Buildings | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

July 11, 2026 by Peter T Young 2 Comments

War Memorial Municipal Auditorium

“Dedicated to All the Sons and Daughters of Hawai‘i Who Served Their Country in Time of War and in Special Tribute to those Who Gave Their Lives in Order That Freedom and Justice Might Prevail Throughout the World”

Apparently, so said the plaque outside what was initially referred to as the War Memorial Municipal Auditorium; its name was changed a few times.

And, the plaque is now missing – and apparently, so is the memory and original intent of the complex as a War Memorial.

Let’s look back …

In 1955, the Territorial Legislature passed Act 145 authorizing $3-million in bonds for the City and County to construct a War Memorial Municipal Auditorium. Then Congress stepped in to approve the State’s bond proposal.

By then, the idea was for the auditorium to honor those from Hawai‘i who served and sacrificed in WWII and Korea.

The house bill (HB 900) noted, “a municipal auditorium in the City and County of Honolulu would be a proper and fitting memorial to the said veterans (of WWII and Korea) and further would enhance the general welfare of the people of the city of Honolulu.”

Petitions and Bills were discussed seeking authorization for the “board of supervisors of the city and county of Honolulu to issue bonds in the sum of $3 million …”

“… for the purpose of land acquisition, plans, construction, equipping, and furnishing a war memorial municipal auditorium in the city and county of Honolulu.” Congressional Record, Volume 101, page 1143, June 9, 1955)

“HB 7755. A bill to enable the Legislature of the Territory of Hawaii to authorize the city and county of Honolulu, a municipal corporation, to Issue general obligation bonds; to the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs.” (Congressional Record, Volume 101, page 807, July 30, 1955)

“404. Also, petition of the city and county clerk. Honolulu, T. H., requesting the enactment of legislation appropriating $3-million for land acquisition, plans, construction, equipping, and furnishing war memorial municipal auditorium in the city and county of Honolulu; to the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs.” (Congressional Record, Volume 102, page 32, January 5, 1956)

Finally, on July 11, 1956, the Senate and House of Representatives of the US Congress enacted Public Law 694 and approving the bond in the Territory’s Act 145, giving the City and County of Honolulu the authority to move forward. The site was the former ‘Old Plantation’ of the Ward Estate.

Initial legislation referred to the facility as the War Memorial Municipal Auditorium; on September 24, 1963, the City Council adopted a resolution naming the complex the ‘Honolulu International Center; then, on January 14, 1976, the City Council renamed the center as the ‘Neal S Blaisdell Memorial Center.’

Finally, on September 12, 1964 the Center was dedicated by Mayor Blaisdell; apparently, a memorial plaque noted the dedication of the facility as a war memorial (apparently, with the language noted at the top, here.)

However, over the years, the memorial plaque has been lost and the Neal S Blaisdell Center’s intended purpose as a war memorial has been forgotten.

Through persistence of Tanya Harrison and other volunteers at the Neal S Blaisdell Center War Memorial Project, Honolulu’s war memorial is no longer forgotten.

On March 11, 2015, the Honolulu City Council adopted Resolution 15-44, stating, “the City is currently considering long-range plans for the redevelopment of the fifty year-old Neal S Blaisdell Center complex …”

“… as such plans are discussed, the public should be reminded of the Neal S. Blaisdell Center’s heritage as a war memorial and its original purpose to honor Hawaii’s fallen heroes”. They sought rededication of the Blaisdell Center as a War Memorial.

The Honolulu City Council also noted, “all of the counties of the State of Hawai‘i honor and remember Hawai‘i’s war dead and war veterans in living memorials …”

“… such as the Waikiki War Memorial Natatorium, Kauai War Memorial Convention Hall, Kauai Veterans Memorial Hospital, Maui’s War Memorial Stadium Complex and Hilo’s Kalākaua Park War Memorial Pond”.

On November 10, 2015, there was a rededication the Neal S. Blaisdell Center as a war memorial. Subsequently, a new memorial plaque was installed as a permanent marker to educate the public of the Center’s war memorial designation and the significance of the facility as a living memorial.

May 22, 2026 by Peter T Young 2 Comments

Insane Asylum

The first hospital service for mentally afflicted persons in America was established at the Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia in the year 1752. (Kimmich)

Later, across the US, interest was growing in caring for the mentally ill; asylums are opened in East Coast US cities. Kamehameha V expanded his interest in medical facilities.

The 1863 law passed by the Hawaiian legislature states: “A building is to be erected for the reception of insane persons. This facility will furnish restraint till the person becomes of sane mind or is discharged.”

“There shall be in Honolulu, at such places as the superintendent of public works shall direct, a suitable building for the reception of all insane persons, to be styled an insane asylum … The board of health shall have the management and control of the insane asylum.” (1862, Revised Laws, 1915)

“It shall be the duty of (the) district magistrate or circuit judge to examine all persons brought before them on said warrants as to their sanity.”

It was difficult to obtain the funds for this purpose, however, and the hospital was not constructed until 1866. Its first location was at the corner of School and Lanakila Streets.

The hospital was completed in 1866, and the first six patients were transferred to the hospital from the jails at which the mentally ill had previously been kept. By 1867, there were 62 patients. (Cultural Surveys)

The annual report of 1867 mentions a total of 62 admissions, an average age of 40 years, and goes on to state that 17 of the 62 admissions were discharged as “recovered.” (Kimmich)

The patients, with the exception of those most violent, were allowed to wander about the extensive grounds, assisting in the care of the lawns and flowers, and in light manual labor of various kinds.

The Hawaiians have ample allowances of their much loved poi, likewise, there were large luau, held there once or twice during each year.

These were attended by many of the residents and visitors to Honolulu, who chose these occasions to satisfy their curiosities. The inmates of the Hospital are of all nationalities, the aggregate number, in proportion of the Islands, being small. (Ellsworth)

The Legislature increased the Maintenance Appropriation from $40,000.00 to $45,000.00 under the title “Insane Asylum And Infirmary” in response to the representations of the President of the Board relative to the necessity of a place of detention and care of those whose cases properly require observation before a charge of insanity should be lodged against them.

“Many of these cases are the result of indulgence in liquor and drugs and in short time their normal mental balance becomes restored.”

“We have already taken steps to erect a building that will shelter forty patients and so relieve the buildings at the entrance of the grounds: they can be turned into the Infirmary and accommodate some twenty patients.”

“A visit to the Insane Asylum will show many improvements. Nothing is more conducive to the bodily health and mental condition of the physically able insane than employment to a moderate degree.”

“During the past twelve months the inmates have quarried stone, made curbing and macadam, filled in ground where necessary and generally improved the Asylum grounds. They practically rebuilt one building for men, repaired several cottages, and have done general renovating and painting.”

“They have built quite a large addition to the woman’s building and are now completing a cottage of four special rooms with a separate lanai for each, that patients may be isolated where the case requires, or friends desire by special arrangement.” (Report of President of the Board of Health, 1907)

“All inmates, if physically able, are taken out of doors every day … .During the year the female employees and patients made a considerable amount of clothing for use in the institution.”

“The principal articles for food were bread, beef, fresh fish, salmon, codfish, beans, poi, rice, potatoes, cabbages, carrots, prunes, canned fruits, eggs, milk, ham, bacon, fresh vegetables, tea and coffee, and fresh milk.” (Report of Governor of Hawaii, 1921)

“No institution extant is better, more cleanly and more orderly kept, resources considered, than the Oahu Insane Asylum. The Asylum is regularly, professionally and officially inspected each two weeks by the two medical members of the Board of Health. The President of the Board visits the Insane Asylum at least once each week.” (Report of President of the Board of Health, 1907)

From 1903 to 1928, a new site was looked for, a final decision on the present location in Kāneʻohe being made in late 1928. (Kimmich)

In 1930, all 549 patients in the then-named Territorial Hospital were transferred to the new Territorial Hospital in Kāne‘ohe, O‘ahu.

May 13, 2026 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Mother Road – Route 66

On January 29, 1886, Carl Benz applied for a patent for his “vehicle powered by a gas engine.” The patent – number 37435 – may be regarded as the birth certificate of the automobile. (Daimler)

In 1903, Henry Ford officially opened the Ford Motor Company and five years later released the first Model T. In 1907, Henry Ford announced his goal for the Ford Motor Company: to create “a motor car for the great multitude.” (pbs)

“[T]he automobile constituted a personalized urban mass transit system, allowing the owner to travel whenever or wherever he desired.” (Davies, NPS)

Moreover, it provided a personal means of escape from the congestion of metropolitan America and reduced cross-country travel from an adventure of the affluent and stouthearted to a relatively inexpensive and common occurrence. (NPS)

Into the 1920s named trails were the way to navigate around the country. The trails were a product of the pioneer days of auto travel when government took little interest in interstate roads. Named trail associations had served an important purpose in the 1910s when many States lacked a highway department or had an ineffective one. (Weingroff)

Long trips often meant using a variety of different roadways, each one with its own standard for road quality and signage. Typically referred to as “trails” and run by “trail associations,” boosters would stitch together these routes with already existing roads (of varied quality), give it a name (like “Dixie Highway” or “Lincoln Highway”), and promote it.

Businesses along these routes typically paid dues to the trail associations, which meant routes weren’t always laid out to give drivers the quickest route, but instead to collect the most dues. There were over 250 such routes established by the mid-1920s. (Bloomberg)

With the growing number of vehicles on the roads, the associations helped focus attention on their condition, identified interstate roads for use of motorists, and sought increased funding for good roads projects.

However, by the early 1920s, State and Federal highway officials realized that the named trail associations had outlived their usefulness. (FHWA) In 1925, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHO) asked the Secretary of Agriculture to work with states to replace all trail names with a unified highway numbering system.

On November 11, 1926, the newly established United States Numbered Highway System changed the way U.S. drivers navigate the country. For the most part, north-south routes got odd numbers (numbers ending in 1 or 5 for principal routes), and east-west routes even numbers (multiples of 10 for principal routes).

Officially, the Chicago-to-Los Angeles route received the numerical designation of Route 66. That designation acknowledged the route as one of the nation’s principal east-west arteries. Mostly, U.S. 66 was just an assignment of a number to an already existing network of State-managed roads, most of which were in poor condition.

US Route 66 or US Highway 66 (US 66 or Route 66) is made up of several existing auto trails and regional roads, most notably the National Old Trails Road (or Ocean-to-Ocean Highway). Other key contributing trails included the Ozark Trail System in Missouri/Kansas and the Lone Star Route.

The 2,448-mile highway runs from-to Chicago (at Grant Park at the intersection of Jackson and Michigan Avenues) to Santa Monica (near the Santa Monica Pier at the intersection of Santa Monica Boulevard and Ocean Avenue).

It didn’t receive signs until 1927 and wasn’t completely paved until 1938. The highway passes through Illinois. Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California.

Its diagonal course linked hundreds of rural communities from Chicago to Kansas and on to Los Angeles, enabling farmers to transport grain and produce. By the 1930s the trucking industry was using Route 66. The truckers enjoyed the easier drive across the prairie lands and milder climates than the northern routes offered. (FHWA)

To further the popularity of Route 66, John Steinbeck proclaimed Route 66 the Mother Road in his 1939 book The Grapes of Wrath. (FHWA) “Highway 66 is the main migrant road, 66 – the long concrete path across the country …”

“… waving gently up and down on the map, from the Mississippi to Bakersfield – over the red lands and the gray lands, twisting up into the mountains, crossing the Divide and down into the bright and terrible desert, and across the desert to the mountains again, and into the rich California valleys …” (Steinbeck)

“… 66 is the path of a people in flight, refugees from dust and shrinking land, from the thunder, of tractors and shrinking ownership, from the desert’s slow northward invasion, from the twisting winds that howl up out of Texas, from the floods that bring no richness to the land and steal what little richness is there.”

“From all of these the people are in flight, and they come into 66 from the tributary side roads, from the wagon tracks and the rutted country roads. 66 is the mother road, the road of flight….” (Steinbeck)

“The people in flight streamed out on 66, sometimes a single car, sometimes a little caravan. All day they rolled slowly

along the road, and at night they stopped near water.”

“In the day ancient leaky radiators sent up columns of steam, loose connecting rods hammered and pounded. And the men driving the trucks and the overloaded cars listened apprehensively. How far between towns? It is a terror between towns.” (Steinbeck)

“Merchants in small and large towns along the highway looked to Route 66 as an opportunity for attracting new revenue to their often rural and isolated communities. As the highway became busier, the roadbed received improvements, and the infrastructure of support businesses — especially those offering fuel, lodging, and food that lined its right of way — expanded.”

“Even with tough times, the Depression that worked its baleful consequences on the nation produced an ironic effect along Route 66. The vast migration of destitute people fleeing their former homes actually increased traffic along the highway, providing commercial opportunities to a multitude of low capital, mom-and-pop businesses.” (NPS)

“The romance of Route 66 was created, in part, by marketing the Hollywood version of American Indians. Travelers were given the stereotypical images they were accustomed to seeing in films to lure them into [Trading Posts and] buying postcards and souvenirs, taking photos with wooden Indians, staying the night in a “wigwam” and spending a little extra time and money on their journey west.” (American Indian Alaska Native Tourism Association)

“In 1956, President Eisenhower, who had witnessed the military advantages of the German Autobahn during World War II, supported the passage of a law to construct a new system of high-speed, limited-access, four-lane divided highways – today’s interstates.”

“Five new interstates (I-55, I-44, I-40, I-15, and I-10) incrementally replaced US 66 over the next three decades. Interstate construction coincided with the powerful forces of economic consolidation as evidenced by the growth of branded gasoline stations, motels, and restaurant chains.”

“The 1984 bypassing of the last section of U.S. 66 by I-40 led to the official decommissioning of the highway in 1985, impacting countless businesses and communities along the road.” (NPS)

The National Trust for Historic Places listed Route 66 on their America’s Most Endangered List and designated the road a National Treasure.

April 28, 2026 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Waiʻalae Shopping Center

In the mid-1800s, beyond Honolulu’s limits there were few residences. The population was growing toward and up Nuʻuanu, but Honolulu was hemmed on the Diamond Head end by the barren plains called Kulaokahuʻa.

Kulaokahu‘a translates as “the plain of the boundary.” Kulaokahu‘a was the comparatively level ground below Makiki Valley (between the mauka fertile valleys and the makai wetlands.) This included areas such as Kaka‘ako, Kewalo, Makiki, Pawaʻa and Mōʻiliʻili.

“It was so empty that after Punahou School opened in July 1842, mothers upstairs in the mission house could see children leave that institution and begin their trek across the barren waste. Trees shunned the place; only straggling livestock inhabited it.” (Greer)

William Lunalilo ended up with most of the area known as Kaimuki through the Great Māhele (1848.) Lunalilo was born on January 31, 1835 to High Chiefess Miriam ‘Auhea Kekāuluohi (Kuhina Nui, or Premier of the Hawaiian Kingdom and niece of Kamehameha I) and High Chief Charles Kanaʻina.

In 1884, the Kaimuki land was auctioned off. The rocky terrain held little value to its new owner, Dr. Trousseau, who was a “physician to the court of King Kalākaua”. Trousseau ended up giving his land to Senator Paul Isenberg. Theodore Lansing and AV Gear later bought the Kaimuki land (in 1898.) (Lee)

In 1887, Daniel Paul Rice Isenberg (Paulo Liʻiliʻi) (son of the Paul Isenberg, one of the founders of H. Hackfeld & Co. (Amfac) and one of the organizers of the Līhuʻe Sugar plantation) invested a large part of his inheritance in the development of a 3,000-acre ranch at Waiʻalae, Oʻahu.

In 1898, Kaimuki was still the barren, rocky and red-dirt land filled with panini, kiawe, and lantana. However, Lansing, a real estate agent, thought it was a great place to build a high class residential district. Initially, sales were slow.

But in 1900, the Chinatown fire forced folks to find places for new homes and businesses – many came to Kaimuki. This eventually led to the construction of the Lēʻahi Hospital (1901.) This and other activity in the area destroyed and/or displaced the landscape.

Kaimuki was envisioned as a suburb, where the residents could commute to Honolulu each day for work. To do this, transportation needed to be improved.

In 1888, the animal-powered tramcar service of Hawaiian Tramways ran track from downtown to Waikīkī. In 1900, the Tramway was taken over by the Honolulu Rapid Transit & Land Co (HRT.) That year, an electric trolley (tram line) was put into operation in Honolulu.

In town, in addition to service to the core Honolulu communities, HRT expanded to serve other opportunities. In the fall of 1901, a line was also sent up into central Mānoa. In 1902, a tram line was built to connect Waikīkī and downtown Honolulu.

The new Mānoa trolley opened the valley to development and rushed it into the expansive new century. In particular, it would help to sell a very new hilltop subdivision, “College Hills,” and also expand an unplanned little “village” along the only other road, East Mānoa. (Bouslog)

A little farther out, in Kaimuki, roads were built by the developers to connect the homes with Waiʻalae Avenue. The biggest boost to popularity occurred in 1903, when the Waiʻalae Avenue electric streetcar began service to Kapahulu and Koko Head Avenue.

As the automobile gained popularity and suburbs towards Koko Head were constructed, Waiʻalae Avenue was solidified as a major throughfare that boomed with business. (HHF)

Then, in 1927, the Territorial Hotel Co., as part of a promotional program to develop luxury travel trade to Hawaiʻi on the mother company’s Matson Navigation Co. cruise ships, built the Royal Hawaiian Hotel … and with it the Waiʻalae Golf Course.

The Golf Course was opened for play on February 1, 1927. In July 1927, the Isenberg ranch home near the mouth of Wai‘alae stream became the club house for the Wai‘alae Golf Course.

By the 1930s, the beachfront along Kahala Avenue was being developed with homes, while farming continued in other areas. In 1938, more than 50 pig farms were operating in the vicinity of Farmers Road and Kahala Avenues.

Residents of the area, citing an increase in rats and mice at Kahala, petitioned the territorial board of health to remove the pig farms (Honolulu Advertiser, December 20, 1938).

More houses were built.

Then, in 1954, the first phase of the Waiʻalae Shopping Center was built along Waiʻalae Avenue (designed by Victor Gruen – Walker Moody was awarded a $435,000 contract to build it.)

The three part plan called for covered courts between the three buildings and covered walks to the three parking areas. The center was anchored by Liberty House and a Piggly Wiggly supermarket (which later became Star Market.)

In 1957, a $1.2 million expansion began at Waiʻalae; Woolworth opened its first Hawaiʻi store there in 1958. Another new tenant, Waiʻalae Bowl opened that year, as well.

In 1967, construction to double the size of the Waiʻalae Shopping Center began, giving the center a total of 320,000-square feet of leasable space with fifty to sixty tenants, and 1,500 parking spaces.

Rather than the open-air, covered walkways, it was enclosed as a mall and air conditioned; all but a few stores opened on to the mall, rather than to the outside of the mall. It was the first of this type to open in Hawaiʻi. (They renamed it Kahala Mall.) (Mason)

At the time, Ala Moana Center was reported to be the largest mall in the world under single ownership and the provision of air conditioning at the Waiʻalae mall was a way to compete with the larger shopping center. (Mason)

On March 31, 2006, a flood hit the mall. Water affected an estimated 60 of 90-mall businesses, and knocked down two movie auditorium walls.

Kahala Mall is now comprised of approximately 464,000 square feet of gross leasable area. The mall houses 101 retail shops, entertainment venues and restaurants. (ksbe)

April 18, 2026 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

The 5th Gate

The cornerstone for ‘Iolani Palace was laid on December 31, 1879 with full Masonic rites. Construction was completed in 1882; in December of that year King Kalākaua and Queen Kapi‘olani took up residence in their new home.

The first floor consists of the public reception areas – the Grand Hall, State Dining Room, Blue Room and the Throne Room.

The second floor consists of the private suites – the King’s and Queen’s suites, Music Room, King’s Library, and the Imprisonment Room, where Queen Lili‘uokalani was held under house arrest for eight months in 1895, following a counter-revolution by royalists seeking to restore the Queen to power after the overthrow of 1893.

The Palace area was originally enclosed by an eight-foot high coral block wall with wooden gates. In 1887, work was requested to alter the Mauka, Makai and Richards Street Gateways of the wall surrounding the Royal Palace would be curved at the respective gates with double iron door (similar to the Likelike gate.)

Also intended were 2-story wooden guardhouses on each side of the four main gates. However, those were not built (the contract to construct them was cancelled in July 1887).

Then, Robert Wilcox and other revolutionaries broke into the grounds, set themselves up in the Palace Bungalow, and using the walls surrounding the grounds fired at approaching loyal troops.

After this, it was felt that the Palace no longer served as a bastion against invasion, and a decision was made to tear down the wall surrounding the grounds. In 1889, it was lowered to 3’6″. In 1892, it was topped with the present painted iron fence.

“Early this morning a gang of prisoners commenced to take down the Palace wall. Up to one o’clock this afternoon they had it down from the front gate on King Street to the corner of King and Richards Streets.”

“It is being taken down to within three feet six inches of the ground. The King suggested that an iron fence take its place, and that will be done. It is understood that the government has already sent for designs of ornamental fencing, and as soon as a design is selected the fence will be ordered. There is no doubt that the taking down of the wall will be a great improvement.” (Daily Bulletin, August 9, 1889)

Removal of this wall was met with great approval. In prior years newspapers had often recommended that the prison-like stone wall be removed. In tearing down the wall it was also felt that the grounds, being opened to public view, would be improved and would become the most beautiful in the city. (Fairfax)

New gate arrangements were made, as well. The gates before this time had been flush with the wall, but as part of the improvements, curved walls were built, recessing the gateways into the grounds. (Fairfax)

The four principal gates each display the Coat of Arms of the Hawaiian Kingdom, and have a distinctive name and purpose:
• Kauikeaouli – was named in honor of King Kamehameha III and used for ceremonial occasions (fronting King Street)
• Kīna’u – was named after the mother of Kings Kamehameha IV and Kamehameha V and used by tradesmen (fronting Richards Street)
• Hakaleleponi – was named for Queen Kalama, consort of Kamehameha III and used by servants and retainers of the royal household (mauka – facing Capitol)
• Likelike – was given the name of Princess Likelike, sister to King Kalakaua and Queen Lili‘uokalani and reserved for private use by the royal family (facing State Library)

But those are not the only gates onto the Palace grounds – a smaller 5th gate is located on the mauka-Ewa wall (fronting on Palace Walk, just mauka of the Barracks. While other gates had general ‘assignments’ of who would enter, the 5th gate was initially made for a single person.

“On my accession to the throne my husband (John Owen Dominis) had been made prince consort, and after my brother’s burial I had proposed to him that he should move to the palace …”

“… but in his feeble health he dreaded the long stairs there, which he would be obliged to climb, so I proposed to have the bungalow put in repair, and that the entire house should be placed at his service.”

“With this proposition he was much pleased, and hopefully looked forward to the time when, recovering from his illness, he would be able to take possession of his new home.”

“He asked that there might be a small gate opened near the bungalow, so that he might easily come and go without being obliged to go through the form of offering to the sentry the password required for entrance by the front gate.”

“His wish was immediately granted, and instructions given to the Minister of the Interior to that effect. The bungalow was handsomely fitted up, and all things were made ready for his occupation; but owing to his continued and increasing ill-health he never moved into it.” (Lili‘uokalani) (There is another gate at the corner of King and Richards.)