Images of Old Hawaiʻi

by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Matsumoto Shave Ice

It is referred to in different ways, depending on where you are from … in Hilo it’s Ice Shave; lots of folks outside the Islands call it Sno-Balls, SnoCones (or Snow Cones) or even Shaved Ice … most, here, call it Shave Ice.

Shave ice exists all over the world today and is known as Gola Gunda in Pakistan, Juski in India, Ice Kachang in Malasia & Singapore where it is served with red beans and other fruits, Raspa, Raspado, or Raspadillo in Mexico and Peru (Raspar means “scrape” in Spanish.) (Stever)

In 1956, five years after Matsumoto Grocery Store first opened their doors to the public, a family friend suggested that the store sell cones of shave ice to help make up for slow business.

Mamoru and Helen soon purchased a hand-crank shave ice machine from Japan, attached an electric motor and started making shave ice cones at a nickel a piece. (Nemoto)

Whoa … we are already getting ahead of ourselves. Let’s look back …

Born in Hawaiʻi, Mamoru Matsumoto’s family returned to Hiroshima-ken when he was a toddler, and they struggled to survive. He worked as an apprentice at a sake factory and other odd jobs, but the income was insufficient.

Through friends and relatives he met his wife, Helen Momoyo Ogi, and they were married at the Haleiwa Jodo Mission. Mamoru worked long hours while Helen became a seamstress. They dreamed of opening their own business and purchasing a home for his family in Japan and for themselves.

Mr Kazuo Tanaka gave them the opportunity to open their own grocery store, M. Matsumoto Store Inc (founded February 13, 1951) in the previous Tanaka Store in Haleiwa. (Matsumoto)

Although grateful for the spot they now call home today, they “struggled” at first and had to work “really hard” in order for the family business to stay afloat. (Nemoto)

At first, Mamoru peddled his wares on a bicycle, until he was able to afford a panel truck. He went from camp to camp, taking orders and delivering the goods, while Helen manned the store and did some sewing. (Matsumoto)

“My dad had a panel truck,” says the second-generation Matsumoto. “He used to go around the community trying to sell canned goods in the back.” (Nemoto)

In 1956, the family expanded the business to include the frozen treat that’s known as kakigori (shave ice) in its place of origin, Japan. “The Japanese immigrants moved here with ice shavers. The equipment works like a wood planer.” (Washington Post)

This was before the present big wave surfing on the North Shore. Until the 1930s, modern surfing in Hawaiʻi was focused at Waikīkī; there the waves were smaller.

Then, in 1937, Wally Froiseth and John Kelly, reportedly on a school trip witnessed the large break at Mākaha and later surfed its waves. They were later joined by George Downing and others.

Riding at an angle to the wave, rather than the straight to shore technique, on the new “hot curl” board, with narrower tails and V-hulled boards, allowed them to ride in a sharper angle than anyone else.

Mākaha became the birthplace of big wave surfing. Even before Oʻahu’s North Shore, Mākaha was ‘the’ place for surfing – especially big-wave surfing.

But North Shore surfing caught on, so did the requisite stop at Matsumoto’s for shave ice.

When son Stanley Matsumoto took over in 1976, he bumped the canned goods to make space for the growing shave ice (and Matsumoto T-shirt) enterprise, which had been garnering attention from the Japanese media and visiting celebrities from both sides of the Pacific. (Washington Post)

In the busy summer season, the shop makes 1,000 ices a day; when school’s in session, the number drops to 500. “My father would be so happy with how the store has gotten so big,” said Matsumoto, whose father died in 1994 at age 85. (Washington Post)

“If they were alive right now they would be so happy to see how the store is today,” Matsumoto says. “They would be so proud to see everyone come to the store and have a nice time.” (Nemoto)

Shave ice is a local specialty found throughout the islands, but Matsumoto’s stands out for being the oldest continuously run operation on Oahu, going back more than half a century. (Washington Post)

Kamehameha Schools redeveloped the area. In all, the 28,000-square-foot retail complex spans a 0.1-mile section of Kamehameha Highway between Mahaulu Lane and Kewalo Lane.

© 2026 Hoʻokuleana LLC

by Peter T Young 2 Comments

Sneyd-Kynnersley

I ‘ike ‘ia no o Kohala i ka pae ko
a o ka pae ko ia kole ai ka waha.

One can recognize Kohala by her rows of sugar cane
which can make the mouth raw when chewed.

The Kynnersley estate and castle in Loxley Park (near Uttoxeter, Staffordshire, England) was in the possession of the Kynnersley family back to the time of Edward III (early-1300s.) In 1815, Clement Kynnersley, the last male in the line, dying, left it to his nephew Thomas Sneyd, who added the name of Kynnersley to his own, upon his accession to this estate.

Fast forward to about 1882 … brothers John (Ralph) Sneyd-Kynnersley (1860-1932) and Clement (Cecil) Gerald Sneyd-Kynnersley (1859-1909) left Uttoxeter and made their way to Kohala on the Island of Hawaiʻi.

At that time, sugar was changing the landscape. Kohala became a land in transition and eventually a major force in the sugar industry with the arrival of American missionary Elias Bond in 1841.

Bond directed his efforts to initiating sugar as a major agricultural industry in Kohala; his primary concern was to develop a means for the Hawaiian people of the district to compete successfully in the market economy that had evolved in Hawaiʻi.

What resulted was a vigorous, stable, and competitive industry which survived over a century of changing economic situations. For the Hawaiian people, however, the impact was not what Bond anticipated. (Tomonari-Tuggle; Rechtman)

Beginning in the 1850s, portions of Pūehuehu Ahupua‘a were divided and sold by the government as land grants. In 1873, the English born Robert Robson Hind moved to Kohala from Maui to invest in the booming sugar industry.

He purchased land in the flat plains of Pūehuehu west of Kohala Sugar Company, although rainfall was less than ideal, and established the Union Mill. Months prior to formal opening in 1874, a fire broke out destroying the mill.

The mill was rebuilt and Hind sold the mill; a January 31, 1887 ‘Partnership Notice’ in the Pacific Commercial Advertiser noted the co-partnership of the Sneyd-Kynnersley brothers and Robert Wallace organized as the Pūehuehu Plantation Company.

After several mergers with other growers, at its peak, the mill cultivated three thousand acres. The Union Mill was purchased by the Kohala Mill in 1937, the cane harvested from the former Union Mill planting fields was then transferred to Hala‘ula for processing.

Prior to the 1880s, the sugar companies hauled their product by ox-cart to landings at Hapu‘u, Kauhola Point, and Honoipu. With the completion of the North Kohala Railroad in 1883 – with its twenty-mile length, crossing seventeen trestles, and running from Mahukona to Niuli‘I – almost all sugar companies began shipping the processed sugar to the newly improved Māhukona Harbor facility.

Construction of the Kohala Ditch, which runs east/west, began in 1904 and was completed two years later. “(I)ts construction marked the virtual end of the frontier period; it was the last major effort by the sugar pioneers in fully developing their industry in Kohala”. (Tomonari-Tuggle; Rechtman)

Back to Sneyd-Kynnersleys … in 1887, King Kalākaua presented ceremonial lei to Daisy May Sneyd-Kynnersley on her baptism (daughter of Ralph Sneyd-Kynnersley.)

The discussion of American annexation of the Islands in 1893 got Clement Sneyd-Kynnersley riled up – to the point it was referred to as the ‘Kynnersley affair.’ (PCA, February 14, 1893)

“CS Kynnersley, of Kohala, does not like the new movement and his overwrought feelings may get him into trouble. Information came from to the effect that when the news about establishing the government reached Kohala he stamped around and commenced an agitation for an indignation mass meeting to be held.”

The Hawaiʻi Holomua came to his defense, “The ‘Advertiser’ has an editorial this morning in which it states that the supporters of the late government are certainly not to be consulted in regard to the future order of things in Hawaii nei.”

“As the supporters of the monarchy include all the Hawaiians and more than one-half of the foreigners in the country, the proposition of the ‘Advertiser’ to ignore this large majority indicates that it is the intention of the Provisional Government to hold the reins of the government at all hazard”.

“The ‘Advertiser’ seems to despise the feelings or sentiments of the taxpayers in the country districts, and sneers at Mr C Sneyd-Kynnersley’s letter in this morning’s issue.”

“When men like Kynnersley … openly denounce the annexation scheme and the action of the followers of the (Provisional Government) the ‘Advertiser’ will find it a more serious matter than can be disposed of in a dozen lines of editorial.”

Sneyd-Kynnersley “defied the deputy-sheriff to arrest him. The matter was before the Executive and Provisional Councils of the government … and it is now in the hands of Attorney-General Smith.” (Hawaiian Gazette, February 7, 1893) (“(T)he Government has very wisely decided to let the matter drop.” (PCA, February 14, 1893.)

A lasting Sneyd-Kynnersley legacy remains in North Kohala – the mauka-makai road through the Pūehuehu ahupuaʻa the brothers once raised sugar is named Kynnersley Road (it appears the name reverted to the older version.)

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Mother Road – Route 66

On January 29, 1886, Carl Benz applied for a patent for his “vehicle powered by a gas engine.” The patent – number 37435 – may be regarded as the birth certificate of the automobile. (Daimler)

In 1903, Henry Ford officially opened the Ford Motor Company and five years later released the first Model T.  In 1907, Henry Ford announced his goal for the Ford Motor Company: to create “a motor car for the great multitude.”  (pbs)

“[T]he automobile constituted a personalized urban mass transit system, allowing the owner to travel whenever or wherever he desired.” (Davies, NPS)

Moreover, it provided a personal means of escape from the congestion of metropolitan America and reduced cross-country travel from an adventure of the affluent and stouthearted to a relatively inexpensive and common occurrence. (NPS)

Into the 1920s named trails were the way to navigate around the country. The trails were a product of the pioneer days of auto travel when government took little interest in interstate roads.  Named trail associations had served an important purpose in the 1910s when many States lacked a highway department or had an ineffective one.  (Weingroff)

Long trips often meant using a variety of different roadways, each one with its own standard for road quality and signage. Typically referred to as “trails” and run by “trail associations,” boosters would stitch together these routes with already existing roads (of varied quality), give it a name (like “Dixie Highway” or “Lincoln Highway”), and promote it.

Businesses along these routes typically paid dues to the trail associations, which meant routes weren’t always laid out to give drivers the quickest route, but instead to collect the most dues. There were over 250 such routes established by the mid-1920s. (Bloomberg)

With the growing number of vehicles on the roads, the associations helped focus attention on their condition, identified interstate roads for use of motorists, and sought increased funding for good roads projects.

However, by the early 1920s, State and Federal highway officials realized that the named trail associations had outlived their usefulness. (FHWA)  In 1925, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHO) asked the Secretary of Agriculture to work with states to replace all trail names with a unified highway numbering system.

On November 11, 1926, the newly established United States Numbered Highway System changed the way U.S. drivers navigate the country.  For the most part, north-south routes got odd numbers (numbers ending in 1 or 5 for principal routes), and east-west routes even numbers (multiples of 10 for principal routes).

Officially, the Chicago-to-Los Angeles route received the numerical designation of Route 66. That designation acknowledged the route as one of the nation’s principal east-west arteries. Mostly, U.S. 66 was just an assignment of a number to an already existing network of State-managed roads, most of which were in poor condition.

US Route 66 or US Highway 66 (US 66 or Route 66) is made up of several existing auto trails and regional roads, most notably the National Old Trails Road (or Ocean-to-Ocean Highway). Other key contributing trails included the Ozark Trail System in Missouri/Kansas and the Lone Star Route.

The 2,448-mile highway runs from-to Chicago (at Grant Park at the intersection of Jackson and Michigan Avenues) to Santa Monica (near the Santa Monica Pier at the intersection of Santa Monica Boulevard and Ocean Avenue).

It didn’t receive signs until 1927 and wasn’t completely paved until 1938. The highway passes through Illinois. Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California.

Its diagonal course linked hundreds of rural communities from Chicago to Kansas and on to Los Angeles, enabling farmers to transport grain and produce. By the 1930s the trucking industry was using Route 66. The truckers enjoyed the easier drive across the prairie lands and milder climates than the northern routes offered. (FHWA)

To further the popularity of Route 66, John Steinbeck proclaimed Route 66 the Mother Road in his 1939 book The Grapes of Wrath. (FHWA) “Highway 66 is the main migrant road, 66 – the long concrete path across the country …”

“… waving gently up and down on the map, from the Mississippi to Bakersfield – over the red lands and the gray lands, twisting up into the mountains, crossing the Divide and down into the bright and terrible desert, and across the desert to the mountains again, and into the rich California valleys …”  (Steinbeck)

“… 66 is the path of a people in flight, refugees from dust and shrinking land, from the thunder, of tractors and shrinking ownership, from the desert’s slow northward invasion, from the twisting winds that howl up out of Texas, from the floods that bring no richness to the land and steal what little richness is there.”

“From all of these the people are in flight, and they come into 66 from the tributary side roads, from the wagon tracks and the rutted country roads. 66 is the mother road, the road of flight….”  (Steinbeck)

“The people in flight streamed out on 66, sometimes a single car, sometimes a little caravan. All day they rolled slowly

along the road, and at night they stopped near water.”

“In the day ancient leaky radiators sent up columns of steam, loose connecting rods hammered and pounded. And the men driving the trucks and the overloaded cars listened apprehensively. How far between towns? It is a terror between towns.” (Steinbeck)

“Merchants in small and large towns along the highway looked to Route 66 as an opportunity for attracting new revenue to their often rural and isolated communities. As the highway became busier, the roadbed received improvements, and the infrastructure of support businesses — especially those offering fuel, lodging, and food that lined its right of way — expanded.”

“Even with tough times, the Depression that worked its baleful consequences on the nation produced an ironic effect along Route 66. The vast migration of destitute people fleeing their former homes actually increased traffic along the highway, providing commercial opportunities to a multitude of low capital, mom-and-pop businesses.” (NPS)

“The romance of Route 66 was created, in part, by marketing the Hollywood version of American Indians. Travelers were given the stereotypical images they were accustomed to seeing in films to lure them into [Trading Posts and] buying postcards and souvenirs, taking photos with wooden Indians, staying the night in a “wigwam” and spending a little extra time and money on their journey west.” (American Indian Alaska Native Tourism Association)

“In 1956, President Eisenhower, who had witnessed the military advantages of the German Autobahn during World War II, supported the passage of a law to construct a new system of high-speed, limited-access, four-lane divided highways – today’s interstates.”

“Five new interstates (I-55, I-44, I-40, I-15, and I-10) incrementally replaced US 66 over the next three decades. Interstate construction coincided with the powerful forces of economic consolidation as evidenced by the growth of branded gasoline stations, motels, and restaurant chains.”

“The 1984 bypassing of the last section of U.S. 66 by I-40 led to the official decommissioning of the highway in 1985, impacting countless businesses and communities along the road.” (NPS)

The National Trust for Historic Places listed Route 66 on their America’s Most Endangered List and designated the road a National Treasure.

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Kalapueo

The Kaupō flow, a feature of Ko‘olau volcano south of Waimanalo, is the product of a “dry” rejuvenation-stage eruption along the Koko Rift, some 50,000 to 100,000 years ago (estimates vary).

The area around the vent is now even more evident because it has become a preferred launching point for parasailers, and their foot traffic has trompled all the vegetation.

Kaupō means to land a canoe at night. Makapu‘u means bulging eyes (literally, eyes like hills), and refers either to an image in a cave nearby, or to a woman who longed for her home in Kahiki (Tahiti) and said she was able to see it from here. (UH Manoa Geology & Geophysics Dept-Southeast Oahu and Kawainui Field Trip-2004)

The Kaupō flow formed Kalapueo.  “Kalapueo (the area where the coastal flats narrow and the cliffs draw near to the shore [Kalapueo means owl proclamation (owls called on others here to battle)]); Kukui (the former fishing village on the east side of Pāhonu) …”

“… Muliwai‘ōlena (the drainage basin the enters the sea near the vicinity of the present-day Waimānalo Beach Park); Waimānalo (the area fed by the stream which forms Pūhā) — all locations on the shore of Waimānalo Ahupua‘a, were fortified and that battles were fought.” (Maly)

“Kauai legends say that the sound of the drum of the owl-king was so penetrating that it could be heard across all the channels by the owls on the different islands. In one day the owls of Hawaii, Lanai, Maui and Molokai had gathered at Kalapueo (a place east of Diamond Head).”

“The owls of Koolau and Kahikiku, Oahu, gathered together in Kanoniakapueo (a place in Nuuanu Valley). The owls of Kauai and Niihau gathered in the place toward the sunset — Pueohulu-nui (near Moanalua).” (Westervelt)

“There lived a man named Kapoi, at Kahehuna, in Honolulu, who went one day to Kewalo to get some thatching for his house. On his way back he found some owl’s eggs, which he gathered together and brought home with him … [the owl said] ‘Give me my eggs.’  Kapoi then told the owl to come and take them.”

“The owl, having got the eggs, told Kapoi to build up a heiau, or temple, and instructed him to make an altar and call the temple by the name of Manua. Kapoi built the temple as directed ; set kapu days for its dedication, and placed the customary sacrifice on the altar.”

“News spread to the hearing of Kakuihewa, who was then King of Oahu, living at the time at Waikiki, that a certain man had kapued certain days for his heiau, and had already dedicated it.”

“This King had made a law that whoever among his people should erect a heiau and kapu the same before the King had his temple kapued, that man should pay the penalty of death. Kapoi was thereupon seized, by the King’s orders, and led to the heiau of Kupalaha, at Waikiki.”

“That same day, the owl that had told Kapoi to erect a temple gathered all the owls from Lanai, Maui, Molokai, and Hawaii to one place at Kalapueo.”

“All those from the Koolau districts were assembled at Kanoniakapueo, and those from Kauai and Niihau at Pueohulunui, near Moanalua.”

“It was decided by the King that Kapoi should be put to death on the day of Kane. When that day came, at daybreak the owls left their places of rendezvous and covered the whole sky over Honolulu; and as the King’s servants seized Kapoi to put him to death, the owls flew at them, pecking them with their beaks and scratching them with their claws.”

“Then and there was fought the battle between Kakuihewa’s people and the owls.  At last the owls conquered, and Kapoi was released, the King acknowledging that his Akua (god) was a powerful one. From that time the owl has been recognized as one of the many deities venerated by the Hawaiian people.” (Thrum)

Later, “At the death of Ka-hekili in 1793 Ka-‘eo-ku-lani became ruling chief of Maui, Molokai, and Lanai. Ki‘ikiki‘ and Kai-‘awa were his counselors, and they had chiefs and governors under them.”

“He ruled a little over a year and showed kindness to the common people, but at the end of that time he grew homesick for his friends on Kauai and set out with his chiefs and warriors to return to his own people, stopping at Molokai to enjoy its fat fish and kukui-nut relish.”

“Now Ka-lani-ku-pule and his younger brother Koa-la u-kani, heard that Ka-‘eo-ku-lani was returning to Kauai. Not knowing what his plans might be they made preparations for war, digging trenches and throwing up earthworks at Kukui, Kalapueo, and Waimanalo [on Oahu].”

“At Kukui a severe battle was fought in which one of the favorites, a war leader of Ka-lani-kupule, was shot by Mare Amara at the stream of Muliwaiolena as he stood with a feather cloak about his shoulders directing the battle with his hand.”

“Two days and two nights Ka-‘eo-ku-lani lay out at sea, then Ka-lani-ku-pule called off the fighting and the two had a friendly meeting at Kalapawai in Kailua, Ko’olaupoko. It was a day of mingled joy and weeping-joy for the ending of war, weeping for the dead in battle and also for the death of Ka-hekili.”  (Kamakau, Ruling Chiefs)

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

May The Forest Be With You

Please join us at the Friends of Hakalau Forest https://friendsofhakalauforest.org/membership/

The National Wildlife Refuge System is a series of lands and waters owned and managed by the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS). Wildlife conservation is at the heart of the refuge system.

In the Islands, prior to 1975, very little was known about the distribution and abundance of many of Hawai’i’s forest birds or the extent and quality of their forest habitat. From 1976 to 1981, the FWS conducted intensive forest bird and habitat surveys on the main Hawaiian Islands.

Data from this “Hawai‘i Forest Bird Survey” demonstrated a high density of endangered forest birds within and around the Shipman Ranch, a large privately owned parcel surrounded by State and other private lands, on the eastern side of Hawai’i Island.

In 1985, the FWS, with the active involvement and support of The Nature Conservancy, purchased Shipman Ranch lands and established the Hakalau Forest National Wildlife Refuge (Hakalau Forest). Later, other nearby privately owned parcels were purchased or donated to the refuge.

The Hakalau Forest consists of two distinct units. The Hakalau Forest Unit is a 32,830-acre parcel on the windward slopes of Mauna Kea on Hawai’i Island. It was established to protect and manage endangered forest birds and their rainforest habitat.

This higher refuge contains some of the finest remaining stands of native rain forest in Hawai‘i and habitat for dozens of critically endangered species including seven birds, one insect, one mammal and 20 plants found nowhere else in the world. Currently, it is the only place in Hawai’i where native forest bird populations are stable or increasing.

The refuge provides essential habitat for three endangered honeycreepers (‘Akiapola’au, Hawai’i Creeper ‘Alawi and ‘Akepa), one threatened species (‘I’iwi) and one threatened waterfowl species (Nene – Hawai’i’s state bird that was reintroduced to the refuge in 1996).

Reforestation at the upper elevations of the Hakalau unit of the refuge has increased available habitat and control of feral animals has enhanced habitat quality.

Because of this management effort, the refuge has the highest density of three Hawai’i island endemic endangered bird species, the ‘Akiapola’au, Hawai’i Creeper and Hawai’i ‘Akepa, each with populations in the low thousands. These birds are also found in a few other areas of Hawai’i Island but are in lower densities.

The refuge is one of the few areas on Hawai’i Island where Nene can reproduce freely thanks to protection and small-mammal predator control. Occasionally, Hawaiian Ducks or Koloa are found in stock ponds and along rivers in remote areas in the Hakalau Forest Unit.

In 1997 the FWS added the Kona Forest Unit through a purchase of 5,300-acres south of Kailua-Kona, on the slopes of Mauna Loa. In 2019, an additional 10,000 acres were added to the Kona Unit through the purchase of McCandless Ranch lands that are adjacent to the original parcel, making the total acreage for the Kona Forest Unit 15,448-acres.

The lower elevation Kona Forest Unit is predominantly ‘ōhi‘a trees with an understory of nonnative trees and shrubs and home to a number of endangered birds, plants and one insect.

The primary purpose of this unit is to protect, conserve and manage this native forest for threatened or endangered species.  The few remaining wild Hawaiian Crows, or ‘Alala, were found as recently as 2002.

At will public access is not allowed at Hakalau Forest Refuge for a variety of reasons – with the primary one being that the analysis and public scoping conducted during the development of the current management plan found the risks posed to the sensitive native resources were too great.

These risks include the introduction of invasive plants and animals, diseases, and hazards such as fire. Furthermore, the Refuge does not have the types of access or infrastructure necessary to accommodate public visitation in a safe and manageable manner.

Despite Hakalau Forest Refuge not being an ‘open’ refuge, there are still ways for the public to experience the wonders of the refuge, these include:

  1. Refuge-sponsored events and tours
  2. Private tour with one of the guides that is permitted to conduct tours at the Refuge, and
  3. Participating in a volunteer service trip. During these trips, the volunteers plant native trees, work in the greenhouses, or help with other refuge tasks. (Lots here is from the Friends and the FWS Hakalau Forest Refuge.)

I am a Board member on the Friends of Hakalau Forest National Wildlife Refuge.  Check out https://friendsofhakalauforest.org/

Please join us at the Friends of Hakalau Forest https://friendsofhakalauforest.org/membership/

May The Forest Be With You!

Remember, it is for the birds.

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