lower elevations, after merging/dividing, they have different names, as they enter the ocean, Pi‘inaio, ‘Āpuakēhau and Kuekaunahi.

The Pi‘inaio (Makiki) entered the sea at Kālia (near what is now Fort DeRussy as a wide delta (kahawai,) the ‘Āpuakēhau (Mānoa and Kālia,) also called the Muliwai o Kawehewehe (“the stream that opens the way” on some maps,) emptied in the ocean at Helumoa (between the Royal Hawaiian and Moana Hotels).

The Kuekaunahi (Pālolo) once emptied into the sea at Hamohamo (near the intersection of ‘Ōhua and Kalākaua Avenues.) The land between these three streams was called Waikolu, meaning “three waters.”

The early Hawaiian settlers gradually transformed the marsh into hundreds of taro fields, fish ponds and gardens. Waikiki was once one of the most productive agricultural areas in old Hawai‘i.

Beginning in the 1400s, a vast system of irrigated taro fields and fish ponds were constructed. This field system took advantage of streams descending from Makiki, Mānoa and Pālolo valleys which also provided ample fresh water for the Hawaiians living in the ahupua‘a.

From ancient times, Waikīkī has been a popular surfing spot. Indeed, this is one of the reasons why the chiefs of old make their homes and headquarters in Waikīkī for hundreds of years.

Waikīkī, by the time of the arrival of Europeans in the Hawaiian Islands during the late eighteenth century, had long been a center of population and political power on O‘ahu.

The preeminence of Waikīkī continued into the eighteenth century and is illustrated by Kamehameha’s decision to reside there after taking control of O‘ahu by defeating the island’s chief, Kalanikūpule.

Helumoa, in Waikīkī, became a favorite retreat and home for Ali‘i throughout the ages.

Mā‘ilikūkahi, an O‘ahu Ali‘i who moved the center of government from the Ewa plains on O‘ahu to Waikīkī in the 1400s, is said to have been one of the first to reside there.

Ali‘i nui Kalamakuaakaipuholua, who ruled in the early 1500s, is credited for his major work in establishing lo‘i kalo (wetland taro ponds) in the area, as well as for encouraging cultivation throughout the land.

One story of how Helumoa got its name involves Kākuhihewa, Mā‘ililkūkahi’s descendent six generations later, ruling chief of O‘ahu from 1640 to 1660.

It is said that the supernatural chicken, Ka‘auhelemoa, one day flew down from his home in Ka‘au Crater, in Pālolo, and landed at Helumoa.

Furiously scratching into the earth, the impressive rooster then vanished. Kākuhihewa took this as an omen and planted niu (coconuts) at that very spot.

Helumoa (meaning “chicken scratch”) was the name he bestowed on that niu planting that would multiply into a grove of reportedly 10,000 coconut trees.

This is the same coconut grove that would later be called the King’s Grove, or the Royal Grove, and would be cited in numerous historical accounts for its pleasantness and lush surroundings.

Kamehameha the Great and his warriors camped near here, when they began their conquest of O‘ahu in 1795.

Later, he would return and build a Western style stone house for himself, as well as residences for his wives and retainers in an area known as Pua‘ali‘ili‘i.

Kamehameha I resided at Helumoa periodically from 1795 to 1809. He ended Waikīkī’s nearly 400-year reign as O‘ahu’s capital when he moved the royal headquarters to Honolulu (known then as Kou) in 1808 (to Pākākā.)

King Kamehameha III, son of King Kamehameha I lived at Helumoa during the 1830s. King Kamehameha V, grandson of King Kamehameha I, also lived at Helumoa in a summer residence, in which he periodically lived.

In the 1880s, Helumoa was inherited by Kamehameha I’s great-granddaughter, Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop.

Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop, in 1884, wrote the final codicils (amendments) of her will at Helumoa, in which she bequeathed her land to the Bishop Estate for the establishment of the Kamehameha Schools.

In the last days of her battle with breast cancer, Pauahi returned to Helumoa. Although the Princess could have gone anywhere to recuperate, she chose Helumoa, for the fond memories it recalled and the tranquility it provided.

The tallest coconut palms in this area, today, date back to the 1930s.

Sheraton Waikīkī, Royal Hawaiian Hotel and Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center now stand on the land known as Helumoa.

Kamehameha Schools owns the Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center. In the center of it is ‘The Royal Grove,’ a 30,000-square-foot landscaped garden inspired by Waikīkī’s Helumoa coconut grove.

As one of the largest green spaces in Waikīkī, The Royal Grove is a centerpiece for entertainment and cultural gatherings with local hula halau and other performances.

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Kamehameha V’s summer residence at Helumoa also known as The Royal Grove.

Waikiki-1868

Cocoa-Nut_Grove,_and_Residence_of_the_Late_King_Kamehameha_V.,_at_Waikiki,_Oahu-before-1875

Helumoa_with_the_Apuakehau_stream_in_the_foreground

Helumoa_Summer House of King Kamehameha V, Waikiki-(eBay)-1873

Coconut grove c.1895

Bishops-residence-at-Waikiki-where-Pauahi-spent-a-few-months-resting-in-the-late-summer-of-1884

Waikiki_and_Helumoa_Coconut-(from_Ewa_end_of_Helumoa)-1870

Waikiki-Coastal_Area-Apuakeahu_Stream-to-Bridge-Reg1841-(1897)-noting location of Helumoa

Honolulu and Vicinity-UH-Hamilton_Library-Map-1887 (Waikiki portion)-noting location of Helumoa

Map of Honolulu-Husted’s Hawaiian Directory-UH-Hamilton_Library-Map-1892 (Waikiki portion) (Noting location of Helumoa)

April 9, 2019 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

ʻĀinahau

Princess Victoria Kawekiu I Lunalilo Kalaninuiahilapalapa Kaʻiulani Cleghorn (commonly referred to as Princess Kaʻiulani) was born in Honolulu on October 16, 1875.

Princess Kaʻiulani’s mother was Princess Miriam Kapili Kekauluohi Likelike (sister of King Kalākaua and Queen Liliʻuokalani) and her father was Scottish businessman and horticulturist Archibald Scott Cleghorn, who later became Governor of Oʻahu.

Princess Kaʻiulani was the only child born to the Kalākaua dynasty; as such, she was the only direct heir to the throne of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi.

Kaʻiulani inherited 10-acres of land in Waikīkī from her godmother, Princess Ruth Keʻelikōlani. Originally called Auaukai, Likelike named it ʻĀinahau; Princess Kaʻiulani spent most of her life there.

The stream that flowed through ʻĀinahau and emptied into the ocean between the Moana and Royal Hawaiian Hotels (where the present Outrigger Hotel is located,) was called ʻApuakehau (the middle of three rivers that used to run through Waikīkī.)

The family built a two-story home on the estate. At first the home was used only as a country estate, but Princess Kaʻiulani’s family loved it so much, it soon became their full-time residence.

The home was furnished with two grand pianos, elaborate brocade chairs, gold and glass cabinets and fixtures. Also, there were various art collections displayed on the walls and rooms.

The Scottish writer Robert Louis Stevenson was a frequent guest and used to read passages of poetry to the young Princess under the banyan tree. He even composed a poem for her where he described her as his “island rose, light of heart and bright of face.”

Archibald Cleghorn had an avid interest in horticulture. He imported plants and flowers from all over the world and planted them at ʻĀinahau.

Plants on the estate included mango trees, teak, cinnamon, camphor trees, date palms and sago palms. Its ten acres were filled with gardens, three lily ponds, 500 coconut trees, 14 varieties of hibiscus and 8 kinds of mango trees.

Reportedly, the first banyan tree in Hawaii was planted on the grounds of ʻĀinahau. As many as fifty peacocks, favorites of the young Princess, were allowed to roam freely on the grounds.

“The ʻĀinahau, with its waving, coconut trees, stately palms and winding roads and paths, has always been known as one of the most beautiful and romantic spots in Honolulu.” (Honolulu Star-Bulleting, September 23, 1913)

While attending a wedding at Parker Ranch at Waimea on the Big Island, Kaʻiulani got caught in a cold Waimea rain while riding on horseback, she became ill; she and her family returned to O‘ahu.

After a two-month illness, Kaʻiulani died at ʻĀinahau on March 6, 1899, at age 23. It is said that the night she died, her peacocks screamed so loud that people could hear them miles away and knew that she had died. Miriam Likelike passed away at ʻĀinahau 12-years before Kaʻiulani.

“Cleghorn, who survived both Princess Miriam Likelike and their daughter, died only a few years ago (Cleghorn lived until 1910 and also passed away there).” (Gessler, The Step Ladder, October 1921)

“Mr. Cleghorn … felt that he held ʻĀinahau in a sort of trust, to preserve it for the memory of Kaʻiulani, and indirectly also of Likelike.” (Honolulu Star Bulletin, April 16, 1913)

“A bill to accept the fine gift passed the senate in 1913 but was killed in the house, and it was admitted at the time that some of the heirs under the will had joined in fighting against the acceptance bill.” (Honolulu Star-Bulleting, September 23, 1913)

“The deal by which the property was leased was completed yesterday. The name of the lessee is withheld at this time, but it was learned that local persons are interested in the project.”

“On the first of July the buildings already on the estate will be opened as a hotel. The buildings include one large structure, five cottages and one grass house. … The lease is made for a short period of time, with the privilege of extension. It includes the entire area of beautiful ʻĀinahau.” (Honolulu Star-Bulletin, June 21, 1913)

Mrs EH Lewis rented the property from the Cleghorn estate and operated the property as ʻĀinahau Hotel from 1913 to 1917.

There was an unfortunate later fire of the home, while occupied by William F Aldrich. He ran to the room where the gas heater stood and saw flames. Neighbors tried to help by beating them out with cloths.

A fire truck was summoned from Kaimukī, but the pin holding together the steering gear fell out and the truck crashed into a fence. By the time help arrived, the building could not be saved. (Cultural Surveys)

“With great difficulty the flames were prevented from spreading to adjacent buildings. Sparks were carried to the roof of the Moana Hotel by the high wind.” (Maui News, August 5, 1921)

“Historic ʻĀinahau, at Waikiki, was totally destroyed by fire August 2d (1921,) together with most of its furniture and fittings, on which $15,000 insurance was carried.” (Thrum)

“ʻĀinahau, home of the wide lanais and lofty palms, rendezvous of Honolulu society in the reign of King Kalākaua, and haunt of Robert Louis Stevenson in his Hawaiian days, is gone. “

“The age old coconut trees which surrounded the famous palace were torches of remembrance, flaming high into the tropic night long after ʻĀinahau had become only a ghost among its glowing embers, but today they are charred stumps around blackened ruins.” (Gessler, The Step Ladder, October 1921)

In the late-1920s, the dredging of the Ala Wai Canal dried up the streams and ponds on the ʻĀinahau estate. Today the Princess Kaʻiulani Hotel sits at the former driveway entrance to the ʻĀinahau Estate, across the street from Waikiki’s historic Moana Hotel, which opened in 1901.

In 1999, a statue of Princess Kaʻiulani was erected in a small triangle park (at the corner of Kūhiō Avenue and Kaʻiulani Avenue,) which also includes a bus stop, halau mound for performances, landscaping and walkway.

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Ainahau_-_Kaiulani’s_House_after-1897

Kaiulani_and_father_at_Ainahau_in_1889-WC

Ainahau_-_Kaiulani’s_House-after-1897

Kaiulani_at_Ainahau_1898

Ainahau_-_Kaiulani’s_House-after_1897

Kaiulani_feeding_peacocks_at_Ainahau_1897

Liliy_pond_and_coconut_groves_at_Ainahau

Entrance_to_Ainahau,_near_Honolulu,_residence_of_Princess_Kaiulani-1901

Interior_of_house_at_Ainahau

Ainahau-when used as hotel-cars-1915

March 27, 2019 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Hawaiʻi’s Visitor Industry

It is believed that Hawai‘i’s first accommodations for transients were established sometime after 1810, when Don Francisco de Paula Marin “opened his home and table to visitors on a commercial basis …. (in) ‘guest houses’ (for) the ship captains who boarded with him while their vessels were in port.”

In Waikīkī, in 1837, an ad in the Sandwich Island Gazette newspaper extended an invitation to visit the new “Hotel at Waititi” (as Waikīkī was sometimes called) – the exact location of this first hotel was not given, however it remained in business for only a few years.

In the 1870s, another foreign resident, Allen Herbert, turned his home into a family resort. Herbert’s enterprise broadened its appeal by welcoming ladies and children. In 1888, this became Waikīkī’s second hotel – The Park Beach Hotel.

In 1893, the first famous Waikiki hotel opened. George Lycurgus, leased Herbert’s premises, renamed the hotel “Sans Souci” (“without care”) and turned it into an internationally known resort to which visitors like the Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson were attracted (the beach, there, is still named for it.)

When Hawaiʻi became a US territory (June 14, 1900,) it was drawing adventuresome cruise ship travelers to the islands. Hotels blossomed, including Waikiki’s oldest surviving hotel, the Moana Hotel, in 1901.

However, the tourists stopped coming – possibly because Honolulu was swept by bubonic plague in 1899 and 1900. There were reports that Los Angeles was anticipating a bumper crop of tourists for the winter of 1902. Competition had already begun.

Over the decades, promotional efforts grew and so did the number of tourists.

In 1917, the Hau Tree was purchased and expanded – the buyers renamed it the Halekulani (“House Befitting Heaven.”) The Royal Hawaiian Hotel opened on February 1, 1927.

During the 1920s, the Waikīkī landscape would be transformed when the construction of the Ala Wai Drainage Canal, begun in 1921 and completed in 1928, resulted in the draining and filling in of the remaining ponds and irrigated fields of Waikīkī.

In 1941, a record year, in which 31,846 visitors arrived, World War II brought an abrupt end to tourism in Hawaiʻi. Three years later, the Chamber of Commerce began bringing it back to life with a Hawaiʻi Travel Bureau (now HVCB.)

An important priority was to get the ocean liner “Lurline” back in the passenger business after her wartime duty. In the spring of 1948, with an enthusiastic welcome by some 150,000 people and an 80 vessel escort, she steamed into Honolulu Harbor to reclaim her title as “glamour girl of the Pacific.”

Also In 1948, American President Lines resumed flying the Pacific and scheduled air service was inaugurated to Hawaiʻi.

1959 brought two significant actions that shaped the present day make-up of Hawai‘i, (1) Statehood and (2) jet-liner service between the mainland US and Honolulu (Pan American Airways Boeing 707.)

These two events helped guide and expand the fledgling visitor industry in the state into the number one industry that it is today.

Tourism exploded. Steadily during the 1960s, 70s and 80s, the millions of tourists added up, and Hawai‘i was learning to cope with the problems of success. The yearly visitor arrivals total peaked at nearly 9.4-million people in 2017.

Tourism is the activity most responsible for Hawaiʻi’s current economic growth and standard of living.

Although many emerging industries – such as technology, film, health & wellness, professional services, specialty products and others – show great promise for the future, Hawaiʻi’s economy will likely depend on the activity generated by visitor activity for years to come.

Hawai‘i Tourism Authority (HTA) has been adjusting to deal with both the short-term challenges facing Hawai‘i’s tourism industry and the longer-term challenge of achieving a healthy and sustainable industry that provides maximum benefits to Hawai‘i’s community.

I was happy to have served for four years on the Hawaiʻi Tourism Authority.

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March 21, 2019 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Before the Ala Wai

Waikīkī was once a vast marshland whose boundaries encompassed more than 2,000-acres (as compared to its present 500-acres we call Waikīkī, today).

Three main valleys Makiki, Mānoa, and Pālolo are mauka of Waikīkī and through them their respective streams (and springs in Mānoa (Punahou and Kānewai)) watered the marshland below.

The early Hawaiian settlers gradually transformed the marsh into hundreds of taro fields, fish ponds and gardens. Waikiki was once one of the most productive agricultural areas in old Hawai‘i.

From ancient times, Waikīkī has been a popular surfing spot. Indeed, this is one of the reasons why the chiefs of old make their homes and headquarters in Waikīkī for hundreds of years.

Waikīkī, by the time of the arrival of Europeans in the Hawaiian Islands during the late eighteenth century, had long been a center of population and political power on O‘ahu.

Following the Great Mahele in 1848, many of the fishponds and irrigated and dry-land agricultural plots were continued to be farmed, however at a greatly reduced scale (due to manpower limitations.)

In the 1860s and 1870s, former Asian sugar plantation workers (Japanese and Chinese) replaced the taro and farmed more than 500-acres of wetlands in rice fields, also raising fish and ducks in the ponds.

By 1892, Waikīkī had 542 acres planted in rice, representing almost 12% of the total 4,659-acres planted in rice on O‘ahu.

However, drainage problems started to develop in Waikīkī from the late nineteenth century because of urbanization, when roads were built and expanded in the area (thereby blocking runoff) and when a drainage system for land from Punchbowl to Makiki diverted surface water to Waikīkī.

Nearly 85% of present Waikīkī (most of the land west of the present Lewers Street or mauka of Kalākaua) were in wetland agriculture or aquaculture.

During the first decade of the 20th century, the US War Department acquired more than 70-acres in the Kālia portion of Waikīkī for the establishment of a military reservation called Fort DeRussy.

The Army started filling in the fishponds which covered most of the Fort – pumping fill from the ocean continuously for nearly a year in order to build up an area on which permanent structures could be built. Thus the Army began the transformation of Waikīkī from wetlands to solid ground.

In accordance with the law, a reclamation project was proposed and conducted under the pretext of doing sanitation. This project aimed to dig a canal (Ala Wai Canal of today) in the center of Waikiki and reclaim all these swamps by earth and sand dug out from the construction of the canal.

During the 1920s, the Waikīkī landscape would be transformed when the construction of the Ala Wai Drainage Canal, begun in 1921 and completed in 1928, resulted in the draining and filling in of the remaining ponds and irrigated fields of Waikīkī.

Soon after, in 1928, the construction of the Royal Hawaiian Hotel was completed (joining the Moana Hotel (1901,) marking the beginning of Waikīkī as a world-class tourist attraction.

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