Place Names | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

August 7, 2026 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Parker Ranch Manager’s House

“The early Waimea inhabitants resided typically within a pā hale (fenced house lot) with a sleeping house and adjacent protected cooking facility. The pā pōhaku (stone wall) surrounded the pā hale, and likely included within was a kīhāpai (garden).”

“The farming plot (‘apana) of the householder was located elsewhere within the agricultural zone of the respective ahupua’a. (Bergin; Windy McElroy)

“[I]n the Native Register, a man named Paukeaho lists a claim (#4513) for his house lot, and upland garden (‘āina mahi mauka) in Keanuiomano, an `ili near Haleaha.”

“In his claim Paukeaho states that are two gardens of taro ‘in the forest of this land (Native Testimony LCA 4513)’. In the Native Testimony, the konohiki William Beckley testified that he has seen the house lot in his `ili land at Keanuiomano …”

“… and, while he agrees to ‘give’ Paukeaho the land that he has previously cultivated, Beckley testifies that he has ‘never known its boundaries (Native Testimony).’” (Michael Vitousek)

“The impacts of cattle on the habitation structures is shown indirectly in Paukeaho’s claim (Native Register #4513) which states that the house lot he has acquired from the konohiki William Beckley is enclosed in a stone wall (pa pohaku). The stone wall was likely built to prevent damage from free-ranging herds of cattle.”

“There are numerous accounts in the Native Testimony and Native Register about fenced off, walled off house lots, or the desire on the part of the native tenants to fence or wall off their house lots in the future”. (Michael Vitousek)

A modern structure was built here. The oldest part was built around 1885 and was first used as an Episcopal Church. (Wai‘ula‘ula Watershed Management Plan) Since the turn of the century this white house was the Parker Ranch manager’s house.

John Palmer Parker married Kipikane, the granddaughter of King Kamehameha. They had two sons, John II and Ebenezer, and a daughter, Mary Ann Kaulalani Parker. (Tracy)

When John died in 1868, he willed half of the Parker property each to son John II and grandson Samuel Parker (son of Ebenezer – Ebenezer died in 1855). In 1879, John II purchased the “Hawaiian Victorian” mansion, Puuopelu.

Originally built in 1862 by Englishman Charles Notley, Puuopelu became the heart of Parker Ranch. (This is not the white house that is the subject of this summary.) (Paniolo Preservation Society)

John II adopted Samuel’s son John III to be heir of his half of the Ranch; John III married Elizabeth Jane Lanakila Dowsett but died shortly after his daughter, Annie Thelma Kahilu‘onāpua‘api‘ilani Parker, was born and his half of the estate was put in trust for their daughter, Thelma. (Tracy)

In 1879, John II purchased the “Hawaiian Victorian” mansion, Puuopelu. Originally built in 1862 by Englishman Charles Notley, Puuopelu became the heart of Parker Ranch. (Paniolo Preservation Society)

“[F]ollowing the death of JP Parker II in 1891, there was growing tension between Samuel Parker, estate trustees, and JP Parker III. The latter Parker died in 1894”. (Maly)

“On September 25, 1899, [Alfred Wellington] AW Carter was appointed guardian and trustee of Thelma Parker … In accepting the appointment as guardian and trustee, AW relinquished several opportunities that other men would have found difficult to abandon …”

“… a lucrative law career in the burgeoning city of Honolulu, president of Charles R. Bishop Trust, an executive career with Bishop Bank, deputy attorney general, judge of the First Circuit Court, and trusteeship of Bernice Pauahi Bishop’s estate.” (Bergin)

“When AW assumed the reins of the ranch, the combined total of fee simple land owned by Thelma K Parker and her natural grandfather Sam Parker amounted to only some 34,000 acres, with large parcels under lease.” (Bergin)

The AW Carter moved into the home (the 1885 structure referenced above that had been used as an Episcopal Church) – it was painted white (but the name Hale Kea (White House) did not take hold until a subsequent owner).

“It served as a home for Carter and his family for 60 years and included bunk houses on site for ranch hands. Many of the current gardens were originally pastureland and corrals.” (Landry Fuller, West Hawaii Today, Dec 10, 2018)

“Mr. Carter – AW was very strict for the good, you know. And people respected him for that. He was a father to the employees, and their families. And he just didn’t want to see anything go wrong within the families.”

“(Though) he was soft within himself, he was (a strict person). (However,) he was an easy man to talk to. He would give you a straight answer.” (Elizabeth Kimura, Oral History Interview)

“I saw the home when occupied by Hartwell Carter, AW’s son. It was very well kept,” historian and Waimea resident Billy Bergin said.” (Landry Fuller, West Hawaii Today, Dec 10, 2018)

In 1906, Sam Parker sold his interest to Thelma Parker’s trust, and she became the sole heir to the Parker Ranch. Thelma Parker married Henry Gaillard Smart when she was eighteen.

In 1913, Richard Palmer Smart was born to Thelma and Henry (a daughter died young). In 1914, both Thelma and Henry Smart died before Richard was two years old. (South Kohala CDP)

Then, on his 20th birthday, Richard became the sole owner of Parker Ranch. He entrusted AW Carter with ranch operations while he followed his heart to the footlights of Broadway and fashionable clubs in New York and Paris.

Over the years, AW and his son Hartwell Carter developed the ranch and increased land holdings to about 500,000 acres. (Paniolo Preservation Society)

Richard came back to the island in 1960 and set about making Puuopelu into his grand estate. … In 1986, Richard decided to move his ancestral home, Mana Hale, to the grounds at Puuopelu. Walls, floors and ceilings were taken down, numbered and reassembled into a replica of the original home. (Paniolo Preservation Society)

Richard Smart, last remaining heir to the Parker Dynasty, took over Ranch operations from Hartwell Carter, son of AW Carter during the middle of the 20th century. (South Kohala CDP)

Then, a new proposed use of the white house was reported in the papers … “Mauna Kea Hunting Lodge will offer a quarter-million acres of land and a boundless sea to its members when it open in September, in time for the finest hunting season in the Pacific.”

“Pacific Resorts, Inc., yesterday announced final plans on the construction of the $1-million sportsman’s hunting club at Waimea, Hawaii in the heart of the famed Parker Ranch.” (Adv, Apr 3,1960)

“Plans are being made in cooperation with the State Department of Agriculture and Forestry to establish a Hawaiian Hahai – a big game shoot to rival the international fame of the African safari or the Indian shikar.” (Adv, Apr 3,1960)

“Focal point of the club’s extensive grounds at Waimea will be the Parker Ranch manager’s home. The century-old white house will be the clubhouse with dining facilities, a bar, gaming and trophy rooms.” (Adv, Apr 3,1960)

“An initial 20 cottages … will dot the grounds so situated to take advantage of the exhilarating view of a waterfall that cascades and forms two pools on the property.”

Shortly after, “[Laurance] Rockefeller, an American philanthropist and businessman, purchased the property in the mid-1960s and lived there while building the Kohala Coast’s first hotel – Mauna Kea Beach Hotel.”

“During that time the property was expanded and grew to its present size. Some of his personal guests included Jackie Kennedy and Henry Kissinger.” (Landry Fuller, West Hawaii Today, Dec 10, 2018)

“In the 1970s and ‘80s, Waimea rancher and businessman William White owned the property and used it as his private residence. … [I]t was Bill (White) who gave it the name ‘Hale Kea’ [White House].” (Landry Fuller, West Hawaii Today, Dec 10, 2018)

“In 1989, developers from Kauai [operators of Kilohana plantation estate] opened the estate to the public with shops and a popular restaurant named Hartwell’s.” (Landry Fuller, West Hawaii Today, Dec 10, 2018)

White sublet the property and its name was changed to Jacaranda Inn. That operated for a number of years. Tax office records note that in April 2021, the lease/or subleases over the property were cancelled and the property is held by Parker Ranch Foundation Trust.

Also here was “Waimea’s rain rock, Manaua, named for the resident moo wahine – guardian lizard of Kohakohau stream.” (WHT, Aug 22, 2017) “In times of drought, the elders in Waimea remember the mo‘o wahine, or female water spirit, and the comfortably sloped rock where the old stories say she comes to sun herself.”

“The rock is known as Manaua, and after the long drought … Hawaiian cultural practitioners began leaving … offerings there in a tradition that is supposed to bring rain.”

“According to local legend, the mo’o wahine lives at a pond some distance from the rock, and when she sees the offerings at Manaua, she realizes the people remember her. … Then the rains resumed in some mauka areas, and after the offerings were made, the water reserves climbed”. (Adv, July 6, 2007)

“‘When AW Carter lived, he knew the story about the rain god. The rain god is the stone.’ said [Anna] Perry-Fiske, sitting in her pristine ranch house amid cowhide throw rugs and bouquets of roses from her lush garden. AW Carter, she explained. was an important honcho of Parker Ranch in the old days.”

“When Parker Ranch sold Hale Kea to Rockefeller, said Perry-Fiske, they held onto the small hunk of property where the rain stone lies. ‘Whenever there was a drought, there’d be a lei made. It would be put on the rain stone. And there would be rain,’ said Perry-Fiske.”

“‘Well, I don’t believe. But I said, people who do believe, they should hurry up quick and do it.’ So last week the ranch folks cleared off the stone.”

“‘They put on a real big lei,” said Perry-Fiske. ‘The next day it rained. And my friends called and said, ‘Maybe this will make you believe.’ And it stopped raining. And I said, quick, go put another lei on. …” Then it started raining.

“And as it rained, Perry-Fiske said ‘you’d have thought I was at a football game, because I was chanting ‘a little bit more, a little bit more.’” (Adv, Feb 11, 1981)

August 6, 2026 by Peter T Young 2 Comments

Hālawa

“Early the next morning, with a pleasant breeze from the NE, we stood over towards the east point of Mororoi (Molokai.) … we sailed to the westward … In this the land rises rather abruptly from the sea, towards the lofty mountains in the center of the east part of Morotoi …”

“… and though the acclivity was great, yet the face of the country, diversified by eminences and vallies, bore a verdant and fertile appearance. It seemed to be well inhabited, in a high state of cultivation, and presented not only a rich but a romantic prospect.” (Captain George Vancouver, March 19, 1793)

“… a beautiful deep valley….watered by a large and delightful stream of fresh water which falls from the mountains…in two grand and beautiful cataracts one of which rushes over a perpendicular decent of more than five hundred feet into a deep…and crystal lake”.

“The stream which issues from the lake … is so situated as to be easily drawn off by sluices into the taro plots…. the valley is principally laid out in these small rectangular plots …” (Hitchcock, 1833; NPS)

In 1877, a native Hawaiian described Hālawa “as a very fertile valley, with wild fruits, mountain shrimps, and much water in the streams…. There were nine hundred and thirteen taro patches and with the hundred and nine others that I hadn’t counted, they totaled a thousand and thirty-two patches. Most of the land is covered in taro”. (NPS)

“The glimpses of Molokai which one obtains from a steamer’s deck while passing to Honolulu from San Francisco or in passing to and from Maui (along its south shore,) give the impression that the island is bleak, mountainous and desolate.”

“Skirting its (north) shores on the Hālawa, Wailua and Pelekunu sides on Wilder’s fine steamer Likelike, gives a far different picture. For miles sheer precipices rise from the sea and tower 1,500 feet into the air.”

“Now and then, and sometimes in groups, beautiful waterfalls are seen on the face of the cliff, now falling in clear view for a couple of hundred feet, now hidden under denses masses of foliage, only to reappear further down, another silvery link In the watery thread which ends In a splash and scintillating mist in the breakers below.” (Hawaiian Gazette, March 31, 1905)

The windward valleys developed into areas of intensive irrigated taro cultivation and seasonal migrations took place to stock up on fish and precious salt for the rest of the year. Kalaupapa was well known for its bountiful ʻuala (sweet potato) crops and its fine-grained, white salt which was preferred over that from the salt ponds of Kawela and Kaunakakai. (Strazar)

John FG Stokes, who was Curator of Polynesian Ethnology at Bishop Museum, was sent to Molokai in 1909 to survey the remains of the ancient Hawaiian temples (heiau) found there. Stokes recorded thirteen medium-sized heiau distributed along the lower slopes and two large luakini heiau.

Molokai used to be referred to as ʻAina Momona (the bountiful land,) reflecting the great productivity of the island and its surrounding ocean.

It is about 38-miles long and 10-miles wide, an area of 260-square miles, making it the 5th largest of the main Hawaiian Islands (and the 27th largest island in the US.)

The island was formed by two volcanoes, East and West, emerging about 1.5-2-million years ago. The cliffs on the north-eastern part of the island are the result of subsidence and the “Wailua Slump” (a giant submarine landslide – about 25-miles long that tumbled about 120-miles offshore – about 1.4-million years ago.)

Hālawa Valley is the easternmost valley at the edge of Molokai’s north shore; four other major valleys span the coastline, from Hālawa westward toward Kalaupapa: from east to west they are Papalaua, Wailau, Pelekunu and Waikolu.

Archeological surveys indicate that by the 1300s, Hālawa Valley’s population had expanded inland, and small irrigation systems were developed along the streams.

By the 1600s, an extensive taro irrigation system dominated the valley’s settlement pattern. At that time, the lower valley was entirely covered in large rectangular fields watered by long irrigation ditches (taro loʻi made up about 55-acres of land.)

Hitchcock who established the first permanent Mission Station at Kaluaʻaha in 1832, gave a census figure of 6,000 for the island. (Strazar)

These early counts were generally taken in the field by both native school teachers and missionaries. During this period, the Reverends Hitchcock and Smith preached once a week at seven different stations from Kamaloʻo to Hālawa, and in 1833 they estimated the population of the entire island to be about 3,300. (Strazar)

August 4, 2026 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Kamakahonu

“The view of the king’s camp was concealed only by a narrow tongue of land, consisting of naked rocks, but when we had sailed round we were surprised at the sight of the most beautiful landscape.”

“We found ourselves in a small sandy bay of the smoothest water, protected against the waves of the sea; on the bank was a pleasant wood of palm-trees, under whose shade were built several straw houses …”

“… to the right, between the green leaves of the banana-trees, peeped two snow-white houses, built of stone after the European fashion, on which account this place has the mixed appearance of a European and Owhyee village”.

“(T)o the left, close to the water, on an artificial elevation, stood the morai (heiau) of the king, surrounded by large wooden statues of his gods, representing caricatures of the human figure.” (Kotzebue, visiting in 1816)

Several large and densely populated Royal Centers were located along the shoreline between Kailua and Hōnaunau. One such center was located along the north end of Kailua Bay at Kamakahonu.

Kamakahonu (lit. turtle eye) was possibly established as early as the sixteenth century by ʻUmi-a-Līloa. It was during the early nineteenth century that Keawe a Mahi, a kahu of Keaweaheulu presided over Kamakahonu, and upon the death of Keawe a Mahi, Kamakahonu became the residence of Kamehameha I.

During Kamehameha’s tenure at Kamakahonu several structures were erected using both traditional materials and techniques and more “modern” materials and techniques.

Kamehameha first moved into the former residence of Keawe a Mahi. He then built another house on the seaward side of that residence, that was referred to as hale nana mahina ‘ai.

This house was built high on stones and faced directly upland toward the planting fields of Kūāhewa. Like an observation post this house afforded a view of the farm lands and was also a good vantage point to see canoes coming from South Kona and from the Kailua vicinity. (Rechtman)

Much of the following is from John Papa ‘Īʻi’s book, ‘Na Hunahuna no ka Moʻolelo Hawaii’ (Fragments of Hawaiian History;) he was a member of the Kamehameha household.

‘I‘i describes that the “King erected three houses thatched with dried ti leaves,” a sleeping house (hale moe) and separate men’s (hale mua) and women’s (hale ‘āina) eating houses. The hale ‘āina belonged to Kaʻahumanu, and as ‘I‘i described:

“This house had two openings in the gable end toward the west, and close to the second opening was the door of the sleeping house. A third opening was in the end toward the upland.”

“There were three openings in the sleeping house. The one in the middle of the west end, one which served as a window on the upland side of the southwest corner, and one mauka of the window. This window lay beyond the men’s house (mua) on the south. The door mauka of the window was the one entered when coming from the men’s house.”

“The door of the men’s house closest to the sleeping house was the one used to go back and forth between these two houses. There was also a door in the end wall on the west side of this house, and two small openings in the south seaward corner, one in the upper side and one on the lower side of the corner.”

“These faced the many capes of Kona and took in the two extremities of this tranquil land and the ships at anchor. However, should the ships be more to the ocean side, only the masts were visible.”

“A fifth opening was a little on the seaward side of the northeast corner, where the upland side of the men’s house extended a little beyond the sleeping house, and it was only through this entrance that the men went in and out. It was near the door that was used to enter from the sleeping house.”

“Near the door facing westward in the mua, was the king’s eating place. On the upper side were large and small wooden containers that served as bowls and platters, together with a large poi container always filled with poi from the king’s lands.”

“The men’s eating house, the sleeping house, and the women’s eating house were at the end of a 7- to 8-foot stone wall that ran irregularly from there to the shore at the back of the hale nana mahina ‘ai. Outside of the wall was the trail for those who lived oceanward of Kamakahonu. Immediately back of the wall was the pond of Alanaio, where stood some houses.”

“Two eating houses were built for Kaheiheimālie and her daughter, Kekāuluohi, opposite the three houses thatched with ti leaves. They stood back of the kou trees growing there at Kamakahonu, both facing northwest.”

“Kaheiheimālie’s eating house had two doors, but Kekāuluohi’s had but one door. In front of her house was a bathing pool, at the upper bank of which were some small houses and that of the king.”

“A stone house was built between the three houses thatched with ti and those of these chiefesses. Its builder was either a Frenchman or a Portuguese named Aikona. He was skilled in such work…”

“When Aikona began building the end and side walls of the house at Kamakahonu he built a third wall between them and arranged stones in the center of this middle wall to from a door.”

“The walls rose together until the house, from one end to the other, was finished. When Aikona later removed the stones set up in the doorway of the center wall, the doorway looked like the fine arched bridge of Pualoalo at Peleula in Honolulu.”

“As he removed the stones, Aikona explained that had they been piled inexpertly, the whole house might have collapsed. This house was well completed.”

“In the stone house were stored the king’s valuables and those of Aikona’s. These valuables were kegs of rum and gunpowder and guns, of which the guns and powder were placed on the inside near the inner wall. “

“Later, another storehouse was built in Kamakahonu, on the north side of the hale nana mahina ‘ai. It had stone walls and was constructed like a maka halau. The upper of its two stories was for storing tapa, pa‘u, malos, fish nets, lines, and olona fiber; and all other goods went into the lower story.”

“The thatching was of sugar-cane leaves, the customary thatching on the house along that shore. Dried banana trunk sheaths were used for the inside walls and were cleverly joined from top to bottom. Banana trunk sheaths were also used in the hale nana mahina ‘ai.”

“After these houses were built, another heiau house, called Ahuʻena, was restored (ho‘ala hou). This house stood on the east side of the hale nana mahina ‘ai, separated from it by about a chain’s distance.”

“The foundation of Ahuʻena was a little more than a chain from the sand beach to the westward and from the rocky shore to the eastward. Right in front of it was a well-made pavement of stone which extended its entire length and as far out as the place where the waves broke.” (ʻĪʻi, Na Hunahuna no ka Moʻolelo Hawaiʻi’ (Fragments of Hawaiian History))

August 1, 2026 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Nanaue

Puʻumano (Shark Hill) is in the ahupuaʻa of Kainalu on the south-western side of the Island of Molokai. There is a shallow ravine leading up the slope to the summit – tradition suggests this was caused when Nanaue was dragged by Unauna.

Let’s look back …

During the time of ʻUmi, there was a beautiful girl from Waipiʻo named Kalei. She was an expert swimmer, a good diver and noted for the neatness and grace with which she would ‘lelekawa’ (jump from the rocks into deep water without any splashing of water.)

Kalei was very fond of shell-fish, and frequently went to the coast for her favorite food. She generally went in the company of other women, but if the sea was a little rough, and her usual companion was afraid out, she very often went alone.

In those days, the Waipiʻo River emptied over a low fall into a basin partly open to the sea. (The forces of nature have since filled the pool with rocks.) Back then, it was a deep pool and a favorite bathing place.

The shark-god, Kamohoaliʻi, also used to visit this pool.

Kamohoaliʻi was the King-shark of Hawaiʻi and Maui. It was the belief of the ancient Hawaiians that several of these shark-gods could assume any shape they chose, even the human form, when occasion demanded.

Kamohoaliʻi had noted the charms of the beautiful Kalei, and took a liking to her. Knowing he couldn’t court her in his shark form, he assumed the form of a very handsome man, and waited for the girl to show up at the beach.

It was a rough day and Kalei came alone; caught in a wave (raised by the god himself,) the handsome stranger came to Kalei’s rescue. The acquaintance was established and Kalei met the stranger from time to time – finally becoming his wife.

Some little time before she expected to become a mother, her husband, who all this time would only come home at night, told her his true nature, and informing her that he would have to leave her, gave orders in regard to the bringing up of the future child.

He particularly cautioned the mother never to let him be fed on animal flesh of any kind, as he would be born with a dual nature, and with a body that he could change at will.

In time, Kalei delivered a healthy boy named Nanaue; he was apparently the same as any other child, but he had, besides the normal mouth of a human being, a shark’s mouth on his back between the shoulder blades.

Kalei had told her family of the kind of being her husband was, and they all agreed to keep the matter of the shark mouth on the child’s back a secret.

The old grandfather, far from heeding the warning given by Kamohoaliʻi in the matter of animal diet, as soon as the boy was old enough to come under the tabu in regard to the eating of males, and had to take his meals at the hale mua (men’s eating house,) took special pains to feed him on dog meat or pork.

When he became a man, Nanaue’s appetite for animal diet, indulged in childhood, had grown so strong, that the ordinary allowance of a human being would not suffice for him.

The old grandfather had died in the meantime, so that he was dependent on the food supplied by his stepfather and uncles, to feed his shark-like appetite. This gave rise to the common native nickname of a ‘manohae’ (ravenous shark) for a very gluttonous man, especially in the matter of meat.

People were curious as to why Nanaue always kept a kihei (a loose garment of tapa thrown over one shoulder and tied in a knot) on his shoulders.

He also didn’t participate in the games and pastimes of the young people (for fear that the wind or some active movement might displace the kapa mantle, and the shark-mouth be exposed to view.)

About this time children, and eventually grown-ups, began to mysteriously disappear.

Nanaue had one good quality that seemed to redeem his apparent unsociability; he was almost always to be seen working in his mother’s taro or potato patch when not fishing or bathing. People going to the beach would pass by, and it was Nanaue’s habit to ask where they were going.

If they answered ‘to bathe in the sea’” or for ‘fishing,’ he would answer, ‘take care or you may disappear head and tail.’ Whenever he so confronted anyone, it would not be long before some member of the party so addressed would be bitten by a shark. If it should be a man or woman going to the beach alone, that person would never be seen again.

The shark-man would immediately follow, and watching for a favorable opportunity, jump into the sea. Having previously marked the whereabouts of the person he was after, it was an easy thing for him to approach quite close and changing into a shark, rush on the unsuspecting person and drag him or her down into the deep, where he would devour his victim.

This was the danger to humanity which his king-father foresaw when he cautioned the mother of the unborn child about feeding him on animal flesh, as thereby an appetite would be evoked which they had no means of satisfying, and a human being would furnish the most handy meal of the kind that he would desire.

Eventually, while he was in human form, folks managed to remove his kihei and see the shark mouth on his back. The news of the shark-mouth and his characteristic shark-like actions were quickly reported to the King.

The King was told of the disappearance of so many people in the vicinity of the pools frequented by Nanaue; and of his pretended warnings to people going to the sea, which were immediately followed by a shark bite or by their being eaten bodily, with every one’s surmise and belief that Nanaue was the cause of all those disappearances.

ʻUmi asked the priests and shark kahunas to make offerings and invocations to Kamohoaliʻi that his spirit might take possession of one of his ‘hakas’ (medium devoted to his cult,) and so express to humanity his desires in regard to his bad son, who had presumed to eat human beings, a practice well known to be contrary to Kamohoaliʻi’s desires.

The shark-god manifested himself through a ‘haka’ and expressed his grief at the action of his wayward son. He told them that the grandfather was to blame for feeding him on animal flesh contrary to his orders.

Then the shark-god, promised they would be forever free from any persecutions on account of their unnatural son, and Nanaue left the island of Hawaii, crossed over to Maui and, later on to Molokai.

It was not very long before he was at his old practice of observing and accosting people, giving them his peculiar warning, then following them into the sea in his human shape, then seizing one of them as a shark and pulling the unfortunate one to the bottom, where he would devour his victim.

This went on for some time, until the frightened and harassed people in desperation, went to consult a shark kahuna, as the ravages of the man-eating shark had put a practical tabu on all kinds of fishing. It was not safe to be anywhere near the sea, even in the shallowest water.

Following the instructions of the kahuna, the people overpowered Nanaue and started a fire to burn him (it was well known that only by being totally consumed by fire that a man-shark can be thoroughly destroyed, and prevented from taking possession of the body of some harmless fish shark, who would then be incited to do all the pernicious acts of a shark-man.)

The people also called to their aid the demi-god Unauna, who lived in the mountains of upper Kainalu. It was then a case of Akua vs. Akua.

Nanaue was finally conquered and hauled up on the hill slopes of Kainalu to be burnt. The shallow ravine left by the passage of his immense body over the light yielding soil of the Kainalu hill slope, can be seen to this day.

The place was ever afterwards called Puʻumano (Shark Hill,) and is so known to this day.

Unauna ordered the people to cut and bring for the purpose of splitting into knives, bamboos from the sacred grove of Kainalu. The shark flesh was then cut into strips, partly dried and then burnt; but the whole bamboo grove had to be used up before the big shark was all cut up.

The God Mohoaliʻi, (another form of the same God Kamohoaliʻi) father of Unauna, was so angered by the destruction of the grove, that he took away all the edge and sharpness from the bamboos of this grove forever.

To this day they are different from the bamboos of any other place or grove on the islands in this particular, that a piece of them cannot cut any more than any piece of common wood. (This summary comes completely from The Legend of the Shark-Man Nanaue, by Mrs Emma M Nakuina.)

July 28, 2026 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Waiʻalae Shopping Center

In the mid-1800s, beyond Honolulu’s limits there were few residences. The population was growing toward and up Nuʻuanu, but Honolulu was hemmed on the Diamond Head end by the barren plains called Kulaokahuʻa.

Kulaokahu‘a translates as “the plain of the boundary.” Kulaokahu‘a was the comparatively level ground below Makiki Valley (between the mauka fertile valleys and the makai wetlands.) This included areas such as Kaka‘ako, Kewalo, Makiki, Pawaʻa and Mōʻiliʻili.

“It was so empty that after Punahou School opened in July 1842, mothers upstairs in the mission house could see children leave that institution and begin their trek across the barren waste. Trees shunned the place; only straggling livestock inhabited it.” (Greer)

William Lunalilo ended up with most of the area known as Kaimuki through the Great Māhele (1848.) Lunalilo was born on January 31, 1835 to High Chiefess Miriam ‘Auhea Kekāuluohi (Kuhina Nui, or Premier of the Hawaiian Kingdom and niece of Kamehameha I) and High Chief Charles Kanaʻina.

In 1884, the Kaimuki land was auctioned off. The rocky terrain held little value to its new owner, Dr. Trousseau, who was a “physician to the court of King Kalākaua”. Trousseau ended up giving his land to Senator Paul Isenberg. Theodore Lansing and AV Gear later bought the Kaimuki land (in 1898.) (Lee)

In 1887, Daniel Paul Rice Isenberg (Paulo Liʻiliʻi) (son of the Paul Isenberg, one of the founders of H. Hackfeld & Co. (Amfac) and one of the organizers of the Līhuʻe Sugar plantation) invested a large part of his inheritance in the development of a 3,000-acre ranch at Waiʻalae, Oʻahu.

In 1898, Kaimuki was still the barren, rocky and red-dirt land filled with panini, kiawe, and lantana. However, Lansing, a real estate agent, thought it was a great place to build a high class residential district. Initially, sales were slow.

But in 1900, the Chinatown fire forced folks to find places for new homes and businesses – many came to Kaimuki. This eventually led to the construction of the Lēʻahi Hospital (1901.) This and other activity in the area destroyed and/or displaced the landscape.

Kaimuki was envisioned as a suburb, where the residents could commute to Honolulu each day for work. To do this, transportation needed to be improved.

In 1888, the animal-powered tramcar service of Hawaiian Tramways ran track from downtown to Waikīkī. In 1900, the Tramway was taken over by the Honolulu Rapid Transit & Land Co (HRT.) That year, an electric trolley (tram line) was put into operation in Honolulu.

In town, in addition to service to the core Honolulu communities, HRT expanded to serve other opportunities. In the fall of 1901, a line was also sent up into central Mānoa. In 1902, a tram line was built to connect Waikīkī and downtown Honolulu.

The new Mānoa trolley opened the valley to development and rushed it into the expansive new century. In particular, it would help to sell a very new hilltop subdivision, “College Hills,” and also expand an unplanned little “village” along the only other road, East Mānoa. (Bouslog)

A little farther out, in Kaimuki, roads were built by the developers to connect the homes with Waiʻalae Avenue. The biggest boost to popularity occurred in 1903, when the Waiʻalae Avenue electric streetcar began service to Kapahulu and Koko Head Avenue.

As the automobile gained popularity and suburbs towards Koko Head were constructed, Waiʻalae Avenue was solidified as a major throughfare that boomed with business. (HHF)

Then, in 1927, the Territorial Hotel Co., as part of a promotional program to develop luxury travel trade to Hawaiʻi on the mother company’s Matson Navigation Co. cruise ships, built the Royal Hawaiian Hotel … and with it the Waiʻalae Golf Course.

The Golf Course was opened for play on February 1, 1927. In July 1927, the Isenberg ranch home near the mouth of Wai‘alae stream became the club house for the Wai‘alae Golf Course.

By the 1930s, the beachfront along Kahala Avenue was being developed with homes, while farming continued in other areas. In 1938, more than 50 pig farms were operating in the vicinity of Farmers Road and Kahala Avenues.

Residents of the area, citing an increase in rats and mice at Kahala, petitioned the territorial board of health to remove the pig farms (Honolulu Advertiser, December 20, 1938).

More houses were built.

Then, in 1954, the first phase of the Waiʻalae Shopping Center was built along Waiʻalae Avenue (designed by Victor Gruen – Walker Moody was awarded a $435,000 contract to build it.)

The three part plan called for covered courts between the three buildings and covered walks to the three parking areas. The center was anchored by Liberty House and a Piggly Wiggly supermarket (which later became Star Market.)

In 1957, a $1.2 million expansion began at Waiʻalae; Woolworth opened its first Hawaiʻi store there in 1958. Another new tenant, Waiʻalae Bowl opened that year, as well.

In 1967, construction to double the size of the Waiʻalae Shopping Center began, giving the center a total of 320,000-square feet of leasable space with fifty to sixty tenants, and 1,500 parking spaces.

Rather than the open-air, covered walkways, it was enclosed as a mall and air conditioned; all but a few stores opened on to the mall, rather than to the outside of the mall. It was the first of this type to open in Hawaiʻi. (They renamed it Kahala Mall.) (Mason)

At the time, Ala Moana Center was reported to be the largest mall in the world under single ownership and the provision of air conditioning at the Waiʻalae mall was a way to compete with the larger shopping center. (Mason)

On March 31, 2006, a flood hit the mall. Water affected an estimated 60 of 90-mall businesses, and knocked down two movie auditorium walls.

Kahala Mall is now comprised of approximately 464,000 square feet of gross leasable area. The mall houses 101 retail shops, entertainment venues and restaurants. (ksbe)