Prominent People | Page 5 | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

August 5, 2024 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Norma Jeane

Norma Jeane Mortenson (the name on her birth certificate) was born June 1, 1926 to Gladys Pearl Monroe (her mother Gladys was married three times – to Jasper Baker, Martin Edward Mortenson and John Stewart Eley).

Norma Jeane’s birth certificate named Edward Mortenson as her father, but Charles Stanley Gifford, a co-worker of Gladys’ with whom she had an affair around the time of Norma Jeane’s conception, was determined to be her biological father. (Time & Newsweek)

She later baptized Norma Jeane Baker and lived in a foster home of Ida and Albert Bolender. Her mother was frequently confined in an asylum, and Norma Jeane was reared by 12 successive sets of foster parents and, for a time, in an orphanage. (Britannica)

On June 19, 1942 – after dating only a few months and just 18 days after Norma Jean’s 16th birthday – she married 21-year-old James Dougherty.

In 1944, Dougherty joined the merchant marine and was initially assigned to teach sea safety on Catalina Island, where the young couple moved into an apartment. “She was just a housewife,” Dougherty told UPI. “We would go down to the beach on weekends, and have luaus on Saturday night.” (LA Times)

“Dougherty eventually shipped out, and Norma Jeane moved in with his parents in North Hollywood. … In 1944, while working at Radioplane, Ethel Dougherty and her daughter-in-law joined the ranks of the millions of women known as ‘Rosie the Riveters’ helping the war effort.”

“During her 60-hour workweek at the nation’s minimum wage of $20 a week, Norma Jeane’s assignments included spraying glue on aircraft fabric and inspecting and folding parachutes.” (Airport Journals)

“American women played important roles during World War II, both at home and in uniform. Around 5 million civilian women served in the defense industry and elsewhere in the commercial sector during World War II with the aim of freeing a man to fight.” (US Dept of Defense)

Women had to step up to work in the factories that produced what the men needed, and the Rosie the Riveter character was created to recruit them. The men were celebrated when they arrived home, but women lost their jobs and their role was forgotten. (Daily Mail)

“In the summer of 1945 Private David Conover, a professional photographer working for the U.S. Army Air Corps First Motion Picture Unit, was sent to the Radioplane Munitions Factory in Burbank, California to shoot morale-boosting photographs of employees doing their part to help the war effort.”

“As Conover later wrote, ‘I moved down the assembly line, taking shots of the most attractive employees. None was especially out of the ordinary.’”

“‘I came to a pretty girl putting on propellers and raised the camera to my eye. She had curly ash blond hair and her face was smudged with dirt. I snapped her picture and walked on.’”

“‘Then I stopped, stunned. She was beautiful. Half child, half woman, her eyes held something that touched and intrigued me. I retraced my steps and introduced myself. ‘And you?’ ‘I’m Norma Jeane Dougherty.’ She smiled and offered her hand.’”

“The 19-year-old Norma Jeane’s appearance and natural ease in front of the camera capitivated Conover, and upon hearing that she wanted to become an actress, he told her that she would need to become a model first.”

“To give Norma Jeane a portfolio, Conover sought and was granted leave. He spent the next two weeks with Norma Jeane in the hills of Southern California teaching her how to pose, model and ‘address’ a camera.”

“Most of the film was mailed to a processing lab. But Conover retained a few rolls of exposed film. Good thing: The mailed film never arrived and has never been found.” (South Florida Sun Sentinel)

“Conover noted that 19-year-old Norma Jeane’s response to the camera was amazing. She seemed to ‘come alive’ with an immediate and natural instinct.”

“In fact, he was so excited by his discovery that he could barely hold the camera steady. He must have hidden his excitement from his subject, because the teenager timidly asked if she was photogenic.”

“After several photo sessions and with Conover’s influence, Norma Jeane applied at the Blue Book Modeling Agency. There she was groomed in the art of modeling and encouraged to lighten her hair.”

“She soon had the attention of every producer in Hollywood. In July 1946, Norma Jeane signed a contract with Twentieth Century Fox Studios”. (Airport Journals)

On February 23, 1956, Norma Jeane Mortenson changed her legal name to Marilyn Monroe (although she’d been known publicly by the moniker since 1946). (The Atlantic)

“Shortly after their wedding and en route to Japan for their honeymoon, Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio made a stop in Honolulu, where they were greeted by hysterical fans—some of whom even reached out to touch or pull Monroe’s hair. As protection, the newlyweds were given a police escort to Waikiki’s Royal Hawaiian”. (Robb Report)

“Marilyn Monroe, one of the most famous stars in Hollywood’s history, was found dead early today [August 5, 1962] in the bedroom of her home in the Brentwood section of Los Angeles. She was 36 years old. Beside the bed was an empty bottle that had contained sleeping pills. Fourteen other bottles of medicines and tablets were on the night stand.” (NY Times)

August 2, 2024 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

ʻĀinahau Fire

“One of the biggest screen attractions offered to Maui this season is coming next week, the Aldrich Production, ‘The Black Lily.’ Manager Ross received announcement of the offering by wireless this morning. He expects that Mr Aldrich and Mrs Peggy Aldrich will be here at the same time.”

“As yet the mainland has had no chance to see this Hawaiian production. … It has been shown in Honolulu and was received with favor and followed by exceptionally flattering newspaper criticisms.”

“Peggy Aldrich is well known among the screen stars and as a producer Mr Aldrich has been successful. He has taken numbers of motion pictures of the Islands on other stays here before he purchased a home in Honolulu, knows the Islands and Island life and the ‘Black Lily’ is said to be one of the best Island plays ever screened.”

“Another Hawaiian feature is added, ‘Sonny’ Cunha in ‘Poi or Bust’ in which the Hawaiian musician seeks to rival Roscoe Arbuckle as a comedian.” (Maui News, May 27, 1921)

Aldrich zipped in and out of Hawaii to film travelogues, gather entertainers, and then return to the mainland to tour the results. He was a favorite of Hawaiʻi tourism business groups such as the Ad Club. He traveled across the mainland to theaters small and large showing his Hawaii travelogue supported by live entertainers, Aldrich’s Imperial Hawaiians.

His shows advertised Hawaii, correcting common erroneous beliefs (No, there is not an active volcano in Honolulu). In a letter to the Advertiser, Aldrich boasted his film and troupe reached 1 million people in a few months. He touted 400,000 viewers in greater Chicago. (Elks)

“William F Aldrich, adventurer, artist, globe-trotter, has done in celluloid what the old masters did with brush and oil. To say that he is a motion picture cameraman would be as much an error as to call Rembrandt a photographer.”

“With his camera he brings to the screen in glorious proportions the wonders of the universe. No beaten path he follows, but from the queer out-of-the-way places brings to live on the screen the romance of people and environments which we of this prosaic business world would meet only in books.” (Promotional brochure)

“William F Aldrich, a member of the expedition sent out by the Peter Pan Film Corporation to photograph the world, made an exceptionally interesting bit of motion picture history when he risked death in photographing the interior of the crater of Kilauea, Hawaii’s active volcano.”

“Numerous efforts to accomplish this feat have met with defeat, and Aldrich’s efforts are said to have netted the Peter Pan company the best photographic record of this boiling lake of flaming lava, which will be introduced in the fourth episode of ‘The Honeymooners,’ Peter Pan’s scenic serial.”

“The successful filming of the sputtering crater of Kilauea was accomplished by Aldrich on October 5. He wore a gas mask similar to those in use in European warfare, reinforced by a leather cap that covered all of his face except his eyes.”

“He made the descent of three hundred feet of almost perpendicular cliff to the inner edge of the lake of lava, and set up his tripod with the seething liquid earth licking at his shoes.”

“After completing his task Aldrich climbed out of the bowels of the earth and removing his fantastic headgear said: ‘It’s just like going to hell.’” (Motography, November 10, 1917)

It was an unfortunate later fire that also involved Aldrich; one August night, Aldrich, the “movie picture man,” was having dinner when his wife yelled “Fire!”

He ran to the room where the gas heater stood and saw flames. Neighbors tried to help by beating them out with cloths. A fire truck was summoned from Kaimukī, but the pin holding together the steering gear fell out and the truck crashed into a fence. By the time help arrived, the building count not be saved. (Cultural Surveys)

“With great difficulty the flames were prevented from spreading to adjacent buildings. Sparks were carried to the roof of the Moana Hotel by the high wind.” (Maui News, August 5, 1921)

“Historic ʻĀinahau, at Waikiki, was totally destroyed by fire August 2d (1921,) together with most of its furniture and fittings, on which $15,000 insurance was carried.” (Thrum)

“Historic ʻĀinahau, home of the wide lanais and lofty palms, rendezvous of Honolulu society in the reign of King Kalākaua, and haunt of Robert Louis Stevenson in his Hawaiian days, is gone. “

“The age old coconut trees which surrounded the famous palace were torches of remembrance, flaming high into the tropic night long after ʻĀinahau had become only a ghost among its glowing embers, but today they are charred stumps around blackened ruins.”

“Cleghorn, who survived both Princess Miriam Likelike and their daughter, died only a few years ago. His wish was that the estate might be preserved to posterity as a public monument, but the government did not see fit to accept the gift, and the property was cut up into building lots.”

“The palace itself, after a brief career as a hotel, passed into the hands of WF Aldrich, the moving picture producer, who, with his wife, “Peggy” Aldrich, had a rather close call last night when the place burned.” (Gessler, The Step Ladder, October 1921)

“For two or three years ʻĀinahau had been used for the developments of films depicting life in the Hawaiian Islands and from its dark rooms went forth celluloid impressions of Hawaii that have been displayed upon the screens of movie houses across the mainland” (The Garden Island, August 9, 1921)

“Mr. Aldrich plans to build on the property a model Hawaiian village of grass huts for the entertainment of visitors and the use of motion picture companies in filming Hawaiian scenes.”

“The Stevenson banyan was badly damaged, but it is expected to survive.” (Gessler, The Step Ladder, October 1921)

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William F Aldrich

A Trip to the Hawaiin Islands and Aldrich’s Imperial Hawaiian Singers-cover

A Trip to the Hawaiin Islands and Aldrich’s Imperial Hawaiian Singers-1

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A Trip to the Hawaiin Islands and Aldrich’s Imperial Hawaiian Singers-5

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July 31, 2024 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Land Sampans

A shortage of laborers to work in the growing (in size and number) sugar plantations became a challenge. The only answer was imported labor.

Starting in the 1850s, when the Hawaiian Legislature passed “An Act for the Governance of Masters and Servants,” a section of which provided the legal basis for contract-labor system, labor shortages were eased by bringing in contract workers from Asia, Europe and North America.

The first 943-government-sponsored, Kanyaku Imin, Japanese immigrants to Hawaiʻi arrived in Honolulu aboard the Pacific Mail Steamship Company City of Tokio on February 8, 1885. Subsequent government approval was given for a second set of 930-immigrants who arrived in Hawaii on June 17, 1885.

With the Japanese government satisfied with treatment of the immigrants, a formal immigration treaty was concluded between Hawaiʻi and Japan on January 28, 1886. The treaty stipulated that the Hawaiʻi government would be held responsible for employers’ treatment of Japanese immigrants.

Iwaji Minato “was among 1,500 contract laborers who came to Hakalau from Japan on the Niikemaru … he was employed at Hakalau Plantation as a day laborer.”

“As soon as his three-year contract expired, Minato bought a mule and began his transportation career. For the first two years he was his own boss, but later he worked under Jack Wilson of the Volcano Stables as mail carrier on the Hilo-Hakalau route.” “Minato was a mule-driver … carrying passengers and express on his carriage between Hilo and Hakalau.”

“This he continued for 16 years until he acquired the new conspicuous bus in 1913. ‘My license number 161,’ said Minato smilingly. ‘Me first man in Hilo get license. Plenty me drive before, but no more license.’” (Hawaii Tribune Herald, July 24, 1932) “Minato’s bus became the oldest ‘Land Sampan’ or cruising bus in Hilo.” (Warshauer)

“Traveling at a rate of 70 miles per day for the last 19 years, and not missing a day, is a record of Iwaji Minato, owner of Hilo’s oldest ‘sampan,’ or cruising bus. … In 1913 Minato bought this relic for $500. It was then a shiny second hand Ford, the envy of all his comrades,”

“Today, in that same car, which has traveled more than 485,000 miles. He makes seven trips a day to and fro between Hilo and Hakalau.”

“Young and old patronize his bus, regardless of its nondescript air and old-fashioned rear entrance. When anyone teases him about his keeping the old sampan and suggests a new one he shakes his head negatively and thereby ends the conversation.” (Hawaii Tribune Herald, July 24, 1932)

“‘What’s a Sampan?’ … ‘It’s one of those taxi-cabs that looks like a bathtub gone wrong.’ … ‘You’re nuts. It’s a boat. Say, guys, this mug thinks a Sampan is a taxi-cab!’”

“Well, an argument started and the air was full of sneers and jeers, and somewhat confused nautical terms. But it just so happens that, here in the islands. They both are right, for a Sampan is either of two things: a taxi-cab or a boat.”

“The land Sampan was originated here in the islands some years ago and is seen nowhere else. Looking, indeed, like bathtubs with a cover and wheels, they’ll take you almost anywhere you want to go – on land.”

“The seagoing Sampan is something else again. In peace time, they were just plain fishing boats, but since the war began, they have been taken over by the Navy and are used for in-shore patrol duty.” (Hawaii Tribune Herald, May 16, 1942)

“The sampan was born in the blacksmith shops of Hilo to meet the city’s need for mass transportation. Turning a Ford Model T or Model A sedan or coupe [and then subsequent car makes and models] into a bus that could carry 10 or more passengers entailed removing the body aft the cowl and building a longer, open body with bench seats along the sides.” (Lee)

“One of the few oldtime blacksmiths still plying his unique trade, Teiji Kamimura of the Kamimura Blacksmith Shop, 864 Kilauea Avenue, recalls that the very first sampan built in Hilo was at the old Von Hamm Young Co. by a first class carpenter named Miwa. He recalls that incident back in 1922 since he did all of the blacksmith work for it.”

“Some of the pioneers in the sampan construction business (sampan busses are unique to Hilo) were Shigeyoshi Kamada of the Kamada Blacksmith Shop, Hisagoro and Akira Yasukawa – Yasukawa Blacksmith Shop, Otomatsu Enseki – Enseki Blacksmith Shop, Toshio Aramori, and few others.”

“One of the first sampan operators was Fukumatsu Kusumoto. [He] recalls that it took them three months to construct the first bus … when he started his own business”.

“Almost all of the sampan operators in the early 1920s to 1935 were Japanese. Since then others and especially Filipinos got into the business. … Yasukawa and Aramori used to construct one sampan a month.” (Hawaii Tribune Herald, Feb 29, 1976)

“‘Sampan’ was the name previously given to small, flat-bottomed boats that provide personal transportation in the harbors and along the coasts of Southeast Asia. Since Japanese and Filipino residents of Hilo were the first to use similar construction techniques to convert motor vehicles to ferry passengers around the city, they also adopted the sampan name.” (Lee)

“Some of the early bus operators who were first to pioneer Hilo’s sampans included … Minato who used to service passengers up to Hakalau from Hilo, Dosaku Chonan, Taigeki Tamane Kuba, and many others in Hilo.”

“[B]ack in the early 1920s the bus fare from the then Waiakea Town to Hilo railroad depot formerly located makai of present Koehnen’s in downtown Hilo was just 5 cents.” This led to them being referred to as the “five cents” busses.

“During the heyday of the busses – 1930 to 1941, there were approximately 200 sampans in operation giving door to door services.” (Hawaii Tribune Herald, Feb 29, 1976)

“By the 1930s, sampan buses formed the backbone of the island’s early transit system, with some two hundred in operation. “Hilo’s motor transportation facilities are generally conceded to be unsurpassed in the islands, both in cheapness and in service,” the Honolulu Star-Bulletin declared three years later.” (Hana Hou)

Several associations were formed including Hilo Bus, Union Bus, Aloha Bus and Hawaii Bus. It was viewed as a “cut-throat” business (there was a price war in 1936 when there was “dissatisfaction and strained feelings among the local sampan bus drivers over the appearance of the Red Checker Bus Service, which is operating eight busses at a lower rate that the prevalent bus charges.” (HTH July 20, 1936)

In 1938, bus tariffs were arbitrated through the Hilo Chamber of Commerce and the agreed upon price schedule was tacked on the busses and drivers signed an agreement that they would abide by the new prices. (Hawaii Tribune Herald, Mar 30, 1938)

“But soon the personal vehicle was on the rise. Demand dwindled. By 1969, only a dozen drivers were left in Hilo. Six years later, the county council wanted safer alternatives.”

“Buses with the long, familiar boxy shape were rolling out, but one reluctant councilman deplored their look, calling for an option ‘other than one with a distinctive Mainland flavor.’ In December 1975, the county bought out the last five sampan drivers in Hilo.” (Hana Hou)

July 25, 2024 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

A Connecticut Yankee in Captain Cook’s Crew

John Ledyard, the son of a ship captain, was born in Groton Connecticut in 1751. He grew up in thriving New London County, where the West Indian trade made fortunes for enterprising merchants and captains.

When he was 11, his father and an uncle died at sea. He went to live with his grandfather, then his uncle (he apprenticed in his uncle’s law office.) During his teens Ledyard vacillated between a career in law and one in the ministry. (Bashford)

He took neither and headed to sea.

In March 1775, he boarded a ship to England where he enlisted in the British Army. Four months later, in July, he transferred into the British Navy, joining the Royal Marines. (Drury)

A year later, July 12, 1776, a Corporal in the British Marines, he became part of the last expedition under Captain James Cook (the only American on board.)

It consisted of two ships, the Resolution and Discovery, the former commanded by Captain Cook (with Ledyard aboard,) and the latter by Captain Clerke. (Sparks)

From Britain, the Resolution and Discovery sailed south and east, around the Cape of Good Hope, across the southern Indian Ocean to Tasmania, New Zealand, and from there to the various Polynesian island chains of the South Pacific.

It was in Tahiti that Ledyard is reportedly the first Westerner to be tattooed – with “Otaheite marks on my hands”. (Ledyard)

The expedition continued north and eastward reaching the Pacific Northwest coast of North America. It then sailed north, probing the Alaskan coastline in search of a Northwest Passage, connecting the Atlantic and the Pacific. (Drury)

With cold weather setting in, Cook decided to head to the Sandwich Islands for winter quarters.

“We had been approached several times by some canoes at a distance, but none of them would come near enough to converse with us or that we might see what sort of people they were until we anchored and furled our sails.”

“Those who came first were armed and appeared inexpressibly surprised, though not intimidated. They shook their spears at us, rolled their eyes about and made wild uncouth gesticulations.”

“The next day we were visited by a great multitude of canoes, bringing yams, sweet potatoes, hogs, plantains and other tropical fruits, which they … exchanged for little bits of old iron, nails and other articles.” (Ledyard)

While there, Ledyard requested permission to scale Mauna Loa, for the double purpose of exploring the interior, and, if possible, climbing to the top of the mountain. The request was granted.

The botanist and a gunner of the Resolution accompanied him; Hawaiians were also engaged to serve as guides. (Sparks)

“The woods here are very thick and luxuriant, the largest trees are nearly thirty feet in the girt, and these with the shruberry underneath and the whole intersected with vines renders it very umbrageous.” (Ledyard)

They never made it to the summit, having underestimated its height (13,680 feet,) distance and the thickness of the tropical undergrowth on its slopes, and had to turn back.

He was there when Cook was killed, “Cook and Mr. Phillips were together a few paces in the rear of the guard … Cook having at length reached the margin of the water between the fire of the boats waved with his hat to cease firing and come in, and while he was doing this a chief from behind stabed him with one of our iron daggers … Cook fell with his face in the water and immediately expired.”

“The natives did not attempt to molest the boats in their debarkation of our people, which was much wondered at, and they soon joined the others upon the Morai (heiau) amounting in the whole to about 60.” (Ledyard)

They left the Islands; the expedition returned to England in the fall of 1780. He was obligated to stay there until his enlistment expired early in 1782, while the American Revolution dwindled toward its close.

Refusing to fight against his countrymen, he was detained in barracks for two years. Then, sent out on a frigate that cruised American waters for several months, he jumped ship. (Halliday)

He began to write his ‘Journal of Captain Cook’s Last Voyage,’ published in 1783. After Ledyard’s petition to the General Assembly seeking copyright protection provoked a series of state laws that codified that right. Eventually, a federal copyright law was adopted in 1790. (Drury)

His journeys weren’t over.

Seeking support for a new expedition, he travelled to Europe. He met Ambassador Thomas Jefferson there, and discussed his plans to cross the American continent alone (from Stockholm, Sweden, across Siberia to New England.

Discussion of that journey helped call Jefferson’s attention to the possible value of the Northwest Coast and the need to explore the American continent; it led to the expedition of Lewis and Clark in 1804-1806, after Jefferson became president.

Ledyard would return to the Pacific Northwest on an expedition of his own—not merely to make a fortune in the fur trade, but to realize his dream of crossing the American continent alone (from Stockholm, Sweden, across Siberia to New Engand.)

However, his one-man journey ended a year later when Russian forces loyal to Catherine the Great arrested him in Irkutsk, Siberia, accusing him of being a spy. He was subsequently banished from the country. (Halliday)

A final journey, begun in June 1788, would be Ledyard’s last.

On an expedition to explore the interior of the African continent, he suffered a digestive ailment. His attempt at self-medication, by swallowing sulfuric acid and tartar emetic, eventually claimed his life in January 1789. John Ledyard was 38 years old. (Ray)

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July 19, 2024 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Four Miles

Nā pana keia ō Keaukaha
Mai Ka Palekai ā I Leleiwi
P`̄ mau I ka meheu ā nā Kūpuna …

Au aʻe ʻoe e pa mokumoku
ʻO Peiwe pili me Lokowaka
Kapaʻia o Kealoha Paka, Mile Eha

These are the famous places of Keaukaha
From the Breakwater all the way to Leleiwi,
Resounding to the footsteps of our ancestor …

You walk along the seashore and see the islets.
This is Peiwe, close to Lokowaka
Called today ‘Kealoha Park’ and ‘4-Miles’

(Edith Kanaka’ole; translation Kalani Meinecke; noted in Downey)

The shoreline lands of the Waiakea peninsula and Keaukaha contain fourteen fishponds, the largest of which is Lokowaka (at 60 acres in area), located directly across Kalaniana’ole Ave from a beach park. (John Clark)

Then, a tsunami hit the area … “In 1946, there was no tsunami warning system. In Hawaii, no one saw or felt anything that presaged the coming disaster. The tsunami was caused by a M8.6 earthquake centered in the Aleutian Islands more than 2,300 miles from Hilo. Needless to say, no one in Hawaii felt the shaking.”

“There were seismographs in 1946. The University of California at Berkeley had a network in Northern and Central California, including a station in Ferndale. Caltech had stations that covered the southern part of the State.”

“There were instruments elsewhere in the world including a pair in Hawaii, but earthquake investigations of that era relied on analyzing data after the event. It was often weeks until magnitude and location had been hammered down.”

“The 1946 tsunami killed 96 in Hilo, 158 throughout the Hawaiian Islands, five in Alaska, one in Santa Cruz and three elsewhere in the Pacific.” (Dengler, Times Standard)

During the tsunami of 1946 … “in the Keaukaha area east of Hilo, witnesses described the arrival of a wave from the north simultaneously with one from the northeast, which built up a very high crest at the place of juncture.” (Macdonald etal)

“A drive along the Keaukaha coast beyond Hilo today will leave you with a terribly depressed feeling. The tidal wave of April 1 in a few short minutes wiped the shoreline bare of once swanky homes and destroyed hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of property.”

“As soon las the road was repaired sufficiently to make the trip, Lorrin Thurston and your correspondent drove out with Police Lieutenant De Mello to view the damage. What was once the show place of the district was the home of the Wendell Carlsmiths.”

“Today nothing remains but the chimney of the house and the tennis court. Redwood beams from the house have been found miles away down the coast. Attorney Carlsmith was viewing his loss as we drove by. He told of the miraculous escape of himself and his family.”

“‘When I built this home,’ [Carlsmith] said, ‘I had a possible tidal wave in mind and constructed the foundation accordingly. As you can see it is 11 feet above sea level and I figured any wave coming in this far (the home was about 200 yards from the coastline) would not be above the level of this foundation.’”

“‘On the morning of the fatal wave I happened to look out my bedroom window and saw the first one coming. It wasn’t very big but it must have been traveling in about 40 miles an hour.’”

“‘I grabbed a robe and put it on and then ran down and released one of our dogs. Mrs Carlsmith in the meantime got the children out and into the car. I ran around the house with the water lapping at my heels. The dog refused to follow and that’s the last I saw of her.’”

“‘I dashed up the steps and into the garage and we started the car out. We got down as far as the tennis court and saw the water receding. We then walked back to see if any damage had been done.’”

“‘While we were examining the premises, we saw another wave coming and ran back to the tennis court. This wave was higher and washed up over the foundation of the house and into the pond in front but didn’t come up to the tennis court. We made our way then to the Laura Kennedy home which is on high ground and from there saw another wave coming from an opposite direction.’”

“‘This wave collided with another wave rolling in a different direction causing a huge water spout and then both of them rolled in over our house and across the highway. An old Japanese who had climbed a coconut palm when the first wave came had gotten down on the ground. He tried to shinny up again and was about 15 feet up the tree when the big wave got him. He disappeared.’”

“‘When the wave subsided, we could not see anything of our house except the naked chimney. There wasn’t even a stick of furniture. I lost the collection of a lifetime. And as you can see the grounds have been completely destroyed.’”

“‘Several thousand yards of dirt l had had hauled in have been washed completely away. I also have a valuable stock of liquor and wines and most of this is being salvaged. It had washed into the pond in front of the house. The children are digging it out now.’” (Advertiser, Coll; April 9, 1946)

Then, again … on May 22, 1960, a 9.5 earthquake – the largest ever recorded – hit southwest Chile, generating a tsunami that struck the Hawaiian Island in about 15 hours.

Hilo Bay area on island of Hawai‘i was hit hard by the 35-foot wave, which destroyed or damaged more than 500 homes and businesses. Sixty-one people died. Damage was estimated at $75 million.

In the vicinity of the Carlsmith property was a beach park; with several additions, the park properties in this area fell under different names. In 1963, Leleiwi Beach Park was renamed James Kealoha Beach Park, in honor of the former County Chairman who became Hawai‘i’s first elected Lieutenant Governor.

In 1972, Hawai‘i County Council adopted resolutions to acquire property for park expansion. Part of that package was the 1.92-acre ‘Carlsmith’ property. By that time Carlsmith had sold and San Francisco financier owned it and was planning an 8-story condominium. (Hawaii Tribune Herald, Jan 14, 1972)

By the end of the year the County had acquired the ‘Carlsmith’ (~2-acres) and ‘Richardson’ (~1-acre) properties for $2.42-million; the Parks Director, Robert Fukuda, said the additional acquisitions “would greatly enhance our program for providing recreational and regional park facilities in the Keaukaha area.” (HTH, Nov 12, 1972)

The park area makai of Lokowaka became known as Carlsmith Beach Park (in and around the Leleiwi/James Kealoha parks). More informally, it is known as Four Miles – it’s four miles away from downtown Hilo. Richardson’s Beach Park is just down the way.

An interesting side note, Carl and Nelle Smith, married in Atlantic, Iowa, left aboard the ‘Martha Davis’ from San Francisco and arrived in the Islands on December 27, 1897; Carl was 27 and his new bride was 26.

In Hilo he was associated in the practice of law with various partners, including DH Hitchcock (father of artist D Howard Hitchcock) and Charles F Parsons. In 1911, Carl sought to change his name.

Notices for “the Matter of the Petition of Carl Schurz Smith for Change of Name” were published in the newspaper Dec. 12, 19, 26 (1911), Jan. 2, 12 (1912). Those notices stated that Governor Walter F Frear “ordered and decreed that the name of Carl Schurz Smith hereby is changed to Carl Schurz Carlsmith”. (Hawaiian Star, December 19, 1911)

Carlsmith inherited the firm upon Hitchcock’s death in 1890. The firm was renamed to Carlsmith in 1911; his two sons Wendell and Merrill joining him in 1920, and his grandson, Donn, joined the staff in 1953. The Carlsmith law firm has had several names; it is now named Carlsmith Ball LLP.

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