Images of Old Hawaiʻi

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Waikīkī – Kauhale O Hoʻokipa

We are happy to announce that the Hawaiʻi State legislature just adopted a concurrent resolution (passed by the Senate and the House) in support of Native Hawaiian Hospitality Association’s (NaHHA,) hard work and efforts as the sponsor for the Waikīkī – Kauhale O Hoʻokipa Scenic Byway.

The Legislature notes that “Waikīkī – Kauhale O Hoʻokipa Scenic Byway is a collaborative effort between the community, business, visitor industry and government to promote and share the special intrinsic qualities of Waikīkī, particularly the role Waikīkī played in Hawaiʻi’s history”.

In addition, the Legislature took a strong, affirmative position that it “supports the designation of the Waikīkī – Kauhale O Hoʻokipa as a Hawaiʻi Scenic Byway and National Scenic Byway.”

The Hawaii Scenic Byways Program identifies and recognizes:
•  roads that “tell a story” that is special;
•  roads with outstanding scenic, cultural, recreational, archaeological, natural and historic qualities; and
•  roads that will benefit from a coordinated strategy for tourism and economic development

The Scenic Byways program serves to identify “Intrinsic Qualities” along the corridor; these include Scenic, Natural, Historic, Cultural, Archaeological and Recreational.

These intrinsic qualities break into two clusters:
“Land” (Scenic, Natural and Recreational,) and
“People” (Historic, Cultural and Archaeological)

Sites and Stories of Waikīkī, as illustrated through its Intrinsic Qualities, help tell the stories of the Land (‘Āina) and its People from the earliest beginnings of Hawai‘i to today.  Waikīkī – Kauhale O Hoʻokipa will be incorporating several core story themes:
•  Royal Residences
•  Visitor Industry
•  Military
•  Natural/Geologic
•  Socio-Economic-Political
•  Side Trips

We have been retained by NaHHA to help them with this process.

You can see some of our other activities by clicking here.

Feel free to “Like” us, if you like.

You may also visit us at our home page by clicking here.

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Sustainability

I sometimes get tired of that term; it gets to be overused and overplayed.

How about simply calling it doing the right things for the right reasons?

Our existence here is not about us and it’s not about now.

As Isaac Newton suggested, we are standing on the shoulders of those who came before us … that gives us the responsibility to pass on the legacy to those who follow.

Others before us planted the seed; it is our responsibility to nurture its growth, so those in the future may enjoy its fruit … and sow the seeds for yet future generations.

Our responsibility is to move from the “what’s in it for me” and “I got mine” mentalities, toward a long-term frame of reference and a focus on others (those we will never meet,) rather than ourselves.

That’s what sustainability means to me.  Happy Earth Day.

© 2013 Hoʻokuleana LLC

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Portuguese in Hawaiʻi

Reportedly, the first Portuguese in Hawai’i were sailors that came on the Eleanora in 1790.  It is believed the first Portuguese nationals to live in the Hawaiian kingdom sailed through on whalers, as early as 1794, and jumped ship.

The first recorded Portuguese visitor was John Elliot de Castro, who sailed to Hawaiʻi in 1814.  During his days in Hawaiʻi he became a retainer of King Kamehameha I, serving as his personal physician and as member of the royal court.

After two years in Hawaiʻi, he sailed off to the island of Sitka, Alaska and joined the Russian-American Company under Alexander Baranov, working as a commercial agent.

Later, Whitney notes, “In (1828,) extensive fields of cane were grown in and about Honolulu, and mills were erected in Nuuanu Valley and at Waikapu, Maui. At the latter place, a Portugese, named Antonio Silva, is spoken of as the pioneer sugar planter.”

For 50 years after these early visitors arrived, Portuguese sailors came ashore alone or in small groups, jumping ship to enjoy Hawaiian life and turning their backs on the rough life aboard whalers and other vessels.

The 1853 population of the Hawaiian Islands was 73,134, including 2,119 foreigners, of these, reportedly 86 were Portuguese.  Hawaiians referred to the Portuguese as “Pokiki.”

Eventually several hundred Portuguese made the Islands their home.  Many of the settlers came from Madeira Islands (about half the size of Oʻahu,) off the coast of Africa.  They also came from the Azores, nine islands between Portugal and the US, and about 1½-times the size of Oʻahu.

The reciprocity treaty in 1875 between the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi and the United States opened the US sugar market to Hawaiʻi and greatly increased the demand for workers.

Jacinto Pereira (also known as Jason Perry,) a Portuguese citizen and owner of a dry goods store in Honolulu, suggested in 1876 that Hawaiʻi’s government look for sugar labor from Madeira where farmers were succumbing to a severe economic depression fostered by a blight that decimated vineyards and the wine industry.

At that time, about 400-Portuguese, a large number of whom formerly served as seamen on whaling vessels, lived in Hawaiʻi.  Then, the numbers grew.

São Miguel in the eastern Azores was also chosen as a source of labor. In 1878, the first Portuguese immigrant laborers to Honolulu arrived on the German ship Priscilla. At least one hundred men, women and children arrived to work on the sugar plantations. That year marked the beginning of the mass migration of Portuguese to Hawaiʻi, which continued until the end of the century.

In 1879 in Hawaiʻi, Portuguese musicians (Madeira Islanders) played on “strange instruments, which are a kind of cross between a guitar and a banjo, but which produce very sweet music” (this Madeiran guitar, the machete, was destined to become known as the Hawaiian ʻukulele.)  (Hawaiian Gazette – September 3, 1879)

On his world tour, in 1881, King David Kalākaua visited Portugal and was entertained in royal fashion by Portugal’s King Dom Luis. That year two ships delivered over 800-men, women and children from São Miguel.  The next year a treaty of immigration and friendship was signed between Portugal and the Hawaiian Kingdom.

Migration to Hawaiʻi became popular to escape poverty and a harsh military system. The dream of settling in islands that looked like home drew workers away from offers to labor in the fields of Brazil and urban seaports of the US.

Mass immigration of the Portuguese to Hawaiʻi also came from New England and California as Portuguese came to replace Chinese workers who left plantations to open stores and work in the trades.

While Chinese and Japanese workers had come as single men, whole families came from Portugal (reportedly, forty-two percent of the early Portuguese emigrants were men, 19% women and 39% children.)

The sponsoring of Portuguese immigration to Hawaiʻi was ceased in 1888 due to its high cost and the success of efforts to recruit Japanese workers. Almost 12,000-people had moved from Madeira or São Miguel, Azores to Hawaiʻi by that time.

Many continued to be employed by the plantations even after their contracts had been fulfilled.  Others, however, sought to take up independent work and turned especially to farming and ranching.  Between 1890 and 1910, many Portuguese left Hawaiʻi and migrated to California, primarily the Bay Area.

The Portuguese have given Hawaiʻi many traditions.  In music – they brought the ʻukulele and steel-string guitar.  Try to image Hawaiʻi without sausage (linguiça,) malasada (malassada) or sweet bread (pão doce) … or Frank De Lima.

The image shows the early influence the Portuguese had on Hawaiian music and hula – the ʻukulele.  I added a couple of other images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

Follow Peter T Young on Facebook  

Follow Peter T Young on Google+  

© 2013 Hoʻokuleana LLC

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Waikīkī – Kauhale O Hoʻokipa

We are happy to announce that Native Hawaiian Hospitality Association (NaHHA,) serving as the sponsor for the Waikīkī – Kauhale O Hoʻokipa Scenic Byway, has retained Hoʻokuleana LLC to assist in the application, designation and planning processes for the Byway through the Hawaiʻi Scenic Byway Program.

The Hawaiʻi Scenic Byways Program is designed to complement the National Scenic Byways Program, a nationwide effort to identify, promote, manage and invest in roadways that are the most significant in their region with regard to these scenic, historic, recreational, cultural, archeological and natural qualities.

The purpose of the Hawai`i Scenic Byways Program is to formally designate Hawaiʻi Scenic Byways and to establish and implement Corridor Management Plans (CMPs) for our corridors.

The Hawaii Scenic Byways Program identifies and recognizes:
• roads that “tell a story” that is special;
• roads with outstanding scenic, cultural, recreational, archaeological, natural and historic qualities; and
• roads that will benefit from a coordinated strategy for tourism and economic development

First, the name – it is not only descriptive of the meaning and feeling of Waikīkī as we know it today, it is also a metaphor of Waikīkī in traditional (ancient Hawaiian) times, at multiple levels.

In ancient times, a ‘kauhale’ was a cluster of structures [a living compound.]  The traditional Hawaiian home was the kauhale (Lit., plural house;) this was a group of structures forming the homestead – with each building serving a specific purpose.

Literally, ‘Waikīkī – Kauhale O Hoʻokipa’ translates to ‘Waikīkī – Home of Hospitality.’  But, this context of “Home” can expand and also represent the community of Waikīkī.

Starting with Māʻilikūkahi, who ruled in the 1400-1500s (at about the same time Christopher Columbus crossed the Atlantic,) Waikīkī became the Royal Center for Oʻahu’s ruling Aliʻi.  It remained as such, through Kamehameha I.

The Royal Centers were areas selected by the Ali‘i for their residences and Ali‘i often moved between several residences throughout the year.  The Royal Centers were selected for their abundance of resources (water, fishing, fertile land, etc) and recreation opportunities, with good surfing and canoe-landing sites being favored.

The Scenic Byways program serves to identify “Intrinsic Qualities” along the corridor; these include Scenic, Natural, Historic, Cultural, Archaeological and Recreational.

These intrinsic qualities break into two clusters:
“Land” (Scenic, Natural and Recreational,) and
“People” (Historic, Cultural and Archaeological)

Sites and Stories of Waikīkī, as illustrated through its Intrinsic Qualities, help tell the stories of the Land (‘Āina) and its People from the earliest beginnings of Hawai‘i to today.  Waikīkī – Kauhale O Hoʻokipa will be incorporating several core story themes:
• Royal Residences
• Visitor Industry
• Military
• Natural/Geologic
• Socio-Economic-Political
• Side Trips

Although many of the sites and structures of Waikīkī from the ancient times are long gone, many of these pre-contact Hawaiian places, environment, people, history and culture still convey the sense of earlier importance through continued use of original place names for areas, streets, surf sites, symbols, etc and other references to these people, places and times.  Though gone, they are not forgotten and continue to express the ways of the past.

Through the telling of stories of Waikīkī (and a goal of the establishment of a Scenic Byway (and dream of NaHHA founder, George Kanahele,)) we help to restore Hawaiianness to Waikīkī in a positive, productive and respectful way.

The sense of place of Waikīkī lies within these stories, under the overarching contexts of “Aloha” and “Hoʻokipa” (Hospitality.)

“Waikīkī’s significance is as a place of history, not destination.” (George Kanahele)  Restoring some of Waikīkī’s historical and cultural integrity through Waikīkī – Kauhale O Hoʻokipa Scenic Byway will help to illustrate “I ka wā mamua, ka wā mahope” (The future is in the past.)

This is our third Scenic Byway opportunity.  We also assisted the Kona Sponsor of “Royal Footsteps Along the Kona Coast” with their Corridor Management Plan (the first approved in the State,) as well as helping the Kōloa Sponsor of Holo Holo Kōloa Scenic Byway with their permits and CMP.

In addition to each of those receiving Historic Preservation Commendations from Historic Hawaiʻi Foundation, the Kona project also received the Environment/Preservation Award from the American Planning Association-Hawaiʻi Chapter and the Pualu Award for Culture & History from the Kona-Kohala Chamber of Commerce.

For more information on this project, you can click the following link for a background summary of Waikīkī,  the Scenic Byway Program and the many stories that are told along its roadways.

Click here for more information on the Waikīkī – Kauhale O Hoʻokipa

The image shows our theme image, theme statement and mission/vision – ultimately, we see this Scenic Byway helping to “Restore Hawaiianness to Waikīkī.”

Follow Peter T Young on Facebook  

Follow Peter T Young on Google+  

© 2013 Hoʻokuleana LLC

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Hanami – Waimea Cherry Blossom Heritage Festival

Hanami (Japanese, literally, hana = flower and mi = look … “flower viewing”) is the Japanese traditional custom of enjoying the beauty of flowers; “flower” in this case almost always means cherry blossoms.

In Japan, the flowering cherry tree, or “Sakura,” is an exalted flowering plant.

On the continent, the plantings of cherry blossom trees originated in 1912, as a gift of friendship to the People of the United States from the People of Japan.

Over three-thousand cherry blossom trees were planted along the Tidal Basin of the reclaimed Potomac waterfront in Washington, DC.  Today, the National Cherry Blossom Festival is a DC spring celebration.

Cherry blossom trees are very temperamental. They grow in cold climates and require a lot of sunshine, space, rain and breeze. The flowers bloom when a cold spell is followed by a warm spell.

Waimea on the Big Island meets the criteria and today marks the 20th Annual Waimea Cherry Blossom Heritage Festival – with a bunch of activities and programs, focusing on the “Viewing of the Flowers in Springtime.”

The cherry trees in Waimea are in rows fronting Church Row Park. The first trees (there were initially only three) were planted in 1953 in honor of Fred Makino. These trees are the Formosan cherry trees from Taiwan, which produce flowers but no fruit.

In 1912, Fred Makino founded and edited the Japanese language newspaper Hawaii Hochi, which flourished through the Great Depression, two World Wars, dock strikes and political changes.  After Makino’s death in 1953, his wife decided to plant cherry trees in his memory.

From these, Parker Ranch gardener Isami Ishihara later propagated more trees.  Ishihara then approached Pachin Onodera of the Waimea Lions Club to suggest the trees be used to promote community beautification.

In 1972, led by President Frank Fuchino, the Waimea Lions Club started what was to become a cherry tree park at the County-owned Church Row by planting 20-trees donated by Ishihara.

In 1975, 50-more trees were added in a tree planting commemorating the visit of Emperor Hirohito and Empress Nagako to Hawaiʻi and to honor the first Japanese immigrants who settled in Waimea.

For two decades, Waimea’s free community festival has showcased the 60-year-old cherry trees planted at Waimea’s historic Church Row Park.  The event also celebrates this community’s rich Japanese cultural heritage and traditions at venues throughout town.

Look for pink banners identifying sites — from the Parker Ranch Historic Homes on Māmalahoa to the Hawaiian Homestead Farmer’s Market.

Everyone is invited to spend the day enjoying a lineup of Japanese and multi-cultural performing arts, plus hands-on demonstrations of bonsai, origami, traditional tea ceremony, mochi pounding and a host of colorful craft fairs and delicious foods.

Festivities begin at 9 am in the parking lot behind Parker Ranch Center with special guests, honorees and performances, including bon dancing.

Highlights this year will be an anniversary exhibit honoring some of the festival’s first performers and commemorating its founders – most notably the memory of the late Anne Field-Gomes, whose volunteerism benefited many Waimea organizations and events, including the festival.

Anne Field-Gomes died October 23, 2012 at the age of 84. She brought the AARP’s Tax Aid program to Waimea, served on the Waimea Community Association Board, and was treasurer for the Friends of Thelma Parker Library and the South Kohala Traffic Safety Committee. She was a member of the Waimea Outdoor Circle, St. James’ Church and Imiola Congregational Church and the Waimea Pupule Papale Red Hat Club.

The image is this year’s event poster.  In addition, I have added other related images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

Follow Peter T Young on Facebook  

Follow Peter T Young on Google+  

© 2013 Hoʻokuleana LLC