Kailua | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

June 28, 2025 by Peter T Young 2 Comments

Podmore Fire Control

“There are strong arguments in favor of putting the principal harbors of the country in a state of adequate defense, even at very considerable cost. But the work should be done according to a well digested plan, which will give reasonable security that it will answer its purpose.” (New York Times, July 1, 1884)

Harbor defenses had constituted the primary element of the means employed by the Army for seacoast defense. Harbor defenses consisted of permanently installed guns of various calibers, which could be supplemented in an emergency by mobile coast artillery guns and controlled mine fields.

The Artillery District of Honolulu was established April 24, 1909 and consisted of Forts Ruger, DeRussy, Kamehameha and Armstrong (the District was renamed Headquarters Coast Defenses of Oʻahu.)

Following World War I and until the end of World War II, additional coastal armaments were constructed. Then, the Army mission was “the defense of Pearl Harbor Naval Base against damage from naval or aerial bombardment or by enemy sympathizers and attack by enemy expeditionary force or forces, supported or unsupported by an enemy fleet or fleets”.

Batteries at Fort Kamehameha, Fort Weaver and Fort Barrette (the latter two constructed in 1924 & 1935) completed pre-World War II coastal defense network for Pearl Harbor.

Batteries at Fort DeRussy and Fort Ruger were responsible for the defense of the South coast and Honolulu Harbor. While none of the large caliber guns were ever fired except in practice, the secondary anti-aircraft guns of coastal artillery units at Fort Kamehameha were credited with shooting down a number of attacking aircraft on the morning of December 7, 1941.

Following the Pearl Harbor attack, as part of the growing Coast Defense network, numerous Batteries and their associated Fire Control Stations were set up around the Islands.

A Fire Control Station is an observation and command center used to direct fire from gun Batteries on the coast. Fire Control personnel spot and determine where the guns should aim (typically working with others using triangulation;) Batteries have the guns to fire at the targets.

In 1917, Waimanalo Military Reservation was created (later renamed to Bellows Field in 1933;) with the outbreak of WWII, Bellows was transformed almost overnight into an important facility where aircraft were prepared for their duty in the Pacific Theater.

Part of the defense of the facility was Battery Wailea, located at Wailea Point (at the dividing line between Waimanalo and Lanikai.) Search lights were emplaced at the Battery. The Battery was operational from 1942 to 1945.

It was initially armed with two mobile 155-mm guns (about 6-inches, that could send 96-lb projectiles 17,400-yds,) later replaced with two 5-inch guns (58-lb projectile, 10,000-yd range) (later supplemented with two 3-inch guns (15-lb projectile, 11,100-yd range.))

Battery Wailea was supported by Fire Control Station Podmore. Podmore, completed February 28, 1943 – named for a nearby triangulation station, supported other armaments and was made up of two stations: a single story North structure (29A) and a double-tiered South station (29B & 29C.) (Bennett)

Pedestals in the bunkers were mounts for high-powered optical instruments for determining azimuth and range of ocean vessels.

An observer and recorder staffed each observation station. Data obtained from the observer’s optical instrument was telephoned by the recorder to the assigned gun battery by a local-battery operated telephone. (Bennett)

The troops manning the site slept and lived in tents in shifts on the slopes. Water and power lines were brought up from below to serve the bunkers and tent quarters from the Lanikai side of the Kaʻiwa Ridge.

The Podmore stations were located in the South Sector of Oʻahu’s two defense sectors, and tactically assigned to the Harbor Defenses of Kāneʻohe Bay located in a tunnel system dug into Ulupaʻu Crater on Mōkapu Peninsula.

The harbor defenses were set up to protect the vital Navy seaplane and landplane base at the Kāneʻohe Bay Naval Air Station built on the Mōkapu Peninsula. (Bennett)

After end of WWII, the parcel was declared surplus by the General Services Administration (GSA) and was offered for sale to the highest bidder. Both the State and the City & County did not offer to acquire the parcel and the property was sold to a private individual. (DLNR)

Today, a hiking trail takes you to the Fire Control Station.

The Ka‘iwa ridgeline may be accessed by one of two legal routes: the first is a City and County of Honolulu public access right-of-way that was established as a condition of subdivision approval for the Bluestone condominiums. The other access point is a State-owned trail corridor that was purchased for use by the Nā Ala Hele Trail and Access Program (Governor’s Executive Order 3610, 1994). (DLNR)

Most folks call the Podmore Fire Control bunker the Lanikai Pillboxes; a misnomer. As noted, the bunkers were built as an observation and command center for Battery Wailea and observation for Bellows Field.

A pillbox is a reinforced guard post, normally equipped with openings through which to fire weapons. The Podmore Fire Control Station was for observation, not weaponry.

In 2024, DLNR published as Final Environmental Assessment that calls for actions “to improve the Ka‘iwa Ridge Trail by implementing a trail management plan concurrently with the installation of physical improvements to the trail corridor.”

“Proposed improvements include a combination of surface treatments, erosion control measures, fencing or other barriers, and trail signage throughout the trail corridor.”

Lanikai Fire Control-(saito)

Waimanalo to Alala Pt-t4379_dd-1928-noting Podmoreequipment, not guns-punynari

Trail to lanikai-bunkers-punynari

The ‘Mokes’ from Fire Control Station Podmore

Start of the hike – lanikai-bunkers-punynari

lanikai-bunkers-punynari

Kailua and Fire Control Station Podmore

Heading up the trail to lanikai-bunkers

Almost to the top of trail to lanikai-bunkers-punynari

Example of 155mm gun (not specifically at Battery Wailea)

Example of 155mm gun (not specifically at Battery Wailea)-1943

Fire Control Station Podmore

Fire Control Station Podmore-(NotSoGreatHiking)

Fire Control Station Podmore_punynari

Fire Control Station Podmore-pedestals for viwing equipment, not guns-punynari

Fire Control Station Podmore-punynari

April 7, 2025 by Peter T Young 3 Comments

Campos Dairy

During the mid-1800s, Queen Kalama, wife of Kamehameha III, and Judge CC Harris attempted to establish a sugar plantation on the majority of lands in Kāneʻohe and Kailua. When this venture failed in 1871, Judge Harris obtained title to the lands, which he transferred to his daughter Nannie R Rice.

JP Mendonca leased the lands from her and, on November 1, 1894, incorporated Kāneʻohe Ranch, for the purpose of raising cattle. A foundation herd of Aberdeen-Angus cattle formed the basis for a commercial herd of between two and three thousand head.

The “wet-lands” on the property were leased to Chinese for rice cultivation. In 1907, James B Castle acquired the capital stock of Kāneʻohe Ranch Company Limited, and in 1917 his son Harold KL Castle eventually purchased the lands from Mrs Rice.

The cattle industry remained an integral part of the ranch’s operations until World War II, with the herds in the early days being driven by cowboys over the Pali to be butchered in Honolulu. Military operations on the ranch lands became so extensive during World War II that the cattle industry was discontinued.

The 12,000-acre ranch, when it came under the direction of Mr Castle, also engaged in the cultivation of pineapple. However, because of the extensive rainfall on this side of the island, pineapples proved uneconomical and in the 1920s were discontinued. Likewise, because of competition from California, rice farming declined in the 1930s. (NPS)

Parts of the area became used by dairy farms … that leads us to the Campos clan.

One of the biggest dairies on the Island was Campos Dairy in Kailua (it was also called LW Campos Ranch and Eagle Rock Dairy – because there was a large lava outcrop in the middle of a flat field shaped like an eagle.) (Miranda)

Rafael Marfil Campos was born in Velez, Malaga, Spain on June 30, 1860 to Antonio Gonzales Campos and Ana Robles Marfil. In 1883 he married Irene Rudea Lopes of Macharaviaya, Malaga (she died in 1889); his second wife was Carolina Escano Lopes, of Benagalbon, Malaga (she died in 1894).

Campos had emigrated from Spain to Cuba in 1893; there he lost his worldly possessions in the revolution against Spain. In 1897, Campos married Maria Gallardo Claros de Macharaviaya. He then moved to Puerto Rico in 1900.

After returning to Spain and living there for a while, he came to Hawaiʻi in 1907.

1912 newspaper reports show Campos was farming in Kapahulu (near where the Honolulu Zoo is situated.) Campos “is an expert farmer who arrived here from Spain in the immigrant steamer Heliopolis …”

The newspaper was reporting on losses he suffered on his vegetable and fruit farm due to fruit flies attacking his Chile pepper. He noted, “If something is not done in regard to the fruit fly, our islands will be ruined as far as vegetables and fruits are concerned.” (Hawaiian Star, June 6, 1912) That same year, recorded transactions note he also sold cows.

During the 1920s and 1930s several dairymen moved from Kapahulu to the windward side because large tracts of land had been abandoned by Libby, McNeill & Libby, following the closing of their pineapple cannery in Kahaluʻu.

Campos Dairy farm appeared in 1925 along the mauka side of Kailua Road (reportedly, one of the first to make the move to the Windward side.) It was where Target and the Ka Malanai Condominiums are today.

Leasing land from Kāneʻohe Ranch, Campos also bought land around Kaʻelepulu Stream. A 1994 MidWeek cover story said the Campos land included 800 to 1,000-acres, where a herd of 1,000 to 1,200-cattle roamed. (Star-Bulletin)

The senior Campos “retired from the diary business in 1937, turning his interests over to his sone, Lawrence. He kept his hand in, however, by maintaining a flock of 600 Rhode Island Red chickens as a hobby.” (Adv, Mar 1, 1946) (Another son, George, also was involved with management of the dairy.)

Campos sold milk to the Dairymen’s Association (a cooperative formed in June 1897 when seven O’ahu dairy farms joined forces (Waiʻalae Ranch dairy, Kaipu Dairy, Mānoa Dairy, Honolulu Dairy, Nuʻuanu Valley Dairy, Woodlawn Dairy (Mānoa) and Kapahulu Dairy.)) (In 1959, the Dairymen’s Association, Ltd name changed to Meadow Gold Dairies Hawai‘i.)

Due to disagreement in a new policy, Campos was ready to go out on his own. “The decision to go into his own milk and dairy products business was made, according to Mr Campos, when Dairymen’s refused him the renewal of the flat-rate contract … he was asked to join the pool to which most of the milk producers now belong”. (Honolulu Record, September 7, 1950)

Lawrence Campos of the Eagle Rock Dairy planned to go into distributing milk in competition with the Dairymen’s Association. This brought speculation of a “milk price war.”

“Campos is working closely with owners of the Hygienic Dairy in his plans to organize a million dollar company … Hygienic has also had disagreement on a contract renewal with Dairymen’s.” (Honolulu Record, September 14, 1950)

By 1952, Campos is noted as “processing and selling milk;” that year, Foremost bought Campos Dairy Products, Ltd, as well as several other dairies and made its entrance into the Honolulu milk market. Operations were later transferred to Waimanalo. (FTC)

In the late-1960s, negotiation were underway by respective parties to acquire the Campos lease on the Castle/Kāneʻohe Ranch lands – the plan was to develop the pasture into apartments, condominium and commercial uses (one party offered $1,370,000 to purchase the Campos Ranch leases with Castle.)

Hawaii’s current dairy industry is tiny compared to what it once was. The state was self-sufficient in milk until 1982. Dairy operations could once be found across Oahu — from Hawaii Kai to Kapahulu and Waianae.

But in 2022, Hawaii had 633 dairy cows spread across 22 farms, according to the USDA. And more than half belong to Cloverleaf Dairy. In the 1960s, the state had about 50 dairies; now, there is one – the 350-cow Cloverleaf Dairy. (Heaton; Civil Beat)

April 2, 2025 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Alāla

Alāla (lit., awakening) is a point at the south end of Kailua Beach that separates Kailua Beach and Kaʻōhao (an ʻili in the Kailua ahupuaʻa – the area is now more commonly called Lanikai) on Oʻahu.

The point takes its name from the fishing shrine, a natural stone formation, on the ridge above. Wailea, a companion fishing shrine (and point,) is located at the south end of Lanikai. (Ulukau)

In 1920, a bridge was constructed across Kaʻelepulu Stream, giving better access to the area.

Shortly after, Harold Kainalu Long Castle sold land to developer Charles Russell Frazier (the head of Town and Country Homes, Ltd., which was the real estate division of the Trent Trust Co) to create what Frazier and Trent called Lanikai (a name they made up.)

They laid out the subdivision and the first permanent homes in the area were constructed in 1924. Development began at the northern end of the neighborhood and moved further south along the beach.

The area was initially considered a remote country location for weekend getaways or vacations at the beach for swimming, fishing, boating and hiking.

The construction of the Lanikai streets was completed by October 1925. Included in the deeds for the Lanikai subdivision were restrictions that remained in effect until 1950, against building within 18-feet of the property boundary line along the street or using the property for anything other than residences.

At about the same time, Frazier leased a couple-hundred acres of neighboring land from Bishop Estate. He persuaded sixty-five men, many of whom were purchasing his lots and cottages at Lanikai, to commit to a country club project (Kailua Country Club; the name quickly changed to Mid-Pacific Country Club.)

In 1926, the development doubled in size and Frazier added the now-iconic monument at the entrance to the development.

It was designed by the famed local architect Hart Wood. (Wood, known for residential and commercial structures (including Alexander & Baldwin Building and Honolulu Hale,) designed the also-iconic “Hawaiian” double-hipped roof pattern and “lanai” or broad roofed-in patio with open sides.)

The Lanikai Monument’s use of rough concrete and stone is in keeping with Wood’s experiments with natural stone indigenous to the structure’s site, an example of which is his Makiki Christian Science Church.

The Lanikai Monument is a simple pillar located on a narrow strip of land that is a high point next to the road; it’s there to mark the boundary and entry point of the subdivision and golf course. It is still in its original location and its original design remains almost intact.

The tapered concrete base structure is 40-feet in circumference and 56 inches high. The pillar is made of concrete and stone.

The 16 foot tall pillar has a gentle taper from its 5-foot-diameter lower portion to a slightly narrower and rounded concrete top that is capped with a conical concrete cap. Two curved metal plates near the top bear the name, “Lanikai.” (NPS)

For decades, beach houses in Lanikai were mainly used as a retreat from Honolulu; however, in the 1950s, the area began to develop into a more suburban residential area. (The Pali Highway and its tunnels opened in 1959; that helped spark the change.)

Lanikai Beach had a white sandy beach approximately one mile long (about half of this has disappeared over the years due to erosion and seawalls along the shore.)

During cleaning of the monument in 2001, it lost its pointed metal spear at the top, as well as the heavy chain that surrounded the monument and draped from four metal rings.

December 14, 2024 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Camp Kailani

By the 1920s, wealthy Honolulu families had built weekend cottages on Kailua beach and the planned development of Lanikai homes began. There was little growth during the depression years that followed. (O’Brien)

Kailua Beach Park was established in 1920 when the Territory of Hawaii transferred 25 acres of State land to the City for a public beach park. Since that time, the City has been incrementally acquiring private property.

One such acquisition was through a land exchange with Doris Duke. Under an Exchange Deed, she transferred a shoreline parcel of 7,817 square feet in Kailua to the Territory of Hawai‘i to allow for the expansion of a municipal park.

In return, Duke obtained two submerged parcels totaling 0.608 acres for her Diamond Head Breakwater and outlying ocean area along the western end of the property and a smaller submerged parcel.

Duke then dynamited a small-boat harbor and a seventy-five-foot salt-water swimming pool into the rock. The breakwater and harbor were built to protect Duke’s fleet of yachts, including Kailani Lahilahi, an ocean-going, 58-foot motor yacht and Kimo, the 26-foot mahogany runabout that Duke sometimes used to commute into Honolulu. (Shangri La CDUA)

Zoning changes in 1937 made homes easier to build in Kailua. By the eve of World War II, there were 1,500 people living in Kailua, which was still mostly a recreation area for a weekend-only population. Homes were concentrated near the beach. Beyond the beach area, the region was dominated by Harold Castle’s Kaneohe Ranch.

The post-war years saw rapid changes as Hawaii’s economy and population both grew. Kailua’s population increased four-fold to 6,000 by 1948 as developers began building more homes in Kailua. By the early 50s, Kaneohe Ranch sold or leased its land in Kailua as it realized the profit potential.

Kailua’s population continued to grow through the 50s which, along with Kaneohe’s growth, mandated the construction of the new Pali Highway. Kailua’s population was 25,000 by 1960.

By the 1970s however, Kailua had seen almost all available land developed and growth slowed. The population was 36,000 by 1980. (O’Brien)

Land acquisition for Kailua Beach Park was finally completed in May 1991 when the City Parks acquired the last of 13 house lots on the Kailua side of Camp Kailua. )City Parks ended tent camping at Kailua Beach Park about 1970 to resolve complaints from neighbors and beach goers.) (C&C Parks and Recreation)

Nearby, “Lanikai is the name of the residential community situated in the headlands between Kailua Bay and Waimanalo Bay. Lanikai is not a proper Hawaiian word, but was devised by this community’s promoters.”

“The name probably was intended to mean ‘royal sea’ or perhaps ‘heavenly sea,’ which in proper Hawaiian, would have been Kailani, but the words were transposed and joined as they would be in English, rather than in Hawaiian.” (Clark)

There was a Kailani nearby; well … a Camp Kailani.

The Methodist Church built Camp Kailani in 1947, it had wooden huts and was used for church outings and camping. (C&C Design and Construction) “The Methodist mission bought the [2-acre] property on June 1, 1946.”

“Dr Alford Wall, Honolulu dentist, acquired fee simple title to the property many years ago. During World war II, the army instituted on the grounds the Welakahao Officers’ club. It removed the home and garage and erected in their place a pavilion, bathhouse, several buildings and cottages.” (SB, Jan 21, 1947)

With respect to use of the new camp, “Dr. Fry [Methodist Mission Superintendent] emphasized that no denominational lines will be drawn. Only stipulation is that Christian groups use it for their social and religious gatherings. Nominal rates will be charged for overnight and day guests.” (SB, Jan 21, 1947)

Later, “The purchase of the adjacent [1-acre] lot to the camp site brought abrupt changes in the activity of the Kailani Committee for 1963. Master planning is under complete re-study in light of the new property and the priority listing submitted to the Annual Meeting of 1963 will necessarily need revision as new factors in the plan are developed in the future.” (Methodist Journal, 1964)

In 1980, due to the high cost of maintenance and the increasingly urban setting, the Church reconsidered continued use of the Camp and offered to sell the property to the City.

In 1982, the terms negotiated for City acquisition of Camp Kailani allowed two more years of Church use during which time the Church could develop new cabin camping facilities in a more rural location. (However, such facilities were not developed.)

The City Parks Department took over management of Camp Kailani in 1984 and about 1985 informally renamed the property Camp Kailua.

The City Parks acquired Camp Kailua with the intent of removing most structures and expanding Kailua Beach Park. Public use of buildings for meetings, retreats, and cabin camping was allowed but intended to be only temporary.

In 1985, City Parks relocated senior citizen groups to Camp Kailua after the City Fire Department cited City Parks for allowing too many seniors to meet in a Kailua Field gymnasium meeting room. (C&C Parks and Recreation)

In late-1990, City Parks announced the impending demolition of the camp; they began dismantling it in early 1991. This created a storm of protest from area residents.

A March 1991 editorial in the Star-Bulletin called the Camp Kailua ‘a Windward Alamo’ and urged the city to reconsider demolishing it.

“The Kailua Neighborhood Board and state legislators Cynthia Thielen and Jackie Young all lined up behind the Save Camp Kailua group. Alerted by flyers and phone calls, 400 Kailuans showed up at a Parks and Rec-sponsored meeting to protest the demolition.”

But City Parks was firm; campers can go elsewhere. The department said “We could not see allowing 45 people [the camp’s capacity] in there taking up valuable beach frontage that everyone paid for. We can’t allow them to dominate that land.” (Honolulu Weekly) Eventually, the buildings were removed. (C&C Design and Construction)

November 19, 2024 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Kaʻōhao

Kaʻōhao (the tying) is an ʻili in the Kailua ahupuaʻa in the Koʻolaupoko Moku on windward Oʻahu. Its name relates to when two women were tied together here with a loincloth after being beaten in a kōnane game. (Ulukau) The place where this act took place was given the name of Kaʻōhao and it so remains to this day. (Fornander)

Hāuna, kahu to high chief Lonoikamakahiki of Hawai‘i Island, saw that two women were beating their husbands in a game of kōnane. He offered to play the women and wagered a bet. The women said to Hāuna: “We have nothing to offer on our side excepting ourselves. If you beat us in this present unfinished game you can take us as your property.”

Hāuna then said: “I have two double canoes filled with things that are valuable; the chief articles of value on the canoes, however, are a large number of feather cloaks. If you two beat me, you two shall have the goods in the canoes together with the men on board.” The women replied: “It is a bet.”

After the women were beaten at the game, he tied them together and led them to his canoes where he said to one of them:
“This canoe shall be yours with everything in it from stem to stem, including the men. The men shall be your servants; they are not for you to sleep with. And as he had spoken to her, so in like manner he spoke to the second woman. He then left the women and proceeded to meet Lonoikamakahiki. (Fornander)

The Hawaiians used the mountain tops between Alāla Point and Wailea Point to scan the sea for fish. Some maps and other references note the area as Alaʻapapa and Mokulua.

In 1920, a bridge was constructed across Kaʻelepulu Stream, giving better access to the area. Before this time, the Windward side was relatively remote. However, in 1921, the Old Pali Road was widened and paved; this helped to initiate the suburban commute across the Koʻolau.

Shortly after (1924,) Harold Kainalu Long Castle sold land to developer Charles Russell Frazier (the head of Town and Country Homes, Ltd., which was the real estate division of the Trent Trust Co.) Frazier (primarily a marketing man, but was also developer and chief promoter,) planned the place as a resort community of summer and vacation homes.

In the 1920s, reference to the area changed, when Frazier and Richard H Trent made up the name “Lanikai” as a marketing ploy to entice wealthy buyers looking for a vacation home at the development that was references as the “Crescent of Content”.

In naming it Lanikai they believed it translated ‘heavenly sea;’ however, they used the English word order. In Hawaiian the qualifier commonly follows the noun, hence Lani-kai means ‘sea heaven,’ ‘marine heavenʻ. (Ulukau)

They laid out the subdivision and the first permanent homes in the area were constructed in 1924. Development began at the northern end of the neighborhood and moved further south along the beach.

The original lots along Mokulua Drive were numbered #1 through #39, from north to south with lots approximately 75-feet in width by 250-feet in depth, and about 18,000-square feet in area.

Beachfront properties were originally sold at an extremely low price, 20-cents per square foot, because of the lack of a windbreak.

The area was initially considered a remote country location for weekend getaways or vacations at the beach for swimming, fishing, boating and hiking.

The company’s many newspaper advertisements, which encouraged Honolulu residents to escape from the city to enjoy the recreational opportunities offered by a beach home.

These ads promoted Lanikai as a tranquil place in the country, where a “beach, protected by a reef and favored by landward breezes, is always safe for bathing.” A full-page ad, titled “Lanikai Futuregraph,” placed by Trent Trust featured their vision of the future Lanikai.

There was a row of rectangular-shaped beach-front lots, bordered by the ocean on one end and the road on the other, with homes sited near the ocean and large lawns fronting the road. The first lots sold were those along the beach and the inland lots were sold later.

Before the golf course or clubhouse was even built, the Kailua Country Club (the name quickly changed to Mid-Pacific Country Club – MPCC) was heralded in the local newspaper as a “Mecca (for) tired businessmen who seek surcease from worldly cares in the surroundings of nature.” When MPCC was founded, only two eighteen-hole courses existed on the island of Oʻahu. (mpcchi)

In 1926, the development doubled in size and Frazier added the now-iconic monument at the entrance to the development.

For decades, beach houses in Lanikai were mainly used as a retreat from Honolulu; however, in the 1950s, the area began to develop into a more suburban residential area. Many beach houses and beach retreats were replaced by houses more suited for daily living. (The Pali Highway and its tunnels opened in 1959; that helped spark the change.)

Lanikai Beach had a white sandy beach approximately one mile long (about half of this has disappeared over the years due to erosion along the shore.)