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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: Oahu, Kewalo, Dillingham, Ala Moana, Ala Wai Canal, Ala Moana Center, Kalia, Hawaii, Kamehameha Schools

November 19, 2012 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Kakaʻako

 

Between approximately 20,000 and 5,000 years ago, water previously locked in glacial ice returned to the world’s oceans, and the sea-level rose over 300-feet to approximately its current level.

Rising sea levels flooded the previously dry, earlier reef deposits, which had formed hundreds of thousands of years previously when sea level was comparable to modern levels.

During this high stand, there appears to have been an increase in coral reef growth.  The coastal area expanded seaward with marine sediments.   The great shoreline sand berms must have developed around the islands at this time because this was when calcareous sand was being produced and delivered to the shorelines in large quantities.  (Hammatt)

The current urban district we now call Kakaʻako is significantly larger than the traditional area of the same name, which is described in mid-19th century documents and maps as a small ‘ili (traditional land unit – portion of ahupuaʻa.)

The undeveloped natural condition of the area consisted of low-lying marshes, tidal flats, fishponds and reef areas. Beginning in the late-nineteenth century, these low-lying areas were filled in and then developed, which permanently changed the area into its present fully-urbanized character.

Kaka‘ako is mentioned in Thrum’s version of the legend of Kūʻula, the god presiding over the fish, and his son ʻAiʻai, who was the first to teach the Hawaiians how to make various fishing lines and nets, the first to set up a ko‘a kūʻula (a rock shrine on which the fishermen would place their first catch as an offering to Kūʻula) and the first to set up koʻa ia (fishing stations where certain fish were known to gather.)

Leaving his birthplace in Maui, ʻAiʻai traveled around the islands, establishing koʻa kūʻula and ko‘a ia; on O‘ahu, he landed first at Keana Point, and then traveled around the island.

This story mentions several place names near the Kaka‘ako area, including the Kuloloia shore, Pākākā (an ‘ili or heiau at Honolulu Harbor) and Kapapoko, an eating house near the harbor used by Ka‘ahumanu, wife of Kamehameha I. (‘Ī‘ī)

In addition to Kakaʻako, the modern reference to the area also includes lands once known as Ka‘ākaukukui, Kukuluāe‘o and Kewalo, and possibly smaller portions of other ‘ili.

Ka‘ākaukukui means “the right (or north) light,” and it may have previously been a maritime navigation landmark. Pukui describes Ka‘ākaukukui as a “[f]illed-in reef.”

According to Kekahuna, Ka‘ākaukukui was “a beautiful sand beach that formerly extended along Ala Moana Park to Kewalo Basin, a quarter mile long reef extended along the shore” (from Punchbowl to Cooke Street.)

Kukuluāe‘o, translates literally as the “Hawaiian stilt (bird)”, “to walk on stilts.” Pukui describes the area as “formerly fronting Ke-walo Basin” and “containing marshes, salt ponds, and small fishponds,” an environment well suited for this type of bird.  Henry Kekahuna described it as an area where salt was formerly made.

Kewalo literally means “the calling (as an echo)” – it is the area between Cooke and Sheridan Streets. According to Pukui, “outcasts (kauwā) intended for sacrifice were drowned here”.  Kekahuna said that at one time, it also had a sand beach as a part of the area, where various sports, such as surfing, were held.

Kewalo once had a freshwater spring in the central portion (current location unknown), as recorded in the proverb “Ka wai huahua‘i o Kewalo,” which translates as “The bubbling water of Kewalo.”

In traditional times, the area was characterized by fishponds, salt ponds, trails connecting Honolulu (Kou) and Waikīkī, and occasional taro lo‘i.

The area was traditionally noted for their fishponds and salt pans, for the marsh lands where pili grass and other plants could be collected, for ceremonial sites such as Puʻukea Heiau, Kewalo Spring and Kawailumalumai Pond at which sacrifices were made, and for their trails that allowed transport between the more populated areas of Waikīkī and Honolulu.

Important chiefs such as Huanui-ka-la-la‘ila‘i were born in the area and conducted religious rites, and commoners traveled to the area to procure food and other resources; some commoners probably also lived in the area, possibly adjacent to the ponds and the trails.

Kakaʻako is also associated with legendary accounts of the Waters of Haʻo, Kapoi and the heiau, and the legend of Hiʻiaka and more.

In 1911, it was estimated that about one-third of the coastal plain at Kakaʻako was a wetland.  Hawaiians used the lagoonal/estuary environment of the Honolulu plain to construct fishponds.

In the post-Western Contact period, when the fishponds were no longer used, they were more often than not filled with material dredged from the ocean or hauled from nearby areas, garbage and general material from other sources. These reclaimed areas provided valuable new land near the heart of growing urban Honolulu.

Shortly after the turn of the century, Kakaʻako was a community of small stores, churches, schools, parks and clusters of residences in ethnic “camps” or neighborhoods.  It has undergone lots of changes over the past century.

As late as 1940, Kaka‘ako’s population numbered more than 5,000 residents. But after World War II, community buildings, wood-frame camp houses, language schools, temples and churches were removed to make way for auto-body repair shops, warehouses and other small industrial businesses.

Few traces of its former residential existence remain. In the early 1950s, rezoning led to the conversion of the primarily residential and small business district into an urban industrial area.

Decades after the transition from residential to industrial, Kaka‘ako is now slated for redevelopment. Plans call for the re-establishment of a mixed residential and business community – although recent development and present plans include several high-rise developments.

It looks like the residential use is destined to return.  As noted in a recent Star-Advertiser piece, resident growth in Kakaʻako is expected to more than triple, from 10,400 to 37,300, by 2035; the prediction was based on “the general consensus that Kakaʻako is ripe for development.”

Lots of information here is from reports from Cultural Surveys.  The image shows an illustration of the region in 1854.

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© 2012 Hoʻokuleana LLC

Filed Under: Place Names Tagged With: Kakaako, Kaakaukukui, Hawaii, Kewalo

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