Images of Old Hawaiʻi

by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Kīkā Kila

There are three conflicting claims attributing the invention of the steel guitar to three different people: James Hoa, Gabriel Davion and Joseph Kekuku. Of this trio, Kekuku has been the most commonly mentioned as inventor of the steel guitar – and the evidence is impressive. (Kanahele)

Likewise, there are three stories as to how Kekuku started the steel guitar phenomenon: (1) walking along a road, a rusty bolt accidentally vibrated one of the strings, (2) rather than a road, he was walking along the railroad tracks, he picked up a bolt and slid it across the strings and (3) he was playing his hair comb wrapped in tissue paper like a harmonica, with his guitar in his lap, he dropped the comb on the strings causing them to vibrate.

The latter was on the Kamehameha Schools website, where he was student at the time … come to your own conclusion – most credit Kekuku as being the originator.

Kekuku was then inspired to substitute the back of his knife for his comb. Later, in the school shop, Kekuku developed the smooth, steel playing bar used today, and raised the guitar frets so that the bar would glide easily across the strings. He also switched from gut to wire strings for more sustained notes, and designed individual finger picks for the opposing hand. (Hawaiian Music Museum)

Joseph Kekukuʻupena-kanaʻiaupunio Kamehameha Āpuakēhau (Keeper of the nets that surround the kingdom of Kamehameha) (Joseph Kekuku) is credited for inventing the Kīkā Kila, the steel guitar.

In 1993, Joseph Kekuku was inducted into the Steel Guitar Hall of Fame with full honors as the inventor of the Hawaiian steel guitar. In 1995, he was inducted into the Hawaiian Music Hall of Fame.

Kekuku was born (in 1874 or 1875) in Lāʻie at Koʻolauloa on the windward side of Oʻahu, one of a large family of Joseph Kekukupena Āpuakēhau and Miliama Kaopua. At 15, he and his cousin, Sam Nainoa, left for boarding school at Kamehameha Schools in Kalihi.

In 1889, while attending the Kamehameha School for Boys, Kekuku accidentally discovered the sound of the steel guitar. He then performed in school concerts.

That sound has been described as, “”The most beautiful and soothing of all music is brought to us from the South Seas islands of the Pacific and to many the instrumental and vocal music of Hawaiians is by far the sweetest.” (Dover Historical Society)

Kamehameha notes Kekuku was in the class of 1894; in 1904, the left for the American continent performing in vaudeville theaters from coast to coast. His group was ‘Kekuku’s Hawaiian Quintet’ and were sponsored by a management group called ‘The Affiliated.’

In 1909, Seattle was the host city of a world’s fair – the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition (A-Y-P.) The A-Y-P Exposition featured Joseph Kekuku who apparently intrigued enough fair attendees that he was swamped with requests to give lessons and as a result Kekuku reportedly stuck around town for a while to provide locals with steeling lessons.

In time, Kekuku relocated to Los Angeles where he helped the Hawaiian craze expand, performing and taking on students, one of whom – Myrtle Stumpf – went on to produce the first-ever tutorial course, a 68-page classic booklet titled: the Original Hawaiian Method for Steel Guitar. (Blecha)

The Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco in 1915 provided another showcase and fueled the Hawaiian Music craze across the country. The Hawaiian Pavilion was built; there were Hawaiian shows several times a day.

Joseph Kekuku was a guest artist. The impact of this expo was phenomenal. It was followed by an instant boom in Hawaiian recordings (which outsold all other pop music recordings), Hollywood movies with Hawaiian themes, formation of new Hawaiian musical groups, and demand for instruction on steel guitar. (Bocchino)

“Mr Kekuku has appeared in the one hundred and twenty-five largest cities of America. Over one million people have heard him play. It is not uncommon for Mr Kekuku to play five encore numbers for each regular selection presented. His audiences seem never to tire of the beautiful music.” (Promotional Brochure)

“Kekuku’s Hawaiian Quintet, bringing with them a breath of the Paradise Isles will be the main feature of the closing day (at Chautauqua, Lompoc Opera House.) The honey-sweetness and soft witchery of the languorous music of the Hawaiians curl around the heart of the listener like the invisible tendrils of a dream.”

“The key to this irresistible whispering hum-like effect in stringed music is in the hands of Joseph Kekuku of Kekuku’s Hawaiian Quintet, premier Hawaiian players and singers of the original Toots Paka, Alisky and Bird of Paradise Companies.”

“Mr, Kekuku is the originator of the celebrated steel method of guitar playing, the most bewitching note yet sounded in instrumental music. The members of Kekuku’s Hawaiian Quintet are: Joseph Kekuku, steel method guitar; Henry Aaka, basso, harpguitar; Alfred Weila, baritone, ukulele; Gaby Kalau, tenor, guitar, taropatch.” (Lompoc Journal, May 19, 1916)

Kekuku later joined the Bird of Paradise show that toured Europe from 1919 to 1927 (he was probably the first to play steel guitar on that continent.)

“Like the New York Times columnist who admired the ‘scenic beauty’ of The Bird of Paradise, most critics appreciated the production’s impressive staging. The inclusion of native Hawaiian musicians proved equally critical to the show’s success, and their music became a key selling point.”

“Enthusiastic reviewers of the musicians and the music of The Bird of Paradise commended ‘the native musicians who make the haunting musical interpolations of their own land’ and drew attention to the distinctive ‘threnody of the ukulele and the haunting, yearning cry of steel pressed against the strings of the guitar.” (Garrett)

He returned to the United States at the age of 53 and first settled in Chicago; around 1930, he left Chicago and visited Dover, New Jersey (he later moved to Dover – he was often referred to as “The Hawaiian.”) (Bocchino)

On January 16, 1932 at the age of 58 Joseph Kekuku died in Morristown of a brain hemorrhage; he is buried in the Orchard Street Cemetery, Dover, New Jersey.

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DUKW (Duck)

“Auto that sails the seas and boat that runs on land”

“An Alaskan expedition to study explosive Mount Katwain in 1927 furnished Dr (Thomas Augustus) Jaggar with the motive for developing an amphibious motor car.”

“After several months of experimentation, he completed his pioneer water bug and dubbed it ‘Ohiki,’ which is Hawaiian for sand crab.” (Popular Mechanics)

“In preparation for this expedition, the Hawaii Volcanoes Observatory machine shop built a wooden amphibious boat around a ‘low-geared small motor car with balloon tires,’ that Jaggar had used over tundra and beach of the Alaskan Peninsula in 1927.”

“Inlets, rivers, and rocks were obstacles that made Jaggar mentally design modifications of the car into a ‘car-skiff.’”

Jaggar invented the first practical wheeled amphibian. (Popular Mechanics)

“She first took to the sea at Ninoʻole Cove in the Kaʻū District, and she quickly revealed the need for additional work.” (USGS)

“Several hundred skeptical spectators witnessed the formal launching January 17, 1928, at Hilo, Hawaiʻi. Many wagers were lost as the Ohiki lumbered off the highway and trundled along the beach into the water.”

After modifications (freeboard raised, length slightly increased, paddle-wheels enlarged, a winch and cable mounted in bow, 5-horsepower outboard motor added,) an extended trip was made along the west coast of the Island of Hawaii to make beach and sea tests.

Lorrin Thurston went along as a passenger and publicity man; Mrs Jaggar served as stewardess. The car with the boat body excited all the roadside children of Kona with delight. (USGS)

“Dr. Jaggar’s initial amphibian was a skiff 21-feet long with a beam of five feet four inches, mounted on an elongated Ford chassis … just forward and mounted through the sides of the boat was a Ruckstall axle to which sidewheel paddles were attached … the front wheels were disked and served as rudders.” (Popular Mechanics)

“Jaggar’s Ohiki made a speed of about 4 mi/h in water with the combined power of paddle wheels and outboard motor… It made more than 20 mi/h over highways.” (USGS)

He later created another amphibian, the Honukai (sea turtle;) it was a twin-screw steel amphibian, built in Chicago by the Powell Mobile-Boat Corp.

In 1928, when the National Geographic Society joined with the USGS to sponsor an expedition with Jaggar in charge to map, photograph, and survey in the Aleutians around Pavlof Volcano, the Society supplied an amphibious boat.

In the 400-miles along the coast of Alaska, from Shumagin Islands to King Cove, the expedition did not even have to pump up the tires. (USGS)

The Honukai’s numerous excessively low gears even enabled them to drive up to the snowline and bring out the heavy fur and bones of a bear that Jaggar had shot on the snowy volcano, Mount Dana. Jaggar brought the Honukai back to Hawaii with him and based it in Kona. (Popular Mechanics)

“As a result of his experiences and design work with the Ohiki and the Honukai, Jaggar was later able to help the US Army with the design of amphibious vehicles for World War II, and he received in 1945 the Franklin L Burr Prize of the National Geographic Society for this work.” (USGS)

In 1942, the Army, faced with challenges in landing troops and supplies, modified a 1 ½ ton GMC truck – it was called the DUKW (D = built in 1942; U = amphibious 2½ ton truck; K = front wheel drive and W = rear wheel drive.) (Army Transportation Museum)

Today, we simply call these vehicles ‘Ducks.’

Jaggar was considered grandfather of the ‘Duck,’ which has played a prominent part in amphibious landings both in the European and South Pacific theaters of war. (Mount Caramel, February 27, 1945)

(Lorrin Thurston and George Lycurgus were instrumental in getting the volcano recognized as Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park. In 1912, Jaggar moved to Kilauea to start the observatory, studying volcanoes.)

(On August 1, 1916, President Woodrow Wilson signed the country’s 13th National Park into existence – Hawaiʻi National Park (later (1961) split into Haleakalā National Park and Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park.)

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Lot Kapuāiwa

December 11, 1830, Lot Kapuāiwa was born. His mother was Kīnaʻu, the daughter of Kamehameha I (she became the Kuhina nui, in 1832.) His father was Mataio Kekūanāoʻa, a descendent of the Chiefs of the Island of Oʻahu (he was governor of Oʻahu, as well as a member of the House of Nobles and the Privy Council.)

Lot Kapuāiwa was hānai to Chief Hoapili of Lāhainā and Princess Nāhiʻenaʻena.  (Kapuāiwa means mysterious kapu (taboo) or sacred one protected by supernatural powers.)

He was 9-years-old when he entered the Chiefs’ Children’s School. The aliʻi wanted their children trained in Western, as well as Hawaiian traditions and Kamehameha III asked missionaries Amos and Juliette Cooke to teach the young royals.

In 1849, Lot and Alexander Liholiho (his brother) began their year-long trip to the United States and Europe. When he returned he was appointed a member of the House of Nobles and began government service.

He ascended to the throne as Kamehameha V on November 30, 1863, on the death of his brother.  “He was a master in the beginning, & at the middle, & to the end.  The Parliament was the “figure-head,” & it never was much else in his time. … He hated Parliaments, as being a rasping & useless incumbrance upon a king, but he allowed them to exist because as an obstruction they were more ornamental than rival.”  (Twain)

“He surrounded himself with an obsequious royal Cabinet of American & other foreigners, & he dictated his measures to them &, through them, to his Parliament; & the latter institution opposed them respectfully, not to say apologetically, & passed them.”  (Twain)

Kamehameha V modeled his leadership after that of his grandfather, Kamehameha I, believing that it was the right and duty of the chiefs to lead the common people. He refused to support the Constitution of 1852. By supporting the controversial Constitution of 1864, he expected to regain some of the powers lost by previous kings.  (ksbe)

“He was not a fool.  He was a wise sovereign; he had seen something of the world; he was educated & accomplished, & he tried hard to do well for his people, & succeeded.  There was no rival nonsense about him; he dressed plainly, poked about Honolulu, night or day, on his old horse, unattended; he was popular, greatly respected, & even beloved.”  (Twain)

In 1865, a bill to repeal the law making it a penal offense to sell or give intoxicating liquor to native Hawaiians was brought before the legislature.  Strongly supported by some, Kamehameha surprised the supporters saying, “I will never sign the death warrant of my people.” The measure was defeated in the second reading.  (Alexander)

Kamehameha V founded the Royal Order of Kamehameha on April 11, 1865 in commemoration of his grandfather, Kamehameha I. The stated purpose of the order was “to cultivate and develop, among our subjects, the feelings of honour and loyalty to our dynasty and its institutions and … to confer honorary distinctions upon such of our subjects and foreigners as have rendered, or may hereafter render to our dynasty and people, important services.”  (Royal Order)

Hansen’s Disease was rapidly spreading on Oʻahu.  In response, the legislature passed “An Act to Prevent the Spread of Leprosy” in 1865, which King Kamehameha V approved. This law provided for setting apart land for an establishment for the isolation and seclusion of leprous persons who were thought capable of spreading the disease.  The first shipment of lepers landed at Kalaupapa January 6, 1866, the beginning of segregation and banishment of lepers to the leper settlement.

By 1866, the need for a new courthouse government building in the Hawaiian Kingdom was apparent.  The legislature appropriated funds towards a new palace and a new government building. Delays ensued.  Plans for a new palace were postponed, but the new courthouse moved forward.  On February 19, 1872, Kamehameha V laid the cornerstone for Aliʻiolani Hale (now home to the Hawaiʻi Supreme Court.)

King Kamehameha V encouraged the revival of native practices. On Maui, a group of eight Hawaiians founded the ʻAhahui Laʻau Lapaʻau.  In 1868, the Legislature established a Hawaiian Board of Health to license kahuna laʻau lapaʻau. Kahuna practices including lomilomi massage and laʻau kahea healing remained legal for the next twenty years.  (princeton-edu)

Later, his summer home in Moanalua Gardens became the home of the annual Prince Lot Hula Festival, the largest non-competitive hula event in Hawai‘i.  It honors Lot Kapuāiwa who helped to revive hula by staging pāʻina (parties) at his summer home.  (Save the date, July 19, 2014, for the 37th annual event at Moanalua Gardens.)

The Kamehameha V Post Office (built in 1871, one of the oldest remaining public buildings in Hawaiʻi, and so named because it was built at the direction of Kamehameha V) was the first post office building in Hawaiʻi. For many years, it also housed the publishing and printing office of the Hawaiian Gazette and other small companies and organizations needing office space.  (NPS)

December 11, Lot Kapuāiwa celebrated the first Kamehameha Day in 1871 as a day to honor his grandfather; the first celebration fell on Lot’s birthday.  Because the weather was better in the summer, the decision was made to move the Kamehameha I celebration six months from the King Kamehameha V’s birthday (so it was moved to June 11 – the date has no direct significance to Kamehameha I.)  The 1896 legislature declared it a national holiday.  (Kamehameha Day continues to be celebrated on June 11.)

He had a law passed by the Legislative Assembly in 1872 that funded and authorized the acquisition of the hotel on the corner of Hotel Street and Richards Street by the Hawaiian government, which he named the Royal Hawaiian Hotel.  (The “Pink Palace” in Waikīkī was a different/subsequent Royal Hawaiian, built in 1927.)

Bernice Pauahi was betrothed to Lot Kapuāiwa; but when Mr Charles R Bishop pressed his suit, Pauahi “smiled on him, and they were married. It was a happy marriage.”  (Liliʻuokalani)  Lot Kapuāiwa never married.

“On the 10th (of December, 1872,) (Liliʻuokalani and her husband) were summoned to the palace to attend the dying monarch; one by one other chiefs of the Hawaiian people, with a few of their trusted retainers, also arrived to be present at the final scene; we spent that night watching in silence near the king’s bedside. The disease was pronounced by the medical men to be dropsy on the chest (hydrothorax, accumulation of fluid in the chest.”)  (Liliʻuokalani)

“Although nearing the end, the mind of the king was still clear; and his thoughts, like our own, were evidently on the selection of a future ruler for the island kingdom, for, turning to Mrs. Bishop, he asked her to assume the reins of government and become queen at his death.”  She declined. “… he relapsed into unconsciousness, and passed away without having named his successor to the throne.”  (Liliʻuokalani) (Lunalilo was shortly after elected King of Hawaiʻi.)

December 11, 1872, Lot Kapuāiwa died; it was his 42 birthday.

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by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Honolulu Harbor Lights

Even in today’s high-tech environment with tools and toys with satellite support, the simple illumination from a known point continues to serve as a navigational aid, as well as warn mariners of hazardous areas.

In 1924, construction of the 10-story, 184-foot Aloha Tower (lighthouse) began; it was completed in a year and a half. For four decades the Aloha Tower was the tallest structure in Hawaiʻi. But that is getting ahead of ourselves.

The original Honolulu Harbor Light was built in 1826. (USCG) Some suggest the earliest light was a “crude oil lamp wrapped with red cloth.” (De Wire)

Some official action for more formal lighting was set in motion. The Kingdom’s ‘Second Act of Kamehameha III; An Act to Organize the Executive Ministry of the Hawaiian Islands,’ Chapter 3, Section 3, Article 3, notes:

“The respective governors shall, on receiving the king’s instructions from the Minister of the Interior, have power to cause to be erected at any designated points upon the coasts of their respective islands, lighthouses or beacons, for the guidance of vessels at night”. (April 27, 1846)

The House of Nobles had previously read and reviewed “Article III., of Chapter III., regarding to Lighthouses, Beacons and Channels. This was passed being very clearly worded.” (July 22, 1845)

However, it wasn’t until 1869 that “Harbor Wink” was built at the edge of the reef on the north side of the Honolulu Harbor entrance, near what is now Sand Island. It was a white wooden structure on piles, linked to a nearby dwelling by a pier.

Two bids were submitted for the harbor lighthouse. Honolulu Iron Works agreed to provide a lighthouse on iron pilings for $2,141, but a lower bid of $360, submitted by LL Gilbert for an all-wooden structure, was accepted.

Wooden pilings were driven into the reef that formed the small island, and atop these a keeper’s residence and a square pyramidal lighthouse topped by a lantern room were constructed. Keeper Captain McGregor first exhibited the light from whale oil lamps, concentrated by a fourth-order Fresnel lens, on August 2, 1869.

The facility didn’t go without its detractors. The Pacific Commercial Advertiser called it “an infantile structure which more resembles a birdcage than a lighthouse.” The lighthouse also served as a front range light. (Lighthouse Friends)

In 1906, plans were proposed for the transition from a simple, primitive light in Honolulu Harbor to a permanent, efficient light station. The following year, the harbor was dredged, providing a deeper port for large ships.

Material created from the dredging was added to the existing Quarantine Island (what is now called Sand Island.) It was on Sand Island that the Honolulu Harbor Light station was built. (Brown)

Plans were prepared for a concrete-block (subsequently changed to re-enforced concrete) structure, to include a combined light-keeper’s dwelling and tower, the building to rest upon twenty-four concrete foundation cylinders or piles 3 feet in diameter.

The structure was rectangular, one and a half stories high, and is surmounted by a square tower supporting a fourth-order cylindrical helical-bar lantern. The illuminating apparatus consisted of an occulting fourth-order lens, revolving on ball bearings.

The main floor contains quarters for two keepers, each provided with kitchen, living room, two bedrooms, and a bathroom. There are ample closets and pantries for each keeper. (Report of the Light-House Board, 1909)

The beacon went into service on February 15, 1910. After several years, the sturdy building, that had become the well-known Honolulu Harbor Lighthouse, almost resembled a home, complete with a gate and white picket fence.

The lower portion of the structure provided living accommodations for two light keepers. The 43-foot high illuminating apparatus above the dwelling housed the necessary guiding light for all ships entering the busy harbor. (Brown)

Sixteen years later, the iconic Aloha Tower was completed to replace the Sand Island facility. (The Honolulu Harbor Light was destroyed in 1934.)

The Aloha Tower navigational aid served until 1975, when the present Honolulu Harbor Light was established on a metal pole at the end of Pier 2.

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Hawaiians Study Abroad

In 1880, the Legislative Assembly appropriated $15,000 for the “Education of Hawaiian Youths in Foreign Countries, to be expended in the actual education of the youths, and not traveling and sight seeing”. (Session Laws, 1880)

Subsequently, a Board consisting of the Board of Education and the Minister of Foreign Affairs was proposed to “have the management of the education of Hawaiian youths in foreign countries.” (Proceedings, 1880 Legislative Assembly)

This was a program designed and implemented by King Kalākaua.

From 1880 to 1887, 18 young Hawaiians attended schools in six countries where they studied engineering, law, foreign language, medicine, military science, engraving, sculpture and music.
A ‘studies abroad program,’ as it would be called today, was designed to ensure a pool of gifted and highly schooled Hawaiians who would enable the government to fill important positions in the foreign ministry and other governmental branches.

Seventeen promising young men and one young woman were sent on government funds to the four corners of the world: five to Italy, four to the U.S., three to England, three to Scotland, two to Japan and one to China. Several other students went abroad on funds of their own. (Schweizer)

Kalākaua personally selected the participants in his education program and probably planned to groom these young Hawaiians to become future leaders in his monarchy. Several of the youths were descended from Hawaiian aliʻi (nobility.) Several were the offspring of leaders in Kalākaua’s government.

As members of Hawai’i’s leading social families, some of the students had mingled with visiting dignitaries and intellectuals. Most of Kalākaua’s protégé’s had attended Honolulu’s best private schools where they had studied Latin and the Classics.

They were young Hawaiians with a heritage and background to indicate that they would benefit from an education abroad.

Kalākaua selected Robert William Wilcox, Robert Napuʻuako Boyd and James Kanaholo Booth as the first students in his program. They sailed from Hawaiʻi to San Francisco on August 30, 1880.

Once in Italy, Wilcox was enrolled in the Royal Academy of Civil and Military Engineers in Turin, Boyd in the Royal Naval Academy at Leghorn and Booth in the Royal Military Academy in Naples. (Late in 1884, Booth died from cholera in Naples.)

Early in 1887, two more Hawaiian youths traveled to Italy to study, accompanied by Colonel Sam Nowlein, an officer in Kalākaua’s Royal Guards. August Hering wanted to learn sculpture and Maile Nowlein, Colonel Nowlein’s daughter, and the only female participant in the Hawaiian studies abroad program, would study art and music.

In the summer of 1882, Colonel Charles Judd escorted Henry Kapena, Hugo Kawelo, Joseph Kamauʻoha, John Lovell, Mathew Makalua, Abraham Piʻianaiʻa and Thomas Spencer to the US and Great Britain.

Spencer was enrolled in St Matthew’s School in San Mateo, California (“one of the best schools for boys in California, and acknowledged to be the best military-discipline school in the state.” (Thrum, 1885))

In 1885, two more Hawaiians, Prince David Kawananakoa and Thomas P Cummins, also enrolled at St Matthew’s. Both young men had previously attended Punahou School. Kawananakoa later studied at Royal Agricultural College in Cirencester, England.

Piʻianaiʻa and Makalua were enrolled at St Chad’s, a preparatory school in Denstone, England. Kamauʻoha was admitted to King’s College in London (he died there in 1886.)

In November of 1882, Judd entered John Lovell, Hugo Kawelo, and Henry Kapena as apprentices at the Scotland Street Iron Works in Glasgow.

Also in 1882, James Kapaʻa, James Hakuʻole and Isaac Harbottle sailed for the Orient. That year, Hawaiʻi negotiated to bring Japanese to the Islands to work on the sugar plantations.

Hakuʻole and Harbottle, brothers aged 10 and 11 years old respectively, disembarked in Japan; Kapaʻa went to China. The government planned that the Hawaiian youths would be trained in the Asian languages and culture and then use their knowledge to aid in the government’s immigration plans.

Henry Grube Marchant was the last participant to be appointed in Kalākaua’s program; he trained in Boston in the art of engraving. He also sought “to learn the art of photographing upon the wooden block and such other branches of business that would enable him to become a good wood engraver in all branches of his work.”

Then, in 1887, following the ‘Bayonet Constitution’ and the curtailing of Kalākaua’s power, the “Reform Cabinet” cut the expenditures for Kalākaua’s education program and called most of the students home. (lots of information here is from Quigg.

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