Images of Old Hawaiʻi

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Forty Niner

Katsutaro Chagami was Issei (first generation) – born in Japan and emigrated to the Islands from 1885 to 1924 (when Congress stopped all legal migration). The term Issei came into common use and represented the idea of a new beginning and belonging.

The children of the Issei, like Richard Kiyoshi Chagami, were Nisei, the second generation in Hawaiʻi and the first generation of Japanese descent to be born and receive their entire education in America, learning Western values and holding US citizenship.

“When the Issei first arrived in Hawaii they lived in plantation villages or camps and preserved their way of life by only speaking Japanese. After 1900, a significant influx of picture brides to the islands created families that served as the basis for a flourishing Japanese population.”

“As the community grew, Buddhist temples, Japanese newspapers, and Japanese language schools were created. Most Japanese immigrants were plantation workers, but there were those who chose to take up a life of fishing as a means of sustenance and income.”

“Small fishing villages were known to crop up around coastal areas. Katsutaro and Kawayo Chagami [Richard Chagami’s parents], lived on the shores of Pearl Harbor in a small fishing village on what is currently the Aiea Bay State Recreation Area.” (Minatoishi and Gushiken; NPS)

“Katsutaro Chagami owned a sampan (a flat-bottomed fishing boat) that was moored at Kewalo Basin. His fishing endeavors called him away for two weeks at a time. Besides deep sea fishing, Katsutaro occasionally brought the boat home to take the family for rides to Ford Island (Mokuumeume) or around Pearl Harbor (Puuloa).”

“The Chagami family had erected an ebisu kotohira (fishing shrine) on their property, a sacred object the family would eventually take with them.”

“In 1940, Pearl Harbor terminated the leases on the fishing village and Katsutaro, Kawayo, and their 11 children were forced to look for other living accommodations.” (Minatoishi and Gushiken; NPS)

Richard Chagami (born on June 21, 1917) served in the Army along with his brother Henry. They served in Italy and France as part of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team during World War II.  During his service with the Army, Richard served as a cook.  (Minatoishi and Gushiken; NPS)

Upon the boys’ return, their parents purchased a lunch wagon from Elia Niau so the brothers could start a business together. The lunch wagon sold meals near the corner of Honomanu and Kamehameha Highway.

In the beginning, they served mostly banana splits, ice cream floats and sodas. The menu later changed to plate lunches, saimin and burgers. (Bernardo)

“The wagon was on their (Chagami’s) property. We used to hook up to their electricity and use their water to run the wagon. They were always really nice to us.”

“It was World War II, so there was rationing.  But because my father was a police officer who patrolled the Pearl City area, he always knew where to get the food.”

“I used to use a wheel barrel to carry the sodas and the burgers across the street. They loved our burgers and our bacon sandwiches.” (Solomon Niau, son of Elia Niau; Paragas) These were the two staples of the lunch wagon then, and they remain popular among many of the restaurant’s current patrons. (Paragas)

The wagon was named the “Forty Niner”. The name drew inspiration from the Gold Rush and alluded to the owner’s hopes that patrons would flock to the eatery much like adventurers converged on California.

“I guess my parents (including mom Elizabeth Johnson Niau) thought that if they bought the Forty Niner, people would rush in like they did during the 1949 Gold Rush.” (Solomon Niau, son of Elia Niau; Paragas)

The wagon gained a strong following from workers at the Aiea Naval Hospital, Pearl Harbor, and other adjacent military facilities. After the lunch wagon gained a substantial following, a free-standing, permanent restaurant was constructed. The Forty Niner establishment was completed in August of 1947. (Minatoishi and Gushiken; NPS)

Richard Chagami handled the daily operations while Henry handled the bookkeeping. Over the years, Chagami’s nine other siblings also helped out. (Bernardo)

Richard retired in 2006 and passed the historic building, and the recipes served in it, to new owner Wil Cordes III. “I knew there would be a lot of eyes on me,” Cordes says.

“People have been bringing their families, three, four generations already. They were going to know the menu and taste of the food better than I did.”

So, after a few months of much needed renovations – the kitchen had a single burner and no telephone – he reopened with Richard’s sister, Jennie Tsuchidana, still making the burgers, saimin dashi and all the original menu items. Before he passed in 2011, Richard would even stop by now and then: “He would just say, ‘taste good, taste good,’” Cordes says.

“Meanwhile, he and his wife, Karla, expanded the menu to breakfast with pancakes, waffles and French toast and rotating specials throughout the day.

Longtime diners can now dig into the Forty Niner pancakes – which Cordes says were the first to feature haupia sauce and macadamia nuts – banana French toast, chilaquiles with eggs and garlic chicken while sitting on the eatery’s original stools.  (Honolulu Magazine)

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Emma Louise Smith Dillingham

Rev. Lowell Smith and his wife Abigail arrived in Honolulu on May 1, 1833, with the Sixth Company of missionaries of the ABCFM.  He first served at Molokai in June 1833; then, in 1834, he established a church at Ewa District, O‘ahu and later founded and served as pastor of Kaumakapili Church (Second Native Church) in Honolulu, 1839–1869.

Rev and Abigail Smith had five children: Lowell Smith (1841–1842), Emma Smith (1843–1843), Emma Louise Smith (Dillingham) (1844–1920), Ellen Amelia Smith (1847–1848), and Augustus Lowell Smith (1851–1891).  (FindAGrave)

Emma Louise Smith was a writer and had talents  in music and the arts; her daughter Mary Emma Dillingham (Frear) published Emma’s 1850-51 Journal Book, written at age six. Emma later wrote poems, songs, books, etc. 

“Little Emma Louise Smith entered Punahou at the age of 13, after having attended the old Royal School.” (Star Bulletin, April 26, 1929)

“Her father tells how Emma rode from Nuuanu to Punahou daily with two of Dr. Judd’s children. He says she was in advance of most of the children of her age, for which credit was due to her mother. ‘Emma can put a horse to a carriage … wash dishes, darn stockings, play the piano and do some other things equally well,’ her mother wrote.” (Punahou First 100 Years; Morrow)

“She graduated with the class of 1863 and the next year became an instructor in the academy.  After one year, she accompanied her parents to the Atlantic coast of the United States, where she continued the study of music.”

“On her return to Honolulu she again became a Punahou instructor of music. She went to the Royal School as a teacher the next year, but after that again returned to Punahou.”

“Meantime, in 1865, there had arrived in Honolulu a young New England seaman, first officer of the bark Whistler.  Attempting to indulge in the almost universal island sport of riding …” “… he had found himself more skilled in guiding a ship than a horse, with the result that when the Whistler went on, it left its first officer nursing a broken leg, the result of a fall from his mount.” (Star Bulletin, April 26, 1929)

“The first officer of the bark Whistler, Mr. Dillingham, whose leg was broken last Friday night, by being thrown from a horse, in collision with a carriage, on the valley road. … [Dillingham] is now at the American Marine Hospital, where he receives every care and attention, and is in favorable condition for recovery.”  (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, July 29, 1865)

“It felt as if I had anchored in a home port; the cordiality I experienced from all those whom I met removed at once the feeling of being in a foreign land though the streets were filled with several nationalities. The luxuriant foliage, the balmy breezes, the tropical fruits, all afforded such delights that I felt sure I should return.”

“The first evening I left the ship was spent at the Wednesday evening prayer meeting in the Bethel vestry (where Emma led the choir). One of the first calls I made was at the home of Rev. Lowell Smith.” (Dillingham; Morrow)

“Young Benjamin [Franklin ‘Frank’] Dillingham entered the commercial life of the city as soon as he was able to be about. When an opportunity came to leave here he decided against it, a matter, no doubt, in which the young teacher of Punahou figured, since they were married on [April 26] 1869.” (Star Bulletin, April 26, 1929)

Despite tales of Emma nursing Frank back to health, Emma was away in New England while Frank was recuperating. The two of them probably met for the first time when Frank attended a church service after his arrival in Honolulu. But his efforts to win her hand began in earnest only in 1867. On April 26, 1869, Frank Dillingham married Emma Smith. They were both 25.

Frank was stocky and well-muscled, Emma was lovely and tall. She, like her mother, had dark hair parted down the middle, but her face was softer than Abigail’s and her smile was bright and engaging.

She had been engaged to James Baldwin of Maui when she met Frank, but, not in love with her fiancé, broke off the relationship. Frank pressed his suit quietly but firmly after their meeting and slowly she fell in love. (Morrow)

He accepted a job as a clerk in a hardware store called H Dimond & Son for $40 per month. The store was owned by Henry Dimond, formerly a bookbinder in the 7th Missionary Company. In 1850 Dimond had been released from his duties at the Mission and had gone into business with his son.

Dillingham later bought the company with partner Alfred Castle (son of Samuel Northrup Castle, who was in the 8th Company of missionaries and ran the Mission business office;) they called the company Dillingham & Co.

On September 4, 1888, Frank Dillingham’s 44th birthday, the legislature gave Dillingham an exclusive franchise “for construction and operation on the Island of O‘ahu a steam railroad … for the carriage of passengers and freight.”

Dillingham formed O‘ahu Railway and Land Company (OR&L,) a narrow-gauge rail, whose economic being was founded on the belief that O‘ahu would soon host a major sugar industry.

‘Dillingham’s Folly’ had now become the greatest single factor in the development of O‘ahu and Honolulu.  (Nellist)  “With a shrill blast from the whistle and the bell clanging, the engine moved easily off with its load. Three rousing cheers were given by the passengers, and crowds assembled at the starting point responded.”  (Daily Bulletin, September 5, 1889)

Ultimately OR&L sublet land, partnered on several sugar operations and/or hauled cane from Ewa Plantation Company, Honolulu Sugar Company in ‘Aiea, O‘ahu Sugar in Waipahu, Waianae Sugar Company, Waialua Agriculture Company and Kahuku Plantation Company, as well as pineapples in Wahiawa for Dole.

“It was in [Emma’s] home that the YWCA was organized, and she took an active part in the work of the Salvation Army.”  (Advertiser, July 7, 1956)  “In 1900, Emma Louise Smith Dillingham founded the YWCA Oahu as a place for Honolulu’s working women to learn skills that promote community engagement, build friendships, and develop shared values.”

“By 1915, Oahu YWCA boasted a membership of 1,386 women, which included Queen Liliuokalani. Today’s YWCA stands for empowering women, eliminating racism, standing up for social justice, helping families, and strengthening communities.” (BOH)

“She was one of [seven] founders of the Daughters of Hawaii.” (Advertiser, July 7, 1956)  “‘Daughters of Hawaii’ was formed November 18, (1903) by Mrs. Emma Dillingham. Mrs. Sarah Colin Waters, Mrs. Lucinda Severance, Mrs. Ellen A. Weaver, Mrs. Annie A. Dickey, Mrs. Cornelia H. Jones and Miss Anna M. Paris.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, November 26, 1904)

The women (all daughters of American missionaries) foresaw the looming loss of Hawaiian culture and in an inaugural meeting, their gathering gave rise to the “The Daughters of Hawaii” dedicated  to preserving  that culture. (Morrow)

“Its object is ‘To perpetuate the memory and spirit of old Hawai‘i and of historic facts, and to preserve the nomenclature and correct pronunciation of the Hawaiian language.’ No one is eligible to membership who was not born in Hawaii of parents who came here before 1860.” (Hawaiian Star, December 7, 1903)

The Daughters of Hawai‘i was one of the first organizations in Hawai‘i to recognize the importance of historic preservation. Since the early 1900s it has been distinguished for preserving Hānaiakamalama in Nu‘uanu, commonly known as the Queen Emma Summer Palace, and Hulihe‘e Palace in Kailua-Kona, restoring them with original royal furnishings and regalia.

The Daughters continue to be stewards of two of Hawai‘i’s three royal palaces, as well as the birth site of King Kamehameha III at Keauhou Bay in Kailua-Kona. (Daughters of Hawaii)

Children of Frank and Emma Dillingham are Mary Emma Dillingham (Frear) (1870–1951), Charles Augustus ‘Charlie’ Dillingham (1871–1874), Walter Francis Dillingham (1875–1963), Alfred Hubbard ‘Freddie’ Dillingham (1880–1880), Harold Garfield Dillingham (1881–1971), Marion Eleanor Dillingham (Erdman) (1883–1972). (FindAGrave)

On his death in 1918 at age 74, Dillingham was hailed as a “master builder” and Honolulu’s financial district closed its doors out of respect. (Wagner) The Islands would have been different if not for a sailor breaking his leg riding a horse.

Emma Dillingham, “one of Honolulu’s most prominent women for many years … passed away peacefully” August 15, 1920. (PCA, August 16, 1920)

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Summertime

In a lot of respects, with or without kids, school vacation schedules seem to set how we operate our lives.

Until the middle of the 19th century, Americans used the word vacation the way the English do, the time when teachers and students vacate the school premises and go off on their own.  (Siegel; NPR)

Summer … Memorial Day to Labor Day, right?  Well, maybe before, but why?

A first thought is the historic reason for the season of summer vacations is so kids can go work on the family farm.  There are a number of reasons summer vacation came about, but the farming calendar isn’t one of them.

There used to be two basic school schedules – one for urban areas and the other for rural communities.

In the past, urban schools ran year-round. For example, in 1842 New York City schools were in class for 248 days. Rural schools took the spring off to plant, and the autumn off to harvest. (The summer actually isn’t the busiest time in agriculture.)

Short school years with long vacations are not the norm in Europe, Asia, or South America. Children in most industrialized countries go to school more days per year and more hours per day than in America.

Rural schools typically had two terms: a winter term and a summer one, with spring and fall available for children to help with planting and harvesting. The school terms in rural schools were relatively short: 2-3 months each.  (Taylor)

In addition, in rural areas, the summer term was considered “weak.” The summer term in rural neighborhoods tended to be taught by young girls in their mid- to late-teens. On the other hand, schoolmasters, generally older males, taught the winter terms. Because of this, the summer terms were seen as academically weaker.  (Lieszkovszky; NPR)

It’s hot in the summer. The school buildings of the 19th-century weren’t air-conditioned. Heat during the summer months would often become unbearable.    (Lieszkovszky; NPR)

In 1841, Boston schools operated for 244-days while Philadelphia implemented a 251-day calendar. In the beginning of the 19th-century, large cities commonly had long school years, ranging from 251 to 260 days.  During this time, many of these rural schools were only open about 6-months out of the year.  (Pedersen)

In the 1840s, however, educational reformers like Horace Mann moved to merge the two calendars out of concern that rural schooling was insufficient and then-current medical theory and concerns over student health in the urban setting.

“(A) most pernicious influence on character and habits … not infrequently is health itself destroyed by over-stimulating the mind.”  (Mann)

This concern over health seemed to have two parts.  As noted above, there was the concern that over-study would lead to ill-health, both mental and physical; the other concern was that schoolhouses were unhealthy in the summer (heat, ventilation, etc.)  (Taylor)

Attendance became another problem.  The city elite could afford to periodically leave town for cooler climates.  School officials, battling absenteeism, saw little advantage in opening schools on summer days or on holidays when many students wouldn’t show up. Pressure to standardize the school calendar across cities often led campuses to “the lowest common denominator” – less school.    (Mathews; LA Times)

In the second half of the 19th-century, school reformers who wanted to standardize the school year found themselves wanting to lengthen the rural school year and to shorten the urban school year, ultimately ending up by the early 20th-century with the modern school year of about 180 days.  (Taylor)

Summer emerged as the obvious time for a break: it offered a break for teachers, generally fit with the farming needs and alleviated physicians’ concerns that packing students into sweltering classrooms that would promote the spread of disease.  (Time)

While it’s clear historically that 3-month layoff from school was not based on farming needs – for most of the country – in Hawaiʻi there was a farm-based reason for the break from studies, at least from 1932 to 1969.

It happened in Kona.

By the 1890s, the large Kona coffee plantations were broken into smaller (5+/- acres) family farms.  By 1915, tenant farmers, largely of Japanese descent, were cultivating most of the coffee. Many hours were spent cleaning and weeding the land, pruning the trees, harvesting the crop, pulping the berries and drying them for the mills.

These were truly family farms.  “At that time, we used to work until dark. You see, no matter how young you were, you have to work. Before going to school, we pick one basket of coffee, then go to school. We come home from school and we pick another basket.” (Tsuruyo Kimura; hawaii-edu)

Konawaena was the regional school; it was first established as an elementary school, about 1875.  By 1917, they were pushing to get a Kona high school (at the time, Hilo High, established in 1905, was the only high school on the island.)

In 1920, the Territory acquired land for a new school and in 1921, the new Konawaena accommodated students up to the 9th-grade; classes through the senior year were added by the 1924-25 school year.

Konawaena means “the Center of Kona,” and it lived up to its name.  “Everything possible has been done to make the community feel that the school belongs to them. A Kona Baseball League has been organized and all league games are played on the school diamond” (Crawford, 1933; HABS)

The Kona area was observed as being “different socially from the rest of the Islands” (Crawford, 1933; HABS.)  Coffee farming was the main reason for the difference. This labor-intensive crop thrived best in the steep lava slopes of the Kona districts.

“The labor problem is one that will have to be seriously considered.  As coffee culture increases, the need of a greater supply of labor will be strongly felt, particularly at picking time. A large force is then needed for three or four months, after which, if coffee alone is cultivated, there is need only of a small part of the force required for picking.”  (Thrum)

These labor and  land factors meant a non-industrial, small-farm type of agriculture, very different from the industrial trends in the growing sugar and pineapple plantations that developed in other areas of the Islands.

The school went beyond recreational activities to accommodate the surrounding community.

In 1932, the school’s ‘summer’ vacation was shifted from the traditional Memorial Day to Labor Day (June-July-August) to August-September-October, “to meet the needs of the community, whose chief crop is coffee and most of which ripens during the fall months.” (Ka Wena o Kona 1936; HABS)

In 1935, the legislature recognized the ‘Konawaena Coffee Vacation Plan’ and passed legislation such that “The teachers of the Kona District … shall be paid, under such conditions as the Department of Public Instruction (now DOE) may require, their monthly accruing salaries during the months of September and October of each year during which such plan is in operation.”    (Session Laws, 1935)

This “coffee harvest” school schedule and the “coffee vacation” lasted until 1969 (Honolulu Star Bulletin 1969; HABS.)

And now, in Hawaiʻi and across the country, there are varying arrangements for school schedules and vacations.  Some areas have lost the 3-month layover; but most are trending with a total 180 to 200-days of instruction, with various schedules in arranging the breaks.

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Lānai Ranch

Lānai’s formal ranching period ran from approximately 1854 to 1951 – longer than the cultivation of pineapple on the island. The ranch headquarters, situated about one mile away from what is now the city was at a place known as Kō‘ele.

Prior to 1923 and the arrival of James Dole, the Kō‘ele headquarters of the Lānai Ranch was the closest thing to a town in the uplands of Lānai. The only other historic “city” or village was situated on the windward shore of Lānai, at Keomuku – which had originally been built as the center of operations for the Maunalei Sugar Company (1898 to 1901). (Kepa Maly)

Walter Murray Gibson and other followers of the Mormon Church started a settlement on land they had purchased. Shortly thereafter, Gibson was excommunicated for allegedly misusing church funds; the settlement failed and the Mormons left the island.

Gibson remained and consolidated the 26,000 acres of land he controlled to form Lānai Sheep Ranch, headquartered in Palawai. By 1867, Gibson’s ranch consisted of 10,000 sheep and 18,000 goats.

By 1875, despite protests by Lānai; residents, Gibson controlled 90 percent of Lānai; lands either in fee simple or long-term leases, for ranching and farming operations. After Gibson’s death in 1888, the ranch was turned over to his daughter and son-in-law, Talula and Frederick Hayselden.

The ranch, headquartered in Kō‘ele, had grown to number 40,000 sheep, 3,000 Angora goats, 600 horses and 200 head of cattle. Lands making up Lānai Ranch included the former Gibson lands, government-owned land, and some ahupua‘as owned by Honolulu financier WG Irwin.

Despite attempts to increase the ranch’s efficiency and profitability, the Hayseldens lost money. Therefore, in 1898, the Hayseldens established Maunalei Sugar Company.  Plagued by financial problems, Hayselden closed the plantation in 1901.

The Gibson estate went into receivership, with financiers WH Pain and Paul Neuman assuming two-thirds of the debt and the remaining land and assets. Charles and Louisa Gay, of the wealthy Gay and Robinson family of Kauai and Ni‘ihau, purchased the properties held by Pain and Neuman in 1902.

By 1907, Gay owned virtually the entire island.  The Gay family moved to Lānai in late 1902. The family business is primarily ranching, but with a transition from sheep to cattle.

Between 1902 and 1910, the years of his tenure as landowner and manager, Gay brought up plantation homes for ranch hands from Keomuku to Kō‘ele, laid pipelines, dug reservoirs and wells, erected windmills and fences, installed a water-pumping system in Maunalei Gulch, and began experimental farming.

Gay, who lived in the ranch manager’s home in Ko’ele, also maintained a residence near the beach at Keomuku. He used some of the defunct sugar company’s facilities at Keomuku – such as the brackish-water wells, windmills, and the Kahalepalaoa Landing – to maintain some ranch operations manned by a few employees.

Gay also built a school in Palawai for his own children and that of ranch employees, and a church in Keomuku for use by his family and nearby residents.  Although Gay achieved some measure of success after his improvements, he had difficulty turning a profit. He subsequently sold all but 600 acres of his lands in 1910 to a hui of businessmen.

William G Irwin (and his wife), Robert W Shingle and Cecil Brown formed the “Lānai Ranch Company,” which later became the “Lānai Company.”  At the time of this sale, the ranch consisted of 22,500 sheep, 250 head of cattle, and 150 horses.

Gay remained on Lānai and, on his 600 acres, farmed corn, watermelons, pineapples and other crops, raised pigs, and built a home in Lalakoa, an area adjacent to present-day Lānai City. He also continued to use his Keomuku home.

In 1911, Lānai Ranch Company hired New Zealander George Munro as ranch manager. Munro, who previously worked at Molokai Ranch, found that because there had been little subdividing of pastureland, the sheep were roaming the island almost at will and the goats had become wild.

Munro, who had a knowledge of and interest in botany, planted hundreds of Norfolk Island pine trees throughout the island to catch fog drip to increase the ground water supply. Also during this time, Lānai Ranch Company began shifting its emphasis from sheep to cattle in order to supply a growing market for beef.

In 1917, Lānai Ranch Company sold the island to Frank and Harry Baldwin of Maui, who continue the cattle ranching operation under the title of “Lānai Ranch.”

Munro, who was to stay on as ranch manager until 1935, continued the shift from sheep to cattle, and reduced the goat population. With the improved water supply, the emphasis on cattle, and the decimation of goats which destroyed grazing lands, Lānai Ranch began making a profit.

In 1922, despite this relative prosperity, the Baldwins sold the island to James D Dole of the Hawaiian Pineapple Company. This began the large-scale pineapple cultivation on Lānai which was to permanently alter the island’s landscape and social fabric while at the same time signaling the decline of Lānai Ranch as the island’s dominant commercial activity.

James Dole and associates planned and started the construction of Lānai City, Kaumālapa‘u Harbor (to ship pineapples and supplies), the plantation fields, and infrastructure needed for development of the plantation.

​Dole engaged David Root, James Munro, Tokumatsu Murayama, Hawaiian Dredging and others to develop the plantation.  Former pasturelands were cleared and rows upon rows of pineapple were planted.  The first buildings in Lānai City were under construction in 1923.

​During the decade following its purchase, Hawaiian Pine carefully implemented plans to transform Lānai into a pineapple plantation and ultimately made Lānai the world’s largest pineapple plantation.

As pineapple growing and harvesting began in earnest, the first crop was harvested and shipped in 1926 – Munro reduced the cattle herd and turned over ranch acreage to Hawaiian Pineapple Company. By 1927, of Lānai’s 89,600 acres, pineapple operations accounted for 40,000 acres, Lānai Ranch occupied 44,000 acres, and 5,000 acres were taken up by forest reserve.

In 1935, George Munro, Lānai Ranch manager since 1911, retired. He advised that pineapple, not cattle, be given primary consideration on Lānai, and that the ranch be continued only as long as pineapple-growing was not jeopardized.

The ranch continued to decline in the 1940s. By 1950, there were only a few cowboys to herd up the remaining cattle on the island. The ranch officially closed in 1951.

Castle & Cooke, Inc., which in 1961 acquired 100 percent direct ownership of Hawaiian Pineapple Company (in 1985, David H Murdock purchased Castle & Cooke – which includes much of the island of Lānai). In 1987. construction of the two luxury hotels on Lānai started.

In 1992, the final harvest of pineapple on Lānai took place in October. On November 14. 1992, a “Pau Hana” (“end of work”) gathering was held in Dole Park to commemorate the close of the pineapple era on Lānai.

In 2012, Larry Ellison purchased the island of Lānai – approximately 97 percent of the land on island – and engaged in building a sustainable community through the holding company, Pūlama Lānai.  (Lots of information here is from UH Center for Oral History and Lānai Culture & Heritage Center.)

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Club Lanai

Allan Dale Starr Sr was born July 10, 1924 in Carlinville, Illinois, graduated from Northwestern University, was a naval aviator,  and came to Hawai‘i in 1949 and joined the Lund-Heitman agency. (Adv, Apr 4, 1991)

In 1965 he founded the AD Starr Co. Over the years, through growth/mergers the company grew to Hawai‘i’s largest marketing communications firm for nearly two decades.

He acquired a property at Kahalepalaoa on the north east shore of Lānai and used it as a weekend beach cottage. Kahalepalaoa was the former landing area with a long wooden pier built in about 1899 that several motor-driven boats were engaged in providing transportation of people and goods between Lānai and Lāhaina. (Lānai Culture and Heritage Center)

“The Lanai Landing site (formerly known as Halepalaoa Landing, Kahalepalaoa Landing, or Maunalei Sugar Co. Landing) has long been used as a boat harbor.” (BLNR, D-7, 11-10-22)

The pier had deteriorated, and in 1985 Starr received permission and built a new pier “to re-activate the only harbor on the windward coast of Lanai for small craft. The main purpose of restoring the Landing is to provide access to the shoreline and [Starr’s] property for small craft carrying tour groups from Kaanapali and Lahaina, Maui.” (BLNR, LA-1705, 03-08-85)

At that time, four companies operate cruise boats between Lahaina and Mānele Harbor on Lanai’s south coast. The companies offer the boat trip to Lanai and, upon arrival, picnic, swim, and snorkel at Hulopoe Bay. Hulopoe Beach Park is a private park and all facilities are located on property owned by Castle and Cooke.”

“[A]dditional boats from Lahaina would like to operate trips to Manele, but the space is not available to expand this activity.” (BLNR, LA-1705, 03-08-85)

 “Passengers on the cruise boats would disembark at Halepalaoa Landing to enjoy a picnic lunch, snorkeling, swimming, and other such activities currently offered at Hulopoe Beach Park. These activities would take place [on Starr’s] private property and the public beach area.”  (BLNR, LA-1705, 03-08-85)

Shortly thereafter, Charles Forman, Trustee, and City Cathedral Investments, Inc. took control of the property for use of the Landing and the adjoining beach retreat … Club Lanai was started.  “The concept of this place came from the previous owner, a man named [Allan Starr.]”

Club Lanai was a ‘day use facility’ that would bring in guests from the Island of Maui via two catamarans (65‐foot Ehukai and 70‐feet Kaulana), going over in the mornings and returning midafternoon 7 days a week, 365 days a year

Under the prior Club Lanaʻi operation, each of the boats used had a capacity of 149‐passengers. A stated “capacity” at the facility was apparently 250‐people. On some days, over 200‐guests were brought in for the day use activities, including food (typically lunch) and beverages (there were occasional nighttime activities, as well).

“Club Lanai was an 8-acre beach estate that was a cross between Gilligan’s Island and Club Med. Our guest book was signed by people returning 2 & 3 times during their week stay on Maui because they had so much fun there.”

“What made it that fun was that it was like going to your own private beach estate that was an 8-mile boat crossing from Maui to the seclude side of Lanai.”

“When you arrived there, there was a variety of activities you could do from snorkeling, kayaking, bike riding, volleyball, horseshoes, a history tour, a themed Hawaiian village where … Lanai residents shared the Aloha and history of Hawaii, and other activities that came and went though the years.”

“There was an open bar with all you could drink and an all you can eat lunch buffet that served steak, Mahi Mahi, and chicken. There were hammocks, lounge chairs, and palapas spread throughout the property.”

“It was his personal property and after some time of owning it he wanted to make it into a simple getaway place where people could come for the day. He ran out of money during the building process and put it up for sale as that concept.”

“When my father Charles Forman heard about it, he fell in love with the idea. He and the people that worked for him turned it into the above-mentioned place.” (Steven Forman, YouTube)

“The building sitting back from the coconut encrusted water was the first bar built. … It had 2 bridges going to it. The building that housed the kitchen was built by the previous owner. It was his personal home.”

“The Club used the front half of this building for an employee kitchen and living room/lounge. The back half was built into a commercial kitchen to prepare the meals that were served for the day.”

“The upstairs was used for sleeping quarters. There was always a caretaker living there with other employees and their guest staying from time to time.”

“The barn like building was used for several purposes. The back side housed all the property maintenance equipment and the front side was used as a storage room for products for the store.”

“Other building not mentioned were a serving kitchen, a 2nd bar, a commercial bathroom, and a mock Hawaiian Village designed by the Bishop museum.”  (Steven Forman, YouTube)

“In basic terms the cost of operation would end up always out weighing the income. Insurance was at the same rate as amusement parks, maintenance and dry docks on large boats are costly as well as the maintenance for all the property equipment.”

“State and County taxes as well as State Harbor taxes added a fair share of burden as well. In the end this spread of costs was a hard ship to keep afloat. …”

“[The Property] was sold to some speculators who hung on to it for several years. It sat empty at that time with just caretakers keeping the property up.”

“They eventually sold it Dole Pineapple who wanted to make back into a place where their resort guests could go for the day but the County told them they would have to pave the road if they wanted to put it into operation and that would of been too costly being that that road washes out every year from winter storms.”  (Steven Forman, YouTube)

It then ended up with Pūlama Lanai (of Lanai Resorts (Larry Ellison)), who recently (2022) stated that it is interested in using the former Club Lānai site for day activities for guests staying at Sensei Lānai or the Four Seasons Lānai resorts. The intent of Pūlama Lānai is to bring in guests via boats from Mānele Boat Harbor to the Club site. (BLNR, D-7, 11-10-22)

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