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July 24, 2023 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Royal Hawaiian Hotel

The first Royal Hawaiian Hotel was not in Waikīkī. It was in downtown Honolulu where the “One Capitol District” building now stands. By the 1900s, the Royal Hawaiian lost its guests to the newer Alexander Young hotel a few blocks away.

The downtown Royal Hawaiian was converted to a YMCA building in 1917. The building was demolished in 1926, and a new YMCA in a similar style was built in its place.

For centuries, Helumoa in Waikīkī was the home to Hawaiʻi’s royalty. Portions of this area would eventually become the home to the new Royal Hawaiian Hotel.

In the 1890s, the property was leased as a seaside annex to the downtown Royal Hawaiian Hotel located at Richards and Hotel streets.

In 1907, the Seaside Hotel opened on the property, and was later acquired by Alexander Young’s Territorial Hotel Company, which operated the Alexander Young hotel in downtown Honolulu.

In 1924, the Seaside Hotel’s lease of the land at Helumoa was soon to expire and the land’s owners (Bishop Estate) put out a request for proposals to build a hotel.

This was the time before flight; Matson Navigation Co. had luxury ocean liners bringing wealthy tourists to Hawaii – but, they needed a hotel equally lavish to accommodate their passengers at Waikīkī (at that time, the 650 passengers arriving in Honolulu every two weeks were typically staying at Hawaiʻi’s two largest hotels, the Alexander Hotel and the Moana.)

The availability of the Waikīkī land began putting wheels into motion. A new hotel was planned and conceived as a luxurious resort for Matson passengers, the brainchild of Ed Tenney (who headed the “big five” firm of Castle and Cooke and Matson Navigation) and Matson manager William Roth (son-in-law to William Matson founder of Matson Navigation.)

Castle & Cooke, Matson Navigation and the Territorial Hotel Company successfully proposed a plan to build a luxury hotel, The Royal Hawaiian, with 400 rooms on the 15-acre parcel of Waikiki beach to be leased from Bishop Estate.

The ground-breaking ceremony took place on July 26, 1925. However, the official building permits were delayed while city officials changed the building code to allow increased building heights. After $4 million and 18 months, the resort was completed.

On February 1, 1927, the Royal Hawaiian (nicknamed The Pink Palace) was officially opened with the gala event of the decade. At the same time, and associated with the hotel, the Territorial Hotel Co opened the Waiʻalae Golf Course.

Duke Kahanamoku, the legendary Olympic swimmer and surfer, frequented the Royal Hawaiian Hotel restaurants and private beachfront. The Royal Hawaiian Hotel became a favorite stomping ground for Kahanamoku’s famed group, dubbed the “Waikiki Beach Boys”.

Over the following decades, the Royal Hawaiian was THE place to stay and the Pink Palace hosted world celebrities, financiers, heads of state and the elite from around the world.

World War II, with its associated martial law and blackout measures, meant significant changes at the Royal Hawaiian. In January of 1942, the U.S. Navy signed a lease with the Royal Hawaiian to use the facilities as a rest and relaxation center for officers and enlisted personnel serving in the Pacific.

During the war, over 200,000 men stayed at the Royal Hawaiian. Each day as many as 5,500 service-related visitors (most of who were not staying at the hotel) passed through the front gates to enjoy the beach or social activities.

At the conclusion of World War II, the hotel was given a makeover to restore her to the level of luxury her guests would expect.

ITT Sheraton purchased The Royal Hawaiian from Matson in June 1959. The Royal Tower Wing was added to the existing structure in 1969. The resort was sold in 1974 to Kyo-ya Company, Ltd., with Starwood Hotels & Resorts operating it under a long-term management contract.

In 2008, the Royal Hawaiian again underwent significant renovation (to the tune of $85-million) and held its official grand reopening on March 7, 2009. The Tower section was renovated yet again in November 2010 and reopened as The Royal Beach Tower with upgraded rooms.

Why the color pink? Bob Krauss once reported that the Royal Hawaiian’s pink color is due to the typically pink-painted homes in Lisbon, Portugal.

Friends of William Roth (Kimo and Sarah Wilder) had visited Lisbon and upon returning repainted their home pink with blue-green shutters. Roth commented, “I love what you’ve done to your house. Can I paint my hotel the same color?”

July 23, 2023 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Betsey Stockton

Born in 1798 in Princeton, New Jersey, as a slave owned by the family of Robert Stockton, Esq., Betsey Stockton was presented as a gift to the Stockton’s eldest daughter and her husband, the Reverend Ashbel Green (who was later the President of Princeton College (later known as Princeton University.))

Although masters did not typically favor educating their slaves beyond proficient training as domestic nurse, seamstress and cook, Green gave her books and encouraged her to use the family library. She later attended evening classes at Princeton Theological Seminary.

In September 1816, Betsey’s application for admission to the First Presbyterian Church in Princeton was formally approved. Around 1817, Ashbel Green freed her.

Stockton often spoke to Green about her wish to journey abroad, possibly to Africa, on a Christian mission. Green introduced her to Charles S Stewart, a young missionary, newly ordained in 1821, who was about to be sent by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) to Hawaiʻi.

Through a special agreement between Green, the Stewarts and the ABCFM, Stockton joined the mission both as a domestic in the Stewart household and was commissioned by the ABCFM as a missionary.

She became the first single American woman sent overseas as a missionary.

Her contract with the Board and with the Stewarts said that she went “neither as an equal nor as a servant, but as a humble Christian friend” to the Stewarts, and provided that she was not to do more than an equal share of menial duties which might “prevent her being employed as a teacher of a school”.

In November 1822, Stockton, the Stewarts and the other missionaries in the 2nd Company set sail on the ‘Thames’ from New Haven, Connecticut for the Hawaiian Islands.

On April 24, 1823, “we saw and made Owhyhee (Hawaiʻi). At the first sight of the snow-capped mountains, I felt a strange sensation of joy and grief. It soon wore away, and as we sailed slowly past its windward side, we had a full view of all its grandeur.”

“The tops of the mountains are hidden in the clouds, and covered with perpetual snow. We could see with a glass the white banks, which brought the strong wintry blasts of our native country to our minds so forcibly, as almost to make me shiver.” (Betsey Stockton Journal)

Upon her arrival, Stockton became the first known African American woman in Hawaiʻi.

Intelligent, industrious and frugal, she was aptly described as a devoted Christian, not only because of her constant attendance at church and her faith in God, but also because she supported the interests of the church, secured clothes for her students, and helped to heal the sick while continuing her domestic work to help the Stuarts. (Jackson)

“On Saturday, the 10th of May (1823,) we left the ship, and went to the mission enclosure at Honoruru. We had assigned to us a little thatched house in one corner of the yard, consisting of one small room, with a door, and two windows – the door too small to admit a person walking in without stooping, and the windows only large enough for one person to look out at a time.”

“The family all eat at the same table, and the ladies attend to the work by turns. Mrs. Stewart and myself took each of us a day separately.” (Betsey Stockton Journal)

“On the 26th of May (1823) we heard that the barge (Cleopatra’s Barge, or “Haʻaheo o Hawaiʻi,” Pride of Hawaiʻi) was about to sail for Lahaina, with the old queen (Keōpūolani) and princess (Nāhiʻenaʻena;) and that the queen was desirous to have missionaries to accompany her …”

“A meeting was called to consult whether it was expedient to establish a mission at Lahaina. The mission was determined on, and Mr. S. (Stewart) was appointed to go: he chose Mr. R. (Richards) for his companion … On the 28th we embarked on the mighty ocean again, which we had left so lately.” (Betsey Stockton Journal)

Per the requests of the chiefs, the American Protestant missionaries, at that time, were typically teaching their own children and the children of the Hawaiian chiefs.

“Now the chiefs have expressed their determination to have instruction in reading and writing extended to the whole population and have only been waiting for books, and an increase in the number of suitably qualified native teachers, to put the resolution, as far as practical, into effect.”

“A knowledge of this having reached some of the makaainana, or farmers of Lahaina … application was made by them to us for books and slates, and an instructor …”

“… and the first school, consisting of about thirty individuals, ever formed among that class of people, has, within a few days, been established in our enclosure, under the superintendence of B (Betsey Stockton), who is quite familiar with the native tongue.” (Charles Stewart Journal, August 1824)

In 1823, Kalākua Kaheiheimālie (ke Aliʻi Hoapili wahine, wife of Governor Hoapili) offered the American missionaries a tract of land on the slopes surrounding Puʻu Paʻupaʻu for the creation of a school.

Stockton founded a school for makaʻāinana (common people) including the women and children. The school was situated on what is now Lahainaluna School (and some suggest it served as the initial basis for that school.)

Stockton’s school was commended for its teaching proficiency, and later served as a model for the Hilo Boarding School and also for the Hampton Institute in Virginia, a historic Black college in Virginia established after the Civil War (founded by General Samuel C. Armstrong (son of missionary Richard Armstrong, former Pastor at Kawaiahaʻo Church.))

(Kalākaua visited Hampton Normal and Agricultural School – later known as Hampton Institute on one of his trips to the continent.)

Because of the serious illness of Mrs. Harriet Stewart, the Stewarts decided to return to Cooperstown, New York, after two and a half years in Hawaiʻi. Stockton accompanied them; leaving native Hawaiian teachers she had trained to take her place.

Stockton left Hawaiʻi in 1825, returning to the continent where she was assigned to teach Native American children in Canada. Then, Stockton returned to Princeton in 1835, living in a small house on Witherspoon Street, which was primarily an African American neighborhood.

Stockton was instrumental in the founding of the Witherspoon Street Presbyterian Church, originally called the First Presbyterian Church of Color of Princeton. She also began teaching African American children in a public school in Princeton in 1837, which she continued to do for several years.

She spent the rest of her life in Princeton working on behalf of its African American and white residents to enrich the lives of the members of the local African American community.

Betsey Stockton began life as a slave, and went on to become a schoolteacher, medical nurse and missionary; she died in her hometown of Princeton, New Jersey in October 1865.

Here is a link to an expanded discussion on Betsey Stockton:

Click to access Betsey-Stockton.pdf

July 22, 2023 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Keauhou Heiau Restoration

Kamehameha Investment (formerly acting as a for-profit arm of Kamehameha Schools) restored heiau on its Keauhou Resort area.

As background, formalized worship, offerings and/or sacrifice by chiefs took place in temples, or heiau.

These structures were typically stone-walled enclosures having several houses and open-air temples with terraces, extensive stone platforms, and numerous carved idols in which ruling chiefs paid homage to the major Hawaiian gods.

There were several types of heiau: including agricultural, economy-related, healing or the large sacrificial war temples.

Erecting heiau was the prerogative and responsibility of the Ali‘i, for only they could command the necessary resources to build them, to maintain the priests and to secure the sacrifices that were required for the rituals.

Though temple worship was primarily an affair of the royalty, the whole land depended upon the effectiveness of these rituals.

I don’t mean any disrespect here, and remember we are talking about heiau that are hundreds of years old. Over the years they aged and disassembled. Prior to restoration, to some, they were just a pile of rocks. The restoration has now allowed people to see the heiau as they once were.

Three significant heiau have been restored at Keauhou: Hāpaiali‘i Heiau, Ke‘ekū Heiau and Mākole‘ā Heiau. Using modern-day technology coupled with ancient techniques, restoration of the heiau using the Hawaiian art of uhau humu pōhaku (dry stack masonry) have rebuilt the massive stone platforms.

Hāpaiali‘i Heiau

Information suggests that Hāpaiali‘i Heiau was built by Ma‘a, a kahuna of Maui, who later left for Kaua‘i.

The period of Ma‘a was said to be later than that of Pa‘ao. Carbon dating indicates the heiau was built on a smooth Pāhoehoe lava flow sometime between 1411 and 1465. The heiau was for prayers only.

Ke‘ekū Heiau

Ke‘ekū Heiau is an imposing, heavy-walled enclosure surrounded on the west, north, and east by the ocean at high tide.

Tradition indicates that, after building it, Lonoikamakahiki attacked Kamalalawalu, king of Maui, who had invaded Hawai‘i, and that after defeating Kamalalawalu, Lonoikamakahiki offered him as a sacrifice at Ke‘ekū.

The spirits of his grieving dogs, Kauakahi‘oka‘oka and Kapapako, are said to continue to guard this site. Outside the entrance to the heiau and towards the southwest are a number of petroglyphs on the pāhoehoe. One of them is said to represent Kamalalawalu.

During restoration, it was discovered that the heiau also served as a solar calendar. On the winter solstice, from a spot directly behind the temple’s center stone, the sun sets directly off the southwest corner of the heiau; at the vernal equinox, the sun sets directly along the centerline of the temple and at summer solstice, it sets off the northwest corner.

Mākole‘ā Heiau

Mākole‘ā Heiau (also known as Ke‘ekūpua‘a,) is located 600 feet from the ocean, on the same tidal flat as Hāpaiali‘i Heiau and Ke‘ekū Heiau.

The backwater nearly encircles Ke‘ekū Heiau at high tide does not quite reach Mākole‘ā. Tradition indicates that the heiau had been built (or consecrated) by Lonoikamakahiki and that it was used for prayers in general.

Historic Hawai‘i Foundation awarded Preservation Honor Awards for these efforts.

I applaud Kamehameha Investment for these restorations. While ruins of a heiau are impressive, I really think people today can get a far better appreciation of what heiau are, after they have been restored.

The photo notes the before and after of the restoration of Hāpaiali‘i Heiau (photos primarily from Keauhou Resort.)

(In 2013, Kamehameha Schools began consolidating operations, bringing the day-to-day land management activities of Kamehameha Investment Corporation under the school’s auspices.)

July 21, 2023 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

The Walkers

“The ‘Wandering Minstrel’ was purchased in Hong Kong … Sailors believe in lucky and unlucky ships. I never did – but I do now. She ruined her builders; everyone that owned her, regretted it; … From the time of sailing, Friday, October the 13th, 1887, we had nothing but gales, a typhoon and ill luck ….” (Walker)

So starts the story of Captain Frederick Dunbar Walker, born in Dublin, Ireland, December 3, 1838, and his family – their misadventures aboard the ‘Wandering Minstrel’ and life in Honolulu.

“The Wandering Minstrel, a 500-ton bark, left Hong Kong on September 3, 1887, on a shark fishing expedition. It was Captain Walker’s intention to be gone a year and a half. The first port touched at was Honolulu”. (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, August 15, 1900)

“(S)he sailed from Honolulu, December 10th, 1887, on a fishing cruise, with a crew of 24 hands and 4 passengers, arrived at French Frigate Shoals on the 18th December, left same place December 27th, arrived at Midway Island, and anchored in Welles’ Harbour, Jan. 9th, 1888.”

“On February 2nd a strong wind and sea sprung up, so that she was unable to get out, and on the following day became a total loss.” (Board of Trade Wreck Report for ‘Wandering Minstrel,’ 1889)

“During their enforced sojourn on this forsaken place the Walkers existed entirely on bird’s egg, fish and a shark and a turtle which they were fortunate to capture … Sometimes the party were a week without food…”

“On the Island was found a man named Jorgensen, a Dane, who was one of the crew of the ship named the General Siegel, which had been wrecked on the Island some time before.”

“Jorgensen had murdered the captain and a man of the ‘General Siegel,’ and after the killing the crew had deserted him, having previously destroyed another boat and gone in the remaining boat to the Marshall Islands six months before the Wandering Minstrel went to pieces on the reef.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, August 15, 1900)

“About three months after the wreck six of the crew took the best boat we had at nighttime, and went to Green Island, and from thence the following day started for the open sea. A heavy gale set in that night, and there is no doubt all perished, as no tidings were ever heard of them.”

“Our life was one continual hunt for food. Six men left for Green Island and lived there and were never sick, though the water was a dirty greenish color, owing to decayed vegetable matter. Several of us on Sand Island, however, were ill with scurvy. Three died.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, October 24, 1909)

“The castaways were at last rescued by the schooner Norma, from Yokohama, engaged in shark fishing. The captain of the Norma had been told by friends of the Walkers in Yokohama to keep a sharp lookout for them, and he called at Midway Island in pursuance of what he admitted to be forlorn hope.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, August 15, 1900)

“Of the twenty-nine souls wrecked, six were drowned by the upsetting of a boat, one was murdered, three succumbed to the ravages of beri-beri, two died of starvation, one died on the way home and was buried at sea, and only sixteen of the original complement came back alive to Honolulu”.

“(A)mong that number are the five members of the Walker family, whose survival is all the more wonderful on account of their being the least fitting to stand the hardships endured. (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, August 15, 1900)

Walker’s three sons “have grown up with the town as enterprising and useful citizens, while he himself had been active to the last in various commercial and industrial projects.” (Honolulu Star Bulletin, November 20, 1916)

The sons are, “Frederick GE Walker (a photographer,) Henry E Walker of the Walker rice mill, and Charles D Walker who is engaged in the boat-building business here.” (Hawaiian Gazette, November 21, 1916)

The experience obviously didn’t deter the brothers from going to sea. They raced boats; Charles, “recently returned from Japan, where he had gone to challenge Japanese yachtsmen to compete for a Hawaiian cup … stating that he will race a Hawaiian-built boat in Japanese waters on certain conditions.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, January 13, 1904)

Son Henry showed, “The milling of rice is not confined to the Chinese, as is the cultural phase of the industry. One of the largest and most modern of the rice mills is conducted by Mr HE Walker in Honolulu.” (Hawaiʻi Experiment Station, 1906)

The three boys also left a lasting legacy to their mother, Elizabeth. Down the short Mission Lane, just below Hawaiian Mission Houses Historic Site and Museum, in the shadow of Kawaiahaʻo Church, is the ‘Elizabeth Building.) (It’s still there.)

The brothers lived on the top two floors and maintained a carriage shop on the street level. The older brick building next door (‘Mews’) served as their place of business, which included carriage and boat shops. (“Mews” is a British slang term for stables.) (Burlingame)

Another family legacy lives on … “Captain Walker once related the story to Mr Strong, a son-in-law of Robert Louis Stevenson, and it is shrewdly suspected in certain quarters that the diverting tale of “The Wrecker” is based on none other than the experiences of the survivors of the Wandering Minstrel.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, August 15, 1900)

Walker liked life in the Islands. “Homeward bound – for Honolulu – beautiful Honolulu, justly called the ‘Paradise of the Pacific.’ I am unable to state how many residents there are who came as visitors, either on business or pleasure, and remained permanently.”

“Many, like myself, are sea waifs, rescued from shipwreck, brought here and declined to move on, but commenced life anew, and are now well satisfied with their decision.” (Walker) Walker became a naturalized citizen on September 21, 1906.

July 19, 2023 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Endangered Birds and Their Recovery

Hawai‘i has been labeled the endangered species capital of the world. We have more endangered species per square mile than any other place on earth.

Of the extinctions that have been documented, 28 species of bird, 72 land snails, 74 insects and 97 plants have disappeared. (Hawaii Biodiversity)

The State, in partnership with a bunch of federal, university and private interests, conducts dozens of projects across the state to monitor, protect and enhance native and endangered species populations.

Statewide surveys to monitor population status and trend for water birds, sea birds and forest birds are conducted on all the main islands.

The surveys contribute to long term data to understand population changes and to provide early detections of any potential threats to population stability.

A project on Kauai has been developed to use modified marine radar to survey threatened and endangered seabirds that fly inland to nest at night.

The surveys are critical to a determination of the population status of these species that appear to have experienced a severe population decline.

Also notable was the discovery of what is perhaps the largest known breeding colony of the endangered Hawaiian Petrel on Lanai. This species was feared to have declined or been lost from Lanai until crews conducted extensive night surveys using radar.

Full-time field teams are now deployed to coordinate and conduct special projects for select species and habitats. These include the Kauai Endangered Seabird Project, the Kauai Forest Bird Recovery Team and the Maui Forest Bird Recovery Project.

These teams carry out management needs for native birds that include predator control, population monitoring, assessment of threats, and reintroduction into new habitats to reestablish populations.

Keauhou Bird Conservation Center Discovery Forest in Volcano, Hawai‘i Island has been saving critically endangered Hawaiian birds from extinction and restoring these species in the wild. Birds being cared for include the ‘Alalā, Palila, ‘Akeke‘e, and ‘Akikiki.

Likewise, there are other groups and agencies that support and participate in recovery activities, including DLNR, USGS, US Fish and Wildlife Service and others.

A field unit for the recovery of the ‘Alala, Hawaii’s most critically endangered species has been established. The ‘Alala Recovery Team is involved in an extensive community and landowner involvement program to lead the recovery of this species.

For many of Hawaii’s most critically endangered species, captive propagation and reintroduction is the only viable recovery strategy. Captive propagation programs are continuing for these species, which include five forest bird species and hundreds of plant species.

Notable long-term program successes include:
• Nēnē – (the State Bird) recovered from a population on the brink of extinction with fewer than 50 birds to an estimated 3,862 (2022 annual survey)
• ‘Alala – saved from extinction with a captive flock that has grown to over 115
• Puaiohi – recovering from a population numbering only a few dozen to approximately 494 (found only on Kauai)
• Palila – a new population has been established on the north slope of Mauna Kea (I recall the excitement and flurry of e-mails going around announcing a new nest with eggs on the north slope when I was at DLNR)

To date, hundreds of birds have been reintroduced into native habitats statewide. In addition, an extensive cooperative partnership continues a program for propagation and outplanting of native plants, maintaining hundreds of species, and outplanting thousands of plants into the wild.

There are a lot of people across the state (as well as support from the mainland) that are doing waaay cool stuff to help with the recovery of Hawai‘i’s native bird populations. We owe each our gratitude for their commitment and hard work. Thank you to all.

The images illustrate the Nēnē and ‘Alala on the top (L-R) and the Puaiohi and Palila on the bottom (L-R.)