Buildings | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

August 30, 2025 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Honolulu’s General Store

In 1806, Focke and Melchers, a shipping and trading company, was founded in Bremen, Germany by Carl Melchers and Carl Focke. Its business was centered on emigration to the US and transportation of goods from Cuba, Mexico and the US.

Three brothers, Heinrich (1822-1893,) Georg (1827-1907) and Gustav (1830-1902) formed branches of Melchers Company, first in Mazatlán, Mexico (1846,) then seven years later in Honolulu (1853.) In 1854, with the death of founder Carl Melchers, eldest son Laurenz Henrich Melchers took over; the company was renamed to C Melchers & Co and started to expand into the Asian market.

That year, Gustav Cornelius Melchers and Gustav Reiners completed their building on Merchant Street in downtown Honolulu. Once the main street of the financial and governmental functions in the city, Merchant Street was Honolulu’s earliest commercial center. (Melchers building is still there and today is the oldest commercial building in Honolulu.)

Melchers and Reiners were German importers, commission merchants, and ship chandlers (retail dealers who specialize in supplies or equipment for ships.) Their store was on Merchant Street back then, what is now known as Queen Street was actually the water’s edge.

The store was officially opened on February 20, 1854, with a celebratory luncheon. The structure was fitted with koa counters and glass-enclosed shelving. It sold mostly European goods, items found in most dry goods stores of that time, including fabrics, cigars and china goods. It served as Honolulu’s general store.

On April 26, 1856, RC Wyllie, through the Polynesian, Melchers was acknowledged as Consul of Bremen, Germany for the Hawaiian Islands and later (1858) Lubeck, Germany. Gustav Reiners served as Royal Prussian Consul (and appointed Melchers to that position when Reiners was away.)

It appears Melchers returned to Germany in the late-1850s. Reiners returned to Germany in 1861, leaving the business in the hands of Frederick August Schaefer.

In 1867, Schaefer, who had been a clerk of the store in the 1850s, purchased the firm from Melchers and Reiners and continued to operate the business. Schaefer was Consul of the Kingdom of Italy. (HABS)

Schaefer was born in Bremen, Germany in 1836 and came to Hawaii in 1857, to work for Melchers & Co in Honolulu. He became a partner in the firm in 1861 and bought out his partners in 1867, continuing the business as FA Schaefer & Co. on the same premises.

On the 50th anniversary of Shaefer’s company, the newspaper noted, “Mr. Schaefer has resided In Honolulu all of these years, and now has a beautiful home in Nuʻuanu (the former residence of R. C. Wyllie (foreign minister in the 1850s-1860s.)) He still comes down to his office each morning although he is getting along in years. The firm itself has long been one of Hawaiʻi’s substantial assets.” (Honolulu Star-bulletin, July 18, 1917)

Upon Schaefer’s relocation in 1920, Melchers’ building became the home office of Hawaiian Dredging Company, Ltd, an engineering and construction firm with seven branches elsewhere in the islands. Hawaiian Dredging, in turn, sold the building on April 6, 1954 to the City and County of Honolulu. (Greer)

The original structure was a three-by-four-bay building, its Merchant Street facade being the longer, the Kaʻahumanu Street facade the shorter. The structure has a basement, which was unusual at that time for a building so close to the ocean. The coral stone building was topped by a hipped roof above a simple cornice.

Probably in 1937-38, the Building was significantly enlarged (by about 75%) by the addition to the west/ʻEwa of another two bays, each with two windows at the second level. The connecting bay has a wide door at the lower floor. The lower level of the corner bay has no doors. These two bays may be conversions of the earlier alley and one-story warehouse-style structure.

Stucco and paint now cover most of the building. However, take the time to check the back of the building (makai side) to see the coral blocks. A good way is to take the breezeway down through Harbor Court (you’ll be walking on what once was Kaʻahumanu Street (also called Laulau Lane, due to the products sold along the former street.))

Here are a couple other Melchers mementos – the site where the Melchers building sits was the center of controversy in the early-1840s.

April 25, 1825, Richard Charlton arrived in the Islands to serve as the first British consul. A former sea captain and trader, he was already familiar with the islands of the Pacific and had promoted them in England for their commercial potential (he worked for the East India Company in the Pacific as early as 1821.)

In 1840, Charlton made a claim for several parcels of land in Honolulu. To substantiate his claim, Charlton produced a 299-year lease for the land in question, granted by Kalanimoku. There was no disagreement over the parcel, Wailele, on which Charlton lived, but the adjoining parcel he claimed, Pulaholaho, had been occupied since 1826 by retainers and heirs of Kaʻahumanu (a portion of which is where the Melchers Building is situate.)

In rejecting Charlton’s claim, Kamehameha III cited the fact that Kalanimoku did not have the authority to grant the lease. At the time the lease was made, Kaʻahumanu was Kuhina Nui, and only she and the king could make such grants. The land was Kaʻahumanu’s in the first place, and Kalanimoku certainly could not give it away. (Hawaiʻi State Archives) The dispute dragged on for years.

This, and other grievances purported by Charlton and the British community in Hawai‘i, led to the landing of George Paulet on February 11, 1843 “for the purpose of affording protection to British subjects, as likewise to support the position of Her Britannic Majesty’s representative here”.

Following this King Kamehameha III ceded the Islands and Paulet took control. After five months of British rule, Queen Victoria, on learning the injustice done, immediately sent Rear Admiral Richard Darton Thomas to the islands to restore sovereignty to its rightful rulers. On July 31, 1843 the Hawaiian flag was raised. The ceremony was held in area known as Kulaokahuʻa; the site of the ceremony was turned into a park, Thomas Square.

Here’s another Melchers memento; in the Hawaiian legislature of 1878, Walter Murray Gibson, then a freshman member from Lahaina, Maui, proposed a monument to the centennial of Hawaiʻi’s “discovery” by Captain James Cook. The legislature approved and he chaired the monument committee.

At the request of the monument committee, a bronze statue of ‘heroic size’ (about eight-and-a-half-feet tall) of King Kamehameha was designed, depicting the King at about 45-years old.

The statue was shipped on August 21, 1880, by the bark ‘GF Haendel,’ and was expected about mid-December. On February 22, 1881, came word that the Haendel had gone down November 15, 1880, off the Falkland Islands. All the cargo had been lost.

The statue had been insured for 50,000 marks (about $12,000) with Gustav C Melchers of Bremen through FA Schaefer of Honolulu. With the proceeds, a replica was ordered.

Ultimately, the original was recovered and repaired and set in Kapaʻau, Kohala on the Island of Hawaiʻi (May 8, 1883.) The duplicate was set in front of Aliʻiolani Hale on King Street in Honolulu (February 14, 1883.

August 28, 2025 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Metropolitan Meat Market

As early as 1871, Metropolitan Market appears to have been started as a beef marketing operation on O‘ahu by Gilbert Waller (Bergin); he had a “branch store”, Family Market (formerly the Rose Cottage Market), on the corner of Union and Hotel (that he bought at auction in 1875). (HSA and Tourist Guide, 1880-1881)

In 1872, his nephew, Gilbert Johnson Waller, acquired the Metropolitan meat company and eventually took in as partners James Campbell, James Dowsett, and Thos R Foster, prominent ranch owners on the Island of O‘ahu. (Bergin)

This meat purveying operation grew rapidly over the next two decades, with Parker Ranch being its main supplier of beef. In July 1900, the original partnership was transformed into a limited liability stock company and incorporated as the Metropolitan Meat Company, Ltd, with Gilbert J Waller serving as manager/treasurer. (Bergin)

The Metropolitan Meat Company flourished at its King Street location, with forty-seven employees providing processing and delivery of slaughtered beef throughout Honolulu. The company eventually added a tannery as part of its broad diversification. (Bergin)

To distribute beef to ships anchored at Honolulu, in 1901. Metropolitan Meat Market purchased the ‘Fun’; the launch was operated by Young Brothers to deliver supplies. Young Brothers had a delivery contract with Metropolitan, so eighteen-year-old Jack Young had the job of getting up at 4 am to make the meat deliveries.

By 1902, the brothers were able to buy the eight-horsepower boat and take over the contract to deliver meat and other fresh supplies to ships anchored in the harbor. (YB, 100 Years)

With respect to beef suppliers, Alfred Wellington “AW” Carter (Parker Ranch Manager) sought that Metropolitan Meat company allow greater ownership interest by the actual ranchers – many of whom were neighbor island ranchers who shipped their market cattle to this consortium. (Bergin)

Parker Ranch and other neighbor island ranchers had legitimate concerns with Metropolitan Meat Company’s autocratic and monopolistic way of doing business. Without notice, the price could drop as much as a penny per pound, or Metropolitan Meat would cancel cattle shipments to O‘ahu at the last minute. (Bergin)

A federal antitrust lawsuit was filed October 2, 1906 (and decided in 1917) to restrain the operation of alleged unlawful combinations in restraint of trade in beef and beef products.

The suit charged Metropolitan Meat (and other defendants) with “an unlawful combination, trust and conspiracy … in restraint of the trade and commerce of the Territory of Hawaii in violation of an act of Congress of July 2nd, 1890, entitled ‘An act to protect trade and commerce against restraints and monopolies’”.

During the proceedings, it was determined that “[a]bout 3,667,105 pounds weight of beef cattle produced in the Territory, of the value of $317,178.25 in money of the United States, are consumed annually by such people …”

“… and about ninety (90%) per cent of such beef cattle has been, is now and will continue to be produced and dealt in by [Metropolitan Meat] in the Territory as an object of trade and commerce therein.” (United States v Metropolitan Meat Co)

“All of such beef cattle are produced in the Territory. The defendants comprise nearly all the wholesale dealers in the Territory, who produce and deal in beef cattle and fresh beef to consumers and dealers in the Territory, and if combined together they can and do control the prices charged for fresh beef produced in the Territory.” (United States v Metropolitan Meat Co)

Under the leadership of Carter, with the participation and support of other neighbor island ranchers such as the Greenwells of Kona, the Maguires of Hu‘ehu‘e, Homers of Kuka’iau, Kohala Ranch Company, and WH Shipman, Parker Ranch announced plans to build a slaughterhouse on O’ahu (in competition with Metropolitan).

In March of 1909, Hawai‘i Meat Company was born, with the articles of incorporation signed by Carter, Robert Leighton Hind Sr., Albert Horner, JA Maguire, Maud WH Greenwell, JD Paris, JF Woods, A Morrow, and RA Cooke. Gilbert J. Waller was named manager of the new company.

Metropolitan suggested that Carter purchase the stock of the company. Carter noted: “I said I would appoint someone, they should appoint someone, both of these men to appoint a third, to put a price on the business and we would pay it.”

“That is how we got the Metropolitan Meat Co. I went to Hawaii and got the graziers together, outlined my plan and arranged with the bank to borrow $100,000. All the fellows who came in endorsed that note. No one put up a cent.” (Carter; Bergin)

The retail meant facility expanded … “Everything conceivable for perfect sanitation, convenience, attractiveness and service is embodied in the appointments of the recently remodelled Metropolitan Meat Market”.

“Situated in the heart of the city of Honolulu, at 50 King street, between Fort and Bethel streets, this thoroughly modern market, with its beautiful marble, glass and tile work would delight the heart of the most particular housewife of famous ‘Spotless Town’ itself.”

“There are larger establishments of the kind in the greater cities, to be sure, but it is absolutely safe to assert that nowhere in the world is there a cleaner, neater, more attractive, more pleasing or more wholesome appearing headquarters for the purchase of choice meats, poultry, butter, eggs, cheese, hams, bacon, sausages, delicatessen and what else one may want to procure in a well-stocked market.”

“Sanitary improvements and the utmost convenience were the main objects in the reconstruction. Rapid increase in business called for enlargement, too, and the change that has been wrought fulfills these plans to the last degree. Marble and tile finish insure perfect sanitation, so marble and tile finish were provided.”

“The same architect and builder who originated the Washington and Long’s markets in San Francisco was obtained to carry out the work for the Metropolitan Meat Market, Frank Loehr of Oakland.”

“The front of the new building is of terra cotta, the first of its kind to be used in Honolulu. The decorations are modelled after those on one of the buildings at the San Francisco Exposition, afterwards sold and used in the ornamentation of a millionaire’s new home on Knob Hill.”

“An extensive refrigerating system of coiled pipes fed by calcium chloride brine, pumped from a tank at the rear, keep a large number of rooms, as well as the show cases and windows at the required temperature.” (Paradise of the Pacific, Dec 1917)

No longer a packing house, Metropolitan Meat Company continued as a retailing concern on King and Bethel Street and finally closed its doors in 1950, a victim of the cash and carry trend. (Bergin)

August 26, 2025 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Sweet Home

Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam
Be it ever so humble, there’s no place like home
A charm from the skies seems to hallow us there
Which seek thro’ the world, is ne’er met elsewhere

Home! Home! Sweet, sweet home!
There’s no place like home. There’s no place like home!
(Home, Sweet Home; John Howard Payne, 1823)

When the missionaries arrived on O‘ahu in April 1820 they lived in the grass houses provided by traders and ship captains in an area just mauka of the fort (mauka of what is now the Aloha Tower area).

In 1828, the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Mission (ABCFM) sent 20-people in the Third Company of missionaries to Hawaiʻi, including four ministers and their wives.

A physician and his wife accompanied the ministers, Dr. Gerrit Parmele Judd and Laura Fish Judd. Dr. Judd was sent to replace Dr. Abraham Blatchely, who, because of poor health, had left Hawaiʻi the previous year.

Judd, a medical missionary, had originally come to the islands to serve as the missionary physician, intending to treat native Hawaiians for the growing number of diseases introduced by foreigners. He immersed himself in the Hawaiian community, becoming a fluent speaker of Hawaiian. Judd soon became an adviser to and supporter of King Kamehameha III.

In May 1842, Judd was asked to leave the Mission and accept an appointment as “translator and recorder for the government,” and as a member of the “treasury board,” with instructions to aid Oʻahu’s Governor Kekūanāoʻa in the transaction of business with foreigners.

In the mid-1840s Dr. Judd began to make plans for a new house. After he left the mission he had rented for a time the pleasant stone dwelling of the premier, Kekauluohi (Auhea).

This house delighted Mrs. Judd, who wrote, “The high ceiling, large windows, and papered walls afford such a contrast to our little cottage, that I feel like a traveler at a hotel, or on board a finely furnished steamer – a mere lodger for the night.” (Judd) The premier soon decided to occupy the house herself, and the Judds had to move to another next to the palace.

Mrs. Judd commented, “Our new house is not so nice as hers, but in some respects we like it better. The yard is full of rubbish and ruins of adobe walls and pig-sties, and we shall have the pleasure for the fourth time of pulling up thistles and planting roses.”

In many ways this house proved unsatisfactory. Mrs Judd complained particularly that the children needed more privacy. “I must have a more retired home for them. So much anxiety and so much company unfit me for maternal duty.”

By the summer of 1846, the Judds were planning to build their own home in Nu‘uanu Valley, they named it “Sweet Home”, after the popular 1823 song by John Howard Payne. The new home consumed much of his time and strained his finances to the limit. (Judd)

“The house has a chimney and a kitchen within, which is an anomaly in Hawaiian architecture. We had been collecting the materials for two years, a little here and a little there, as we could command the means of payment.”

“The doors, floors, and gates were made in Copenhagen and sent out for sale, and my husband purchased them at auction for much less than we could get them made.”

“The windows, glazed, and blinds already painted were sent out from Boston. … I never felt poorer, even when a missionary, for we were obliged to borrow money to pay carpenters and masons who built our house, and give a mortgage on it for security.”

To finance the house Judd sold some cattle to the government, raised $1,000 on a mortgage from the treasury, and borrowed $5,500 from his colleague Wyllie.

The privy council on February 18, 1847, gave him a fee-simple title to the homesite, amounting to 7.61 acres, for $50.00, a figure which the chiefs named, and the family moved into Sweet Home the following month. At that time the house was far from finished. (Judd)

At Sweet Home the Judd family announced engagements, celebrated weddings, and anxiously awaited the birth of babies. The house was seldom silent, save during the rare and somber visitations of sickness and death. (Judd)

“There we played or busied ourselves with household tasks, or entertained our numerous friends. If the afternoon was fine, we sat on the lawn under the cool shade of the low-boughed trees, or, if one of the numerous valley-showers came, we gathered on the broad verandas to watch over the bright flower-pots the rain as it hurried to the town.”

“Ours was a happy family. In the evening we gathered around the shaded lamp and studied our lessons, or listened with bated breaths while mother read some romantic adventure aloud.”

“My parents were genuinely religious, and gave to our spiritual welfare the greatest possible care. We learned long passages from the Scriptures and recited them with much emphasis. On Sundays we were allowed no playthings, and walked to church, so as to give the horses a day of rest.” (Elizabeth Judd; Judd)

On December 18, 1872, Dr Judd made his will, beginning with the traditional phrase, “In the name of God, amen.” First, he divided his real estate among his seven surviving children. Sweet Home and an adjoining building lot went to Helen Judd, and each of his three other daughters received land in Nu‘uanu Valley. (Judd)

Dr Judd died on July 12, 1873 in Honolulu at the age 70. Aptly descriptive of his lifetime work, the epitaph on his tomb in Nu‘uanu Cemetery (now O‘ahu Cemetery) reads, “Hawaii’s Friend”. (HMAA)

Gerrit and Laura Judd had 9 children: Gerrit Parmele, b. March 8, 1829 (he died at the age of 10); Elizabeth Kinau, b. July 5, 1831; Helen Seymour, b. Aug. 27, 1833; Charles Hastings, b. Sept. 8, 1835; Laura Fish, b. Sept. 8, 1835; Albert Francis, b. Jan. 7, 1838; Allan Wilkes, b. Apr. 20, 1841; Sybil Augusta, b. March 16, 1843; and Juliet Isabelle, b. March 28, 1846 (she died at the age of 10). (Hawaiian Historical Society)

On March 8, 1879, a trust deed over the Sweet Home property was made; the grantors were Helen Seymour Judd and others, but the consideration was paid by Henry AP Carter and it appears from the face of the instrument that the deed was in the nature of a settlement by Henry AP Carter for the benefit of his wife and children. (Carter v Davis, Hawaii Supreme Court)

(On February 27, 1862, Sybil Augusta Judd (4^th daughter and 8^th child of Gerrit Parmele Judd and Laura Fish Judd) married Henry Alpheus Peirce Carter (son of Captain Joseph Oliver Carter and Hannah Trufant Lord Carter.))

(They had 7 children: Frances Isabelle, b. Jan. 18, 1863; Charles Lunt, b. Nov. 30, 1864; George Robert, b. Dec. 28, 1866; Agnes, b. Oct. 15, 1869; Sybil Augusta, b. Feb. 16, 1873 (she died at the age of 1); Cordelia Judd, b. May 18, 1876; and Joshua Dickson, b. Feb. 8, 1880 (he died at the age of 2). (Hawaiian Historical Society))

In part, the trust deed that Henry AP Carter initiated covering Sweet Home stated, “During the life of Sybil Augusta Carter wife of the said Henry AP Carter to allow her to occupy and enjoy the said estate she paying the taxes and all necessary charges and expenses or at her election to pay over to her the net rents and profits thereof …”

“(A)t her death in further trust to allow the children of the said Sybil Augusta Carter by the said Henry AP Carter and such person or persons as their guardian appointed …”

“The plan of the trust deed was to keep the property in the hands of the trustee, as long as it was to be used as a home for Sybil Augusta Carter or any of her minor children …”

“… and whenever the time might occur that it should be no longer needed for this purpose it was to be conveyed to the children then living with suitable provision for the heirs of those who had died meantime.” (Carter v Davis, Hawaii Supreme Court)

Behind Sweet Home, and extending right to the Nu‘uanu Road, is the O‘ahu Cemetery. When Sweet Home was demolished in 1911, its site was added to the cemetery grounds. (HHS)

Judd Street was named for Dr Gerrit Parmele Judd (1803–1873), missionary doctor who arrived in 1837 and became an important adviser to Kamehameha III. His residence, “Sweet Home,” was at Nuʻuanu and Judd streets. (Place Names)

August 17, 2025 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Village Green

“This is, then, a complicated problem.” (Adv, June 8, 1965)

In 1924, Robert Hind purchased 2,090-acres and established the Hind-Clarke Dairy. The Hind-Clarke Dairy was a favored stop along the road, as noted in a 1930 visitor’s guide …

“The Hind-Clarke Dairy, a short way ahead and to our left with a large sign over the entrance, is not to be passed unnoticed. The dairy is a model of its kind and well affords an opportunity to see dairying in its most scientific form. The cottage cheese on sale is, perhaps, the most delicious you have ever tasted.” (Cultural Surveys)

(The Hind Clark Dairy operation occupied the area now used as ʻĀina Haina Shopping Center and ʻĀina Haina Elementary School.)

In 1946, Hind sold his dairy operation to Creameries of America, and soon after that began to develop the remainder of his land for residential use. The former cattle pasture was subdivided into lots to form a new residential community called ‘Āina Haina (which means, “Hind’s land.”)

Soon after this the Hawaiian Dredging Company filled in the old Wailupe Fishpond, forming the Wailupe Circle subdivision. A deep channel (depth of approximately 12 to 20 feet) was dredged around the pond, as well as a channel through the reef to the open ocean) and dredge material filled in the pond.

“[W]hen Aina Haina was first developed commercial zoning was asked for [the ‘village green’ strip of open space fronting Aina Haina]. But area home owners objected and it was finally agreed by all in 1948 to leave the area open space. It was put into a “residential” zoning classification because that was the only suitable category where it could be kept open.”

“The ‘village green’ at Aina Haina is used for recreation purposes, including community carnivals, Lions Club chicken barbecues, Little League practice, dog obedience club training, and just plain playing for kids while parents shop. But it is also true that there are several other playgrounds in the Aina Haina area, including one at the nearby Aina Haina School.”

“The open view – looking across the green lawn, to the low line of shops and into the deep valley – is one of the more interesting and attractive along a highway that is becoming increasingly closed in from sight of either mountains or sea. The alternative, no matter how handsome a structure, is hardly likely to equal the open vista.”

Fast forward, “Opinion is Aina Haina is split over the City Planning Commission’s recommendation to rezone the Aina Haina village green for commercial use.” (Adv, June 5, 1965)

“The 75,385 square feet of ‘residential’ land is a tax burden as it now stands. The comprehensive zoning plan, although parts of it can and are being speeded, is several months or more away from completion. Its adoption, however, will provide the Preservation District classification.”

“Presumably this would eliminate the economic hardship argument, although seemingly there would be more profit in commercial buildings than in tax relief.”

“The need for more commercial building in this area seems doubtful. There are four shopping centers from Waialae-Kahala to Koko Head. The neighboring Niu Shopping Center has a number of store spaces still for rent.” (Adv, June 8, 1965)

“Developer Kenneth Makinney has proposed changing the area zoning from residential to commercial, so that he can construct an addition to the Aina Haina Shopping Center.” (Adv, June 30, 1965) The ‘Āina Haina Shopping Center was built in 1950.

“City Councilmen approved by 7 to 1 vote yesterday commercial zoning for Aina Haina’s village green. … ‘This is an old story in Honolulu.’”

“‘ This isn’t the first time, nor will it be the last time, for land developers to break faith with the City government and the gullible people who are talked int trusting and believing them.’” (said Councilman Frank Fasi, the lone negative vote; Adv, Aug 4, 1965)

One of the first businesses built on the former village green was Hawai‘i’s first McDonald’s, and Ray Kroc showed up for the opening.

“Kroc first realized the possibilities of developing a big franchise operation in the early 1950s, when he was selling mixing machines to make malted milks.”

“Two brothers named McDonald installed eight of his machines in one burger facility in San Bernadino, Calif, and Kroc woke up to the kind of volume business that was possible.”

“He said the McDonalds had developed a formula for a quality hamburger and a new way to doing business which is now the trademark of the McDonald’s chain. … In 1960, Kroc borrowed $2.7 million to buy … from the McDonalds and to buy the sole right to the use of the name and hamburger merchandising ideas.” (SB, Nov 8, 1968)

“Kroc officially opened the Aina Haina unit yesterday [November 7, 1968] but it has been open for business since last weekend.” (SB, Nov 8, 1968)

At the time McDonald’s opened in Hawai‘i with the ‘Āina Haina unit, there were about 1,100 McDonalds spread across the US; in 2023, the company operated and franchised approximately 41,000 restaurants globally (with a plan to grow to 50,000 by 2027).

August 6, 2025 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Kimis

William James Kimi was born on January 10, 1898, in Hilo, Hawaii; his father, Sapau James Kimi Fong, was 41 and his mother, Maria da Conceicao Cozy Deniz, was 19. He married Matilda Elizabeth Wassman on May 28, 1920, in Hilo.

“Kimi had a long and varied career. He and the late State Sen. William H. (Doc) Hill began their political careers together in 1928 when both were elected to the Territorial House as Republicans. Kimi served in the Senate in the 1935 and 1937 legislatures, switched to the Democratic Party in 1938 and in 1959 rejoined the GOP.”

“The kamaaina had served as liquor commissioner, County Building Inspector and a variety of other appointments. His business career was widely varied from cane grower, to housing developer (Kimiville [a low rent housing development in Hilo])”. (HTH, Aug 20, 1971)

One of Kimi’s sons, Richard Wassman Kimi (born Feb 3, 1925), “had to learn at a young age whatever skills it took to help put food on the family table. As his father was quite the entrepreneur.”

“Richard worked hard at their drive-in diner at nights, Hilo’s only roller skating rink on weekends, the circus when it came to town, and waking up at 2 am every morning to make ice cream that he would sell at chicken fights and pay days in the Hamakua Coast plantation camps.”

He “yearned and learned to be a salesman. His education [was on] the streets rather than the classroom. At age 8, because of family hardships, he lived in Kamuela with his hanai Uncle and Aunty and learned cattle raising and building roads on their ranch.”

“Right after the Pearl Harbor attacks, he enlisted to serve our country in the U.S. Army; where his leadership skills earned him his Sergeant stripes at age 19, the youngest Sergeant in the U.S. Army at the time. When the war ended he chose to return home to help his family business”.

That business “was now selling Army surplus goods (over-supplies like clothing, tents, shovels, canteens, trucks, bull-dozers, electric and plumbing fixtures) at his father’s store near Hilo airport; where Hilo Seaside Hotel is today.”

“As the business kept struggling, he turned to the construction business with the surplus equipment he could not sell. He and his brothers built Kimiville … Soon, his successful sales skills sold all the surplus store inventory; except for an old dump truck, a bulldozer, some lumber, roofing and a steam-roller.”

“He was 29 by then, but wanted a life for his family that made money while you were sleeping and decided to build a hotel where the surplus store was. All the ‘experts’ he consulted thought he was crazy yet the contrarian that he was he saw an opportunity the war had ended and prosperity was in the air why not build a hotel that was affordable to the average person?” (Legacy Obituary)

“Alan Kimi, Richard’s son and president of Seaside Hotels Hawaii, said his father never wanted to build large hotels. He said his father’s main objective was to serve local residents and budget-minded visitors.

“‘People traveled by boats in those days and the ones that traveled by plane were rich,’ Alan Kimi said ‘So his idea was, as the airplanes became bigger, what about the average guy?’”

“‘What about the local traveler, people that lived in Kona, but that wanted to go to Hilo for a couple of days but couldn’t afford it? That’s how it started.’” (Adv, Feb 1, 2009)

“So he built the 30-room Hotel Hukilau, and soon it was always busy; so he built more rooms there. As smaller propeller planes became larger jet planes; travel to Hawaii became more affordable for the masses. What about building a hotel in Kailua-Kona, so visitors could spend one week on the Big Island? (Kona Hukilau now known as Kona Seaside Hotel opened with 44 rooms in 1960.)”

“As vacations became longer guests wanted to see Maui. So the family moved to Kahului and built the Maui Hukilau (Maui Seaside Hotel today) in 1962. Jet planes became jumbo jets but could only land in Honolulu. … [He] bought the Waikiki Biltmore Hotel [now, the site of Hyatt Regency Waikiki] in 1965.”

“He was a legend in Hawaii tourism a pioneer of the kamaaina rate; air, hotel and car packages for locals, reservations by toll-free phone lines, then fax lines, and now on-line bookings. His vision was affordable and friendly hotels. Today they are known as the Seaside Hotels Hawaii. It is the only Hawaiian owned and operated family hotel chain in the world.”

“He enjoyed teaching sales, marketing and business to hundreds of students; and always favored the under-dog and the little guy. One of his students, Robert Kiyosaki, author of Rich Dad, Poor Dad books, recognized Richard Kimi as his original ‘Rich Dad’ and continues sharing his lessons to the world.” (Legacy Obituary) Richard Kimi died on December 19, 2008, in Honolulu.

Another son of William James Kiki Sr was William ‘Uncle Billy’ James Kimi, Jr (born Nov 6, 1922), Richard’s older brother. Like his younger brother, Uncle Billy was “One of the island’s most well-known residents, [who] had a number of landmark businesses, including the Uncle Billy’s Kona Bay Hotel in Kailua-Kona and Uncle Billy’s Hilo Bay Hotel. He also managed Uncle Billy’s Fish and Steakhouse for 45 years”.

In 1978, “three main partners – real estate agent Kenneth Fujiyama, transportation kingpin Chiaki Matsuo and hotelman Billy Kimi” acquired and converted the Kona Inn hotel into the Kona Inn Shopping Village (that opened as the shopping center in July 1980). (Adv, Aug 3, 1980) (Fujiyama later sold his interest in the property.) (Star Bulletin, Sep 4, 1981)

“[H]is resume would fill pages: entrepreneur, importer, financier, retailer, wholesaler, developer, accountant and farmer, innkeeper, restaurant owner, art dealer, shopping center owner and more,” the citation read in recognition of the businessman.”

“‘This is where it all started for my family,’ [Kimi] said. ‘I just wanted to have a business where my kids could work and build their families without having to leave home.’”

“Kimi was also involved in the Occupational Skills Program at Konawaena High School, which taught special education students work skills at the shopping village and hotel during the 1980s. They worked every weekday but Wednesday, in areas such as retailing, sales, cooking, laundry work, maintenance, housekeeping and construction work.”

“Kimi said at the time he helps because he ‘prefers to train people that don’t know anything’ about the hotel business and wanted to help people improve their careers. He said he’s the same with his other employees, supporting them anytime they can better themselves,’ even if that means leaving his business.

“His 70 years of entrepreneurial creativity, work and vision have provided jobs for hundreds of people in a multitude of businesses, as well as improving the Hilo and Kona communities. He has worked diligently to improve education and health care for the children of Hawaii.” (HTH, Feb 2, 2016) Uncle Billy died Feb 19, 2016.