General | Page 249 | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

August 19, 2016 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Puna Plantation Hawai‘i, Ltd

He bought Puna Plantation Hawai‘i, a papaya farm, around the time of the eruption in the Kapoho area of Puna in 1959. Puna Plantation Hawai‘i Ltd became the parent company name for various entities; the most prominent dba bears his name.

Financial records note the company services include: management consulting services; eating place; grocery store Food and beverage industries, Beverage processing, Meat and poultry and seafood processing …

… Fruits and vegetables processing, Dairy and eggs processing, Grains and sugar and oils and fat processing, New business startup consultation services, Corporate mergers consultation services.

Of the 16 officers of parent company Puna Plantation Hawai‘i Ltd., three bear the family surname, but others also are family members.

The company “is held by the family. However, in our organization we do have … nonfamily executives who have been with our organization for a long time have been with (us) so long that we consider them family.” (Company President; Star Advertiser)

Back when the initial company was formed, he and a competitor had identical initials for their company names; merchandise for the competitor, K Tahara store, were marked ‘KT’ at Hilo harbor.

To avoid confusion of deliveries of the goods, his shipments were marked ‘KTA,’ to distinguish them (the ‘A’ has no other apparent significance.) The initials carried on as the company’s name.

Let’s look back …

Koichi, at the age of 17, left his home in Hiroshima, Japan, seeking the opportunities American offered. With the intention to get to San Francisco, he landed first in Hawai‘i on January 14, 1907. He stayed, and found work at Heʻeia Sugar Plantation at Kāne’ohe.

Taniyo, a woman he knew from Japan, arrived in the Islands a few years later; they were married July 7, 1913. A couple years later they moved to Hilo, where Koichi attended a school to learn English and bookkeeping. S Hata, a wholesaling company, hired Koichi as a bookkeeper after he finished his courses.

Their first son, Yukiwo, was born in 1916. That year also marked the founding of K Taniguchi Shoten (store) – a grocery and dry goods store Koichi and Taniyo started to support their son.

They bought a two-story building on Lihiwai Street in Waiākea along the banks of the Wailoa River. The Taniguchis lived upstairs and ran their store downstairs in approximately 500-square feet of space. (Kimura; HRGM)

In the beginning, Taniyo minded the store while watching the couple’s first-born son, Yukiwo. Koichi Taniguchi would deliver orders to Hilo families by bicycle, or customers could come pick up their orders.

Over time, the store’s name changed to K Taniguchi Store, K. Taniguchi Supermarket and, finally, KTA Super Stores. KTA employs about 800 people companywide, making it one of the largest private-sector employers on the island.

The first expansion was in 1939 when the Keawe street store opened in downtown Hilo. Eventually, the company expanded to its present size being a six-store, island wide supermarket chain.

The initial store in Waiākea was lost during the 1946 tsunami. After that operations were consolidated in the downtown Hilo store.

KTA opened in Kailua-Kona in 1959, under the banyan tree, just mauka of the Kailua pier. The Pū‘āinakō store, now its flagship store, on the southern outskirts of Hilo opened in 1966.

In response to the decline in sugar, and anticipating that sugar workers at closing plantations might stay in agriculture, KTA initiated the Mountain Apple Brand of grown-in-Hawai`i foods.

KTA has established many firsts in Hawaii’s grocery industry over the years, claiming to have been the state’s first supermarket to have an in-store bakery, at the Pū‘āinakō store; the first to install UPC bar code scanners at all checkouts; and the first to install and operate energy-saving photovoltaic systems, at its Waimea and Kailua-Kona stores.

Five of the company’s six stores are KTA Super Stores, while the sixth location is a sister-store called Waikoloa Village Market. (Lots of information here is from KTA Super Stores, Engle (Star Advertiser) and Kimura (HRGM.))

KTA now is led by third-generation chairman and CEO Barry Taniguchi and fourth-generation President and COO Toby Taniguchi. Along with third- and fourth-generation family members Lon Taniguchi, Maryan Miyada, Andrew Chun and Derek Taniguchi, they ensure the legacy of Koichi and Taniyo Taniguchi will continue.

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Original_K_Taniguchi_Shoten-1921

Waiakea_Makai-DAGS_Reg3032-1937

KTA-Keawe Opening-1939

KTA-Puainako Ground Breaking-1965

KTA-Puainako-1966

KTA-Taniguchi

KTA-Taniyo and Koichi Taniguchi with their grandchildren. L-R-Lon, Maryan, and Barry-HRGM

KTA-dry goods

August 11, 2016 by Peter T Young 3 Comments

Lessons from Bosnia

I have firsthand experience in seeing US Soldiers protecting Muslims from Christians.

I had the chance and took the opportunity to visit our troops and was part of a weeklong trip to Bosnia. It was life-changing. This world is not a very happy place; our warrior Soldiers helped to bring peace and security to that corner of the world.

I saw firsthand the appreciation and gratitude the local Bosniaks shared with our Soldiers (we were protecting Muslims (Bosniaks) from Orthodox Christians (Serbs.))

Bosnia is a part of the Balkans; it was part of the Roman Empire. Throughout the centuries, the Balkans were primarily Orthodox Christian.

Then, in 1463 (30 years before Columbus crossed the Atlantic,) the Ottoman Empire (Muslims of the Islam faith) invaded and conquered the region. Over time, some Orthodox Christian converted to Muslim.

In 1918, Yugoslavia was formed, here. Following WWII, the area was under Tito’s rule. Tito rebuilt Yugoslavia as a Communist federation of six equal republics.

Tito died in 1980 and Yugoslavia started to break up – in part, growth in the Muslim population turned Bosnian Serbs (Christians) into a minority in a republic where they had been the largest group.

The collapse of Communism in 1990-91 led to civil war. In 1992 the United Nations recognized Bosnia. Then, later that year, Christina Serbian forces cross the river Drina and attacked the Muslims.

In July 1995, in Srebrenica (what the UN had determined a ‘safe area,’) the Bosnian Serb Army rounded up and mass-murdered more than 8,000-men and boys.

In December 1995, the Dayton Peace Agreement brought ‘peace’ to the region; this agreement effectively ended the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina and NATO forces were moved in to keep the peace. US and other forces were called to keep the peace.

Peacekeeping-missions for our military are not a new thing, including Hawaiʻi’s Soldiers from the 25th Infantry Division.

On October 1, 1941, the transition by the War Department in operations restructured the Hawaiian Division to form two divisions at Schofield: 24th Infantry Division and the 25th Infantry Division. (Over the following decades, the 24th ID was inactivated, reactivated and subsequently deactivated in October 2006. Schofield remains the home of the 25th ID.)

In 2002, Soldiers from the 25th joined militaries from other countries as part of the NATO-led Stabilization Force in Bosnia-Herzegovina (SFOR) to see compliance with the Dayton Peace Agreement. This was the first time the Tropic Lightning had served in Europe.

1,000 25th-Infantry Soldiers deployed to Bosnia-Herzegovina from April to September 2002; our Soldiers took part in mine clearing operations, reconstruction and the destruction of weapons turned in by civilians to help Bosnia-Herzegovina rebuild after a devastating civil war.

Our Soldiers repeatedly spoke of the importance of working with the Bosniak kids – given the diverse make up of the people of Hawai‘i and Soldiers of the 25th – the Soldiers hoped that the local population seeing Soldiers that are discernibly different working well together can serve as an example to the people of Bosnia who are generally similar.

Although there was ‘peace,’ we were reminded that this was not a safe place, every time we left the base. While Soldiers carried their weapons wherever they went (on and off base,) before we left the base, each Soldier loaded their weapon.

We had tactical support wherever we went (we each had an armed Soldier (our ‘Ranger Buddy’) with us at all times; when we travelled outside of the base, fully-armed Humvees were in front and rear of us; and helicopter support was on stand-by.)

I remember a visit we made to the middle of town (the 25th was stationed at Eagle Base in Tuzla;) the weekend evening entertainment was couples and families formed in a slow-paced walk and talk in a continuous circle around the main part of town.

We had plans to visit a local bazaar, but intelligence reports suggested we should not visit it. Instead we went to Sarajevo (site of the 1984 Olympic Games.)

It was site of the ‘Romeo and Juliet Bridge’ (Vrbanja bridge) – where snipers shot a couple (a Christian man and Muslim woman) trying to cross and escape from Sarajevo.

On a couple helicopter tours of the region, we were encouraged to look and compare ‘brown roofs’ and ‘red roofs.’

Typical construction has terra cotta-like roof materials. Older homes have weathered (brown) roofs; new construction/ reconstruction had red roofs. (The red roofed homes were houses owned by Bosniak Muslims that had been blown up in the war and later rebuilt.) (Brown and red roofed homes were next to each other.)

Unfortunately, a computer crash lost all my photos, but not the memories of Bosnia and our Soldiers helping Muslims there.

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Bosnia – Our armored escort whenever we left the base

Tuzla Eagle Base

Civilians from Hawaii visting 25th-forces in Bosnia

Tuzla Countryside – note brown and red roofs

Bosnia-Church near Mosque

Bosnia – Srebrenica

Srebrenica-6,100-burials

Vrbanja bridge-Romeo and Juliet Bridge

SFOR-flag

Bosnia Challenge Coin

Bosnia Challenge Coin-front

Bosnia Challenge Coin-reverse

Bosnia-Certificate of Achievement

August 4, 2016 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Henry P Baldwin Home for Boys and Helpless Men

In 1879, Father Damien established a home at Kalawao for boys and elderly men. In 1886, Father Damien had some twenty or thirty of the patients in a little cluster of shanties and cabins scattered around his house.

Ira Barnes Dutton read about the work of Father Damien and he sought to help Damien on Molokai – “to do some good for my neighbor and at the same time make it my penitentiary in doing penance for my sins and errors.” From San Francisco, he sailed for Molokai. (McNamara)

When he arrived on July 29, 1886, although he never took religious vows, he became known as “Brother Joseph” and “Brother Dutton,” “brother to everybody.” (McNamara)

Father Damien’s home for boys at Kalawao had always been one of the most important facilities at the settlement and a project very dear to his heart. After Brother Dutton’s arrival, most of the work of the home fell to him, which consisted of providing leadership and discipline, medical treatment, and food and clothing.

“In 1887 (the Home) began to spread, and we built two houses of considerable size. This enlargement was sufficient as to capacity up to 1890 – in fact, we had to do with it until May, 1894. … It also housed some women and girls.” (Dutton)

On January 1, 1889, the Damien Home was accepted as an official reality by the Board of Health and operated as a home under the management of Father Damien.

After Damien’s death (April 15, 1889,) the Board of Health placed Mother Marianne in charge of the home, and provided a horse and carriage for the sisters to use in traveling between Kalaupapa and Kalawao. (Mother Marianne and the Sisters were operating the Charles R Bishop Home for Unprotected Leper Girls and Women that was constructed in 1888 at Kalaupapa.)

On May 22, 1889, Sisters Crescentia and Irene arrived at Kalaupapa from Kaka‘ako to help at the Boys’ Home. While the sisters generally supervised the domestic operations, such as sewing and housekeeping, Dutton was expected to be disciplinarian and leader.

He, however, concentrated mostly on keeping the accounts, attending to correspondence and general business affairs, handling the sore dressing, and attending the sick at the home and in the Kalawao hospital.

(Most of Brother Dutton’s work, however, would eventually revolve around the Baldwin Home for Boys, an enlargement of Father Damien’s Boys’ Home, and it was there that he probably made his most valuable and lasting contribution. (Greene, NPS))

By 1899, one of the chief features of Kalawao was the garden attached to the home – a banana plantation with several acres of vegetables. Vegetation at the home became quite lush through the years.

In his memoirs, Dutton described bushy masses of countless Croton plants – actually small trees – back of the garden and all around the sides. The variegated foliage gave the home the appearance of being set in a big, red bouquet.

By late spring 1890, the first official Home for Boys at Kalawao was completed. On May 15, Sister Crescentia (Directress), Sister Renata, and Sister Vincent moved into the new Convent of Our Lady of Mercy at Kalawao and assumed charge of the home.

Its purpose, decided upon in discussions among William O Smith, president of the Board of Health, Brother Dutton, and Baldwin, was to assist the men of the colony, make them comfortable, provide some recreation, and generally help them make the most out of their lives.

In 1892, funds were given to the board by Henry P Baldwin, Protestant sugar planter, financier and philanthropist of missionary stock, for the erection of four separate buildings to comprise the Baldwin Home for Leprous Boys and Men at Kalawao.

The new home was occupied during the first week of May 1894. The complex consisted of twenty-nine separate structures, most new, but some moved across the street from the grounds of St. Philomena.

In the dormitories the smaller boys were at the lower end on the right side in front of the tailor shop. Advancing up the hill, the residents increased in age and size to the recreation hall. On the other side were full grown men, gradually increasing in age so that the two lower dormitories housed the old and helpless.

From there they were moved to the house for the dead, near the church, just below the singing house. Below the two dorms for old and helpless patients was the office, containing the stock of drugs and a storage room for drugs, surplus small materials, and tools, opening into the shoe shop, saddle room, and Dutton’s bathroom.

The bathhouse and sore dressing rooms connected with the office by ten-foot-wide verandahs. The verandahs, with long benches lining the sides, were used for playing games and musical instruments and for perusing magazines and books.

Under one roof were the poi house, boiler house, beef room, pantry, and banana room. Nearby were a dining room, kitchen, woodshed and coal room, a lime and cement room, and a slop house. The storage house, for provisions and housekeeping articles, fronted on the road.

While the institution was primarily for the housing and care of boys, regulations were passed later by the Board of Health which permitted the entrance, when room was available, of older patients who desired to live there, although only males were allowed.

The Baldwin Home was to be a retreat at all times open to leprous boys and to men who, through the progress of the disease or some other cause, had become helpless.

All boys arriving at the settlement under the age of eighteen, unless in the care of their parents or guardians or near relatives who would watch over them, were to enter the home until reaching eighteen, when they could leave with permission of the superintendent.

The patients were given clothing, food, care, and medical attention, and in return were expected to work about the establishment.

By the time the home was finished, the general movement of people toward Kalaupapa had already begun. This was a slow process, actually beginning in the 1880s.

Because of the disciplinary problems involved in running a home full of active boys, it was decided that a group of strong Christian men should be put in charge.

On December 1, 1895, the Catholic sisters were relieved of duty at the home by the arrival of four Sacred Hearts brothers, who were placed under the direction of Brother Dutton. (Greene, NPS)

According to Dutton, it was not until 1902 that all the patients at Kalawao, except for those in the Baldwin Home, had moved to the other side of the peninsula. As originally built and expanded upon, the home consisted of forty-five buildings, mostly dormitories.

Buildings in the complex by the early 1930s numbered about fifty-five, including small structures such as the ash and oil houses. The brothers’ house (formerly lived in by the Catholic sisters) was the best constructed, with a fine yard in front, on the road nearly opposite the singing house (fashioned from Damien’s old two-story house).

In 1932, the ice plant and airport at Kalaupapa were completed and a new hospital opened. The old Kalaupapa general hospital was converted to the new Baldwin Home, after the old home at Kalawao burned down.

This completed the transfer of patients to the Kalaupapa side of the peninsula. In 1950, the Baldwin Home for Men and Boys merged with the Bay View Home. (Bay View Home, first established in 1901, served as a group home for older, disabled, and blind residents. Patients at Bay View shared meals in a central dining room, and received round-the-clock nursing care.)

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Baldwin Home & St. Philomena Church

Baldwin Home Kalawao

Damien at the Boys’ Home

Baldwin Home-Molokai-eBay

Baldwin Home-Kalawao-NIH

Baldwin Home Kitchen Ruins, West of St. Philomena Church-LOC

Baldwin Home Kitchen Ruins, West of St. Philomena Church-Kalawao-LOC

Rock Crusher, At ruins of Baldwin Home For Boys,Molokai-LOC

August 3, 2016 by Peter T Young 3 Comments

Hoʻokuleana

Our company name is Hoʻokuleana LLC; invariably, we get asked what it means.

“Hoʻokuleana” is an action word and is focused on “kuleana” (‘responsibility,’ as in, ‘to take responsibility.’) Our individual and collective responsibility to:

Participate – rather than ignore
Prevent – rather than react
Preserve – rather than degrade

We picked the name because it is an attitude we want people to share. It is about doing the right things for the right reasons.

Our natural and cultural resources are not just historic sites, oceans, streams, mountains, trees, birds and fish. They are the:

Foundation of our quality of life
Backdrop for our economy
Our natural and cultural resources define Hawaiʻi’s “sense of place.”

They make and keep Hawaiʻi, Hawaiʻi.

Each of us shares the responsibility for the protection and perpetuation of our quality of life – including economic opportunities and responsible use, understanding and respect for Hawaiʻi’s natural and cultural resources.

So, what do we do?

Without trying to be cute, I typically and simply respond, “Consulting.” I know it’s a broad term and doesn’t really get into details; but I don’t want to get pigeon-holed into people thinking we only do “this” or “that.” (Another appropriate response would be ‘what do you need.’)

Many know I have a background in real estate – sales, property management, long-term rentals, vacation rentals, appraisal, planning and consulting (I have an active real estate license and an inactive appraisal license;) I have a Business degree with a major in Real Estate from UH.

But my experience in government as Deputy Managing Director for Hawai`i County and Director/Chair of the Department of Land and Natural Resources adds to that background.

As such, I have had the unique opportunity to see places and be involved with issues that few in Hawaiʻi have been able to experience.

We are planning and land use consultants; our work has generally fallen into the following broad categories:

Planning (master planning, as well as component plans (i.e. habitat restoration, habitat conservation plan, sustainability plan, market and marketing strategies, etc))
Environmental Review (EA/EIS preparation, review of issues/alternatives and other assistance, etc)
Permitting and Entitlement (CDUA, Land Use Commission, County permitting, shoreline, correcting encroachments, etc)
Dealing with Governmental Agencies (County, State and Federal – including DLNR – having been in government, we help translate what people are saying and help to expedite the process)
Outreach and Support (messaging, strategizing and garnering support, public relations, etc)

These posts are actually the result of some of the work we do.

It started when we were fortunate to help folks in Kona, Waikiki and Koloa prepare Corridor Management Plans for their respective Scenic Byways.

Scenic Byways are ‘roads that tell stories;’ some of those stories that we worked on have made it to these posts (and, there are more on the way.)

This experience and background motivated me to prepare and post historical summaries on Hawaiʻi’s people, places and events here. Can you believe it? It has been over four years and over 1,600 posts. Thanks for following them.

What started as part of the firm’s planning activities expanded into a passion to learn more about these Islands where I and my family were born and raised, and share what I learned.

For some projects, we are the lead and organize others; but we also fit well as part of a team. Really, we are open to any and all opportunities – we work statewide. If you think we can help, we’d be interested in talking about it.

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July 24, 2016 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

James Steiner

Born in Mirschikau, Pilsen, Bohemia (Czechoslovakia) July 24, 1860, James Steiner received business training at Frankfort-on-the-Main and moved to the United States in 1881.

“(Steiner) first worked as a bell hop or a waiter someplace in Missouri, someplace in St. Louis, Missouri. Then he met a man that spoke German, like himself, and this man whose name I do not recall since it was not given to me, suggested that he, my father, come out to Hawai‘i and find a place for himself. That’s how he got here.”

“(M)y father came down here (in 1882) and he worked for a restaurant up on Hotel Street just on the ‘Ewa side of the old YMCA. The owner of that restaurant was a Lionel Hart and the restaurant was known as Hart’s Restaurant.”

“It was in this restaurant that my father worked as a waiter and later on he was taken in by Mr. Lionel Hart as a partner. There was one of my brothers named Lionel after this said Lionel Hart. At a later time, the family established a home close to that restaurant.”

“(I)t was there, on that corner or that area there bounded by Adams Lane, Bishop Street, and Hotel Street that ice cream was made here commercially. He was the first one that sold ice cream here commercially.” (Ernest Steiner, Oral History)

A February 15, 1887 ‘Notice’ in the newspaper noted a co-partnership had been formed (Hart & Steiner) and they carried on the Elite Ice Cream Parlors in Honolulu, manufacturing ice cream, Cakes, Candles, Curios and other incidentals. (Daily Bulletin, February 15, 1887)

Steiner was known all over the islands as the “Ice Cream and Candy King.” (Nellist)

“Over a thousand guests recepted the generous hospitality of Hart Co last evening in participating in the opening of their beautiful and handsome ice cream parlors in the Elite building”

“There are very few parlors in the United States that will rival the Elite parlors in beauty refinement of taste or excellence in appointment.” (Independent, November 1, 1900)

“He decided to give up the restaurant business and then he established another business right in that area there and it was known as the Island Curio Company.” (Ernest Steiner, Oral History)

The Island Curio Company was a major producer of postcards. Whether or not the subjects depicted on postcards had originally posed for the photographs that were sources for the cards, once imaged on postcards, these subjects became mass commodities in a visual economy of images that linked Hawai‘i with America and Europe.

From mass production and sale in Hawai‘i, the postcards became individual or private objects for the purchasers and the ultimate recipients. (UH)

They sold more than postcards … “Next to the Bishop Museum, the greatest and best Polynesian collection, is that of the Island Curio Company with its headquarters on Hotel Street, Honolulu … (and) for nearly half a century has been stacking up these native curios from almost every part of the island.” (Mid-Pacific Magazine)

In 1889, Steiner and Rosa Schwarz (from Czechoslovakia) were married in Hawai‘i. They had a family of four boys and one girl .

Steiner pioneered in the purchase and improvement of beach lots at a time when Waikiki was considered too far from the center of Honolulu and only served as a week-end, outing and bathing resort, and selected his property with good judgment and vision for the future. (Nellist)

“(T)hey moved to Waikiki in about 1899. The area there where they moved was on Kalākaua Avenue, just on the ‘Ewa side of what is now known as Kuhio Beach.”

“I don’t think there were any, there was very few other people in the area. There was one prominent Hawaiian family there that lived, oh, within eighty or ninety feet from our place. That was the William Kanakanui family. Mr. Kanakanui was a surveyor and engineer working for the Territory.” (Ernest Steiner, Oral History)

Steiner named his Waikiki home Kaiona “the native word for English ‘mermaid’ and German ‘lorelei,’ the suggestion having come from CL Hopkins, Hawaiian court interpreter.”

“Colonial in style, modified to suit the tropical climate, the house interior contains many innovations in the building craft. Ripley, Reynolds & Davis are the architects, while the Pacific Engineering Co., Ltd., is the builder.” (Star-Bulletin, August 10, 1912) It later became the Halekai Officer’s Club during WWII and later the Sands Nightclub and Restaurant.

“James Steiner is about to retire from the curio business, in which he is one of the local pioneers. Beginning as a clerk in Hart’s ice cream parlors about a quarter of a century ago, Mr. Steiner developed into one of Honolulu’s shrewdest business men.”

“A monument to his enterprise is the Elite block, one of the first three or four modern business structures of Honolulu.” (Hawaiian Star, June 20, 1911)

The three-story brick with terra cotta trimmings building was part of a “New Era of Building in Honolulu” which the 1900 Thrum’s Hawaiian Annual anticipated as “promising to be the handsomest business block in the city, so far.”

He retired from business in 1914 to devote his time to the management and development of his extensive property holdings in Honolulu and Waikiki. Steiner died in 1939.

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