Prominent People | Page 154 | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

May 23, 2016 by Peter T Young 6 Comments

William Francis James

“Dear Doctor (James) – I have taken this opportunity to express my heartiest appreciation and many thanks for the good treatment that I received at your hands while at the hospital for the last past three months.”

“I am enjoying sound health at present owing to your skilful medical attention given me and which I never, will forget.” (Hawaiian Star, December 7, 1909)
On the continent, the idea of unified, correlated national health services had been germinating slowly since the epidemic of yellow fever in 1793. Fast forward about a century … State Boards of Health were being organized in rapid succession.

In 1874 the National Association of State Health Commissioners was formed, and the obvious need for a central federal health agency became more and more apparent. Then in 1879, a National Board of Health was created.

In 1872, the small island off Iwilei in Honolulu Harbor – “Kamokuʻākulikuli” – became the site of a quarantine station used to handle the influx of immigrant laborers drawn to the islands’ developing sugar plantations.

The site is described as “little more than a raised platform of sand and pilings to house the station, with walkways leading to the harbor edge wharf, where a concrete sea wall had been constructed” and as “a low, swampy area on a reef in the harbor”. (Hawaiian Gazette, March 23, 1881)

By 1888, Kamokuʻākulikuli Island had been expanded and was known as “Quarantine Island.” If vessels arrived at the harbor after 15 days at sea and contagious disease was aboard, quarantine and disinfecting procedures were required at Quarantine Island. (Cultural Surveys)

At the request of the Territorial authorities an officer of the United States Public Health Service was detailed for duty as sanitary adviser to the Governor of Hawaii. (Journal of Public Health, 1913)

The work of the Public Health and Marine-Hospital Service in Hawaii was divided into four sections: quarantine operations; plague-preventive measures; immigration inspection; and marine-hospital relief.

“At Honolulu the service has a first-class quarantine and disinfecting station with a wharf capable of accommodating vessels of 35 feet draft. The quarantine station has accommodations for 75 cabin and 600 steerage passengers in the regular quarters and barracks.”

“In addition there are tent platforms of United States Army Regulation, 14 by 15 size, which can be made available at short notice for 1,280 soldiers, with the cooperation of the Quartermaster Department of the Army or of the Hawaiian National Guard. There is also tentage capacity on the island for at least as many more troops or other persons.”

“At Hilo the service maintains a second-class quarantine and disinfecting station with facilities for fumigating vessels by the sulphur-pot method. There is as yet no provision for handling numbers of persons in quarantine except on shipboard or by arrangement with the board of health for use of its quarters temporarily.”

“At the subports of Mahukona, Kahului, Lāhainā, Port Allen and Kōloa acting assistant surgeons of the service board and inspect incoming vessels.” (Surgeon General Annual Report, 1911)

Dredged materials from improvements to Honolulu harbor had enlarged Quarantine Island again and by 1906 the island was encircled by a seawall and was 38-acres. By 1908 the Quarantine Station consisted of Quarantine Island and the reclaimed land of the Quarantine wharf (with a causeway connecting the two.)

Quarantine Island (what is now referred to as Sand Island) became the largest United States quarantine station of the period, accommodating 2,255-individuals. This facility included two hospitals and a crematorium. (Cultural Surveys)

One of its residents was William Francis James. James was born in Darwhar, Bombay Presidency, India, November 11, 1860, the son of Cornelius Francis and Caroline Sophia James.

Dr William Francis James was married to Sarah Ellen “Helen” Robinson in San Antonio, Texas on June 16 1886. The couple were parents to eight children: William Walter James, Francis “Frank” Leicester James, Stella James, Caroline Ella “Cherie” James Morren, Sophie Ethel James Fase, Gracie James, Naomi James Jacobson Hart and Ruth James Lord. (Schnuriger)

James was a graduate physician (Tulane, 1893) and surgeon in private practice since 1888 in San Antonio Texas. He enlisted in the US Army in the Rough Riders, 1st Volunteer Cavalry during Spanish American War in 1898 and then came to the Islands in 1903 to work for the Public Health Service; his salary was $200 per month.

His duty as Acting Assistant Surgeon required him to board vessels wanting to enter the port of Honolulu and examine their passengers and crew and ascertain if there are any diseases there among that would prevent the vessel from entering the port. (US Circuit Court of Appeals)

“(W)e treat free of charge all sailors on United States boats, and also hospital treatment and outdoor patients treatment, and boarding vessels for the purpose of examining the crew and passengers on board the boats as to their health, and contagious diseases especially.” (James)

His services went beyond medicine … “Voicing the unanimous sentiment of the Japanese community, the members of the Japanese Hotel Union of Honolulu desire to express their deep appreciation of the heroic act …”

“… by which a Japanese woman, Sei Shibata, was saved by you from drowning in Honolulu harbor on the 23rd of September, 1912.” (Honolulu Star-Bulletin, October 3, 1912)

“Plunging into waters infested with sharks, Acting Assistant Surgeon WF James, of the public health service, stationed at Honolulu, rescued a Japanese woman from drowning on September 23.”

“The Young brothers’ launch Water-witch with visiting newspapermen was soon at the scene, and the woman and her brave rescuers were hauled aboard. From the launch they were transferred to the ‘Korea.’ Drs Trotter and James worked over the woman for some time before she was restored to consciousness.” (Honolulu Star-Bulletin, September 24, 1912)

“(James) was lauded for bravery by Secretary of the Treasury MacVeagh, who yesterday called attention to his ‘humanitarian and unselfish action.’ Dr James was formerly a Roosevelt Rough Rider.” (Honolulu Star-Bulletin, November 4, 1912) He died May 23, 1944 in Honolulu.

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Sand Island Wharf-Dr. William F. James and family (heavenlycolors)

William_Francis_James

Dr William F James with his wife Sarah Robinson James

Quarantine Station-Dr William F James with his wife Sarah Robinson James-(heavenlycolors)

Immigration Quarantine Station (Sand Island)-PP-10-4-001-00001

Immigration Quarantine Station (Sand Island)-PP-10-3-021-00001

Japanese_Coming_Off_Ship-causeway on Sand Island-(HSA)-PP-46-4-005-00001

Immigration Quarantine Station (Sand Island)-PP-10-3-030-00001

Honolulu Harbor-light-quarantine station-PP-40-3-008

Honolulu Harbor Light Station (L) and the Quarantine docks (R)

Honolulu-USGS_Quadrangle-Honolulu-1927-noting Quarantine Island

Honolulu_USGS_Quadrangle-Honolulu-1933-noting Quarantine Island

Honolulu_Harbor_to_Diamond_Head-Wall-Reg1690-1893-noting Quarantine Island

May 20, 2016 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Lady in Waiting

Captain Henry Blanchard, master of the brig Thaddeus (that brought the Pioneer Company of missionaries to the Islands in 1820,) married a Molokai chiefess named Koloa. They had a daughter, Harriet, born in 1831.

Harriet married an itinerant English actor, John Townsend, whose dramatic company performed in Honolulu. He gave up acting and invested in a sugar plantation (that went bankrupt.) Then he disappeared, leaving Harriet with their two children Eveline (Kittie) and George.

Eveline Melita Townsend joined Kawaiahaʻo Church, where she sang in the church choir, led by then-Princess (later-Queen) Liliʻuokalani. Liliʻuokalani must have been charmed by her exuberant and fatherless choir member, for Eveline became a protégé of the princess and later an intimate friend. (Krauss)

“(Kittie) professed a great fondness and love for me, and with two other young ladies, Lizzie Kapoli and Sophie Sheldon, had made my home theirs. Bright young girls, with happy hearts, and free from care and trouble, they made that part of my life a most delightful epoch to me.”

“It was then that Mr (Charles Burnett (CB)) Wilson first sought the hand of pretty little Kittie Townsend. Thus we had known Mr Wilson quite well as a young man when he was courting his wife.”

“My husband and myself had warmly favored his suit; and, with his wife, he naturally became a retainer of the household, and from time to time they took up their residence with us.” (Liliʻuokalani)

The Wilsons had a son, Johnny. CB Wilson was appointed Marshal of the Kingdom.

“One evening, shortly after Mr and Mrs Wilson had moved into the bungalow, he presented himself at the Blue Room of the palace, and then first mentioned the idea that a new constitution should be promulgated. … About two days’ after this suggestion I received a call from Mr. Samuel Nowlein, who alluded to the same matter.”

“On the sixteenth day of January. 1895. Deputy Marshal Arthur Brown and Captain Robert Waipa Parker were seen coming up the walk which leads from Beretania Street to my residence.”

“Mrs Wilson told me that they were approaching. I directed her to show them into the parlor, where I soon joined them. Mr. Brown informed me that he had come to serve a warrant for my arrest; he would not permit me to take the paper which he held, nor to examine its contents.”

“(W)e arrived at the gates of ʻIolani Palace, the residence of the Hawaiian sovereigns. We drove up to the front steps, and I remember noticing that troops of soldiers were scattered all over the yard.”

“(I)n conference it was agreed between us … that Mrs Wilson should remain as my attendant; that Mr. Wilson would be the person to inform the government of any request to be made by me, and that any business transactions might be made through him.” (Liliʻuokalani)

“During the imprisonment here of Liliuokalani in 1895 Mrs Wilson was chosen by the ex-Queen as best friend and the relations between them were of the closest and most confidential nature. In the old court days here Mrs. Wilson was prominent both on account of her own position as a lady in waiting and her husband’s official rank.” Hawaiian Gazette, May 24, 1898)

During her imprisonment, Queen Liliʻuokalani was denied any visitors other than one lady in waiting (Mrs. Eveline Wilson.) Johnny would bring newspapers hidden in flowers from the Queen’s garden; reportedly, Liliʻuokalani’s famous song Kuʻu Pua I Paoakalani (written while imprisoned,) was dedicated to him (it speaks of the flowers at her Waikiki home, Paoakalani.)

Paoakalani written by Liliuokalani, performed by Kuuipo Kumukahi:

In 1897, Johnny Wilson and fellow Stanford student Louis Whitehouse won the bid to expand and construct a ‘carriage road’ over the Pali. Ground was broken on May 26, 1897 and the road was opened for carriages on January 19, 1898.

(When the current Pali Highway and its tunnels opened (1959,) the original roadway up and over the Pali was closed and is now used by hikers.)

Then, “It was a painful thing for our hearts to hear that the uncompassionate hand of death reached out and took the precious breath of life from the body of Mrs Evalaina Willison (Wilson,) the wife of Mr CB Willison (Wilson,) in the early morning of this Saturday, after she began to waste away of sickness for just a few short days.”

“She was a well-known woman here in town, and elsewhere on the island, and she was the attendant of Queen Liliuokalani while she was on the throne until her overthrow.”

“There were many, many friends who visited to see her for the last time, and then dust returned to dust, for that is where it came from. She leaves behind a husband, child and family who grieve for her from this side of the grave. (Aloha Aina, May 28, 1898)

Later, her son Johnny Wilson got involved with politics and is credited as being the most important Democrat in the first half of 20th-century Hawaiʻi; his name is used with Jack Burns in the party movement. He was in a meeting on April 30, 1900 that organized the Democratic Party of Hawaiʻi and served as Honolulu Mayor.

Initially known as the ‘Kalihi Tunnel’ (and often called the Likelike Tunnels,) the Wilson Tunnels are named in honor of John H Wilson. (1998 brought the completion of H-3 (and the Tetsuo Harano Tunnels – named after a longtime state highways administrator.))

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Lyman C Newell, Queen’s lady-in-waiting, Queen Liliuokalani, Adam H Dickey & Mrs SK Kea-PP-98-13-007

May 16, 2016 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Silva’s Stores

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.

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 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.

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 Hawaiiʻ, which continued until the end of the century.

John Ignacio Silva was born at Ponta Delgada, São Miguel, Azores, Portugal on October 15, 1868, son of Jose Ignacio and Angelica de Jesus (Gomes) Silva.

He reportedly came to the Islands in the early-1880s and began his business career as clerk in store of PA Dias, Kapaʻau, Kohala, 1885-86; clerk, A Enos & Co, Wailuku, Maui, 1887-90; salesman, Gonsalves & Co, on Island of Maui, 1890-93; travelling photographer, Gonsalves and Silva, Honolulu, 1893-94. (Siddall)

He moved to Kauai; the local paper noted, “Copartnership. The undersigned having bought out the general merchandise business of M. Gonsalves, jr., ʻEleʻele, Kauai, will carry on the business under the name of Frias & Silva. Jose De Frias, JI Silva” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, June 21, 1894) He bought out Frias in 1896; beginning in 1901, he was for many years the postmaster at ʻEleʻele.

He expanded; “JI Silva, the pioneer merchant of ʻEleʻele, has three flourishing establishments, the main, big store being at ʻEleʻele, with branches located at Homestead and at Hanapepe.”

“He formerly had branches at Koloa and Kalihiwai, but on account of the tremendous growth of his ʻEleʻele and other enterprises near home, found that he had not time to properly look after his distant establishments, so closed them up.”

“At ʻEleʻele Mr. Silva carries a very large and complete stock of general merchandise. He has his ‘drummers’ on the road and maintains a very complete auto truck delivery service to great distances.”

“Mr. Silva is general manager of his stores. AM Souza is manager of ʻEleʻele store, John G Abreu of Homestead store, and MR Jardin of the establishment in Hanapepe. Mrs Silva is postmistress at ʻEleʻele, while Mr. Silva is acting postmaster at Homestead.” (The Garden Island, December 22, 1914)

For a short while he was in politics; “Silva knows the political situation of Kauai so well that whatever he says in matters political, will be accepted as final.”

“Silva, while a member of the house of representatives, of the legislature of 1907, was called by his colleagues the ‘red salt’ representative from Kauai. This was due to his presentation to each member of the house of a small bag of red salt, brought from his place at ʻEleʻele.” (The Garden Island, September 8, 1914)

His operation was a success, “A little further on, ’round the corner, we discovered the ʻEleʻele Store, Kauai’s ‘Temple of Fashion,’ the largest private commercial house on Kauai, and which is owned by Hon JI Silva.”

“The nature of the proprietor of this very prosperous looking institution is evidence by the fact that he is the only manager to use the gasoline truck for delivery purposes on the island – having recently purchased a Buick from the Kauai Garage Co.”

“It required but a very short interview with the genial manager to acquaint us with the secret of his success. Up to date window dressing is a feature of this attractive store which enjoys a large patronage from the surrounding community.” (The Garden Island, July 25, 1911)

All seemed to go well; until, “Notice is hereby given that John I. Silva, doing a general merchandise business at ʻEleʻele, Island of Kauai, Territory of Hawaiʻi, under the name of ‘ʻEleʻele Store,’ has this day assigned all of his property – to the undersigned for the benefit of his creditors.”

“All creditors of the above named John I. Silva and all persons having claims against him will present same, duly authenticated and with proper vouchers, if any exist, to the undersigned, at said ʻEleʻele Store, within sixty (60) days from the date thereof, otherwise they will be forever barred. Dated March 17th, 1922. Theo H Davies & Company, Ltd, Assignee for the benefit of the creditors of John I. Silva. (The Garden Island, March 21, 1922)

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J. I. Silva Homestead Store, Kauai-PPWD-14-3-003-(1900)

John_Ignacio_Silva-TGI

J. I. Silva Homestead Store, Kauai-PPWD-14-3-003-(1900)

Sugar Plantation, Eleele Kauai,PPWD-18-3-027 c. 1885

May 12, 2016 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

‘Ulumalu

After Kāne created the spring at Kapunahou, Kanaloa suggested that they return to their home at Kōnāhuanui. They traveled through Mānoa over ‘Aihualama to the heights of Pu‘u o Mānoa (Rocky Hill) onto the plains to the land of Kulumalu (also Kaulumalu or Ka ‘Ulumalu) “the shade of the breadfruit.”

Kulumalu was oʻioʻina o nā akua, the rest temple of the gods and the place where the food for the gods was cooked. According to legends, the menehune built a fort and a temple at the top of the hill ‘Ulumalu.

A hill labeled “Ulumalu” was plotted on the 1882 Baldwin map of Mānoa Valley on the west side of Mānoa Road. This map also shows that the hill was part of Grant 4166 to Mrs. Mary Castle.

In the late-nineteenth century, the Castles (descendants of an early missionary family) built a large estate on this hill, called Puʻuhonua. (Cultural Surveys)

‘Mother’ Castle was 81 when she moved into the great house with two middle-aged daughters. Her children, who by now all had homes of their own, thought to “add to the happiness of her few remaining years by building her a beautiful home.”

The 8.16 acres had been purchased at auction on May 12, 1898, for $6,250. A government survey station on the site had already been given a name from the past, Ulumalu. Many stone walls had to be erected.

One at the mauka end was built by a young engineer named John Wilson (long-time mayor of Honolulu), on his first job in Hawaii after graduating from Stanford. (In this same year he would be engineer in charge of the first carriage road over the Nuʻuanu Pali.) (Robb & Vicars)

One of the Castle sons, George (1851-1932), recalled “there being a beautiful grove of breadfruit and ʻōhia trees where native birds congregated in great numbers. The man who planted the grove was very old and I was a boy. Sand (volcanic cinders) came down … and choked the trees.”

Another son, William (1849-1935), gave the name Puʻuhonua to the property. Pu‘u (hill or protuberance) and honua (of earth; but also meaning a place set apart for refuge and safety.) (Robb & Vicars)

“The story is told that way back in the late-nineties when the Castle brothers were building the magnificent edifice as home for their mother, Mary Castle, the Hawaiian workmen digging the foundations had their picks snatched from their hands by the Pueos (owls) and at once ceased work on the sacred spot.”

“Mr George Castle, who remembers the incident, believes that the picks struck into (an) old cave”. (Bulletin of the Pan Pacific Union, April 1925)

A large roomy barn was constructed first (“room enough for three carriages”), and here Mrs Castle with her daughters Harriet and Caroline, and Isabella Fenwick, their housekeeper, moved from the Castle homestead at Kawailoa (610 S King Street) in March 1899 while the Manoa house was being built. (Robb & Vicars)

Built as home for ‘Mother’ Castle, they moved into the big house in the early part of 1900; it was the first building in the islands in which passenger elevator was installed.

There were a porte-cochere, an entrance way, a great hall, a library (15 by 21 feet,) a music room (19 by 26), and a lanai (20 by 20). The dining room (15 by 20) had its own fireplace. And also on the ground floor were sewing room, bath, laundry, pantry, kitchen, and storage rooms.

The hydraulic elevator rose to the second floor, where there were six bedrooms, a sitting room, linen closets and one supportive bathroom. A third floor had two bedrooms (16 by 19), a third (19 by 21), and a loggia to the east. This comes to more than 6,000 square feet, without counting the balconies.

“The outlook from Puʻuhonua (high above what is now Cooper Road) has always been called the millionaires’ view, and it is, for there is probably no such view in the islands as that from the lanais of the big building.”

“Looking mauka are the mountains of Upper Manoa, Konohua Nui and Olympus, towering 3000 feet, and ever may be seen the tumbling cascades and waterfalls over the evergreen precipices. In the foreground is hedge of night blooming cereus second only to that at Punahou, and beyond the great level taro patches of the valley.”

“Looking makai is majestic Diamond Head and the shimmering water of Waikiki seen over the waving tufts of the coconut trees, some of which, it is said, Kamehameha planted with his own hands when he landed for the first time on Oahu Island to subdue and rule it.” (Bulletin of the Pan Pacific Union, April 1925)

‘Mother’ Castle’s tenure of the Manoa house was not long. She died March 13, 1907, at 88 years. The next and different life of the house and area now commenced. It became the ‘Castle Home for Children’ on May 7, 1907.

Several cottages had been built on the property, with such names as Lodge, Gables, Chalet, Lanai (in one of these lived Miss Frances Lawrence, who was superintendent of “Free Kindergarten and Children’s Aid Association” (FKCAA) for many years.)

Mrs. Harriet Castle Coleman headed the FKCAA. She died in 1924 and FKCAA was told to close the orphanage. Percy M Pond, a well-known realtor, bought the property on May 23, 1924, and put in two new streets parallel to and above Manoa Road, the top street named Puʻuhonua, the other Kaulumalu (this eventually became an extension of Ferdinand Street.)

Pond made 40 lots on 3.2 acres on the lower portion. That became called Castle Terrace. The Castle home (Pu‘uhonua) then became the research center for the Pan-Pacific Union.

Alexander Hume Ford, director of the Pan-Pacific Union (who had also organized the Outrigger Canoe Club and the Trail and Mountain Club,) intended the property is to be used solely as the home of Pan-Pacific research institute, or college of graduates to “tackle the scientific problems of the Pacific peoples, especially those of food production, protection and conservation.”

“The assistant students will, it is expected, attend the University of Hawai‘i, where they will take their degrees. Two such students from the mainland now with scientific party here, are expected to be the first of such entries in the University of Hawaii with others to follow from lands across the Pacific.” (Bulletin of the Pan Pacific Union, September 1924)

In the following 16-years the Pan-Pacific Union became a sort of early “think tank” capable of providing “perfect quiet for study, remote from disturbances, with ample room for visiting scientists to live and work.”

Many other institutions were happy to cooperate. The Bishop Museum lodged research fellows there, often for a year at a time. There was one charge for the lodgers: a visitor was expected to give at least one of the weekly public lectures.

A Junior Science Council was added. In 1933 Ford wrote that “twenty students of all races and from many localities, members of the Pan-Pacific Student’s Club who are attending the University of Hawai‘i, are occupying the barn and carriage house in a cooperative housekeeping arrangement and working out in their own way ideas which may promote happier international relations.” (Robb & Vicars)

The big house was finally torn down in 1941. The other associated structures lay empty, and gradually they disintegrated. Termites had long been a problem.

Today, 79 owners share the original and lasting wonders of the legendary area: mountain and ocean views, a cool climate, just enough rain, frequent rainbows and sun-glinted waterfalls—all that Mother Castle had come to live with and enjoy in her last years. (Robb & Vicars)

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Castle’s Manoa Home-PP-46-4-003-1886

Puuhonua-Castle_Manoa_home-Robb&Vicars

Puuhonua and Castles on June 20, 1903-Robb&Vicars

Orphans at Puuhonua, about 1910-Robb&Vicars

Orphans at Puuhonua about 1910-Robb&Vicars

Manoa_Valley-Baldwin-(DAGS)-Reg1068-1882-portion

May 6, 2016 by Peter T Young 3 Comments

Foodland

Although supermarkets existed in the islands as early as 1928; it was not until after World War II that supermarkets developed on a large scale basis in Hawaii.

Maurice J Sullivan left his native Ireland in 1927 (at the age of 17) for New York with $7 in his pocket. His first job was sacking potatoes at The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company (A&P) in Pennsylvania. Within a year, he worked his way up to store manager in Buffalo, New York.

During World War II, Sullivan enlisted in the Air Corps and was stationed at Hickam Air Base. Placed in charge of procuring product for the Commissary and Officers’ Mess Hall, “Sully” would travel the island looking for fresh produce.

One such trip brought him to the Lanikai store, run by Chinese immigrants, the Lau family. The Laus had purchased the Lanikai store in 1941. Shoo She Pang “Mama” Lau and her daughter Joanna befriended him. Joanna, a McKinley High School graduate, had left her studies at the University of Hawaii to help her mother run Lanikai Store.

Soon, Sully would visit them on his days off to work at the store. After the war, the Laus asked Sully to help them run their business.

Knowing he would not be satisfied running a small mom-and-pop store and worried that Hawai‘i was too small, he declined and returned to Buffalo, NY. (A few weeks of winter changed his mind, and he returned to the islands.)

He went back to the Laus at the Lanikai store and told them he had two conditions in working with them: first, they would remodel the store, and second, they would promise to one day help him fulfill his dream of opening a supermarket.

They agreed. Sully worked there for two years as store manager.

The Laus were friends with Hiram Fong, who had just purchased some property at the corner of Kapiʻolani Boulevard and Harding Avenue in Honolulu – this became Market City Shopping Center.

Mama Lau persuaded Fong to lease her space for a supermarket. With the hard work of Mama, Sully and Joanna and $20,000 in capital, the store opened on May 6, 1948. At Joanna’s suggestion, the store was called ‘Foodland Super Market.’

The success of the Market City store demonstrated the popularity of the supermarket concept and showed Sully’s commitment to creating great shopping experiences.

From there the Foodland chain grew quickly as School Street, ‘Āina Haina and Beretania Street locations joined the fold within a few years.

The first traffic signal in Kailua was installed at the intersection of Kuʻulei and Kailua Roads in 1954. That year, Foodland opened Windward Oʻahu’s first modern supermarket across from Kailua Beach Park. (Kāneʻohe Ranch)

Not only were Foodland’s fifth and twelfth stores located in Kailua, but Sully Sullivan soon married Mama’s daughter, Joanna Lau, and the two raised their family in Kailua – right next to the Kailua Road store.

The company grew quickly, opening a store a year for the next ten years. It expanded to Kauai in 1967, Maui in 1970 and the Big Island in 1971.

In addition to Foodland, Sully opened Food Pantry (to serve Hawaii’s growing visitor market), Dunkin’ Donuts, Hallmark card stores, Morrow’s Nut House, Swiss Colony and jewelry retailer Coral Grotto. Sullivan was the original Hawaii franchisee for McDonald’s; the first one opened in ‘Āina Haina.

Today, there are 32 Foodland and Sack N Save locations statewide, and more than 2,500 employees. (Sully died February 28, 1998 and Joanna died September 2, 2015.)

Remaining a locally-owned, family-run business, the company is now run by Sully’s daughter, Jenai Sullivan Wall. (Lots of information here is from Foodland, Advertiser and Star-Bulletin.)

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