Hawaii | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

November 12, 2026 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Wailupe Naval Radio Station

“Navy officials said they received a garbled radio message early today, purported to have been sent by Amelia Earhart, which indicated her plane was sinking.”

“The message received by three navy operators was pieced together as follows: ‘281 north Howland call KHAQQ beyond north won’t hold with us much longer above water shut off.’”

“The operators said keying of the message was poor and they were able only to pick up the fragments of it was received between 4:30 am and 5:30 am Pacific coast time.” (Bakersfield Californian, July 5, 1937)

Reanalysis of the credible post-loss signals supports the hypothesis that they were sent by Earhart’s Electra from a point on the reef at Nikumaroro, about a quarter-mile north of the shipwreck of the British freighter SS Norwich City. (NBC)

The signal was picked up by radiomen at the US Naval Radio Station in Wailupe, O‘ahu.

“The Navy purchased a piece of land at Wailupe for the temporary station and it was very temporary as plans were in the making for a permanent station at Wailupe.”

The temporary station at Wailupe was built around the first part of 1919 and personnel moved there to allow the Kahuku and Koko Head stations to be remodeled. Almost the entire crew of operators at Koko Head was sent to Wailupe.

“There were three booths, more like chicken coops, scattered on the beach. Each booth, of crude construction, had room for two circuits. The roofs leaked and some of the operators had to sit under an umbrella suspended from the ceiling to keep water off the equipment.”

“We stood a three section watch, seven days a week, no rotation of watches, no days off. Straight 8 on and 16 off, and that’s the way it was at the start of NPM (long distance radio station at Pearl Harbor) at Wailupe as a Government and commercial traffic station.” (Phelps)

The station was completed early in 1921. It was a rectangular, one story building on pilings out over the water to provide more land space for the proposed officer’s quarters, two duplex quarters and the single men’s barracks.

The building was divided into compartments or booths, seven on each side separated by a hallway extending the full length of the building. The wireroom had Morse code landline circuits to the Old Naval Station in Honolulu (HU) for transmission of commercial, other government department traffic and press news dispatches for the Honolulu newspapers

One additional set of duplex quarters was built between the two original duplexes. A tennis court, swimming pool and recreation building had been constructed. A diversity receiving station had been built on the hill behind the quarters.

Facilities at Wailupe in 1939 were meager, and an entirely new receiving and control station was under construction. At Wailupe in December 1941 there were seventy-six men operating twelve positions to receive and send naval dispatches.

After the December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, the Navy realized that the station at Wailupe on the seacoast was very vulnerable to attack.

So, on the morning of December 10, 1941, the District Communication Officer decided to have all radio equipment at Wailupe moved to Wahiawa.

(Wahiawa was originally established in 1940 as a temporary Naval Radio Station and Naval Radio Direction Finder Station, but the need to expand receiving facilities and to separate transmitting and receiving facilities forced expansion at NCTAMS PAC Wahiawa.)

The Wahiawa site was an excellent receiving area arid the best protected radio station of the entire district. Relocation was completed on December 17 without interruption of communications. (Todd)

With the outbreak of World War II, the Coast Guard established a Training Station in early spring 1942 at the former Naval Radio Station at Wailupe. One of the most important schools at the Training Station was the 16-week Radioman School.

There were approximately 20 students per class, with the first class beginning in March 1942. In November 1943, the Coast Guard assumed control of all inter-island communications for the Navy. As a result of the increased traffic, a new primary radio station was constructed on the site of the Wailupe Training Station.

However, the Coast Guard felt “the site of the present District primary radio station at Wailupe is far from satisfactory because of lack of space and the character of the terrain which prevents the proper separation of transmitting and receiving antenna systems.”

During the period of September – October 1958, the receiver site and administrative spaces were moved to Wahiawa. (Coast Guard)

Eventually, the area makai of Kalanianaʻole Highway was transferred and is now Wailupe Beach Park; the Coast Guard maintains housing and recreational facilities, mauka of the highway. (Lots of information and images here are from Phelps, Todd and virhistory-com.)

November 9, 2026 by Peter T Young 2 Comments

“Oh, father, dear father, do take me back!”

In 1840, as the ship carrying the missionaries’ offspring pulled away from the dock, a distraught seven-year-old, Caroline Armstrong, looking at her father on the shore, the distance between them widening every moment … “Oh, father, dear father, do take me back!” (Judd)

Her plea echoed in the hearts of the community. In June of that year the mission voted to establish a school for the missionary children at Punahou. (Emanuel)

Let’s look back …

Over the course of a little over 40-years (1820-1863 – the “Missionary Period,”) about 180-men and women in twelve Companies served in Hawaiʻi to carry out the mission of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) in the Hawaiian Islands.

The Prudential Committee of the ABCFM in giving instructions to the pioneers of 1819 said: “Your mission is a mission of mercy, and your work is to be wholly a labor of love. … Your views are not to be limited to a low, narrow scale, but you are to open your hearts wide, and set your marks high.”

“You are to aim at nothing short of covering these islands with fruitful fields, and pleasant dwellings and schools and churches, and of Christian civilization.” (The Friend)

The missionaries were scattered across the Islands, each home was usually in a thickly inhabited village, so that the missionary and his wife could be close to their work among the people.

In the early years, they lived in the traditional hale pili (thatched house) – “our little cottage built chiefly of poles, dried grass and mats, being so peculiarly exposed to fire … consisting only of one room with a little partition and one door.” (Sybil Bingham) The thatched cottages were raised upon a low stone platform. Later, they lived in wood, stone or adobe homes.

The missionary family’s day began at 4 am (… it continued into the night, with no breaks.) The mission children were up then, too; in the early morning, the parents taught their children. “We had one tin whale-oil lamp between us, with a single wick…. Soon after five we had breakfast.” (Bishop)

By 9 am, after accomplishing all domestic duties and schooling of the children, the wives would begin the instruction of the Hawaiian children – and taught them for six solid hours, occasionally running into the house to see that all was straight.

The missionaries established schools associated with their missions across the Islands. This marked the beginning of Hawaiʻi’s phenomenal rise to literacy. The chiefs became proponents for education and edicts were enacted by the King and the council of Chiefs to stimulate the people to reading and writing.

These early missionaries taught their lessons in Hawaiian, rather than English. In part, the mission did not want to create a separate caste and portion of the community as English-speaking Hawaiians. (In later years, the instruction, ultimately, was in English.)

“During the period from infancy to the age of ten or twelve years, children in the almost isolated family of a missionary could be well provided for and instructed in the rudiments of education without a regular school … But after that period, difficulties in most cases multiplied.” (Hiram Bingham)

Missionaries were torn between preaching the gospel and teaching their kids. “(M)ission parents were busy translating, preaching and teaching. Usually parents only had a couple of hours each day to spare with their children.” (Schultz)

From 1826, until Punahou School opened in 1842, young missionary parents began to make a decision seemingly at odds with the idealizing of the family so prevalent in the 19th century; they weighed the possibility of sending their children back to New England. The trauma mostly affected families of the first two companies, and involved 19 out of 250 Mission children. (Zwiep)

“(I)t was the general opinion of the missionaries there that their children over eight or ten years of age, notwithstanding the trial that might be involved, ought to be sent or carried to the United States, if there were friends who would assume a proper guardianship over them”. (Bingham)

“Owing to the then lack of advanced schools in Hawaii, the earlier mission children were all ‘sent home’ around Cape Horn, to ‘be educated.’ This was the darkest day in the life history of the mission child.” (Bishop)

“Peculiarly dependent upon the family life, at the age of eight to twelve years, they were suddenly torn from the only intimates they had ever known, and banished, lonely and homesick, to a mythical country on the other side of the world …”

“… where they could receive letters but once or twice a year; where they must remain isolated from friends and relatives for years and from which they might never return.” (Bishop)

The parents in the first company demonstrate the range of options available: going home with all the children (as did the Chamberlains and Loomises;) keeping all the children to be educated by the mother (the Thurstons’ choice;) or sending some or all of the children home, not knowing when or if they would be reunited (the course taken by the Binghams, Ruggleses and Whitneys.)

In 1829, Sophia Bingham was sent back to the continent. “It was a sad, sad day when our Sophia left us. She stood at the rail clutching her only toy, a wooden doll made for her by her father. Our hearts said farewell beloved child!” (Sybil Bingham; Punahou)

Mail was so slow that her mother Sybil waited a year and a half for her first letter from Sophia. “This poor, waiting, anxious heart,” she confessed, “has been made so glad by your long, crowded pages, that it would not be easy to tell you all its joy.” (Zwiep)

On July 11, 1842, fifteen children met for the first time in Punahou’s original E-shaped building. The first Board of Trustees (1841) included Rev. Daniel Dole, Rev. Richard Armstrong, Levi Chamberlain, Rev. John S Emerson and Gerrit P Judd. (Hawaiian Gazette, June 17, 1916)

By the end of that first year, 34-children from Sandwich Islands and Oregon missions were enrolled, only one over 12-years old. Tuition was $12 per term, and the school year covered three terms. (Punahou)

By 1851, Punahou officially opened its doors to all races and religions. (Students from Oregon, California and Tahiti were welcomed from 1841 – 1849.)

December 15 of that year, Old School Hall, “the new spacious school house,” opened officially to receive its first students. The building is still there and in use by the school.

Sophia Bingham, the first white girl born on Oʻahu (November 9, 1820,) is my great great grandmother. The image shows Sophia – I had a chance to see the original painting.

November 7, 2026 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Shoyu

The soybean finds numerous uses, it can be eaten cooked, ground into flour (kinako / roasted soy flour) or used for the manufacture of shoyu, miso or tofu.

The bean, its seed coat, pod, leaves and stem serve as feed for animals. It has been used on a trial basis to feed sheep, and the results proved that ‘it was the best feed that one could give to them.’

Soybeans originate from China. In 2853 BC, Emperor Sheng-Nung of China named five sacred plants – soybeans, rice, wheat, barley and millet. They were domesticated between 17th and 11th century BC in the eastern half of China, where they were cultivated into a food crop.

In 1868, the first 153-Japanese immigrants arrived in Honolulu on board the 3-masted sailing ship Scioto (Saioto-go.) They brought with them miso and shoyu.

The Japanese word for ‘soy sauce’ is shoyu; it derives from and is written with the same characters as the jiangyou. The various early English words for soy sauce, soy and soya, came from the Japanese word for soy sauce, shoyu, rather than from the Chinese word, jiangyou.

More started coming to Hawai‘i. In 1893, a report of Japan’s Department of Agriculture and Commerce noted Exports (Class 22) include “Soy. The total value of the latest export is 41,029 yen, and chiefly exported to Hawai‘i.”

Ingredients include equal parts dehulled wheat, soybeans and salt; a small part of the wheat is mixed with Koji (the steamed rice in sake) and allowed to ferment.

The best salt comes from Ako in the province of Harima. The salt is purified by dissolving then heating it in water, and stirring the mash (2 or 3 times a day from June to September), aging for 15, 20 or sometimes 30 months to obtain shoyu.

The mash in then pressed in cotton sacks and the resulting liquid is boiled, cooled, allowed to settle, then stored in small wooden tubs. The residue from the first pressing can be used to make a second-grade shoyu, which can be mixed in varying proportions into different grades of shoyu. (Le Japon à l’Exposition Universelle de 1878 (Japan at the Universal Exposition of 1878))

“The first Japanese who lived in Hawaii and brewed shoyu there was Jihachi Shimada, who originally came from Yamaguchi-ken, Japan.”

“He started in June 1891 and tried to make shoyu on a large scale. But bad transportation made it difficult for him to expand his market. This plus lack of capital forced him to quit.” (Soyinfo Center)

“The Japanese in Hawaii depended upon shoyu imported from Japan until Nobuyuki (Yamakami) started making shoyu in 1904.”

Then, in 1905, Yamajo Soy Co. (Yamajo Shoyu Seizo-sho) started to make shoyu in Honolulu. Established by Yamakami, it is the first successful shoyu manufacturer in Hawaii. By 1909, it was renamed Hawaiian Soy Co Ltd.

Back in Japan, 19 soy sauce brewers organized an association in Noda to ship soy sauce mainly to Edo. By the mid-nineteenth century, Noda had become the largest soy sauce producer in the Kanto region.

In 1917, the Mogi family, the Takanashi family and the Horikiri family merged their businesses to form Noda Shoyu Co., Ltd. In 1964, Noda Shoyu Co, Ltd. changed its corporate name to Kikkoman Shoyu Co, Ltd. In 1980, this trade name was altered to the company’s current name: Kikkoman

“The origin of the brewing of the ‘Kikkôman’ brand of soy, reputed to be the leader among the best varieties, dates back about 120 years (ie to about 1790.)”

“Ever since the honoured founder of the firm inaugurated the brewing of soy, the succeeding proprietors have all been men of great ability, who have succeeded in extending the business generation by generation, as well as improving the quality of the product.”

“In the year 1838, when Mr. Saheiji Mogi, fifth of the line, was the head of the firm, it was appointed by special warrant purveyor to the Household of the Tokugawa Shoguns …”

“… having been ordered to supply the Household and the Heir-Apparent every year with a large quantity of soy, a custom which was continued until the overthrow of the Shogunate in 1868.”

“The chief point worthy of special mention in regard to the ‘Kikkoman’ firm is the fact of its having been chiefly instrumental in making Japanese soy known and appreciated in foreign countries, more than half the total amount of soy exported to foreign countries at present being the ‘Kikkoman’ brand.”

“On the occasion of the International Exhibition held in Vienna, Austria, in 1873, when the Japanese Government participated for the first time in such an undertakings, the ‘Kikkoman’ soy was among the exhibits.”

“Being deemed by the judges far superior both in regard to taste and colour to the sauce usually used as a condiment, the ‘Kikkoman’ soy was awarded the gold of honour.”

In 1957, Kikkoman opened its first overseas sales base in San Francisco. To meet steadily increasing demand, Kikkoman then built its first overseas production plant in the United States in 1973 (in Walworth, Wisconsin.)

In 1946, a small shoyu (soy sauce) manufacturing plant was established in Kalihi, Hawai‘i by five local Japanese families amidst post World War II. It became known as Aloha Shoyu.

In 1965, Diamond Teriyaki Sauce started to be made in Honolulu. This is the world’s earliest known commercial teriyaki sauce. It is made from soy sauce, mirin (sweet sake) and a flavor enhancer. (Lots of information here is from Soyinfo Center.)

November 6, 2026 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Aikapu

Fornander writes that prior to the period of Pā‘ao “… the kapus (forbidden actions) were few and the ceremonials easy; that human sacrifices were not practiced, and cannibalism unknown; and that government was more of a patriarchal than of a regal nature.”

Pā‘ao is said to have been a priest, as well as a chief and navigator, who arrived in the island of Hawai‘i as early as in the twelfth or thirteenth century (many say he was from Tahiti.)

Pā‘ao is reported to have introduced (or, at least expanded upon) a religious and political code in old Hawai`i, collectively called the kapu system. This forbid many things and demanded many more, with many infractions being punishable by death.

One of the most fundamental of this type of prohibition forbade men and women from eating together and also prohibited women from eating certain foods – ʻaikapu (to eat according to the restrictions of the kapu.)

The ʻaikapu is a belief in which males and females are separated in the act of eating; males being laʻa or ‘sacred,’ and females haumia or ‘defiling’ (by virtue of menstruation.)

Since, in this context, eating is for men a sacrifice to the male akua (god) Lono, it must be done apart from anything defiling, especially women. Thus, men prepared the food in separate ovens, one for the men and another for the women, and built separate eating houses for each.

“The kahuna suggested that the new ʻaikapu religion should also require that four nights of each lunar month be set aside for special worship of the four major male akua, Ku, Lono, Kane and Kanaloa. On these nights it was kapu for men to sleep with their wahine. Moreover, they should be at the heiau (temple) services on these nights.” (Edith Kanaka‘ole Foundation and Lilikalā Kame‘eleihiwa)

“Under ʻaikapu, certain foods, because of their male symbolism, also are forbidden to women, including pig, coconuts, bananas, and some red fish.”(Edith Kanaka‘ole Foundation and Lilikalā Kame‘eleihiwa)

“The custom of the tabu upon free eating was kept up because in old days it was believed that the ruler who did not proclaim the tabu had not long to rule. If he attempted to continue the practice of free eating he was quickly disinherited.”

“It was regarded as an impious act practiced by those alone who did not believe in a god. Such people were looked upon as lower than slaves. The chief who kept up the ancient tabu was known as a worshiper of the god, one who would live a long life protected by Ku and Lono.”

“He would be like a ward of Kane and Kanaloa, sheltered within the tabu. The tabu eating was a fixed law for chiefs and commoners, not because they would die by eating tabu things, but in order to keep a distinction between things permissible to all people and those dedicated to the gods.”

“The tabu of the chief and the eating tabu were different in character. The eating tabu belonged to the tabus of the gods; it was forbidden by the god and held sacred by all. It was this tabu that gave the chiefs their high station.” (Kamakau)

If a woman was clearly detected in the act of eating any of these things, as well as a number of other articles that were tabu, which I have not enumerated, she was put to death. (Malo)

Certain places were set apart for the husband’s sole and exclusive use; such were the sanctuary in which he worshipped and the eating-house in which he took his food.

The wife might not enter these places while her husband was worshipping or while he was eating; nor might she enter the sanctuary or eating-house of another man; and if she did so she must suffer the penalty of death, if her action was discovered. (Malo)

Early visitors to the Islands also wrote of times that the ʻaikapu was broken (but not with consent – it was broken as a practice of some women.)

Ellis, on Captain Cook’s voyage noted, “The women were not averse to eating with us, though the men were present, and would frequently indulge themselves with pork, plantains and coco nuts, when secure from being seen by them.” (Ellis’s Authentic Narrative, 1788)

Likewise Samwell (also on Cook’s voyage) noted, “While they (women) were on board the ships with us they would never touch any food or ripe plantains except privately & by stealth, but then they would eat very hearty of both & seemed very fond of them”. (Samwell; Sahlins)

But there were times ʻaikapu prohibitions were not invoked and women were free to eat with men, as well as enjoy the forbidden food – ʻainoa (to eat freely, without regarding the kapu.)

“In old days the period of mourning at the death of a ruling chief who had been greatly beloved was a time of license. The women were allowed to enter the heiau, to eat bananas, coconuts and pork, and to climb over the sacred places.” (Kamakau)

“Free eating followed the death of the ruling chief; after the period of mourning was over the new ruler placed the land under a new tabu following old lines. (Kamakau)

Following the death of Kamehameha I in 1819, Liholiho assented and became ruling chief with the title Kamehameha II and Kaʻahumanu, co-ruler with the title kuhina nui.

Kaʻahumanu, made a plea for religious tolerance, saying: “If you wish to continue to observe (Kamehameha’s) laws, it is well and we will not molest you. But as for me and my people we intend to be free from the tabus.”

“We intend that the husband’s food and the wife’s food shall be cooked in the same oven and that they shall be permitted to eat out of the same calabash. We intend to eat pork and bananas and coconuts. If you think differently you are at liberty to do so; but for me and my people we are resolved to be free. Let us henceforth disregard tabu.”

Keōpūolani, another of Kamehameha I’s wives, was the highest ranking chief of the ruling family in the kingdom during her lifetime. She was a niʻaupiʻo chief, and looked upon as divine; her kapu, equal to those of the gods. (Mookini) Giving up the ʻaikapu (and with it the kapu system) meant her traditional power and rank would be lost.

Never-the-less, symbolically to her son, Liholiho, the new King of the Islands, she put her hand to her mouth as a sign for free eating. Then she ate with Kauikeaouli, and it was through her influence that the eating tabu was freed. Liholiho permitted this, but refrained from any violation of the kapu himself. (Kuykendall)

Keōpūolani ate coconuts which were tabu to women and took food with the men, saying, “He who guarded the god is dead, and it is right that we should eat together freely.” (Kamakau)

The ʻainoa following Kamehameha’s death continued and the ʻaikapu was not put into place – effectively ending the centuries-old kapu system.

Some have suggested it was the missionaries that ended the kapu that disrupted the social/political system in the Islands; that is not true. The American Protestant missionaries did not arrive in the Islands until the next year (April 4, 1820.) The Hawaiians ended their centuries’ long social/political system.

Sybil Bingham’s Journal entry for March 30, 1820, at the first landing of the Pioneer Company of missionaries, clearly notes the kapu was overturned and the heiau destroyed before the American Protestant missionaries arrived.

“March 30th, 1820. – Memorable day – a day which brings us in full view of that dark pagan land so long the object of our most interested thoughts. Between twelve and one this morning, the word was from Thomas who was up watching, ‘land appears’. When the watch at four was called, Honoree (Honoli‘i) came down saying, ‘Owhyhee sight!’”

“There was but little sleep. When the day afforded more light than the moon we were all out, and judge you, if possible, what sensation filled our breasts as we fixed our eyes upon the lofty mountains of Owhyhee!”

“O! it would be in vain to paint them. I attempt it not. A fair wind carried us by different parts of the island near enough to discern its verdure, here and there a cataract rushing down the bold precipice—some huts, natives and smoke.”

“I would I could put my feelings, for a little season, into your bosoms. No boats coming off as usual, Capt. B— thought it advisable to send ashore to inquire into the state of things, and where he might find the king.”

“Our good Thomas and Honoree, with Mr. Hunnewell and a few hands, set off. Our hearts beat high, and each countenance spoke the deep interest felt as we crowded around our messengers at their return.”

“With almost breathless impatience to make the communication, they leap on board and say, Tamaahmaah is dead!”

“The government is settled in the hands of his son Keehoreeho-Krimokoo is principal chief—the taboo system is no more–men and women eat together!—the idol gods are burned !!”

“How did we listen! What could we say? The Lord has gone before us and we wait to see what He has for us to do.”

November 5, 2026 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Maui Grand Hotel

“Those Honeymoon Isles are getting all sorts of publicity these days, says last Sunday’s Bystander … ‘The Valley Isle’ and Wailuku city of 30,000, a hundred miles or a half-day by boat from O‘ahu Island, and the gateway to the colossus extinct crater, ‘Haleakala,’ will step into the tourist limelight this season with the lure of the new Grand Hotel …”

“… a Wailuku Clift – snow white, solid and beautiful, with every San Francisco fad and fancy of comfort, convenience and service, and a capacity for 100 patrons.”

“General manager AJ de Souza of the Grand Hotel Company has just returned to the Maui Wailuku following a month at the Fielding, San Francisco, buying the equipment, engaging a manager Frederick McDonald and “planting” the Pacific Slope with patronage publicity.” (Maui News, October 6, 1916)

“General manager de Souza said that the new Grand will be the Maui ‘Mecca’ this season with its California high-type hotel accommodations, the want of which has until now decimated tourist travel to the deep and dead Vesuvius, whose dimensions are incomprehensible and its depth bottomless and unknown.”

“Thus Maui, Wailuku, the new Grand Hotel and the bottomless Haleakala will this season and henceforth vie and rank with Oahu, Honolulu.”

“Waikiki Beach and their horde of hotels in the eye and appetite of the rich and multiplying America winter and summer tourist, indefinitely barred out of Europe.”

“The Maui ‘Mecca’ Wailuku and the new Grand will soon bid Western Hotels and Travel fans to the added development of the ‘Hawaiian’ paradise.” (Maui News, October 6, 1916) Folks also learned, “The Grand hotel is going to work in conjunction with the St Francis of San Francisco.” (Star Bulletin, September 23, 1916)

The early hype helped, but shortly after, the hotel was in bankruptcy proceedings, “it is quite true that the Grand Hotel company is involved and unable to pay its debts”. (Star Bulletin, July 21, 1917)

Associated litigation suggested “Rumors are flying thick and fast as to the nature of the probable adjustment of the case. One theory is to the effect that the Grand will be purchased and turned into a Japanese hospital. This is more or less of an old story, but is probably one of the plans upon which those interested are working.” (Maui News, September 28, 1917)

The hotel, the largest hotel on Maui until after World War II, later ended up under the operation of William H Field and his Maui Hotel Company. “Mr. Field built and opened the Maui Hotel 21 years ago which at that time was considered far in advance of Maul’s needs for years to come.”

“Later he built additions and enlarged the Maui into the present building. Three years ago he formed the idea of securing a string of hotels on Maui and leased from George Freeland the Pioneer Hotel at Lahaina, the West Maui port being considered the main gateway to Maui for tourists and traveling men, and he conducted the two hotels under his one management.”

“To these he added the Grand Hotel two years ago and conducted the three under one management. Finding it unnecessary to conduct two dining rooms he closed the one in the Maui Hotel and used that building as an annex or for room accommodations only for guests who took their meals at the Grand.” (Maui News, January 6, 1922)

Later, EJ Walsh owned the Maui Grand Hotel. Walsh was “one of the big wheels for Kahului Railroad”. He also “ran the observation station in Haleakala.” Back then (the 1930s and 40s,) Haleakala was not a national park. It was run privately. (Haleakala National Park was established in 1961.) (Kaneshiro)

Walsh began furnishing meals and other services for visitors at Haleakala in 1936, becoming the first concessioner in this section of the park. (NPS)

One famous Grand guest was Georgia O’Keeffe; she was in the Islands to submit two paintings for a Dole Pineapple ad campaign. More than six months after her arrival in Hawaiʻi, O’Keeffe had produced 20-paintings, not one included a pineapple and she subsequently “submitted depictions of a papaya tree and the spiky blossom of a lobster’s claw heliconia” for the Dole ads.

“This little hotel is very good – the Japanese boy carries my things up and down stairs for me – There is a Danish man (Harold Stein) who has charge of recreational work for the island who treats me as if I am his own special guest – It makes things easy”. (Georgia O’Keeffe, March 25, 1939; Saville)

The large two-story wooden structure stood on Wailuku’s Main Street; cars drove into the hotel’s semi-circle driveway and it was the center of social life and fine dining into the 1960s. (Tsuchiyama) In 1961, The Maui Grand Hotel closed and was demolished for a service station (the site of the Texaco at Main and Church.)