Economy | Page 225 | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

October 22, 2015 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

John Palmer

“Strictly speaking, there is no harbor at this island.”

“The anchorage is merely a roadstead, which is on the south side of it, and protects the shipping from the northerly gales, which are the most prevalent. In case of a sou’easter, however, ships must put to sea or be driven on the reef. We found about seventy sail at anchor, about sixty-five of them American whalemen.”

“The town of Lahaina is beautifully situated on the level land skirting the sea, and extends along the shore a distance of two miles. Back from the shore it reaches to the foot of the mountains, thus lying hemmed in, as it were, by the sea in front and the mountains in the rear.”

“The reef extends the whole length of the town, about forty rods from shore, and, but for a small opening or break in it, boats would be unable to land.”

“Seamen are obliged to be clear of the beach at drumbeat – eight o’clock in the evening. No person is allowed to remain on shore over night, unless furnished with a proper pass by the captain of the port …”

“… any one found on the beach, or in the town, with no pass, after the proper time, is marched to the calaboose, where he is kept in confinement till morning, and then muleted in a pretty round sum for breaking the laws. This is generally paid by the captain, and afterward, with pretty good interest, deducted from Jack’s pay.” (Jones, 1861)

Some didn’t like, nor follow, all of the rules …

“The main circumstances as related by eye-witnesses were as follows: The crew of the English whale ship John Palmer, Capt. Clark, enticed several base women on board.”

“Hoapili, the governor of the island, demanded of the captain that they should be delivered up to him according to the law of the nation. The Captain evaded and ridiculed the demand.”

“One day when the captain was on shore, the governor detained him and his boat, insisting that his demand should be complied with. The Captain sent orders, by the boats of other ships, to his men on board, to fire upon the town if he should not be released in an hour.”

“The excitement became very great and some foreigners who had formerly been favourable to the mission were gained over to take part in it.”

“He (Clark) soon, however, promised that if the Governor would release him, the women should be sent on shore.” (Dibble)

In October, 1827, an assault was made at Lahaina by the crew of the ‘John Palmer’ … the crew had opened fire on the village with a nine-pound gun, aiming five shots at Mr Richards’s house, which, however, did little damage.

Hoapili received the backing of Richards and other missionaries. As the guns of the whaler fired, the women took refuge in the cellar. No one was killed.

“The next morning, he sailed for Oahu, and as might be expected of such a man, without fulfilling his promise.” (Dibble)

A few days after this affair, December 8th, 1827, the first written laws were published against murder, theft, adultery, rum-selling, and gambling. (Alexander)

Likewise, the Lahaina Fort, originally built of mud and sand to protect the town from riotous sailors when Lahaina was used as an anchorage for the North Pacific whaling fleet, was reinforced and coral blocks added to the walls and canons, salvaged from foreign ships, were added to the armament.

“Immediately in front of the landing is a large fort, built of coral rock, yet not very formidable in its appearance. The black guns which peer over the dingy walls are of small calibre, and not capable of doing much execution. The site is a most excellent one, as the whole shipping lies within its range.” (Jones)

The old fort was demolished in 1854 and the coral blocks used in other construction projects in Lahaina. After the fort was demolished, a courthouse was built on the site. A portion of the old Lahaina Fort was reconstructed in 1964.

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Two cannon balls fired at the home of Rev. William Richards in Lahaina-HSA-PP-37-2-007

Richards_House-Plaque

Richards_House-Site

Lahaina_from_the_Anchorage_by_Lossing-Barritt-1854 or older

Lahaina_illustration_by_Nordhoff

Lahaina-1848-1854

Lahaina as seen from Lahainaluna

Lahaina_Fort-(WC)

Lahaina_Town-Map-Bishop-Reg1262 (1884)-portion

Lahaina_Fort

Outer wall, Old Prison (Hale Paʻahao), Lahaina Historic District, Lahaina, Hawaii, built 1830s.

Old Lahaina Fort plaque

October 19, 2015 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Waiāhole Water Company

Oʻahu Sugar Company constructed the Waiāhole Ditch System to transport, by gravity, water from the northeastern side of the Koʻolau Range. The Waiāhole Ditch collection and delivery system was constructed during 1913-1916.

The general plan or scheme of development adopted for the Waiāhole Water Co. was that recommended by Mr. J. B. Lippincott, C. E., who made an exhaustive study of the project, going fully into the past history and study already made by Mr. J. Jorgensen and other parties, and reported to the Board of Directors of the Oahu Sugar Co., Ltd., under date of August 19, 1911.

The general plan provided for collecting the water from the many streams and gulches on the windward side of Oahu by means of tunnels through the ridges or spurs, and conveying the water, after collecting, through the mountain in the main tunnel to the leeward side of the island, thence by tunnels, ditches and pipes, to the upper levels of Oahu Sugar Plantation.

The tunnels connect up the various streams on the North side, and take in the water at the adits in the gulches. There are 27 of these tunnels on the North side, varying in length from 280 feet to 2,332 feet, the aggregate length of the North side tunnels being 24,621 feet, or 4.66 miles, being in reality one continuous tunnel.

The maximum elevation at which water is taken into the tunnel is 790 feet above sea level, and the grade or slope of the North side tunnels is 1.3 feet per thousand. The length of the main tunnel through the Koʻolau Ridge is 14,567 feet, or 2.76 miles, the grade or slope being 2.0 feet per thousand.

The elevation of the North portal of the main tunnel is 752 feet above sea level, and at the South portal 724 feet. The size of tunnel section is approximately 7 feet wide and 7 feet high, but in many places the section is larger, due to the uneven cleavage of the rock, and the fact that certain portions are unlined.

From the tunnel, the water is then conveyed by means of cement-lined open ditches, elevated concrete ditches, four steel pipes, and three redwood pipes. It is delivered to the upper boundary of Oahu plantation at an elevation of 650 feet through several distributaries, and by the main ditch, which reaches this elevation at the boundary of Honouliuli.

The water is also delivered into numerous reservoirs, especially at night, when irrigating the cane fields is inconvenient. One of the larger reservoirs, on the line of the Waikakalaua storm water ditch, has long been in use. It is called Five Finger Reservoir. Its elevation was a determining factor in establishing the grade elevation of the Waiāhole conduit.

When the work was undertaken, the time of completion was considered an important element, and Mr. Bishop’s organization was planned to secure the most expeditious execution of the project. The General Superintendent of Construction, Mr. Albert Andrew Wilson, who was in direct charge of all the constructing work.

At the beginning of the tunnel work, three shifts of eight hours each were kept going. This was continued until the large amount of water coming into the tunnel, at North heading, became troublesome, and on account of the hardship on the men, working for eight hours in the cold water, it became necessary to cut the shifts down to six hours each, so that four shifts per day were employed for this heading.

The temperature of the water in the tunnel was approximately 66° F., or about 8° colder than the artesian water in Honolulu, or, roughly, about 1° for each 100 feet of elevation.

Camps were established and sanitary conveniences were built to comply with the requirements of the Board of Health. No serious sickness, such as typhoid fever, gave any trouble.

Special tribute should be paid to the Japanese tunnel men, without whom the excellent progress made on the tunnel would have been impossible.

These “professional” tunnel men, as they call themselves, prefer this work to any other, and they apparently take delight in the hardships incident to the work, the exposure to the cold water, and the risk in handling explosives.

They were on the job all the time and never failed to deliver the goods in situations in which white men or native Hawaiians would have been physically impossible. Most of the drilling and mucking was done by these tunnel men as subcontractors – a bonus being given for rapid work, which sharpened their interest and never failed to give results.

While it was suspected at the outset that considerable water might be encountered in the main bore through the mountain, it was not anticipated at the beginning that enough water would be developed to materially interfere with the progress of the excavation.

This hope was not realized, however, for the main bore had proceeded only about 200 feet from the North portal when water to the extent of two million gallons daily was developed—this on breaking through the first dyke.

These dykes are hard, impervious strata of rock lying approximately at an angle of 45° to the tunnel axis, and nearly vertical, and they occur at intervals of varying length. Between the dykes was the porous water-bearing rock, thoroughly saturated, and with the water pent up between the dykes often under considerable pressure.

When a dyke was penetrated, the water would spout out from the drill holes and would gush forth from the openings blasted in the headings. As the work progressed, the water increased in quantity and the difficulty of the work was enormously greater on account of the water.

The texture and hardness of the rock varied considerably— some of it being particularly soft and porous and much of it hard and flinty—particularly at the dykes. The dykes varied in thickness from 14 feet down to about 4 feet, all composed of very hard, close-grained rock which was apparently waterproof.

From the South portal the progress was rapid, often as high as 630 feet per month, or about 21 feet per day on an average, notwithstanding the long haul, which at the last was over two miles.

Eighty-percent of the length of the main tunnel was driven from the South portal, and 20% of the length was driven from the North portal, the difference in these proportions from the two headings being due to the presence of water at a much earlier stage in the North heading. Had there been no water to contend with, the length driven from each heading would have been approximately the same.

This system of tunnels is essentially a closed-conduit system, that is, the flow is entirely through closed tunnels, not subject to interruption by freshets or washouts or from rubbish or wash from the mountain streams, the intakes being so built as to admit only water as free from rubbish as practicable.

Only at three points in the tunnel system—and these are on the South side, one of which is a gaging station—does the water flow in open channels for an aggregate length of 160 feet.

It is intended to use the reservoirs so far as possible to take care of the water flowing at night, so as to utilize the conduit to its fullest capacity.

The Waiāhole Water Co. has taken over from the Oahu Sugar Co. The water delivered by the Waiāhole System is chiefly used on newly planted cane on land above the lift of the pumps. During construction the water developed in the main tunnel near the South portal was at times utilized for irrigation.

On May 27, 1916, with Mr. H. Olstad as Superintendent, continuous operation of the project was begun. (This post is from portions of a paper read by Chas H Kluegel before the Hawaiian Engineering Association, published in Thrum, 1916)

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Waiahole_Tunnel-(SugarWater)

Waiahole-Tunnel-(SugarWater)

Drilling_Waiahole_Tunnel

Waterfall at one of the water sources of Waiāhole Stream, windward O‘ahu, Hawai‘i-(USGS)

Byron Alcos, superintendent of the Waiahole Irrigation Co., shines a light pon the source of the Waiahole water-(star-bulletin)

Waikane_Valley-Loi_Kalo-Bishop_Museum-photo-1940

Monument at the Waiahole Ditch announces the completion date and names of contractor Mizuno, his surveyor, stonemason, and workers-(hawaii-gov)

Waiahole_Ditch-(oceanit)

Waiahole_Ditch-System-map

Waiahole Ditch-Land-use and land cover-(USGS)

Waiahole Ditch-generalized geology-(USGS)

October 18, 2015 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.

Recently (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”.

They asked the City administration to rededicate the Blaisdell as a War Memorial and erect new plaques.

The good news is that the rededication ceremony of Blaisdell is scheduled for 5 pm, Tuesday, November 10, 2015, on the Blaisdell Center lawn between the Concert Hall and Ward Avenue.

The City will be unveiling a new replacement memorial plaque during the rededication ceremony. The public is invited. (Lots of information and images are from the Neal S Blaisdell Center War Memorial Project.)

Visit the Blaisdell Memorial Project at:
http://www.blaisdellmemorialproject.org

Visit and ‘Like’ their Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/blaisdellmemorialproject

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Blaisdell_art-1967

Honolulu War Memorial Construction Begins-News-1962

Blaisdell-Center-1961-

Honolulu_International_Center-under_construction-1963

Blaisdell-Center-Construction

Blaisdell_Center-Construction-interior

Blaisdell_Center_Construction

Byron-Trimble-June-1963

Blaisdell_Arena-(WC)

Blaisdell_Concert_Hall-(WC)

Blaisdell_Exhibition_Hall-(WC)

Ward_Estate-Old_Plantation-form use of Blaisdell site-DMYoung)

Concert Hall Construction Ceremony plaque-1963

October 14, 2015 by Peter T Young 3 Comments

Wahiawā Hotel

“An instance of community enterprise truly admirable is being exhibited by the Wahiawā Settlement Association in the erection of a hotel in that Salubrious village.”

“As shown in the list of building permits in this paper the other day, the building is estimated to cost $3,650, and the plans have been prepared by Emory & Webb, architects. Its location is 300 feet from the railway station.” (Star Bulletin, January 21, 1913)

Let’s look back …

In 1897, Californian, Byron Clark, became the Hawaiian Republic’s commissioner of agriculture. In looking for land for him to settle on, he learned of the availability of land at Wahiawā.

Clark organized a group of other Californians (as well as others) to join him in settling the whole tract of thirteen hundred acres — which became known as the Wahiawā Colony Tract. Having formed an agricultural cooperative called the Hawaiian Fruit and Plant Company, the homesteaders began formalizing and refining the physical organization of their Wahiawā settlement.

Initially each settler lived in a house on his five-acre parcel in the town site and farmed his other land in the surrounding area. It was soon discovered, however, that each settler preferred to reside on his own farmstead, holding his town lot in reserve. The homesteaders abandoned the village plan and agreed that one man, Thomas Holloway, would live on their 145-acre central lot site.

On August 27, 1902 a trust deed, referred to as the Holloway Trust, formally set aside the central town lots for the use and benefit of the Settlement Association of Wahiawā resident landowners.

Within a few years, Wahiawā Town was underway. Some of the town’s streets would be named for the early homesteaders – including Clark, Kellogg, Thomas and Eames streets (initial mapping shows California Avenue as the first, and main, road.)

Back to the hotel … “This hotel scheme was taken up by the association as the best way to expend a snug balance in the settlement funds, as well as to utilize the hall that had been erected for community gatherings.”

“Originally the structure was used for a schoolhouse, but ultimately the government provided a school building for itself. Besides erecting the hotel, the association is going to provide Uncle Sam with a post office building.”

“There are two buildings in the establishment as planned, the main building to be an auxiliary cottage the old assembly hall reconstructed. In the main building there will be six bedrooms, a parlor and a dining room, the last being utilizable also as a living room.”

“The remodelled cottage will have four bedrooms. A veranda ten feet wide will extend along the four sides of the main building. The bedrooms are of good size, the four on the ground floor of the main building being 12 by 13 feet. There is a gable outlook on every side of the house, each commanding beautiful scenery.”

“Each house is equipped with all needed conveniences, including linen closets. Guests will have pure water from the clouds, a large tank for rain water being provided. This is exclusively for drinking purposes as for other uses the hotel will be connected with the piped mountain water system of the settlement.” (Star Bulletin, January 21, 1913)

At the corner of Lehua Street and California Avenue stood the old Wahiawā Hotel. The “cottages,” as the hotel was referred to, was operated by Mary Johnson until World War II, when it was formally taken over by the Army for nurses’ quarters.

The start of World War II further helped to accelerate developments within Wahiawā to accommodate the needs of the growing military population. Wahiawā Elementary School on Lehua Street soon closed their doors in the 1940s to become the new Wahiawa General Hospital.

The Office of Civil Defense established a 42-bed wartime medical facility in the wood frame buildings formerly housing Wahiawā Elementary School.

At the end of World War II, the facility continued to remain in operation under the leaders of the Wahiawā Hospital Association. The 72-bed acute care facility was dedicated in 1958, under the official name, Wahiawā General Hospital. (Cultural Surveys)

Post World War II, the old Wahiawā Hotel had been used as living quarters for area school teachers. By the 1960s, Wahiawa teachers, who had been quartered at the teachers’ cottages (as they referred to them), were forced to relocate as plans for the new Wahiawa Branch Library were in the making. (Cultural Surveys)

Wahiawā Hotel was demolished in the 1960s to accommodate construction for the new Wahiawā Library. The library opened its doors on July 19, 1965. The library continues to remain in operation today. (Cultural Surveys)

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Wahiawa_Hotel-(CulturalSurveys)

October 13, 2015 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

People’s Theatre

A century after Captain James Cook’s arrival in Hawaiʻi, sugar plantations started to dominate the Hawaiian landscape. A shortage of laborers to work in the growing (in size and number) sugar plantations became a challenge. The only answer was imported labor.

Starting in the 1850s, labor shortages were eased by bringing in contract workers from Asia, Europe and North America. There were three big waves of workforce immigration: Chinese 1852; Japanese 1885 and Filipinos 1905.

Several smaller, but substantial, migrations also occurred: Portuguese 1877; Norwegians 1880; Germans 1881; Puerto Ricans 1900; Koreans 1902 and Spanish 1907.

Plantation labor contracts were usually of three to five year lengths, after which the laborer could return to the homeland, continue to work for the plantations (much desired by the plantation management,) or remain in Hawaiʻi and look for improved employment opportunities off the plantation (least desired by plantation management.)

Individuals found in the towns by 1900 were generally of four employment backgrounds: a small merchant class, skilled works (such as carpenters, blacksmiths, livery personnel) who had performed these functions on the plantations, those with previous homeland farming experience and unskilled laborers.

At Honokaʻa, the original village had developed along a portion of the coastal Government Road above the Haina sugar mill, near the fork between the Waimea and Kukuihaele Roads, and close to the Rickard residence (plantation manager’s house.)

By 1914, the town had a significant Japanese retail contingent, mostly on the Waipiʻo side of town. The increase in population, ingress into town, combined with the advent of Prohibition in 1920, set the stage for new forms of recreation.

Previously, entertainment in the town had been geared toward single men, drummers (traveling salesmen) and plantation workers in the form of the Hotel Honokaʻa Club, other ethnic clubs, bars, and pool and billiard halls.

Family entertainment consisted of shibai and bon dances at the local Hongwanji Buddhist temple, as well as movies screened in open-air venues by traveling “movie men.” The word shibai was introduced into the common local vocabulary of Hawaiʻi by way of Japanese immigrants and literally translates as “a play” or “a dramatic performance.”

The initial venues consisted of live entertainment rather than films. Live entertainment consisted of troupes of acrobats, kabuki (classical Japanese dance-drama), shibai, singing and storytelling.

The late 1920s through the 1930s marked a period of growth in the construction of indoor theater venues. Between the 1840s and 1970, over 400 theaters were constructed in the Hawaiian Islands.

Literally every town on Hawaiʻi Island, large and small, had at least one theater. They were built primarily by Japanese and Euro-American entrepreneurs, and others financed by the plantations. The first documented theater was erected at Pāhoa in Puna in 1917.

The first Honokaʻa Theatre (now known as the “Old Tanimoto Theater”) opened in 1921 on the mauka side of Government Road (Māmane Street). This theater was operated by Manki Harunaga and his partner J. Fujino in a warehouse-like structure.

Hatsuzo Tanimoto was born about 1864 in Japan and immigrated to Honomū, Hawaiʻi in 1887. He and his wife, Momi Yamamoto, arrived in the Islands on the SS Belgic in 1891.

The family then resided in Honomū, where Hatsuzo was the “proprietor” of a department store. Hatsuzo spoke English though Momi did not. The Tanimoto’s had 8 children; two daughters and six sons. In birth order they were Yoshio (son), Zenichi (son), Shizuno (daughter), Jitsusaburo (son), Yoshimi (son), Teruo (son), Takaichi (son), and Yoshino (daughter) (all born in Hawaiʻi.)

In 1929, Hatsuzo Tanimoto purchased the lot of the present People’s Theatre from the estate of former Hawai’i Island Royal Governor John T Bake.

In 1932 Hatsuzo Tanimoto purchased three lots, including the lot with the Honokaʻa Theatre. The $700 sale included “all machinery, equipment, furniture and fixtures…in the said Honokaʻa Theatre.” He continued the lease until 1934. Hatsuzo eventually closed this theater and leased the space to other businesses.

Tanimoto followed the fashion of the day by constructing a building specifically designed to show films as well as present live entertainment. The lot is located on the makai side of Māmane Street extending just Waipi’o side of the Bank of Hawaii lot.

In 1938, Hatsuzo Tanimoto purchased another lot on the makai side of the road, Waipi’o side of the People’s Theatre Unlike the People’s Theatre, Hatsuzo placed this property under his Hilo Theatres, Ltd., company.

This second Honokaʻa Theatre was constructed in 1939. Although it sported a neon “Honokaʻa Theatre” sign, it was best known as the “Doc Hill Theater”, named after an influential local politician who had arrived in Hawaiʻi years before as a spectacles salesmen who adopted the moniker “Doc”.

The “Doc Hill Theatre” was also informally called the “Republican Theatre,” as opposed to the People’s Theatre (which served as the “Democratic Theatre.”)

By 1939 Tanimoto had opened five theatres along the Hāmākua Coast, including Honomū, Hāmākua (at Paʻauilo) and Papaʻaloa.

Their presence was a testament to the rise of alternative entertainment during the Prohibition era, when bars, restaurants and other watering holes were forced to close or go underground.

Japanese films were shown on Mondays (average attendance 30 people), with Filipino films shown on Tuesdays (average attendance 15-20 people), and X-rated films shown on Wednesdays (average attendance 15 to 20). Thursday and the weekends were reserved for family entertainment (average attendance 50 to 60 people per night).

The 650-seat People’s Theatre is one of the largest buildings in Honokaʻa, and its only operating theater. Built in 1930 by Hatsuzo Tanimoto, its Neo-Classical Revival style architecture is typical of theaters built during the 1920s and ‘30s in Hawaii.

In 1943, William “Doc” Hill bought Hilo Theaters Ltd., with the exception of the People’s Theatre. The rest of these theaters have been either torn down, closed, or repurposed, making the People’s Theatre the only one left between Waimea and Hilo, and the largest outside Hilo.

Today, stage entertainment includes local musical groups, yoga and tai chi, the annual Hāmākua Music Festival, and a fashion show on 1st Fridays (a community street fair held the first Friday of every month).

The Tanimoto family ran the theater until 1990. Today, the theater is owned and run by retired doctor Tawn Keeney and his daughter Phaeton.

The theater lobby sports a café serving healthy breakfasts, sandwiches and sweets along with locally grown, artisanal Hāmākua coffee, and these days new-releases are shown with a modern digital projection system. Wi-Fi equipped, the lobby and café is still a meeting place for the town’s 3,000 residents and visitors to Honokaʻa. (Lots of information here is from NPS and Honokaʻa Historical Project)

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