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November 17, 2017 by Peter T Young 6 Comments

Flagpole

Actually, this is a about a family that ended up in Kailua. We’ll get to the ‘flagpole’ portion of their adventures at the end of the summary. This is about Lloyd and Joanie Osborne; they married in 1938.

Lloyd was born in Newtonville, Massachusetts, on March 14, 1909; he graduated from Phillips-Exeter Academy and Yale University, where he was captain of the swimming team.

He led an all-star US swimming team on a Pacific and Japan tour in 1931, but passed up 1932 Olympic tryouts in order to enlist as a Naval Aviator, after earning his mechanical engineering degree.

Joan (Joanie) Dowsett Osborne, born July 26, 1916, was the daughter of Herbert and Laura Dowsett; she was a descendant of Gerrit Parmele Judd, a missionary physician in the Third Company of American Protestant missionaries to the Islands. Judd later resigned from the mission and became an advisor and translator to King Kamehameha III.

Joanie was a member of the Punahou School class of 1933, attended the Schools at Dobbs Ferry in Westchester, NY and Tufts University of Occupational Therapy.

Although Joanie was a swimmer from an early age, marriage and childrearing interrupted her swimming until her mid-fifties. It was as senior swimmers that inspired Joanie to join competitive swimming with Lloyd in the Masters Swim events.

In 1984, at the age of 75, Lloyd set two national records, the 200-meter butterfly in 4:51:77 and the 200-meter individual medley in 4:01:34. He has numerous other accolades in swimming (from the 1970s to 1990s.) His last, in 1992, was 1st Place in 400 freestyle (8:08:40;) he was 82.

He swam competitively, he told a reporter in 1985, because he wanted to stay healthy enough to make one particular financial transaction: “I’d like to write a check dated Jan. 2, 2000.” (He made it.)

During 14 years of competition, Joanie was listed in the US Masters National Top Ten Times in 174 events: ranking first in 53 events; second in 29; third in 20; and fourth in 22. She has held 28 pool event USMS National Records, one Long Distance National Record and four Master’s Age Group World Records.

Back to Lloyd’s aviation experience … After earning his wings in 1933 at Pensacola, Florida, Lloyd piloted landings and take offs from the world’s first aircraft carrier, the US Langley, a converted Navy oiler.

Following a stint in the engineering design department at Martin Aircraft, he joined Pan American Airways as a pilot, flying throughout the Caribbean and South America; one of his passengers was President Franklin D Roosevelt.

His WWII duty included command of an air control unit during amphibious operations at Saipan, Tinian and Iwo Jima, for which he earned two combat Bronze Star medals. He later served on the staff of Admiral Chester Nimitz, Commander in Chief of the Pacific Fleet.

After WWII, a unique type of air service called ‘flight seeing’ came into being. On April 2, 1946, Osborne started Hawaiian Air Transport Service Ltd, “a deluxe charter and tour service.”

It provided non-scheduled service to all Territorial airports and provided special tourist sight-seeing flights to the Neighbor Islands, and charter services as required. (hawaii-gov)

After operating for about 4-years, Hans Mueller took over the certificate and expanded that operation into Hawaiian Air Tour Service (HATS,) a full-fledged flight-seeing operation. (Allen)

The accomplishment that Joanie is most proud of is not her swimming, but the role she played in establishing Kaloko-Honokōhau National Historical Park in Kona. Joanie lived in Kailua-Kona in the 1950s. During this period, she served on the Governor’s commission to save historical sites. Through her efforts, and others, the park was eventually created.

On August 13, 1959, over a thousand people gathered near the Sears’ end for the grand opening of Ala Moana Center. Lloyd Osborne was there, he was the center’s first general manager.

OK, the flagpole …

The Osbornes had a house on Kailua Beach. Most folks who surf or walk the beach will recall a flagpole standing proud and tall near the edge of the beach. The surf spot “Flagpoles” is right off shore.

That was the home of Lloyd and Joanie Osborne and their family. On July 4, 1969, to honor both his nation and his state, and to salute other states and countries he had visited, Lloyd put up the 30-foot flagpole himself.

Lloyd died April 19, 2001 at the age of 92; Joanie, his wife of 63 years, died July 20, 2014, missing her 98th birthday by six days. (Lots of information here is from Advertiser, Star-Advertiser and Punahou.)

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Osborne_Flagpole-listsothebyrealty
Osborne_Flagpole-listsothebyrealty
Lloyd Osborne-Adv
Lloyd Osborne-Adv
USS Langley (CV 1)-1st Aircraft Carrier
USS Langley (CV 1)-1st Aircraft Carrier
Hawaiian Air Tour Service-planes
Hawaiian Air Tour Service-planes
Long one-quarter front left side aerial view from above of two Hawaiian Air Tour Service (HATS) Cessna T-50 "Bamboo Bombers" in flight over Waikiki, Honolulu, Hawaii, circa 1955. In the foreground is the Royal Hawaiian Hotel, with the Waikiki Theater behind; at far right is the Matson Moana Hotel. Believed to be the cover of a Hawaiian Air Tour Service (HATS) brochure.
Long one-quarter front left side aerial view from above of two Hawaiian Air Tour Service (HATS) Cessna T-50 “Bamboo Bombers” in flight over Waikiki, Honolulu, Hawaii, circa 1955. In the foreground is the Royal Hawaiian Hotel, with the Waikiki Theater behind; at far right is the Matson Moana Hotel. Believed to be the cover of a Hawaiian Air Tour Service (HATS) brochure.
Aimakapa_Pond_(NPS)
Aimakapa_Pond_(NPS)
Kaloko-Honokohau_National_Park-(NPS)-Map
Kaloko-Honokohau_National_Park-(NPS)-Map
Ala Moana-1960
Ala Moana-1960

Filed Under: Economy, Buildings, Military, Place Names, Prominent People Tagged With: Ala Moana Center, Kailua Beach, Flagpole, Lloyd Osborne, HATS, Hawaiian Air Transport Service, Hawaii, Oahu, Kailua, Kaloko-Honokohau National Historical Park

August 13, 2013 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Ala Moana Center

In ancient times, the area was known as Kālia – an ʻili in the ahupuaʻa of Waikīkī – that runs from the present Halekūlani Hotel to Piʻikoi Street (generally, makai of Kalākaua Avenue.)  Pi‘inaio Stream was the dominant feature of this eastern area of Waikīkī.

The ten fishponds at Kālia were loko puʻuone (isolated shore fishponds formed by a barrier sand berm) with salt-water lens intrusion and fresh water entering from upland ʻauwai (canals.)

Kālia was once renowned for the fragrant limu līpoa, as well as several other varieties of seaweed such as manauea, wāwaeʻiole, ʻeleʻele, kala and some kohu.

At the turn of the 20th century, portions of this marshy wetland were determined to be “deleterious to the public health in consequence of being low, and at times covered or partly covered by water, or of being situated between high and low water mark, or of being improperly drained, or incapable by reasonable expenditure of effectual drainage”.

A portion of this was owned by the Kamehameha Schools Bishop Estate who reportedly sold 50-acres of this “unproductive” “swamp land” for $25,000 to Walter F Dillingham in 1912.   At the time this was real money and people questioned his decision.

However, shortly thereafter, Dillingham used the site to dispose of excess coral and other fill that was generated from land reclamation projects from Kewalo to Waikīkī (including the dredging of the Ala Wai Canal.)

In 1948, Lowell Dillingham, Walter’s son, announced plans for a new shopping complex on the coral-covered parcel.  Nearly 10-years later, construction on Hawaiʻi’s first regional shopping center commenced.  (Lowell is also credited the formation of Dillingham Corporation, a merger of the Oahu Railway & Land Company and the Hawaiian Dredging and Construction Company, in 1961.)

Dillingham’s Don Graham was the force behind the design and development of the center.  It proved a success after its opening, and relocated retail away from downtown Honolulu.

On August 13, 1959, over a thousand people gathered near the Sears’ end for the grand opening of Ala Moana Center.  They say the first purchase in the center was made by Ben Dillingham and his wife, a tube of Colgate toothpaste at Sears

At the time of its opening, Ala Moana Center had 680,000-square feet of leasable area, with 87 stores on two levels and 4,000 parking spaces; and was considered the largest shopping mall in the world.  Original stores included anchors Sears and Shirokiya, plus locally-owned The Slipper House.

The center doubled in size in 1966 to 1,351,000-square feet of leasable area, with 155 stores and 7,800 parking spaces. New stores included anchor tenants JC Penney and Liberty House.

1987 saw the 2-year phase three renovation, relocation of certain tenants and creation of the Makai Market food court (the largest food court in Hawai‘i and one of the largest food courts in the nation.)

Other phases of expansion and renovation occurred over the years so that today, with 2.1-million square feet of retail space, Ala Moana Center has over 290 stores, including 70 dining options, nearly 10,000 parking spaces and is the world’s largest open-air mall – with shopping for the basics to the elite brand name.

Today, Ala Moana Center is one of the top grossing, highest occupancy rate and sales per square foot malls in the US and welcomes 40- to 60-million shopping visits per year.

Changes are again underway at Ala Moana, with redevelopment of the former Sears site to accommodate Bloomingdales and other shops – this will add another 340,000-SF of retail space and another 1,000-parking stalls.

Some of Ala Moana’s original tenants are still in the shopping center: US Post Office, Territorial Savings Bank, Longs Drugs, Reyn’s, Watamull’s, Shirokiya and Foodland.

Oh, about Dillingham’s questioned $25,000 land buy back in 1912 … the City and County of Honolulu 2013 assessed value (for just the land) is $355,455,200.

(Dillingham Corporation was sold to a private investment group in 1983 for $347-million; in 2003, with base facilities relocated to California, Dillingham Corporation filed for bankruptcy.)

The image shows the vacant coral-filled site of the future Ala Moana Center.  In addition, I have added other images to a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

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© 2013 Hoʻokuleana LLC

Filed Under: Economy, General Tagged With: Ala Moana Center, Kalia, Hawaii, Kamehameha Schools, Oahu, Kewalo, Dillingham, Ala Moana, Ala Wai Canal

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People, places, and events in Hawaiʻi’s past come alive through text and media in “Images of Old Hawaiʻi.” These posts are informal historic summaries presented for personal, non-commercial, and educational purposes.

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