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April 4, 2017 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Timeline Tuesday … 1930s

Today’s ‘Timeline Tuesday’ takes us through the 1930s – sugar production peaks, Pan-Am Clipper service begins, Hickam Airfield is constructed, ‘Aloha Shirt’ is trademarked and Doris Duke builds Shangri La. We look at what was happening in Hawai‘i during this time period and what else was happening around the rest of the world.

A Comparative Timeline illustrates the events with images and short phrases. This helps us to get a better context on what was happening in Hawai‘i versus the rest of the world. I prepared these a few years ago for a planning project. (Ultimately, they never got used for the project, but I thought they might be on interest to others.)

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Timeline-1930s

March 29, 2017 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Theo H Davies & Co

Englishmen James and John Starkey and Robert Cheshire Janion founded Starkey, Janion, & Co, a trading company in Liverpool, in April 1845.

They chartered a vessel and filled it with general merchandise valued at $80,000; it set sail for Honolulu. On arrival Janion rented a room on Nuʻuanu Street near the waterfront and hung out a sign “Starkey, Janion & Co.”

Later the same year, he negotiated a lease for a Ka’ahumanu Street site from Kamehameha III for “only 299 years,” as he wrote to the Starkeys, since “this was the best I could do.” (It was part of the claim of former British Consul Richard Charlton.

The firm quickly prospered, thanks to the whaling trade and prosperity on the Pacific coast. Transactions with the Hawaiians were bartered, coins and gold dust with the whalers.

They soon had their own fleet of ships sailing the seas between Hawaiʻi, the West Coast and England. As agent for Lloyd’s of London, Janion began underwriting cargoes leaving Honolulu harbor, later introducing fire insurance into the Islands.

By 1851, Janion and the Starkeys parted company. In the following year, Janion left Hawaii to return to Liverpool; to succeed him in Honolulu, Janion appointed a fellow countryman named William Green, whom he had hired two years earlier.

Then in 1856 he persuaded a Welshman, 23-year-old Theophilus Harris Davies, to go out to Hawaiʻi as a clerk for Green under a five-year contract. Eventually the Janion-Green partnership was dissolved and Davies became Janion’s partner.

In 1876, Davies incorporated Honolulu Iron Works with Janion, Janion’s wife, Green’s mother and Alexander Young. Janion died in 1881, leaving Davies in control.

Davies proved himself an aggressive promoter, playing a key role in the organization of Hāmākua, Laupāhoehoe, Niuliʻi, Kaiwiki and Union Mill plantations on the Big Island. He was adept at raising capital in London and helped finance a total of 22-plantations during his career.

Years later, Davies was a stockholder with Young in the organization of von Hamm-Young Company, forerunner of The Hawaiʻi Corporation. Principals were Young’s son Archibald, and Conrad C. von Hamm. An early project was the Alexander Young Hotel.

Toward the end of his career, Davies divided his time between Honolulu and his Nuʻuanu home, Craigside, and England, where he maintained a home at Southport called Sunset in Hesketch Park. It was there that he served as guardian to Princess Kaʻiulani during her years in English schools.

Back in the Islands, his business was thriving despite political upheavals and sugar setbacks. In 1892, the company opened a steamship department as agent for Canadian-Australasian Line, which began service in that year. Later the department represented Canadian Pacific, Cunard and many others.

In 1893 grocery, dry goods and hardware departments were set up and the following year, when the company incorporated, a Hilo branch was opened. Four years later Davies died.

Formerly organized into merchandise, insurance and shipping departments, Theo H Davies set up subsidiaries for all its activities.

Merchandise lines are primarily heavy equipment: Pacific Machinery’s Caterpillar tractors, Hawaiian Fluid Power’s hydraulic lines, Stubenberg Company’s manufacturing of field equipment, Davies Building Materials, and Hilo Iron Works.

Inter-Island Equipment handled lighter lines such as lawn mowers and air compressors while Davies Brokerage handled some grocery lines. Davies Marine Agencies operated the former steamship department.

Davies Insurance Agencies acted for underwriters Janion represented. They also acquired EH Campbell Tire, Honolulu’s Goodyear Tire distributor, and Atlas Electric, electrical equipment distributor.

Davies expanded to the Philippines in 1928, opening a Manila branch. In the 1930s the company built up a heavy investment in four Philippine sugar plantations.

One of Hawaiʻi’s Big Five (Amfac – starting as Hackfeld & Company (1849;) Alexander & Baldwin (1870;) Theo H. Davies (1845;) Castle & Cooke (1851) and C. Brewer (1826,) Davies grew to be second only to Amfac in territorial wholesaling.

It operated Honolulu’s pioneer retail grocery chain, Piggly-Wiggly, until the mid-1950s; it was also involved with Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, the Mandarin, Mercedes and Jaguar.

For a time in the 1960s Davies operated a building materials subsidiary in Spain with headquarters at Madrid but back in Honolulu the parent company was barely treading water. In the late 1960s and early-70s the company closed or sold off the drugs, dry goods, hardware and contract furnishing departments.

Mergers and consolidations reduced the company’s Big Island sugar plantations from five to three. Profits in merchandising were meager and returns on plantation investments were low. The iron works affiliate was sold to a mainland buyer that retrenched its activities drastically.

In 1967 Dillingham Corp. made a tender offer for Davies stock to the company’s 200 stockholders in Hawaii and England; the bid for control failed. In 1972, the 22-story Davies Pacific Center replaced the former Davies corporate headquarters. In 1973, Jardine, Matheson & Co., based in Hong Kong, acquired Davies. (Lots of information here is from Greaney and Engle.)

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Theo. H. Davies Co., Bishop St-PP-8-3-014-00001

Theophilus_Harris_Davies

Theo. H. Davies Co., Bishop St-PP-8-3-012-00001

Theo. H. Davies Co., Bishop St-PP-8-3-013-00001

Theo. H. Davies Co-PP-8-3-001-00001

Theo. H. Davies Co., Bishop St-PP-8-3-010-00001

Theo. H. Davies Co., Bishop St-PP-39-3-010-1935

Theo. H. Davies Co., Bishop St-PP-8-3-006-00001

Theo. H. Davies Co., Bishop St-PP-8-3-009-00001

Theo_Davies-Ad

March 28, 2017 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Timeline Tuesday … 1920s

Today’s ‘Timeline Tuesday’ takes us through the 1920s – dredging of the Ala Wai Canal, Hawaiian Pineapple buys Lāna‘i, billboards outlawed and Honolulu Hale is completed. We look at what was happening in Hawai‘i during this time period and what else was happening around the rest of the world.

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March 26, 2017 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Hono O Nā Pali

The Natural Area Reserves System (NARS) (administered by DLNR) was created in 1971 to “preserve in perpetuity specific land and water areas which support communities, as relatively unmodified as possible, of the natural flora and fauna, as well as geological sites, of Hawai‘i”.

The NARS is based on the concept of protecting ecosystems – not merely single species. Because the natural resources of Hawai‘i are under constant threat from invasive species, human encroachment, feral ungulates, climate change, and other threats, the NARS seeks to protect the best remaining examples of the State‘s unique ecosystems.

Kauai is the oldest of the eight major Hawaiian islands, and the island consists of one main extinct shield volcano estimated to be about 5 million years old as well as numerous younger lava flows (between 3.65 million years to 500,000 years old).

The island is characterized by severe weathering, which has formed the spectacular cliffs of the Nā Pali coast and Waimea canyon areas.

Hono O Nā Pali Natural Area Reserve encompasses almost 3,600 acres on the north coast island of Kauai. The Reserve was designated in 1983 and expanded in 2009 to preserve native natural communities in the Hanalei and Waimea Districts, including the Hanakāpī‘ai, Hanakoa and Waiahuakua ahupua‘a.

The Reserve stretches from sea level along the picturesque Nā Pali coast to the highest point at Pihea (4,284 feet.) The Reserve encompasses parts of Hanakāpī‘ai and Hanakoa streams and all of Waiahuakua Stream; the southern boundary of the NAR is the south side of the Alaka‘i Swamp Trail.

The Reserve can be broadly classified as containing three major ecosystems including lowland mesic (which includes a variety of grasslands, shrublands and forests,) lowland wet (here, typically dominated by Kukui,) and montane wet (the forest canopy is a mix of ʻōhiʻa and other native trees.)

The lowland coastal ecosystems also contain steep cliffs characterized by plants found in drier areas. The coastal areas and cliffs provide habitat for a number of other seabirds including ‘iwa, brown booby and both red and white-tailed tropicbirds.

Hono O Nā Pali Natural Area Reserve has been described as “one of the best remaining forest ecosystems in Hawai‘i, as well as the rare and endangered plant and animal species it supports.”

Land use records from 1856-1857 show that lands in this area were being used for the cultivation of kalo, olona and kula. In the late-1800s Hanakoa and Hanakāpīʻai were also used for coffee cultivation. Kalalau was abandoned in 1919 and then used for cattle grazing in the 1920 for a limited time. (DLNR)

“The mountains along the shore, for eight or ten miles, are very bold, some rising abruptly from the ocean, exhibiting the obvious effects of volcanic fires; some, a little back, appear like towering pyramids”. (Hiram Bingham, 1822)

“There is a tract of country on the west coast of the island, through which no road is practicable.” (Bowser, 1880; Maly) “For twenty miles along the northwestern coast of Kauai there extends a series of ridges, none less than 800-feet high, and many nearly 1,500-feet, terminating in a bluff that is unrivalled in majesty.”

“Except for a very narrow, dangerous foot-path, with yawning abysses on each side, this bluff is impassable.” (The Tourist’s Guide, Whitney, 1895)

The trail was originally built around 1860 (portions were rebuilt in the 1930s) to foster transportation and commerce for the residents living in the remote valleys.

Local labor and dynamite were used to construct a trail wide enough to accommodate pack animals loaded with oranges, taro and coffee being grown in the valleys. Stone paving and retaining walls from that era still exist along the trail.

It traverses 5-valleys (and the NAR) over 11-miles, from Hāʻena State Park to Kalalau Beach, where it is blocked by sheer, fluted cliffs (pali;) it drops to sea level at the beaches of Hanakāpīʻai and Kalalau. The first 2 miles of the trail, from Hāʻena State Park to Hanakāpīʻai Beach, make a popular day hike. (DLNR)

“During the Māhele, the King granted lands to the Kingdom (Government), the revenue of which was to support government functions. In the Nāpali District, the ahupuaʻa of Kalalau, Pohakuao, Honopu, Hanakāpīʻai and one-half of Hanakoa were granted to the Government Land inventory.”

“Portions of the lands that fell into the government inventory were subsequently sold as Royal Patent Grants to individuals who applied for them.”

“The grantees were generally long-time kamaʻāina residents of the lands they sought… Thirty grants were sold in the Nāpali District to twenty-seven applicants; the lands being situated in Kalalau and Honopu.” (Hawaiian Government, 1887; Maly)

The upper region of the area was put into Territorial Forest Reserve (Nā Pali – Kona Forest Reserve) for protection in 1907. Even before that time, the concern for native forest prompted cattle eradication activities in this area during 1882 and 1890.

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vista-of-the-Alakai-including-the-Hono-o-Na-Pali-NAR

Fencing to help protect Hono O Na Pali

On-the-coastal-trail-at-hono-o-na-pali

Hono o Na Pali Natural Area Reserve

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Alakai Swamp at Hono O Na Pali Natural Area Reserve

The Hono O Na Pali Natural Area Reserve on Kauai features a stream crossing on the Alakai Swamp Trail

Hono-O-Na-Pali-Map

March 25, 2017 by Peter T Young 2 Comments

‘Biggest Single Gate in the History of Show Business in Hawai‘i’

“The ultimate completion of the USS Arizona Memorial will be a constant reminder of the heroes’ deeds performed by our armed forces on Dec. 7, 1941.” (Rear Adm Roy S Benson, Cincinnati Enquirer, Dec 8, 1960)

President Dwight D Eisenhower had approved the creation of Arizona Memorial in 1958. $500,000 was needed for its construction. (Ho‘okele)

The public law stipulated that the monument would be built without federal funding. Several organizations and individuals helped in the effort to raise the required amount. In 1958, the Territory of Hawaii contributed the initial $50,000.

On December 3, 1958 the popular television series, ‘This is Your Life’ hosted by Ralph Edwards kicked off the public fundraising campaign. The program featured Samuel Fuqua, Medal of Honor recipient and the senior surviving officer from the USS Arizona.

Over $95,000 was raised for the new permanent structure. However, within a couple of years, donations slowed and the memorial fund was in dire need of cash. USS Arizona Memorial historian Dan Martinez credits newspapers for keeping the memorial concept alive.

“Editors of daily newspapers across the country were connected in their profession, that was how they kept the story going. … The total already raised at that time was $250,000, which was only half of what they needed.” (Martinez; Star Bulletin)

George Chaplin of the Honolulu Advertiser mailed something like 1,500 letters, asking for articles or editorials about the Arizona Memorial. (Star Bulletin)

The Los Angeles Examiner responded with an editorial on December 4, 1960 … “and a very fine gentleman read an editorial in one of the California newspapers.”

“That man (Colonel Tom Parker) called George Chaplin and said: ‘I know a young man whose services can be a big help.’” (Advertiser, March 26, 1961)

Parker, Elvis Presley’s manager, thought this would be a good publicity for the new film ‘Waikiki Beach Boy’ (later renamed to ‘Blue Hawai‘i’ that was filmed in Hawai‘i.)

Parker offered a benefit concert with Elvis. Parker came to Hawai‘i and set up the show and stipulated that every cent would go toward the War Memorial fund.

“‘Forty eight hours ago we met in this very room and we were $10,000 short,’ said H Tucker Gratz chairman of the memorial fund commission. “We made an agreement with Parker that he and Elvis would raise $5,000 if the War Memorial Commission would raise the other $5,000…” (Advertiser, March 26, 1961)

Rear Adm. Robert L Campbell introduced Elvis, saying, “He is a fine American. He has had many starring roles, not the least of these has been as a soldier in the US Army.”

(Elvis was drafted into the Army at Memphis, Tennessee, on March 24, 1958; his overseas service took place in Germany from October 1, 1958, until March 2, 1960, as a member of the 1st Medium Tank Battalion. He left active duty at Fort Dix, New Jersey, on March 5, 1960.) (Army)

March 25, 1961, during his hour on stage, Elvis sang 15 songs: ‘Heartbreak Hotel,’ ‘All Shook Up,’ ‘A Fool Such As I,’ ‘I Got a Woman,’ ‘Love Me,’ ‘Such a Night,’ ‘Reconsider Baby,’ ‘I Need Your Love Tonight,’ ‘That’s All Right,’ ‘Don’t Be Cruel,’ ‘One Night,’ ‘Are You Lonesome Tonight,’ ‘It’s Now or Never,’ ‘Swing Down Sweet Chariot’ and ‘Hound Dog.’

The show was “fastpaced and slick. It jumped. When Elvis came on the teenagers screamed for 2 ½ minutes without let-up. Elvis was wearing his famous gold jacket with silvery glints like sequins, dark blue trousers and a white shirt and a blue string tie.” (Advertiser, Ho‘olele)

Appearing along with Elvis were Minnie Pearl, The Jordanaires and DJ Fontana and Scotty Moore, two members of Elvis’ original backing band. Sterling Mossman, a local Hawaiian comedian, also served as master of ceremonies and performed.

“It was a crackjack show, a sellout, and the biggest single gate in the history of show business in Hawai‘i.” (Advertiser, March 26, 1961)

All receipts, $54,678.73, were donated to the construction of the Arizona Memorial. The concert accounted for more than ten percent of the $515,728 cost of constructing the memorial. (HABS)

This Bloch Arena performance was Elvis’ last live concert until June 27, 1968 when he recorded two shows in front of a live audience at NBC’s Burbank studios.

The day after the concert, filming began on O‘ahu for the motion picture ‘Blue Hawai‘I,’ starring Elvis and Joan Blackman. (HABS)

In 1960 the construction of the Arizona Memorial began; it was dedicated Memorial Day, May 30, 1962 just over a year after Elvis’s charity concert.

It marks the resting place of 1,102 of the 1,177 Sailors and Marines killed on the USS Arizona during the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. (Ho‘okele)

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