General | Page 10 | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

June 25, 2025 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

New Month

“The busiest time of the month for the [plantation] stores was ‘new month’ time.” (Stores and Storekeepers of Paia & Puunene, Maui, UH Manoa, Ethnic Studies Program)

“[Y]ou get the goods ahead of the following month. You pay one month later.” (Kenichi Itakura, Store and Storekeepers Oral History)

“Generally starting between the twentieth and twenty-sixth of each month (exact dates varied with each store), a customer was allowed to charge goods from that date and was not required to pay for his purchase until the payday after next.”

“If, for example, new month began on June 25, and a customer charged something on June 24, he would have to pay for that purchase on the next payday – July 1.”

“However, if he waited until June 25 to charge that purchase, his payment was not due until August 1. Because of this advantage, customers generally waited for new month to begin and bought items such as rice and feed in large quantities.”

“The store became busier than usual during this time, and order takers and delivery boys needed extra help from other store employees.” (Stores and Storekeepers of Paia & Puunene, Maui, UH Manoa, Ethnic Studies Program)

[An average family of, say, four people. How much goods would they buy in new month time?] “Oh, well, those years, you know, money value was low. They used to buy, let’s say, thirty, forty dollars. Thirty, forty dollars, you know how much grocery you have? One month supply, almost.”

“In the meantime, maybe, they run short of certain things, and then they’ll buy little by little. You go over that, you have to pay anyway. So, sometimes, they – you know, come balance for so many months.” (Kenichi Itakura, Store and Storekeepers Oral History)

“[I worked for] For MA Company [Maui Agricultural Company] … they had boys that go out and take orders. Oh, they had – I think I would say – good, about four of them. Some Japanese, and some other boys.”

“We went into the camps … around the twentieth of each month. We went to this individual names, and they gave us what they called a ‘new month order.’ And [for] that merchandise, we brought those bills in.” (John Perreira, Store and Storekeepers Oral History)

“One guy takes orders. That’s all he does – take orders. New month time. After [new month time is over], he works inside. Put up orders. You know, whatever job it is. In addition to that, with some of the truck drivers and the boys that put up the orders, they had to unload the freight.”

“Freight all came from Kahului inside box cars. These cars were, oh gosh, they were good size. Locomotive go right into the building. No way of [the merchandise] getting wet. And they unload all that merchandise and stack ‘em. We carried quite a number of merchandise.” (John Perreira, Store and Storekeepers Oral History)

“They start, maybe, around the twentieth of the month. That, they don’t bill you till the following month, see? So, they [the stores] get new month order. That’s when everybody buy because they don’t have to pay (until the following) payday.”

“You had big order. Yeah, big order. Maybe two trip you have to make. Of course, if you have ten bag rice on your pickup truck, that’ s all you can put. Ten bag plus the groceries, see? So, you have to come back and make another trip.”

“And Filipinos used to eat plenty of rice, so new month, that’s when you sell your biggest quantity of rice. (Masakazu Shimoda, Store and Storekeepers Oral History)

“Twentieth, then you don’t pay that payday, but the following payday. So, they all wait. (Chuckles) Nowadays, they don’t have that system. More cash and carry. But those days, new month, they all wait. Even the wholesaler used to do that. Same way. So, I used to help deliver.”

“When he goes to take order, well, [for example], he go to your house. ‘Nishimoto’ he put down on the bill – house number, what camp. And then, he start taking the order. On the bill, you have ‘Alabama Camp, house thirteen’. You go deliver over there.” (Masakazu Shimoda, Store and Storekeepers Oral History)

“[For sales/deliveries other than New Month days,] we still have that – the sales is not big like that once a month [i.e., new month] one. That, gradually, they going buy everyday things or some other stuff. So, they just go and take order every day.”

“They go, maybe, this camp today. They alternate. Next, maybe, two day, they go different camp. So, maybe, they might have about four guys go out, take order. So, every day, it’s a different camp. They bringing order in, but. They make [i.e., gather] their own order, but I have to be ready with that big stuff.”

“Oranges, like that, come out from that crate, eh? Because plenty. Some of them rotten. (KI lowers voice.) They say, “Well, get ’em all, wash ’em all, and put in the counters,” see? They used to fill up from there. We had to take care all that.”

“You know, potatoes come from Mainland – from Oregon or someplace. California side, too. Some used to get that eyes sticking out already. They would get too old, eh? We used to take off that, and then you can pile ’em up, put in the box, and put with the [other] potatoes.”

“The guy who take order. When they make [i.e., gather] their own order, see? So, lot of job.” (Kenichi Itakura, Store and Storekeepers Oral History)

“Because after new month, [they] only [go out] every day, little by little. New month is 50 percent of their sales already. The rest of the days is just going out [and making] contact, [getting for the customers] few things what they missed [during] new month.

That old style. New month is a big thing.”

“I think, every store had the big sale. All the Japanese stores was doing the same system. New month sale. One would give twenty, next give twenty. If he give nineteen, then we come down nineteen, too [i.e., extending new month privileges beginning on the nineteenth of the month instead of the twentieth].”

“Of course, your big customer, maybe he used to buy fifty dollars worth. He say, ‘Give me new month.’ Naturally, you got to give new month, one day early but. (Masakazu Shimoda, Store and Storekeepers Oral History)

“[I]f it’s your good customer – the one that buy big one. You don’t want to lose him, so you going to give. If not, he goes to a competitor, and he tell ’em, ‘Hey, give me new month.’”

“Sundays, don’t deliver. But when it came to new month, … he get so much order, we have to make the order [i.e., gather the merchandise] in the evening so he can start delivering early in the morning. If not, he cannot take order next day. Only delivery, yeah? Oh, he used to bring the big order in. New month. You take, maybe, get twenty Filipinos ordering twenty bag rice, that’s two trip already.” (Masakazu Shimoda, Store and Storekeepers Oral History)

“[New month could be] One, two days ahead. Especially your good customers. Yeah. [the plantation get mad if you did that.] You not supposed to. But then, the customers don’t say, too. … you have to give, on the sly.” (Masakazu Shimoda, Store and Storekeepers Oral History)

In 1980, the UH Manoa Ethnic Studies program conducted a number of oral histories from people who grew up and worked in the Paia-Pu‘unene area of Maui. Those histories and the information concluded from them provide insight into the plantation store system. All here is from that project report.

June 24, 2025 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Kauai’s South Shore

“The history of Koloa is in many ways Hawai‘i’s history in microcosm.” (Wilcox) The focus of interest is the region‘s history and the role this area played in helping to shape Hawaiʻi‘s socio-economic past, present and future.

The South Shore of the island of Kauai has many scenic, natural and recreational qualities that travelers may experience and enjoy. Along the coastal area of Poʻipu there are popular beaches for swimming, surfing, snorkeling, scuba or sunset watching.

You enter the historic Old Koloa Town and Poʻipu Beach, Kauai’s premier resort destination, through a tree-formed tunnel. The native Hawaiian history, archaeology and culture can be seen throughout the area and are the foundation of the historic events that followed.

Scattered throughout the area are remnants of pre-contact ancient Hawaiʻi life in the forms of heiau (Hawaiian temples) the Koloa Field System (agricultural) and culturally-significant natural geologic features in the forms of peaks, hills, streams, caves, bays and coastal features.

The native Hawaiians along the Koloa shore were the first to see the white man in Hawaiʻi. It was in 1778, along Kauai’s South Shore, that Captain James Cook first traveled, landed and made “contact”, introducing Hawaiʻi to the rest of the world. His arrival was the beginning of multiple changes in Hawai‘i’s socio-economic framework.

Koloa Landing at Hanakaʻape Bay (the Kingdom’s first Royal Port of Entry) became the favored and major port of call on the island – because of the ability to maneuver in and out of the anchorage – whatever the wind direction, and the region had ample water and food crops to provision the ships. This led to a series of economic activities that shaped the history of the islands.

One of the first exports from Hawaiʻi was sandalwood trees that grew throughout the islands; exported primarily to China. Sandalwood was a desirable cash crop in Hawaiʻi because it could be harvested year round and did not have to be irrigated or cultivated.

Starting in 1790, trade in Hawaiian sandalwood became an important export item. As trade and shipping brought Hawaiʻi into contact with a wider world, it also enabled the acquisition of Western goods, including arms and ammunition, by the Hawaiian leaders.

However, by 1830, the trade in sandalwood had completely collapsed for two reasons: Hawaiian forests were exhausted and sandalwood from other areas drove down the price in China which made the Hawaiian trade unprofitable.

On October 23, 1819, the first group of missionaries from the northeastern United States set sail on the Thaddeus for the Sandwich Islands (now known as Hawai‘i.) There were seven couples sent by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions to convert the Hawaiians to Christianity.

With them were four Hawaiian youths who had been students at the Foreign Mission School, including Prince Humehume (son of Kauai’s King Kaumuali‘i.) In modern times, three churches on Poʻipu Road all trace their roots to the same Christian denomination – Congregational.

Hawai‘i’s whaling era began in 1819 and replaced the sandalwood trade. At that time, whale oil was used for heating, lamps and in industrial machinery; whale bone was used in corsets, skirt hoops, umbrellas and buggy whips.

Whalers, seeking water and food supplies, called at Koloa Landing, the Island’s foremost port. Koloa was a center for agriculture and, as such, became the center of activity for Kauai. The whaling industry was the mainstay of the islands’ economy for about 40 years.

Sugar gradually replaced sandalwood and whaling in the mid-19th century and became the principal industry in the islands. The early Polynesian settlers to Hawaiʻi brought sugar cane with them and demonstrated that it could be grown successfully.

In 1835, the first commercially-viable sugar plantation was started in Hawaiʻi at Koloa. Other plantations soon followed. Sugar was the dominant economic force in Hawaiʻi for over a century. Several sites found in this area highlight the historic past of the sugar economy.

Koloa Plantation was the birthplace of the Hawaiian sugar industry. By 1883, more than 50 plantations were producing sugar on five islands.

However, during this growth, a shortage of laborers to work in the growing sugar plantations became a challenge; the only answer was imported labor. It is not likely anyone then foresaw the impact this would have on the cultural and social structure of the islands.

Starting in the 1850s, when the Hawaiian Legislature passed “An Act for the Governance of Masters and Servants,” labor shortages were eased by bringing in contract workers from Asia, Europe and North America.

There were three big waves of workforce immigration: Chinese (1850,) 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.)

Sugar changed the social fabric of Hawai‘i. Of the nearly 385,000 workers that came, many thousands stayed to become a part of Hawai‘i’s unique ethnic mix. Hawai‘i continues to be one of the most culturally-diverse and racially-integrated places on the planet.

Old Koloa Town grew up around the Plantation industry. Plantation workers not only labored, lived and shopped on the plantation, they also received medical care. Koloa’s buildings housed plantation stores, services and churches for these people, including Kauai’s first hotel.

When Hawaiʻi became a US territory, at the turn of the century, it drew adventuresome cruise ship travelers in a tourism boom. Hotels blossomed.

1959 brought two significant actions that shaped the present day economic make-up of Hawai‘i, Statehood and jet-liner service between the mainland United States and Honolulu. These two events helped guide and expand the fledgling visitor industry.

Tourism is the activity most responsible for Hawaiʻi’s recent economic status and standard of living. Koloa-Poʻipu hosts an organized, supportive Poʻipu Beach Resort Association that organizes and promotes destination marketing and promotion of visitor accommodations/activities on behalf of its membership.

Poʻipu Beach coastal roads have visitor accommodations including hotels, condominium and vacation rental homes. The Visitor Industry remains the primary economic influence in the islands.

We prepared a corridor management plan for the Holo Holo Koloa Scenic Byway. We were honored and proud when the Plan received the Community-Based Planning Award from the American Planning Association‐Hawaiʻi Chapter and a Historic Preservation Commendation from Historic Hawaiʻi Foundation.

Click to access Kauai-South_Shore_Background_Summary.pdf

South_Shore-Aerial Image – Ed Gross

Aerial view of Lawai Beach, Kauai-(HSA)-PPWD-10-6-007-1929

South_Shore_Kauai,_William_Ellis,_ca__1778

Hanakaape_Bay-Koloa_Landing-Ships-1898

Lawai_Beach-1935

Spouting_Horn-Puhi

Mahaulepu

KoloaLanding

Kaneiolouma-aerial

Wakauwahi_Cave

Maka’uwahi_Cave-(Sacred_Caves)

Old Koloa Town

NTBG

Koloa-Sugar-Monument

Koloa_Mill-DMY-1880-1890

Koloa_Plantation_Camp-StateArchives

June 19, 2025 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Slavery

Slavery is a terrible thing …

“Slavery has existed for millennia in varying forms in all parts of the world. Affecting all races, gender and age groups.”

“The oldest known slave society was the Mesopotamian and Sumerian civilisations located in the Iran/Iraq region between 6000-2000BCE.”

“Egypt was also another civilisation whose economy also depended on slavery.” (History Press, UK) “There were no slave markets and any transaction of buying or selling slaves had to be overseen by government officials.”

“There is also the famous biblical narrative of the Exodus whereby the Israelites were led to freedom by Moses with archaeologists theorising that this may have happened in the New Kingdom period (1550-712 BC).” (History Press, UK)

On the Americas continent, “The Maya [c. 250 – c. 1697 CE] and Aztec [1300 to 1521] took captives to use as sacrificial victims.” (Resendez)

Slavery existed in North America long before the first Africans arrived at Jamestown in 1619. (Harvard University Press) “Slavery was practiced by the Native Americans before any Europeans arrived in the region.”

“People of one tribe could be taken by another for a variety of reasons but, whatever the reason, it was understood that the enslaved had done something – staked himself in a gamble and lost or allowed himself to be captured – to warrant such treatment.” (Mark)

“Native American tribes were incredibly diverse, each with their own culture, and far from the cohesive, unified civilization they are often represented as under the umbrella term ‘Native American’ or ‘American Indian’.”

“Each tribe understood itself as inherently superior to others and although they would form alliances for short periods in a common cause, or for longer periods as confederacies, they frequently warred with each other for goods, in the name of tribal honor, and for captives, among other reasons.”

“Men, women, and children taken captive were then enslaved by the victorious tribe, sometimes for life”. (Mark) “Indigenous slavery long predated the arrival of Europeans in the Americas. … In the 15^th century, Portugal became the first European nation to take significant part in African slave trading.” (College of Charleston)

“By the 1480s, Portuguese ships were already transporting Africans for use as slaves on the sugar plantations in the Cape Verde and Madeira islands in the eastern Atlantic.” (Britannica)

“By the 16^th century, the Portuguese dominated the early trans-Atlantic slave trade on the African coast. … When English, Dutch or French privateers captured Portuguese ships during Atlantic maritime conflicts, they often found enslaved Africans on these ships, as well as Atlantic trade goods, and they sent these captives to work in their own colonies.” (LDHI, College of Charleston)

“There was a class of people in the Hawaiian Islands who were called kauwā, slaves. … The people who were really and in fact kauwā were those who were born to that condition and whose ancestors were such before them.” (Handy, Handy & Pukui)

“[T]he Paramount Chief (Ali’i Nui) fulfilled the role of father to this people … At the other extreme of the social order were the despised kauwā, who were outcasts …”

“… compelled to live in a barren locality apart from the tribesmen or people “belonging to the land” (ma-ka-‘aina-na), and whose only function and destiny was to serve as human sacrifices to the Ali’i’s war god Ku when a Luakini or war temple was dedicated in anticipation of a season of fighting.” (Handy & Pukui)

“When in need of a victim for human sacrifice at the war temple a priest would go to the boundary of the kauwā reservation and summon a victim. The man summoned could not refuse.” (Handy, Handy & Pukui)

Kepelino gives a description of kauwā under the title ‘The Slave Class,’ as follows: “The slaves or kauwā were people set apart from the rest and treated like filthy beasts. They could not associate with other men. They were called ‘corpses,’ that is, foul-smelling things.”

“They were not allowed to marry outside their own class. If they were married and bore children to one not a slave, then all those children would have their necks wrung lest disgrace come to the family and the blot be handed down to their descendants.”

“The slaves were considered an evil here in Hawaii. They increased rapidly, – a thousand or more there were. They continued to give birth from the time of their ancestors until the present time, they could not become extinct.”

“The slaves were so tabu that they could not bare their heads but must cover themselves with a wide piece of tapa with great humility and never look up.”

“They were so tabu that they were not permitted to enter the house-lot of other men. If they wished for anything they came outside the enclosure and spoke. But to the place of their Chief who was their master they were at liberty to go.”

“There were slave lands in every district of the islands, as, for example, Ka-lae-mamo in Kona on Hawaii, Makeanehu in Kohala, and so forth.” (Kepelino)

“When the ancient system of kapu was abandoned in Liholiho’s reign, the humiliation of the kauwā ended, and they merged with the maka‘ainana gradually over the years.” (Handy, Handy & Pukui)

June 15, 2025 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Happy Father’s Day!

June 10, 2025 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Kamehameha Statue is Centennial Commemoration Honoring Captain Cook

The Kamehameha statue standing at Kapa‘au and in front of Ali‘ilolani Hale (now home of the Hawai‘i Supreme court and, effectively, the other duplicates) is a “commemorative of the centennial of the discovery of this Archipelago by Cook”. (PCA, May 19, 1882)

“In 1878 the Kingdom of Hawaii, with King Kalakaua at its head, honored Captain Cook at the centenary celebration of discovery. The permanent memorial established in Honolulu at that time was the splendid statue of Kamehameha the Great which stands upon a high pedestal in front of the Judiciary Building.” (Taylor)

“A great many plans have been proposed and suggestions made whereby the memory of the great navigator might be suitably recognized and perpetuated by our residents.”

“On the eve of the day celebrated the glee troupes of Lahaina, who can boast of a preeminence in the sweet chorus singing peculiar to Hawaiians, with some commemorative of the coming of Captain Cook”. (PCA, Jan 26, 1878)

“January 18, 1878, was the anniversary of the landing of Captain Cook on these Islands – one hundred years ago. The event was commemorated by our people with becoming reverence.”

“The Hawaiian citizens, assisted by the English speaking residents, made such preparations for the event as they could, in order to testify their appreciation of a century of time in the history of the Hawaiian group with all its mutations, whether for good or otherwise in the history of the race.” (Hawaiian Gazette, Jan 23, 1878)

“When this great navigator was prosecuting his researches throughout partially explored oceans, it was the appreciated by several enlightened nations that his enterprise was in behalf of humanity …”

“… and though these nations were then at war with each other their Governments issued commands to their officers by land and sea that the navigator Cook should be permitted to voyage in peace, and if needed be even helped on his way …”

“… and thus America, my country, and also France took part by their protection of the English Captain Cook, in discovery of these Islands”. (Gibson address at the Celebration of the Centennial of Discovery, PCA Feb 2, 1878)

“The centennial of the discovery of the Sandwich Islands by Captain Cook in 1778 is to be commemorated with a bronze statue, heroic size, of Kamehameha, the conqueror and organizer of the Islands.”

“The Legislative Assembly of the Sandwich Islands at Honolulu, composed largely of descendants of Kamehameha’s warriors, many grandsons of tattooed chiefs who carried on savage warfare at the close of the last century, voted unanimously in August last the sum of ten thousand dollars for a work of art to commemorate their country’s hero and their centennial era.” (PCA, Nov 9, 1878)

“The Legislative Assembly, during the Session of 1878, appointed a Special Committee [Gibson, Kapena, Kaai, Cleghorn, and Nawahi] to take charge of the design and execution of a monument to commemorate the centennial of the discovery of the Archipelago [and] a statue of Kamehameha I, the founder of the Kingdom, was chosen as the proper subject for a commemorative centennial monument.”. (Report of Committee, PCA, May 22, 1880)

“Selecting Kamehameha as the subject for a national monument was influenced by international recognition of the Conqueror’s heroism and character. Captains James Cook and George Vancouver published praiseworthy descriptions of Kamehameha in the late eighteenth century; invariably, they described him as dignified, astute, graceful, and physically powerful.” (Kamehiro)

In 1878, the Legislature passed and King Kalakaua approved (Aug 5, 1878) an appropriation of $10,000 for “Centennial Monument” to commemorate the centennial of the arrival of Captain James Cook. (Laws of His Majesty Kalakaua, King of the Hawaiian Islands, Passed by the Legislative Assembly, at its Session, 1878)

In addition, King Kalakaua visited the Captain Cook Monument at Ka‘awaloa in 1878 during the Kingdom of Hawai‘i’s centenary celebration of western discovery. (Research Institute of Hawai‘i)

“The U.S. Centennial Exposition of 1876 in Philadelphia prompted Walter Murray Gibson to organize similar observances for Hawaii.” (Kamehiro)

“The great centennial of America and its celebration are fresh in our memories. By commemorating notable periods, nations renew as they review their national life. And they mark the commemoration with some monument or memorial.”

“Usually it was a temple or a statue, or a medal. In modern times, eras are marked by exhibitions of material progress, as well as works of art.”

“We have neglected our opportunity for an exhibition of our material progress, but we can mark the close of our epoch by some work of art.” (Speech of Hon. W. M. Gibson before the Hawaiian Legislature, 1878)

“During the legislative session of 1878, Gibson, then a freshman representative for Lahaina (Maui), proposed a centennial day of observance of British explorer Captain James Cook’s arrival in the Islands in 1778 and a monument to be erected for the occasion.”

“He suggested that the monument should memorialize Kamehameha I, the ali‘i nui whose legendary skills in leadership permitted “the introduction of this archipelago to the knowledge of the civilized world”:

“[Kamehameha] was among the first to greet the discoverer Cook on board his ship in 1778 . . . and this Hawaiian chief ’s great mind, though a mere youth then, well appreciated the mighty changes that must follow after the arrival of the white strangers.”

“He met destiny with the mind of a philosopher and a patriot, and Kamehameha, the barbarian conqueror, welcomed the new era with the spirit of an enlightened statesman; he made the white men his friends.” (Gibson before the Hawaiian Legislature, 1878)

“The bronze monument honoring Kamehameha I, also known as “the Conqueror”, is perhaps the most widely recognized and frequently photographed public artwork in Hawai‘i.”

“Larger than life size and poised on a ten-foot pedestal, the portrait depicts Kamehameha arrayed in golden garments, supporting a tall, barbed spear in his left hand, and beckoning to his people with his outstretched right arm.” (Kamehiro)

In addition, four reliefs and accompanying interpretive brass markers noting periods in Kamehameha’s life are on the pedestal and surrounding ring around the statue, noting, Display of Courage-Kamehameha as a boy; Law of the Splintered Paddle; Ka ‘Au Wa‘a Peleleu- Kamehameha surveying his armada; and Aboard the Resolution-Kamehameha meeting with Captain Cook.

“Since its unveiling in 1883, travel writing and popular publications have often featured this sculpture; it is a favorite among postcard images, and replicas have been viewed by international audiences at world fairs and in the Statuary Hall of the United States Capitol subsequent to its dedication in 1969.” (Kamehiro)