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August 9, 2016 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Hotel Honokaʻa Club

In 1878, three commercial sugar plantations (Honokaʻa Sugar Company, Paʻauhau Sugar Company and Pacific Sugar Mill) existed in Hāmākua in the vicinity of a village that later became Honokaʻa.

A labor shortage beginning in the mid-19th century prompted the importation of foreign workers. The Chinese were the first to arrive, followed by Japanese, Portuguese, Korean, Puerto Rican and Filipinos over the next 40 years.

The workers, many married with families, were housed in 13-camps along the Hāmākua coast near Honokaʻa. As these workers completed their contracts with the plantations, many moved to Honokaʻa and began businesses, providing the impetus for the development of the town.

As Honokaʻa grew and evolved, a variety of businesses, offering wide-ranging choices of goods and services, eventually made Honokaʻa the largest town on the Hāmākua coast and the second largest on the island (behind Hilo.)

In 1910, the population of Honokaʻa stood at 9,037, a population sufficient to support a hotel along with lodging for travelers, salesmen and laborers in transit to the plantations to support the growing village.

Hotel Honokaʻa Club did not have a name when it first opened, and was allegedly labeled as the result of a vote by club “members,” who were likely boarders and community members who frequented the hotel.

The “Club” in the name reflects the use of the establishment from its inception as a nexus for entertainment and drinking, while the hotel portion served as a residence and lodging for immigrants, unmarried sugar cane workers, paniolo (cowboys), and travelling salesmen. (Star Bulletin; March 25, 1948; NPS)

“At that time the majority of the key plantation men were unmarried, and it was their custom to convene on Saturday nights for merry and lengthy sessions at the hotel. They came on horseback and departed the same way although not always with the same horse.”

“As years went by the hotel became the ‘club’ with all its members and eventually in a duly called ‘committee’ hearing the name was voted to become the Honokaa Club Hotel.” (Star Bulletin; March 25, 1948; NPS)

The original site of the hotel complex lay along the Government Road (Māmane Street) on the Hilo-side of the present Bank of Hawaiʻi.

The hotel/club functioned as a local gathering place that provided accommodations, temporary sales space for the display of commercial samples and wares by traveling salesmen, and a dining room and bar facility (that was the site of numerous local social occasions and get-togethers from the 1920s through the 1960s and beyond.) (SHPD)

Salesmen who stayed at the hotel were known as “drummers” commercial travelers, runners or “gripmen” (“grip” referring to the trunk or suitcase carried by salesmen.) These sales personnel travelled through Hāmākua and Kohala approximately every two weeks in a circuit from Honolulu to Kawaihae to Laupāhoehoe to Hilo “drumming up” business. (Star Bulletin, March 25, 1948; NPS)

The Hotel Honokaʻa Club is an example of the small hotels built at the turn of the 19th century by Japanese immigrants to mainly serve their countrymen in towns such as Captain Cook, Waiʻōhinu, Kohala and Honokaa.

Opened in 1912 by Kumakichi Morita, the original Honokaʻa Hotel Club was styled like a modern motor court, with rooms strung together in a row.

By 1915 it is listed in the local business directory as the “Honokaʻa Hotel Club – A First Class Hotel and Boarding House, Rates $3.00 per Day and Up.” By 1920 rates had increased to $4.00 per day. The Hotel Honokaa Club was at the present location by about 1927.

Kumakichi Morita, the hotel’s first manager/owner, trained as a chef in American cuisine and became chef to Prince Jonah Kūhīo Kalanianaʻole. Unfortunately, the Prince did not appreciate the American cuisine and Kumakichi looked elsewhere for employment, arriving in Honokaʻa to cook for the manager of the Honokaʻa Sugar Company.

From 1943-1945, over 50,000 US Marines lived and trained in and around Waimea and the Kohala Coast. Camp Tarawa was originally built by the 2nd Marine Division, but upon the 2nd’s deployment to Saipan, the 5th Marine Division moved in to train for the Battle of Iwo Jima.

Alfred Carter (manager of Parker Ranch) had historically limited the availability of liquor in Waimea, so when the Marines came they found that town dry.

The soldiers simply followed the Waimea ranch cowboys down the hill to “wet” Honokaʻa. Hotel Honokaʻa Club was one of many “watering holes” in Honokaʻa that benefited from the servicemen’s patronage. Camp Tarawa closed in November 1945.

After the war, the hotel expanded its activities focusing on locals, hosting weddings, high school group gatherings and lūʻau events. In 1948, the hotel expanded, adding a second story containing six bedroom suites. Five new bedrooms were added downstairs and new bathrooms were attached to the original bedrooms.

In 1960, the Moritas added a cocktail lounge dubbed the “Waipiʻo Room,” and in the 1970s they inaugurated a bar named the “Dan McGuire Left-Handed Martini Room,” after the well-known sports writer.

Further pranks related to the Martini Room included Jim Nabors’ (Gomer Pyle) dedication of the “Jim Nabors Right-handed Pay Toilet.” (Honokaa Historical Project)

Hotel Honokaa Club is a two story-wood frame “plantation style” commercial building. Defining features include a totan (corrugated metal) roof, single wall construction with vertical wood planks, and numerous double-hung windows.’

The building has three floor levels that include the main floor, a rear second story addition and a basement area. (Lots of information here is from Historic Honokaʻa Project and NPS.)

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Hotel-Honokaa-Club-1950 Honokaa High School yearbook advertisement
Hotel-Honokaa-Club-1950 Honokaa High School yearbook advertisement
Hotel-Honokaa-Club-1958 Honokaa High School yearbook advertisement
Hotel-Honokaa-Club-1958 Honokaa High School yearbook advertisement
Hotel-Honokaa-Club-Victor Morita with hotel guest ca. 1940s
Hotel-Honokaa-Club-Victor Morita with hotel guest ca. 1940s
Hotel-Honokaa-Club-Alex, Robert, and Henry Morita standing in front of the Hotel Honokaa Club sign
Hotel-Honokaa-Club-Alex, Robert, and Henry Morita standing in front of the Hotel Honokaa Club sign
Hotel-Honokaa-Club-group gathering
Hotel-Honokaa-Club-group gathering
Hotel-Honokaa-Club-Victor Morita preparing food in the kitchen with unidentified waitress, ca. 1940s
Hotel-Honokaa-Club-Victor Morita preparing food in the kitchen with unidentified waitress, ca. 1940s
Hotel-Honokaa-Club_front
Hotel-Honokaa-Club_front
Hotel-Honokaa-Club-Victor (left of center) and Tomiko (right of center) Morita’s wedding party. Mother Kane Morita is in white, ca. 1920s
Hotel-Honokaa-Club-Victor (left of center) and Tomiko (right of center) Morita’s wedding party. Mother Kane Morita is in white, ca. 1920s
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Hotel-Honokaa-Club-room
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Hotel-Honokaa-Club-front
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Hotel-Honokaa-Club-dining
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Hotel-Honokaa-Club-bar
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Hotel-Honokaa-Club
Hotel-Honokaa-Club room
Hotel-Honokaa-Club room
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hotel_honokaa_banner
Hotel-Honokaa-Club-Sanborn_Map
Hotel-Honokaa-Club-Sanborn_Map
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Honokaa-Club-Layout
Honokaa-Club-Layout-basement
Honokaa-Club-Layout-basement
Honokaa-Club-Layout-top floor
Honokaa-Club-Layout-top floor

Filed Under: Economy, Buildings, Place Names Tagged With: Hawaii, Hawaii Island, Hamakua, Honokaa, Hotel Honokaa Club

January 24, 2016 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Laupāhoehoe

The northeastern coast of the island of Hawaiʻi presents an almost continuous succession of valleys, with intervening uplands rising gently for a few miles, and then more abruptly toward the snows of Mauna Kea and the clouds.

The rains are abundant on that side of the island, and the fertile plateau, boldly fronting the sea with a line of cliffs from fifty to a hundred feet in height, is scored at intervals of one or two miles with deep and almost impassable gulches.

The streams reach the ocean either through rocky channels worn to the level of the waves, or in cascades leaping from the cliffs and streaking the coast from Hilo to Waipiʻo.

In the time of Līloa, and later, this plateau was thickly populated, and requiring no irrigation, was cultivated from the sea upward to the line of frost. A few kalo patches are still seen, and bananas grow, as of old, in secluded spots and along the banks of the ravines. (Kalākaua)

“Lapahoi (Laupāhoehoe – leaf of lava) is a small stony flat with a few huts and sweet potatoes and taro patches scattered over it. It lies at the extremity of a deep ravine, the declivities on either side nearly 500 feet in height and extending to the sea beach, terminating in a rocky precipice.”

“The coast all the way to Lapahoi was intersected by many deep ravines, many of which had large rivers forming beautiful waterfalls that fell over the outward cliffs into the ocean, the angry surf of which broke a long way up upon the rocks underneath.” (Macrae, 1825)

“The country, by which we sailed, was fertile, beautiful, and apparently populous. The numerous plantations on the eminences and sides of the deep ravines or valleys, by which it was intersected, with the streams meandering through them into the sea, presented altogether a most agreeable prospect.”

“The coast was bold, and the rocks evidently volcanic. We frequently saw the water gushing out of hollows in the face of the rocks, or running in cascades from the top to the bottom.”

“After sailing very pleasantly for several hours, we approached Laupāhoehoe: although we had come upwards of twenty miles, and had passed not less than fifty ravines or valleys, we had not seen a spot where we thought it would be possible to land without being swamped”.

“(A)lthough we knew we had arrived at the end of our voyage, we could discover no place by which it seemed safe to approach the shore, as the surf was beating violently, and the wind blowing directly towards the land.” (Ellis, 1823)

In January 1834, David Douglas (a fir tree was named after him) visited the island of Hawai‘i, traveled around the base of Mauna Kea – including the upper Laupāhoehoe forest zone – and ascended Mauna Kea; while on his second visit to the island, he died at a location near the mauka boundary of Laupāhoehoe and Humuʻula.

In 1859, Abel Harris and FB Swain entered into a partnership and secured a section of land on the Laupāhoehoe peninsula and lower plains; they ran a trading station and attempted to undertake several business ventures, including, collection of pulu (down) from hāpuʻu tree ferns, hunting bullocks in the upper forest lands, and cultivation of sugar cane on the lowlands.

The lowlands of the Laupāhoehoe region became the focus of sugar plantation efforts as early as the 1850s. But it was not until 1876, that a full-scale plantation was incorporated, and a mill established.

At the industry’s peak in the 1930s, Hawaiʻi’s sugar plantations employed more than 50,000 workers and produced more than 1-million tons of sugar a year; over 254,500-acres were planted in sugar.

As elsewhere, sugar cultivation exploded on the Big Island. As a means to transport sugar and other goods, railroading was introduced to the Islands in 1879. All the sugar grown in East Hawaiʻi, in Puna and on the Hāmākua Coast, was transported by rail to Hilo Harbor, where it was loaded onto ships bound for the continent.

The rail line crossed over 12,000-feet in bridges, 211-water openings under the tracks, and individual steel spans up to 1,006-feet long and 230-feet in height.

Some of the most notable were those over Maulua and Honoliʻi gulches, the Wailuku River and Laupāhoehoe. Over 3,100 feet of tunnels were constructed, one of which, the Maulua Tunnel, was over half a mile in length.

While the main business of the railroad remained the transport of raw sugar and other products to and from the mills, it also provided passenger service.

Targeting tourists to augment local passenger and raw sugar transport, the Hawaiʻi Consolidated Railway ran sightseeing specials under the name “Scenic Express.”

Not for the faint of heart, rail trips included a stop on the trestles, where passengers disembarked to admire the outstanding scenery.

But the end was near for the railway. Early in the morning of April 1, 1946, a massive tsunami struck Hawaiʻi. The railroad line between Hilo and Paʻauilo suffered massive damage; bridges collapsed, trestles tumbled and one engine was literally swept off the tracks.

At Laupāhoehoe Point, waves destroyed teachers’ residences and flooded school grounds, killing twenty-five people, including sixteen students and five teachers of Laupāhoehoe School.

(The 1946 tsunami killed 159-people and caused $26-million in property damage throughout the islands. To prevent such widespread loss of life and property, the territory-wide Tsunami Warning System was put in place in 1948 and successfully utilized for the 1952 and 1957 tsunamis.) (hawaii-edu)

At the time of the tsunami, plantations were already phasing out rail in favor of trucking cane from the field to the mill. It was inevitable that trucking would also replace rail as the primary means of transporting sugar to the harbor. The tsunami accelerated that transition.

A few remnants of the railway are still visible. In Laupāhoehoe, a concrete platform remains where Hula dancers once performed for tourists. And the Laupāhoehoe Train Museum is housed in the former home of Mr. Stanley, the superintendent of maintenance.

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Laupahoehoe village-PPWD-5-4-021-1885
Laupahoehoe village-PPWD-5-4-021-1885
Laupahoehoe-PP-30-2-015-1935
Laupahoehoe-PP-30-2-015-1935
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Laupahoehoe landing-PP-30-2-004-1925
Aerial view of Laupahoehoe-PP-30-2-016-1935
Aerial view of Laupahoehoe-PP-30-2-016-1935
Aerial view of Laupahoehoe-PP-30-2-013-after_1946
Aerial view of Laupahoehoe-PP-30-2-013-after_1946
Flumes and railroad bridge on the way to Laupahoehoe-PP-30-2-005
Flumes and railroad bridge on the way to Laupahoehoe-PP-30-2-005
Road to Laupahoehoe-PP-30-2-007
Road to Laupahoehoe-PP-30-2-007
Hawaii Consolidated Railway Train
Hawaii Consolidated Railway Train
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Passengers_Bridge
Bridge on the Hamakua Coast, Hawaii, c.1930
Bridge on the Hamakua Coast, Hawaii, c.1930
David Douglas-Memorial-Kaluakauka
David Douglas-Memorial-Kaluakauka
Roughed out Canoe at the 4,500’ Elevation in Dense Koa forest-Sept 11, 1885
Roughed out Canoe at the 4,500’ Elevation in Dense Koa forest-Sept 11, 1885
Laupahoehoe
Laupahoehoe

Filed Under: Place Names, Economy Tagged With: Hawaii, Hawaii Island, Tsunami, Hamakua, Laupahoehoe

November 27, 2015 by Peter T Young 3 Comments

Hāmākua Ditch

As a result of the 1902 Arthur S Tuttle report commissioned by the Bishop Estate to study the feasibility of bringing water to the Hāmākua area, two major ditches were proposed – the Upper Ditch and the Lower Ditch.

“The object of the Hawaiian Irrigation Company, Limited, is in brief, the supplying of mountain water, by means of one upper and one lower irrigation canal, from the large watershed and permanent streams of the Kohala mountains, Hawaii …”

“… to the sugar estates in the Hāmākua district, where a large area, which is capable of considerable extension, is now under cultivation.” (Hawaiian Star, July 2, 1910)

The Hawaii Irrigation Company was originally known as the Hāmākua Ditch Company, Ltd., which was incorporated on February 9, 1904. Among the local bond subscribers were FA Schaefer & Co, Honokaa Sugar Co, Pacific Sugar Mill, Allen & Robinson, H Hackfeld, Mr Ahrens and Mr Jorgensen.

Sometime between August 1908 and April 1909, the Hāmākua Ditch Company changed its name to Hawaiian Irrigation Company, Ltd.

“Efforts to obtain water on a large scale for the ‘dry’ Hāmākua section of Hawaii had begun, however, prior to the active association of Mr. McCrosson with the projects. In 1884 Claus Spreckels, WG Irwin, HP Baldwin and others had surveys made and did considerable preliminary work, but the scheme was abandoned owing to the decision of Mr. Baldwin to concentrate his energies and capital upon the island of Maui.”

“In 1892 LA Thurston, then minister of the interior, made an official survey of the country (with a view to devising a scheme for taking water into Hamakua.) These several surveys formed the basis of Mr McCrosson’s later operations and the survey basis of the three great systems as they appear today.” (Hawaiian Star, July 2, 1910)

Water sources for the Upper Hāmākua Ditch were the Kawainui and the Alakahi streams, as well as general runoff from the watershed into the ditch; construction apparently commenced in April 1906. The Ditch was completed in January of 1907 and was initially able to deliver 15 MGD (million gallons per day.)

John T McCrosson oversaw the construction of the ditch. The Upper Ditch was approximately 23-miles in length and some 15 miles of it ran through Honokaa Sugar Co. and Pacific Sugar Mill land. Originally the Upper Ditch consisted of dirt ditches and galvanized flumes patched with lumber.

The Lower Ditch construction began in June 1907 (water sources were the Kawainui, Alakahi, Koeawi, and later, the Waimea streams,) but serious construction work did not start until September 1908. The ditch was opened on July 1, 1910 with a delivery of 30 MGD.

It was the occasion of two days of banquets, speeches and merry-making … “According to rumors aboard the Mauna Kea, the Hamakua Ditch opening on Friday will be the scene of an immense gathering, if the weather be favorable. It is understood that the entire population of the district will foregather there…” (Hawaiian Star, June 30, 1910)

The original length of the Lower Ditch was approximately 24 miles. Later on it was extended about 5 miles to supply water to Pauʻuilo Plantation.

“(F)rom the water head to the exit from Waipio Valley a distance of nearly nine miles, the ‘ditch’ is no ditch at all but a continuous tunnel with only three breaks where it comes out of the face of the bluff to span a narrow gorge and plunge into the face of the opposite precipice once more to bury itself in the lava depths …”

“… and that there are as yet unused possibilities for the incidental development of 8000 horsepower which can be distributed as electric energy all over the Island of Hawaii, give some conception of what the Great Ditch means.” (Hawaiian Gazette, July 5, 1910)

Japanese laborers built the ditch tunnels, the tunnel of the Lower Ditch, traveling the 8.9-miles from the Kawainui intake to the weir at Kukuihaele, was one of the longest in Hawai‘i. It was further distinguished by being quite large, approximately 10 X 12 feet in diameter. In 1920, another tunnel was constructed through Lalakea Gulch.

Apparently, three people were killed as a result of the building of the ditch. In July 1909, an engineer, Thomas F Kelly, drowned (with his horse) in Waipi`o Valley as he was returning from Kukuihaele with supplies.

A month later, a Japanese laborer was “pinned down by a large rock falling on him; he died shortly after the accident.” There is mention of a third, a Japanese workman, who, during the cutting of a trail across the face of the pali, was struck by a falling rock, “and he tumbled to death hundreds of feet below.” (EnvHawaii)

Due to various disputes , by February of 1915, Hawaiian Irrigation Co. was taken over by new management (essentially that of Honokaa Sugar Co.)

The company became involved in the growing and selling of rice. A rice mill was operated and became a source of revenue. There were also a few small independent poi factories located in the valley. The records also reflect other attempts regarding diversified agriculture in the valley.

In 1960, Honokaa Sugar Co. bought the remaining outstanding shares of the Hawaiian Irrigation Company, making Hawaiian Irrigation Company a wholly owned subsidiary of that firm.

For half a century it was the sole source for potable water for the communities along its path. The Hāmākua Ditch is woven into the history and culture of the local communities beyond its length. The ditch continues to serve the needs of the Hāmākua community.

The demise of the sugar industry, including the closure of Hāmākua Sugar in 1994, left a void in communities on the Big Island and throughout the state. At that time, the community expressed a strong desire to retain an agricultural lifestyle, which helped define the character of the community.

A movement toward growing a diversified agricultural community began with an eye on the highly desirable lower elevation lands. The Hāmākua Ditch remained a critical and important piece in this vision.

The Hamakua Ditch Work Group (comprised of local farmers and ranchers, representatives from the Hāmākua Farm Bureau and Hāmākua/North Hilo Cooperative, USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service, State Department of Agriculture, State Legislators and Kamehameha Schools) formed shortly after the 1994 closing of the plantation and has focused on maintenance and preservation of the Hāmākua Ditch system. (Takamine)

“John T McCrosson, the builder of the Hāmākua ditch, was born In Delaware, and arrived in the Islands first in March, 1880, going to Kohala plantation, where he had charge of theo traction engines. Remained there and at other plantations until 1885, when he went to San Francisco and engaged in the machinery business.”

“While at Kohala, Mr McCrosson studied deeply into the water problem of that rich country, and worked out during the years at San Francisco the great systems which are now under way there.”

“He returned to the Islands in 1895 and, with the exception of business visits to Washington, London, and other cities, has been here ever since. The Kohala ditch was the first planned and carried out by Mr. McCrosson.”

“This was completed June 11, 1906, and was the occasion of a monster ‘celebration’ in which almost the whole Island of Hawaii joined.” (Hawaiian Star, July 2, 1910) (Lots of information here is from HSPA, EnvHawaii and Takamine.)

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Upper Hamakua Ditch
Upper Hamakua Ditch
Hamakua Ditch in Waipio Valley , Hawaii , Geoffrey C. Davies in distance-BM
Hamakua Ditch in Waipio Valley , Hawaii , Geoffrey C. Davies in distance-BM
Flume crossing a gulch, Hamakua, Hawaii Island-PP-28-11-003
Flume crossing a gulch, Hamakua, Hawaii Island-PP-28-11-003
Sugar cane flume, Hamakua Hawaii-BM
Sugar cane flume, Hamakua Hawaii-BM
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Upper_Hamakua_Ditch
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Portable sugar cane flumes in field near Kukuihaele, Hawaii, looking toward Waipio-BM
Portable sugar cane flumes in field near Kukuihaele, Hawaii, looking toward Waipio-BM
Lower Hamakua Ditch
Lower Hamakua Ditch

Filed Under: General, Place Names, Economy Tagged With: Hamakua Ditch, Hawaii, Hawaii Island, Hamakua

October 13, 2015 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

People’s Theatre

A century after Captain James Cook’s arrival in Hawaiʻi, sugar plantations started to dominate the Hawaiian landscape. 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, labor shortages were eased by bringing in contract workers from Asia, Europe and North America. There were three big waves of workforce immigration: Chinese 1852; Japanese 1885 and Filipinos 1905.

Several smaller, but substantial, migrations also occurred: Portuguese 1877; Norwegians 1880; Germans 1881; Puerto Ricans 1900; Koreans 1902 and Spanish 1907.

Plantation labor contracts were usually of three to five year lengths, after which the laborer could return to the homeland, continue to work for the plantations (much desired by the plantation management,) or remain in Hawaiʻi and look for improved employment opportunities off the plantation (least desired by plantation management.)

Individuals found in the towns by 1900 were generally of four employment backgrounds: a small merchant class, skilled works (such as carpenters, blacksmiths, livery personnel) who had performed these functions on the plantations, those with previous homeland farming experience and unskilled laborers.

At Honokaʻa, the original village had developed along a portion of the coastal Government Road above the Haina sugar mill, near the fork between the Waimea and Kukuihaele Roads, and close to the Rickard residence (plantation manager’s house.)

By 1914, the town had a significant Japanese retail contingent, mostly on the Waipiʻo side of town. The increase in population, ingress into town, combined with the advent of Prohibition in 1920, set the stage for new forms of recreation.

Previously, entertainment in the town had been geared toward single men, drummers (traveling salesmen) and plantation workers in the form of the Hotel Honokaʻa Club, other ethnic clubs, bars, and pool and billiard halls.

Family entertainment consisted of shibai and bon dances at the local Hongwanji Buddhist temple, as well as movies screened in open-air venues by traveling “movie men.” The word shibai was introduced into the common local vocabulary of Hawaiʻi by way of Japanese immigrants and literally translates as “a play” or “a dramatic performance.”

The initial venues consisted of live entertainment rather than films. Live entertainment consisted of troupes of acrobats, kabuki (classical Japanese dance-drama), shibai, singing and storytelling.

The late 1920s through the 1930s marked a period of growth in the construction of indoor theater venues. Between the 1840s and 1970, over 400 theaters were constructed in the Hawaiian Islands.

Literally every town on Hawaiʻi Island, large and small, had at least one theater. They were built primarily by Japanese and Euro-American entrepreneurs, and others financed by the plantations. The first documented theater was erected at Pāhoa in Puna in 1917.

The first Honokaʻa Theatre (now known as the “Old Tanimoto Theater”) opened in 1921 on the mauka side of Government Road (Māmane Street). This theater was operated by Manki Harunaga and his partner J. Fujino in a warehouse-like structure.

Hatsuzo Tanimoto was born about 1864 in Japan and immigrated to Honomū, Hawaiʻi in 1887. He and his wife, Momi Yamamoto, arrived in the Islands on the SS Belgic in 1891.

The family then resided in Honomū, where Hatsuzo was the “proprietor” of a department store. Hatsuzo spoke English though Momi did not. The Tanimoto’s had 8 children; two daughters and six sons. In birth order they were Yoshio (son), Zenichi (son), Shizuno (daughter), Jitsusaburo (son), Yoshimi (son), Teruo (son), Takaichi (son), and Yoshino (daughter) (all born in Hawaiʻi.)

In 1929, Hatsuzo Tanimoto purchased the lot of the present People’s Theatre from the estate of former Hawai’i Island Royal Governor John T Bake.

In 1932 Hatsuzo Tanimoto purchased three lots, including the lot with the Honokaʻa Theatre. The $700 sale included “all machinery, equipment, furniture and fixtures…in the said Honokaʻa Theatre.” He continued the lease until 1934. Hatsuzo eventually closed this theater and leased the space to other businesses.

Tanimoto followed the fashion of the day by constructing a building specifically designed to show films as well as present live entertainment. The lot is located on the makai side of Māmane Street extending just Waipi’o side of the Bank of Hawaii lot.

In 1938, Hatsuzo Tanimoto purchased another lot on the makai side of the road, Waipi’o side of the People’s Theatre Unlike the People’s Theatre, Hatsuzo placed this property under his Hilo Theatres, Ltd., company.

This second Honokaʻa Theatre was constructed in 1939. Although it sported a neon “Honokaʻa Theatre” sign, it was best known as the “Doc Hill Theater”, named after an influential local politician who had arrived in Hawaiʻi years before as a spectacles salesmen who adopted the moniker “Doc”.

The “Doc Hill Theatre” was also informally called the “Republican Theatre,” as opposed to the People’s Theatre (which served as the “Democratic Theatre.”)

By 1939 Tanimoto had opened five theatres along the Hāmākua Coast, including Honomū, Hāmākua (at Paʻauilo) and Papaʻaloa.

Their presence was a testament to the rise of alternative entertainment during the Prohibition era, when bars, restaurants and other watering holes were forced to close or go underground.

Japanese films were shown on Mondays (average attendance 30 people), with Filipino films shown on Tuesdays (average attendance 15-20 people), and X-rated films shown on Wednesdays (average attendance 15 to 20). Thursday and the weekends were reserved for family entertainment (average attendance 50 to 60 people per night).

The 650-seat People’s Theatre is one of the largest buildings in Honokaʻa, and its only operating theater. Built in 1930 by Hatsuzo Tanimoto, its Neo-Classical Revival style architecture is typical of theaters built during the 1920s and ‘30s in Hawaii.

In 1943, William “Doc” Hill bought Hilo Theaters Ltd., with the exception of the People’s Theatre. The rest of these theaters have been either torn down, closed, or repurposed, making the People’s Theatre the only one left between Waimea and Hilo, and the largest outside Hilo.

Today, stage entertainment includes local musical groups, yoga and tai chi, the annual Hāmākua Music Festival, and a fashion show on 1st Fridays (a community street fair held the first Friday of every month).

The Tanimoto family ran the theater until 1990. Today, the theater is owned and run by retired doctor Tawn Keeney and his daughter Phaeton.

The theater lobby sports a café serving healthy breakfasts, sandwiches and sweets along with locally grown, artisanal Hāmākua coffee, and these days new-releases are shown with a modern digital projection system. Wi-Fi equipped, the lobby and café is still a meeting place for the town’s 3,000 residents and visitors to Honokaʻa. (Lots of information here is from NPS and Honokaʻa Historical Project)

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Filed Under: Economy, Buildings Tagged With: Hawaii Island, Hamakua, Honokaa, People's Theatre, Hawaii

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