Economy | Page 6 | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

August 13, 2026 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Ala Moana Center

In ancient times, the area was known as Kālia – an ʻili in the ahupuaʻa of Waikīkī – that runs from the present Halekūlani Hotel to Piʻikoi Street (generally, makai of Kalākaua Avenue.) Pi‘inaio Stream was the dominant feature of this eastern area of Waikīkī.

The ten fishponds at Kālia were loko puʻuone (isolated shore fishponds formed by a barrier sand berm) with salt-water lens intrusion and fresh water entering from upland ʻauwai (canals.)

Kālia was once renowned for the fragrant limu līpoa, as well as several other varieties of seaweed such as manauea, wāwaeʻiole, ʻeleʻele, kala and some kohu.

At the turn of the 20th century, portions of this marshy wetland were determined to be “deleterious to the public health in consequence of being low, and at times covered or partly covered by water, or of being situated between high and low water mark, or of being improperly drained, or incapable by reasonable expenditure of effectual drainage”.

A portion of this was owned by the Kamehameha Schools Bishop Estate who reportedly sold 50-acres of this “unproductive” “swamp land” for $25,000 to Walter F Dillingham in 1912. At the time this was real money and people questioned his decision.

However, shortly thereafter, Dillingham used the site to dispose of excess coral and other fill that was generated from land reclamation projects from Kewalo to Waikīkī (including the dredging of the Ala Wai Canal.)

In 1948, Lowell Dillingham, Walter’s son, announced plans for a new shopping complex on the coral-covered parcel. Nearly 10-years later, construction on Hawaiʻi’s first regional shopping center commenced.

(Lowell is also credited the formation of Dillingham Corporation, a merger of the Oahu Railway & Land Company and the Hawaiian Dredging and Construction Company, in 1961.)

Dillingham’s Don Graham was the force behind the design and development of the center. It proved a success after its opening, and relocated retail away from downtown Honolulu.

On August 13, 1959, over a thousand people gathered near the Sears’ end for the grand opening of Ala Moana Center. They say the first purchase in the center was made by Ben Dillingham and his wife, a tube of Colgate toothpaste at Sears

At the time of its opening, Ala Moana Center had 680,000-square feet of leasable area, with 87 stores on two levels and 4,000 parking spaces; and was considered the largest shopping mall in the world. Original stores included anchors Sears and Shirokiya, plus locally-owned The Slipper House.

The center doubled in size in 1966 to 1,351,000-square feet of leasable area, with 155 stores and 7,800 parking spaces. New stores included anchor tenants JC Penney and Liberty House.

1987 saw the 2-year phase three renovation, relocation of certain tenants and creation of the Makai Market food court (the largest food court in Hawai‘i and one of the largest food courts in the nation.)

Changes continue at Ala Moana, with redevelopment of the former Sears site to accommodate Bloomingdales and other shops – this added another 340,000-SF of retail space and another 1,000-parking stalls. In 2017 Target took the former Nordstrom space.

Other phases of expansion and renovation occurred over the years so that today, with 2.4-million square feet of retail space, Ala Moana Center has over 350 stores, including 160 dining options, nearly 11,000 parking spaces and is the world’s largest open-air mall – with shopping for the basics to the elite brand name.

In March 2026, Saks Global, which filed for bankruptcy, said it was moving forward with its “strategic optimization” plan by closing three more Neiman Marcus outlets, including the Ala Moana anchor tenant. No closing date was announced. Nieman Marcus opened as an anchor tenant as p[art of the Ala Moana expansion in September 1998. (Star Adv)

Oh, about Dillingham’s questioned $25,000 land buy back in 1912 … the City and County of Honolulu 2026 assessed value (for just the land) is $553,880,200..

(Dillingham Corporation was sold to a private investment group in 1983 for $347-million; in 2003, with base facilities relocated to California, Dillingham Corporation filed for bankruptcy.)

August 8, 2026 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

From Job to Job Around the World

In 1907, Alfred Charles Benson Fletcher graduated from the University of California, where he was a leading figure on the campus. He was editor of the Daily Californian, prominent in other affairs, and a member of the Golden Bear and Winged Helmet honor societies and the Psi Upsilon fraternity.

He decided to take a graduate course in the school of hard knocks and see the world on his nerve and native hardihood and made “a three-year trip … around the world, starting from San Francisco with only a five-dollar gold piece and earning [his] way.”

“[His] wanderings took [him] to Hawaii [and multiple other countries and boasted that his travels show] that it is possible to work one’s way around the world and do so with a considerable degree of comfort.”

“‘The loveliest fleet of islands that lie anchored in any ocean,’ were the words in which Mark Twain once described the Hawaiian group, and the time we spent in the ‘Paradise of the Pacific’ proved to be one of the most enjoyable periods of the trip.”

The following is a portion of his account of his experiences in Hawai‘i that he wrote in his book (of the same title as this summary) in 1916; his recollections give some insight into Hawai‘i at that time …

“‘What’s the trouble? Are you seasick or homesick?’ cordially inquired [Ralph J] Richardson, approaching a stranger who was hanging over the side of a ship bound for Honolulu.”

“‘Neither, my friend,’ I replied with a smile.”

“These were the initial sentences of a dialogue which was happily destined to continue for three years.”

He two were “starting out on a similar expedition – a trip around the world.” He and the friend he met onboard the SS Alameda out of San Francisco had “A combined wealth of less than ten dollars and the wide, wide world in front of us!”

“We agreed not to make any definite plans; we mapped out no itinerary, except the general one of around the world; we had no elaborate scheme of travel nor ideas of how we were to make our way, but decided to resign ourselves to chance and bang around, taking whatever came along.”

“My idea was to explore the earth before I was anchored by matrimony, and Richardson wanted to see all of this world before he went to the next. We set out not as tourists–that familiar species of humanity–but as two refined American tramps. …”

“The six days it takes to go to Honolulu from San Francisco were spent as such days are usually spent at sea, talking and reading in the morning, shuffle-board and other games in the afternoon, singing and spooning in the evening–on the whole a civilised trip. On the morning of the seventh day we arrived in the harbour of Honolulu.”

“After being amused by a group of native boys diving for coins thrown by all passengers except ourselves–who felt inclined to strip and join the divers – the ship was soon alongside and in a short time we were mingling with the cosmopolitan inhabitants on the streets of Honolulu.”

“The next day found each of us enrolled on the teaching staff of two different schools. We became school teachers! … Richardson affiliated himself with Mills Institute, a school under the control of the Hawaiian Board of the Congregational Church Missionary organisation.”

“I assumed the duties of teacher of the fourth and fifth grades in Iolani School, a parochial institution connected with Saint Andrew’s Cathedral …”.

“I have been surprised on many occasions at the ignorance displayed by people in the United States, and especially in the East, concerning the Territory of Hawaii.”

“They imagine that the natives are a half-clad race recently descended from cannibals, that Honolulu is a semi-civilised village of Hawaiian huts and that modern conveniences have not yet found their way to the islands.”

“Honolulu is a city of fifty thousand people, of whom a large number are Orientals and but a few thousand are Americans. … Honolulu is one of the most beautiful and up-to-date cities of its size under the American flag.”

“It was in this paradise that Richardson and I began our wanderings. During the recesses we had from our school duties we explored the island of Oahu, upon which Honolulu is situated, and became as familiar with it as the average man is with his own back yard.”

“We learned to ride the surf at Waikiki–the finest bathing beach in all the world. We climbed all the hills in the vicinity of Honolulu. We visited Diamond Head and its fortifications. We took a dip in the Kalihi swimming hole, and we explored the island from one end to the other.”

“Through the kindness of an American friend, we had at our disposal a summer cottage at Kaneohe, about twelve miles from Honolulu on the northern shore of the island. … It was situated on the beach of Kaneohe Bay.”

“At this ideal spot we spent many week-ends and, the whole time, we would go about clad in only a pair of trunks and devote the pleasant hours under the semi-tropical sun to swimming, boating and fishing.”

“Many a time since, I have longed for another few days’ stay at this little resort–to bathe in its sunshine and enjoy its outdoor pleasures undisturbed by the noise and bustle of civilisation. …”

“

We concluded that teaching stipends would never get us around the world. … We therefore decided to give up our schools and to rustle a more remunerative line of labour.”

“Hearing that the United States Navy Department needed inspectors for its operations in connection with the construction of the naval base at Pearl Harbour, about twelve miles from Honolulu, I wandered into the navy headquarters one morning and bluntly addressed the first man I saw.”

They studied for the exam to be inspectors, and passed the examination to obtain positions as sub-inspectors of dredging on the construction of the Pearl Harbour Naval Base.

Waiting for the job openings, they “decided to visit some of the other islands while awaiting developments. We wished to see Kilauea, the only active volcano in the Hawaiian archipelago, on the island of Hawaii, about one hundred and twenty-five miles south of Honolulu.”

“We also wished to see Haleakala, the largest extinct crater in the world on the island of Maui. We sailed on the S.S. Wilhelmina for Hawaii”.

“We landed at Hilo on the island of Hawaii early in the morning, and bought a third-class round-trip ticket for $1.60 to Glenwood, twenty-two miles distant. From Glenwood we walked the remaining nine miles to the Volcano House in two hours and fifteen minutes, rising two thousand feet and beating the stage by twenty minutes.”

“The road was a good thoroughfare through tropical forests of tree ferns, twenty feet in height; of ohia lehua, a tree belonging to the same family as the eucalyptus; koa or Hawaiian mahogany; wild bananas; papaia, water lemons, palms and wild roses.”

“On arriving at the Volcano House we had something to eat and then set out across the lava beds for three miles to Halemaumau–the active pit of the volcano–where we spent the night in a shack perched on its edge.

“It is extremely fascinating to sit on the edge of this pit and watch the incessant dashing and splashing of the glowing lava. It impressed even such homeless tramps as ourselves. …”

“The regular tourist rate from Honolulu to Kilauea is $59.50, which includes round-trip by boat, railroad fare from Hilo to Glenwood, stage charges to the Volcano House and board and room while there. Admitting that we missed a considerable degree of comfort, nevertheless, we saw all that the average tourist sees and at a cash outlay of only $2.10 each.”

They headed to Maui … “Huddled in the steerage of the Mauna Kea (one of the small steamers of the Inter-Island Steam Navigation Company) with a score of Chinese, Japanese and Hawaiians, we left Honolulu for McGregor’s Landing on the island of Maui to see the extinct volcano Haleakala.”

“The trip was a night’s journey and, as no sleeping accommodations are provided in the third-class of Hawaiian steamers, we bunked on the soft side of a coil of rope.”

“The ship arrived at McGregor’s Landing about five o’clock in the morning and we went ashore feeling anything but rested after a most wearisome night. We made a bargain with a Chinese hack driver to carry us to Kahului, eight miles across the island.”

“After breakfast we boarded a little narrow gauge train for Paia, a sugar plantation village a short distance up the coast on the slopes of Haleakala. We purchased a supply of provisions at the plantation store and were soon started on the twenty-mile climb to the top of the mountain.”

“Haleakala is just over ten thousand feet in elevation and the trail to the summit ascends on an average of five hundred feet to the mile. A trip up Haleakala proved to be far from a pleasure jaunt.”

“The first part of our walk from Paia past the huge sugar factory lay through the great cane fields of the Maui Agricultural Company, the second largest plantation in the Hawaiian Islands. The cane was being harvested and the Japanese cutters were as busy as bees all about us.”

“About ten o’clock we reached the four-thousand-foot level. The cane fields began to disappear and our path wound its way among banana farms and taro patches. …. The real climb began after midday.”

“We left fertile fields and were soon following the trail across the middle slopes of the mountain. There were few trees and the sun shone down from a cloudless sky. Our gait was easily under the speed limit, only about two miles an hour. It was a hard stony road over which we had to travel.”

“As we ascended the view began to widen out on every side. We could look back over the cane fields to the Pacific and see the breakers rolling ashore. Above us towered the mountain, the summit now and again lost in a fleecy cloud. We almost forgot the hardships of the climb with such a picture before us.”

“Although the ascent from Paia to the top can be made in a single day, we decided to break the journey about half way, spend the night and start out refreshed for the last stretch. We stopped at Idlewilde and put up in the summer home of a Kahului friend. We made an early start.”

[Apparently build as a rest house by Henry Perrine Baldwin, from 1901 until 1931, Worth Osbun Aiken (bookkeeper at Baldwin’s Haleakalā Ranch) ran a tour guide operation from the property called Idlewilde, located near the top of what is now referred to as Olinda Road. (DLNR)]

“The trail was plainly marked with guide posts, each tenth of a mile. Idlewilde is eight miles by trail from the summit and the ascent from this point is over five thousand feet – seven hundred to the mile. The first three or four miles were comparatively easy, for we were fresh and the footing was good.”

“About the fifth mile the real work began. The trail became steeper and steeper until it seemed straight up. We began to strike loose, volcanic dirt and sand. …._

“The high altitude made frequent stops necessary for breathing spells. Our progress was slow. The last three miles took over three hours. …”

“Suddenly the view of the great crater burst upon us. It is a sight I shall never forget. We had reached the top of the trail and were walking along a low wall of rock towards the mountain house.”

“We came to a break in the rock and in an instant Haleakala appeared before us. … In the morning we saw the greatest of all sunrises – a Haleakala Sunrise.”

After a few months in the Islands, they started to look “for passage to either Australia or the Orient … we decided to take the Asia to Yokohama. … We closed up our affairs in Honolulu, put our money into American Bankers’ Travelers’ checks, ate a few farewell meals, drank a few final toasts and were in readiness to depart.”

“The Royal Hawaiian Band played Aloha Oe, the ship got under way and we began the second leg of our trip with seven hundred dollars each in our pockets.”

He eventually “arrived home broke. [He] had been away three years, had circled the globe and had travelled over sixty thousand miles.” (Alfred CB Fletcher)

August 5, 2026 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Times

Ushi and Kame Teruya emigrated from Okinawa in the early-1900s and settled on the Big Island’s Hāmākua coast where they worked for the sugar plantation before becoming independent sugar growers. The couple had six children – four boys and two girls.

Three brothers, Albert, Herman and Wallace, dreamed of creating a successful business in the ‘land of opportunity’ which Hawai‘i was to thousands of immigrants and their offspring.

In 1929, Albert, seeing no opportunity to improve his bleak life on the plantation, was the first to leave to work in Honolulu. Wallace followed a year later, and the rest of the family moved to Honolulu in 1933.

They lived in the Kapiʻolani district, where the Holiday Mart store is now located. The area was swamp land where many people farmed.

They started out working in restaurants. The Great Depression was on, and one benefit of restaurant work was that it provided room and board plus wages. The brothers worked 14 hours a day, but the enthusiasm of youth fueled by a dream of something better kept them going.

In 1935, the three brothers pooled their savings and bought the lunch counter/soda fountain at a downtown drug store for $600 and named it the T&W Lunchroom.

Three years later, in partnership with their cousin, Kame Uehara, with whom Albert had first lived in Honolulu, they opened ‘Times Grill’ at 635 Kapiʻolani Boulevard, offering 24-hour service.

The name ‘Times’ expresses a progressive attitude: “Keeping up with the times.” In addition, Times was easily pronounced by non-English speaking immigrants and it fit easily on a small sign.

Herman’s interest was in grocery stores; while a student at McKinley High School, from which he graduated in 1938, he would rush home after school and gather up vegetables and eggs his parents had raised. Herman’s dream was to open his own store, and he wanted Albert and Wallace to be his partners.

Two years later, Pearl Harbor was attacked. Herman and Wallace volunteered to serve in the US Army. They served with the most decorated infantry regiment of World War II – the 442d Regimental Combat Team.

Sgt. Herman Teruya, while charging up an Italian hill occupied by crack German soldiers made the supreme sacrifice (he died 3-months before his 25th birthday.) After the war, Wallace returned to Honolulu to resume his activities that began before the war.

In 1947, recognizing restaurant business is long hours, even after-hours, with bars and drinking involved, and after considering opening a variety store, Albert and Wallace thought there was more opportunity in the grocery business. So they sold Times Grill to a former employer at the Kewalo Inn, who had just returned from a California internment camp.

Albert conceded that Herman’s dream of opening a market played a part in their decision to open a market instead of a variety store. They began methodically learning the grocery business.

They got involved in different aspects of the business, working for suppliers, working for another supermarket, learning all the aspects of the grocery business so when they opened their own business, they had a broad perspective of all the different departments.

Wallace worked in Amfac’s grocery warehouse and at Tom, Dick and Harry’s market on Kapahulu. Albert worked at Sears, where he learned how a big company operates and about customer service.

On April 29, 1949, with the help of friends and family who helped stock shelves, they opened the first Times Supermarket, the McCully store at 1772 South King Street. That first store was small by today’s standards, but it was modern, well-stocked and air-conditioned.

When the family went on vacations to the Mainland, part of the itinerary was always checking out supermarkets. They would stop at every market they saw and pulled into the parking lot and see if there were any new ideas they could use in Hawai‘i.

In 1956, they opened their second store, in Wai‘alae-Kahala, which they dedicated to Herman. They put up a plaque to show they appreciated the ideas and dreams he had shared with them: “Dedicated in Memory of Herman T Teruya, Sergeant, USA, 1919-1944.”

Times has grown to include 24-supermarket locations which includes 17-Times locations, 5-Big Save Markets, a small-format supermarket on the East Side of Oahu (Shima’s Supermarket,) a fine wine + specialty foods shop (Fujioka’s Wine Times) and 12-pharmacy locations.

In 2002, Times was sold to California-based PAQ Inc, which owns and operates a chain of supermarkets in Central California and Hawai‘i. In 2017, PAQ Inc sold its Hawaii-based operations – which included 17 Times Supermarket locations, 5 Big Save Markets, Shima’s Supermarket, and Fujioka’s Wine Times – to the Tokyo-based Don Quijote Group. (Lots of information here is from Times, Chapman, Congressional Record and 100th Battalion.)

Times-first store-King & McCully-1949-(times)

July 29, 2026 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

ʻŌhiʻa

There is a disturbance in the forest.

The native Hawaiian ʻōhiʻa (Metrosideros polymorpha) is the most abundant tree in the Hawaiian Islands, comprising about 62 percent of the total forest area.

The name Metrosideros is derived from Greek metra, heartwood, and sideron, iron, in reference to the hard wood of the genus. Known as ‘Ōhi‘a Lehua, the species is found on all major islands and in a variety of habitats. (Friday and Herbert)

‘Ōhi‘a lehua is typically the dominant tree where it grows. Although the species is little used commercially, it is invaluable from the standpoint of watershed protection, esthetics, and as the only or major habitat for several species of forest birds, some of which are currently listed as threatened or endangered.

ʻŌhiʻa is a slow-growing, endemic evergreen species capable of reaching 75- to 90-feet in height and about 3-feet in diameter. It is highly variable in form, however, and on exposed ridges, shallow soils, or poorly drained sites it may grow as a small erect or prostrate shrub.

Its trunk may range in form from straight to twisted and crooked. Because the species can germinate on the trunks of tree ferns and put out numerous roots that reach the ground, it may also have a lower trunk consisting of compact, stilt-like roots.

The hard, dark reddish wood of ʻōhiʻa lehua was used in house and canoe construction and in making images (ki‘i), poi boards, weapons, tool handles, kapa beaters (especially the rounded hohoa beater), and as superior quality firewood.

ʻŌhiʻa lehua, though of a very nice color, cracks or ‘checks’ too easily to be useful for calabash making. The foliage served religious purposes and young leaf buds were used medicinally. The flowers and leaf buds (liko lehua) were used in making lei.

To Hawaiians of old, the gods were everywhere, not only as intangible presences but also in their myriad transformation forms (kinolau) and in sacred images (ki‘i). Most of the large images were carved from wood of the ʻōhiʻa lehua, an endemic species that is regarded as a kinolau of the gods Kane and Kū.

The materials used in large part depended on the resources available nearby and whether a hale was for aliʻi or makaʻāinana, but in either case, hardwoods were selected for the ridgepoles, posts, rafters, and thatching poles. Hardwoods grew abundantly in Hawaiian forests, in terms of both number of species and the count of hardwoods as a whole.

ʻŌhiʻa lehua grew on all the major islands and was widely used in housebuilding. Canoe decking, spreaders, and seats were commonly made of ʻōhiʻa lehua, as well as for the gunwales.

ʻŌhiʻa lehua was one of the five primary plants represented at the hula altar (ʻōhiʻa lehua, halapepe, ‘ie‘ie, maile and palapalai.) The hālau hula, a structure consecrated to the goddess Laka, was reserved for use by dancers and trainees and held a vital place in the life of an ahupua‘a.

Inside a hālau hula was an altar (kuahu), on which lay a block of wood of the endemic lama, a tree whose name translates as “light” or “lamp” and carried the figurative meaning of “enlightenment.” Swathed in yellow kapa and scented with ‘olena, this piece of wood represented Laka, goddess of hula, sister and wife of Lono.

A number of other deities were also represented on the altar by plants: ʻōhiʻa lehua for the god Kukaʻōhiʻa Laka (named for a legendary ʻōhiʻa lehua tree that had a red flower on an eastern branch and a white one on a western branch) …

… halapepe (Pleomele aurea) for the goddess Kapo; ‘ie‘ie for the demigoddess Lauka‘ie‘ie; maile representirig the four Maile sisters, legendary sponsors of hula; and palapalai fern, symbolic of Hi‘iaka, sister of the volcano goddess Pele and the benefactor of all hula dancers.

Native Hawaiians consider the tree and its forests as sacred to Pele, the volcano goddess, and to Laka, the goddess of hula. ʻŌhiʻa lehua blossoms, buds and leaves were important elements in lei of both wili and haku types.

ʻŌhiʻa is the first tree species to establish on most new lava flows. As the entire portion of eastern Hawaii Island is a volcanic area, lava flows occasionally cover areas of forested land. Thus, while some forests are covered with lava, other forested areas serve as ‘seed banks’ and help to bring growth back life to the lava-impacted area.

There is a disturbance in the forest. Rapid ʻŌhiʻa Death is posing the greatest threat to Hawai‘i’s native forests. A newly identified disease has killed large numbers of mature ʻōhiʻa trees in forests and residential areas of the Puna, Hilo and Kona Districts of Hawaiʻi Island.

In 2012, Robert Hauff and other researchers noticed something unusual about the ohia trees they were studying in Puna. The canopy of the trees seemed to be dying back at an alarming rate. Residents had also been reporting similar observations in the area.

It would be several more years until scientists were able to identify and put a name to the cause: rapid ohia death, a disease caused by a type of fungus that infects the trees via open wounds. It inhibits the trees’ ability to circulate water, leading to their death over the course of just months.

Now, over a decade later, Hauff, who is the state protection forester with the Department of Land and Natural Resources, said efforts are ongoing to better understand and address rapid ohia death. While it has also been detected in different forms on other islands, it is most prevalent on the Big Island, where it is estimated to have killed over 1 million ohia trees and counting. (Star Advertiser)

Pathogenicity tests conducted by the USDA Agriculture Research Service have determined that the causal agent of the disease is the vascular wilt fungus; although a different strain, this fungus has been in Hawaiʻi as a pathogen of sweet potato for decades.

It is not yet known whether this widespread occurrence of ʻōhiʻa mortality results from an introduction of an exotic strain of the fungus or whether this constitutes a new host of an existing strain. This disease has the potential to kill ʻōhiʻa trees statewide.

The disease affects non-contiguous forest stands ranging from 1 to 100 acres. As of 2014, approximately 6,000 acres from Kalapana to Hilo on Hawaiʻi Island had been affected with stand showing greater than 50% mortality. The disease has not yet been reported on any of the other Hawaiian Islands.

Crowns of affected trees turn yellowish and subsequently brown within days to weeks; dead leaves typically remain on branches for some time. On occasion, leaves of single branches or limbs of trees turn brown before the rest of the crown of becomes brown.

Recent investigation indicates that the pathogen progresses up the stem of the tree. Trees within a given stand appear to die in a haphazard pattern; the disease does not appear to radiate out from already infected or dead trees. Within two to three years nearly 100% of trees in a stand succumb to the disease.

The fungus manifests itself as dark, nearly black, staining in the sapwood along the outer margin of trunks of affected trees. The stain is often radially distributed through the wood.

To reduce the spread, people should not transport parts of affected ʻōhiʻa trees to other areas. The pathogen may remain viable for over a year in dead wood.

UH scientists are working to protect and preserve this keystone tree in Hawaiʻi’s native forest. Through the Rapid ʻŌhiʻa Death Seed Banking Initiative, the Hawaii Island Seed Bank and other members of the Hawaiʻi Seed Bank Partnership are working to collect and preserve ʻōhiʻa seeds from all islands during the ROD crisis and store them for future forest restoration.

This project, called ʻŌhiʻa Love, was initiated by the Lyon Arboretum Seed Lab and funded by the Hawaii Tourism Authority. The Lyon Arboretum Seed Lab has been saving ʻōhiʻa seed for over 20 years, with seeds that germinated at 18 years without losing viability.

Each island is working to collect seed from their ʻōhiʻa trees to save this precious resource for the future. (Lots of information here is from Abbott, CTAHR. And Hawai‘i Seed Bank.)

July 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)

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