Images of Old Hawaiʻi

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Rodney James Tadashi Yano

Born December 13, 1943 on Hawaii’s Kona coast, Rodney James Tadashi Yano’s ancestry included Japanese, Hawaiian and Portuguese. He attended Konawaena High in his hometown of Kealakekua. (Vachon)

“His father, a commercial fisherman for more than 20 years, [grew] coffee on acreage near Kealakekua Bay. Rodney graduated from Konawaena High School in 1961, and while in school served as president of the Konawaena chapter of the Future Farmers of America.”

“Rodney’s school records show that his longtime ambition was to be a soldier, and he volunteered in the Regular Army following his graduation from high school in 1961.”

Mr. Ichiro Shikada, one of his former teachers at Konawaena High School, described young Yano as a student who showed signs of both leadership and courage when he was in school. He recalled that even then Rodney “had the habit of coming through when the chips were down.” (Tribute by Spark Matsunaga)

In 1961 Rodney joined the Army; he was affectionately called ‘Pineapple’ by his fellow soldiers. Known as a fun-loving guy with a serious side, Yano rose to the rank of Sergeant First Class.

Rodney’s younger brother Glenn had later enlisted with the Hawaii National Guard. They mobilized 4,000 men for Vietnam in early 1968, becoming one of the few National Guard units to participate in the war. Army policy at the time prohibited the involuntary simultaneous deployment of immediate family members to the war.

Rodney spent a year in Vietnam, but then volunteered to extend. Glenn said, “Rodney felt that since he had just completed a year in Vietnam he was more experienced than me. He said his chances were better than mine.”

“Sergeant Yano was only a few days away from completing his second voluntary year of combat in Vietnam [when tragic events occurred. Because of his heroism] Rodney [was] the second serviceman from Hawaii to receive the Medal of Honor in the Vietnam war”.   (Tribute by Spark Matsunaga)  (The Medal of Honor was presented posthumously to parents, Mr and Mrs Richard Yano, by President Nixon, April 7, 1970.)

On January 1, 1969, Yano was out on the flight line at Bien Hoa, Vietnam. One of the unit’s helicopters was supposed to make an easy run to pick up an officer in Saigon and return to base. It’s roughly a 70 km trip over the calmest part of South Vietnam.

SP4 Carmine Conti, a crewman on the Huey, said that Yano picked up that Conti’s door gunner was nowhere to be found. Yano immediately ran over and volunteered. Conti said, “Yano loved to fly but, as a technical inspector, wasn’t getting much time in the air. . . . like everyone else in the troop, I liked the guy…a lot. He didn’t have to ask twice.”

Yano performed his duties of crew chief aboard the command and control helicopter.  The aircraft commander was then-Major John “Doc” Bahnsen.  Bahnsen was alerted to a nearby friendly force that was attacking a well-entrenched enemy position.

Bahnsen was diverted to provide fire support, to mark the enemy positions for other close air support aircraft and artillery, and act as the airborne command and control element.

Arriving over the fighting on the ground, the crew went to work. Yano, from his position at the door gun on the side of the aircraft, fired the machine gun and was tossing smoke grenades out the door onto the enemy positions. Once marked, Major Bahnsen could then call-in supporting fire more accurately. (Valor Guardians)

“While marking enemy positions with smoke and white phosphorous grenades for field artillery units, a grenade went off prematurely inside of the helicopter, covering Yano with burning phosphorous and leaving him severely wounded. Ammunition and other supplies began to ignite, and white smoke began filling the helicopter.”

“Although partially blind and unable to use of one of his arms, Yano displayed extreme bravery by hurling blazing ammunition from the helicopter. In taking such action, Yano inflicted additional wounds upon himself to protect his crew from further injury and avert any deaths.” (Veterans Memorial Court Alliance)

Conti said immediately after the explosion, “I tumbled to the cabin floor, unable to hear or see anything but white smoke. I thought I was dead.” Yano was covered in burning White Phosphorus, his left hand nearly blown completely off.

Yano didn’t miss a beat though, he grabbed a first aid kit, pulled out a tourniquet and told Conti that he should tie his left arm off above the elbow.  “By all rights,” Conti recalled, “Yano should have sat down and remained still to avoid aggravating his ghastly wounds. He didn’t.”

Yano, partially blinded by the initial explosion, had his vision fully obscured by the resultant smoke, with the use of only one arm and despite unimaginable pain, started tossing and kicking out munitions that were still exploding unpredictably. (Valor Guardians)

“Fire was burning all around him and the cabin was still full of white smoke,” Conti described. “It was a surreal sight but the most selfless and courageous act of heroism that I saw during the war, and I saw a lot of heroic actions.”

The aircraft’s pilot recovered control and immediately flew Yano to a nearby medical evacuation hospital, where they landed safely. “Our survival that day,” Conti concludes, “was assured only by Yano’s extraordinary courage and calm amid crisis while he personally teetered on death’s door.” (Valor Guardians)

Yano’s colleagues were not surprised that he died putting others before himself. During his second tour in Vietnam, Yano was served as a crew chief in the Air Cavalry Troop, 11th Armored Cavalry, the famed Blackhorse Regiment. (Veterans Memorial Court Alliance)

“SFC Yano distinguished himself while serving with the Air Cavalry Troop. SFC Yano was performing the duties of crew chief aboard the troop’s command-and-control helicopter during action against enemy forces entrenched in dense jungle.”

“From an exposed position in the face of small-arms and antiaircraft fire he delivered suppressive fire upon the enemy forces and marked their positions with smoke and white phosphorous grenades, thus enabling his troop commander to direct accurate and effective artillery fire against the hostile emplacements.”

“By his conspicuous gallantry at the cost of his life, in the highest traditions of the military service, SFC Yano has reflected great credit on himself, his unit, and the US Army.” (Medal of Honor Citation)

Yano’s other awards include a Bronze Star Medal, Air Medal (11th award), Army commendation medal, Purple Heart, good conduct medal, Vietnam service medal and Vietnam campaign medal. (Pacific Citizen, JACL)

Rodney Yano is the namesake of the USNS Yano (T-AKR-297), a Shughart class cargo ship. She is a ‘roll-on roll-off’ non-combat United States Navy designated a “Large, Medium-speed, roll-on/roll-off” (LMSR) ship.

Yano Multipurpose Range at Fort Knox, Yano Fitness Center at Camp Zama, Japan, Sgt. Yano Library at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii and Yano Hall Helicopter Maintenance Facility at Fort Novosel, Alabama, Yano Street, Fort Carson, Colorado and Yano Hall Recreational Public Facility (that opened in December 1970), Captain Cook, Kona, Island of Hawaii are also named in his honor.

Sergeant First Class Rodney JT Yano is buried in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, Honolulu, Hawaii section W plot 614.

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Hualālai (as viewed by Isabella Bird)

“If all Hawaii, south of Waimea, were submerged to a depth of 8000 feet, three nearly equidistant, dome-shaped volcanic islands would remain, the highest of which would have an altitude of 6000 feet.”  (Isabella Bird)

Hualālai (“the offspring of the shining sun”) is the third youngest and third-most historically active volcano on the Island of Hawai‘i. (USGS)

It is considered to be in the post-shield stage of activity. Six different vents erupted lava between the late 1700s and 1801, two of which generated lava flows that poured into the sea on the west coast of the island.  (USGS)

The Ellison Onizuka Kona International Airport at Keāhole, located only 7 miles north of Kailua-Kona, is built atop the larger flow. The oldest dated rocks are from about 128,000 years ago and it probably reached an elevation above sea level before 300,000 years ago. (USGS)

“I very soon left the languid life of Kona for this sheep station, 6000 feet high on the desolate slope of the dead volcano of Hualalai, (“offspring of the shining sun,”) on the invitation of its hospitable owner, who said if I ‘could eat his rough fare, and live his rough life, his house and horses were at my disposal.’”

“This house is in the great volcanic wilderness of which I wrote from Kalaieha, a desert of drouth and barrenness. There is no permanent track, and on the occasions when I have ridden up here alone, the directions given me have been to steer for an ox bone, and from that to a dwarf ohia.”

“There is no coming or going; it is seventeen miles from the nearest settlement, and looks across a desert valley to Mauna Loa. … A brisk cool wind blows all day; every afternoon a dense fog brings the horizon within 200 feet, but it clears off with frost at dark, and the flames of the volcano light the whole southern sky.”

“I came up to within eight miles of this house with a laughing, holiday-making rout of twelve natives, who rode madly along the narrow forest trail at full gallop, up and down the hills, through mire and over stones, leaping over the trunks of prostrate trees, and stooping under branches with loud laughter, challenging me to reckless races over difficult ground …”

“… and when they found that the wahine haole was not to be thrown from her horse they patted me approvingly, and crowned me with leis of maile. I became acquainted with some of these at Kilauea in the winter, and since I came to Kona they have been very kind to me.”

“I thoroughly like living among them, taking meals with them on their mats, and eating ‘two fingered’ poi as if I had been used to it all my life. Their mirthfulness and kindliness are most winning; their horses, food, clothes, and time are all bestowed on one so freely, and one lives amongst them with a most restful sense of absolute security.”

“They have many faults, but living alone among them in their houses as I have done so often on Hawaii, I have never seen or encountered a disagreeable thing.”

“But the more I see of them the more impressed I am with their carelessness and love of pleasure, their lack of ambition and a sense of responsibility, and the time which they spend in doing nothing but talking and singing as they bask in the sun, though spasmodically and under excitement they are capable of tremendous exertions in canoeing, surf-riding, and lassoing cattle.”

“I sat for an hour on horseback on a rocky hill while they hunted the woods; then I heard the deep voices of bulls, and a great burst of cattle appeared, with hunters in pursuit, but the herd vanished over a dip of the hill side, and the natives joined me. …”

“I have made the ascent of Hualalai twice from here, the first time guided by my host and hostess, and the second time rather adventurously alone.”

“Forests of koa, sandal-wood, and ohia, with an undergrowth of raspberries and ferns clothe its base, the fragrant maile, and the graceful sarsaparilla vine, with its clustered coral-coloured buds, nearly smother many of the trees, and in several places the heavy ie forms the semblance of triumphal arches over the track.”

“This forest terminates abruptly on the great volcanic wilderness, with its starved growth of unsightly scrub. But Hualalai, though 10,000 feet in height, is covered with Pteris aquilina, mamane, coarse bunch grass, and pukeave to its very summit, which is crowned by a small, solitary, blossoming ohia.”

“For two hours before reaching the top, the way lies over countless flows and beds of lava, much disintegrated, and almost entirely of the kind called pahoehoe.”

“Countless pit craters extend over the whole mountain, all of them covered outside, and a few inside, with scraggy vegetation. The edges are often very ragged and picturesque. The depth varies from 300 to 700 feet, and the diameter from 700 to 1,200.”

“The walls of some are of a smooth grey stone, the bottoms flat, and very deep in sand, but others resemble the tufa cones of Mauna Kea. They are so crowded together in some places as to be divided only by a ridge so narrow that two mules can scarcely walk abreast upon it.”

“The mountain was split by an earthquake in 1868, and a great fissure, with much treacherous ground about it, extends for some distance across it. It is very striking from every point of view on this side, being a complete wilderness of craters, and over 150 lateral cones have been counted.”

“The object of my second ascent was to visit one of the grandest of the summit craters, which we had not reached previously owing to fog.”

“This crater is bordered by a narrow and very fantastic ridge of rock, in or on which there is a mound about 60 feet high, formed of fragments of black, orange, blue, red, and golden lava, with a cavity or blow-hole in the centre, estimated by Brigham as having a diameter of 25 feet, and a depth of 1800.”

“The interior is dark brown, much grooved horizontally, and as smooth and regular as if turned. There are no steam cracks or signs of heat anywhere. Superb caves or lava-bubbles abound at a height of 6000 feet. These are moist with ferns, and the drip from their roofs is the water supply of this porous region.”

“Hualalai, owing to the vegetation sparsely sprinkled over it, looks as if it had been quiet for ages, but it has only slept since 1801, when there was a tremendous eruption from it, which flooded several villages, destroyed many plantations and fishponds, filled up a deep bay 20 miles in extent, and formed the present coast.”

“The terrified inhabitants threw living hogs into the stream, and tried to propitiate the anger of the gods by more costly offerings, but without effect …”

“… till King Kamehameha, attended by a large retinue of priests and chiefs, cut off some of his hair, which was considered sacred, and threw it into the torrent, which in two days ceased to run. This circumstance gave him a greatly increased ascendancy, from his supposed influence with the deities of the volcanoes.”

“I have explored the country pretty thoroughly for many miles round, but have not seen anything striking, except the remains of an immense heiau in the centre of the desert tableland, said to have been built in a day by the compulsory labour of 25,000 people …”.

“I left Hualalai yesterday morning, and dined with my kind host and hostess in the wigwam. It was the last taste of the wild Hawaiian life I have learned to love so well, the last meal on a mat, the last exercise of skill in eating ‘two-fingered’ poi.”

“I took leave gratefully of those who had been so truly kind to me, and with the friendly aloha from kindly lips in my ears, regretfully left the purple desert in which I have lived so serenely, and plunged into the forest gloom.”

“Half way down, I met a string of my native acquaintances, who, as the courteous custom is, threw over me leis of maile and roses, and since I arrived here, others have called to wish me good bye, bringing presents of figs, cocoa-nuts and bananas.”  (Isabella Bird, 1894)

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Plain of Numbering

At about the same time of Christopher Columbus crossing the Atlantic to America (he was looking for an alternate trade route to the East Indies,) exciting stuff was happening here in the Hawaiian Islands.

The political governance and land management system by Aliʻi-ai-moku, was expanding and developing after two centuries since its inception, and there was a wake of progress taking place on our shores.

It was a natural progression, which began with three brothers as the first Aliʻi-ai-moku in the 12th century; Kumuhonua on Oʻahu, Olopana on Hawaiʻi, and Moikeha on Kauai, as grandsons of Maweke.  (Yardley)

When they arrived from Tahiti with their new system, their first cousins were already serving as High Chiefs – “Laʻakona, High Chief of ʻEwa; Nuakea, Queen Consort of Molokai; Mōʻī, kaula (prophet) of Molokai; and Hinakaimauliawa, High Chiefess of Koʻolau.” (Beckwith, Yardley)

Then, in the time of Columbus, the new Aliʻi-ai-moku were: Māʻilikūkahi on Oʻahu, Piʻilani on Maui, ʻUmi-a-Līloa on Hawaiʻi and Kukona on Kauai.

ʻUmi-a-Līloa (ʻUmi) from Waipiʻo, son of Līloa, defeated Kona chief Ehunuikaimalino and united the island of Hawai‘i.  He then moved his Royal Center from Waipi‘o to Kona.

At about the time of ʻUmi, a significant new form of agriculture was developed in Kona; he is credited with starting it.  Today, archaeologists call the unique method of farming in this area the “Kona Field System.”

The Kona Field System was planted in long, narrow fields that ran across the contours, along the slopes of Mauna Loa and Hualālai.  As rainfall increases rapidly as you go up the side of Hualālai, the long fields allowed farmers to plant different crops according to the rainfall gradients.

In lower elevations all the way to the shore, informal clearings, mounds and terraces were used to plant sweet potatoes; and on the forest fringe above the walled fields there were clearings, mounds and terraces which were primarily planted in bananas.

This intensive agricultural activity changed farming and agricultural production on the western side of Hawai’i Island; the Kona field system was quite large, extending from Kailua to south of Honaunau

In the lower reaches of the tillable land, at elevations about 500-feet to 1,000-feet above sea level, a grove of breadfruit half mile wide and 20 miles long grew.  Sweet potatoes grew among the breadfruit.  Above the breadfruit grove, at elevations where the rainfall reached 60-70 inches or more, were fields of dry land taro.

The Kona Field System was described as “the most monumental work of the ancient Hawaiians.”  The challenge of farming in Kona is to produce a flourishing agricultural economy in an area subject to frequent droughts, with no lakes or streams for irrigation.

The field system was not the only contribution of ʻUmi.

The history of data processing in Hawaii covers almost five centuries, from the legendary census of King ʻUmi (c. 1500) to the present time.

It embraces at least five forms of technology: pre-contact manual methods, post-contact manual methods (including the abacus and slide rule,) the adding machine and desk calculator, punched-card equipment and the modern computer.  (Schmitt)

No statistical record of pre-contact population still exists, unless you look at the legendary census of ʻUmi.  ʻUmi’s census, taken at the beginning of the 16th century, was an early example of data processing.

For this census, each inhabitant of the Island of Hawaiʻi was instructed to come to a place called the “Plain of Numbering” to put a rock on the pile representing his own district. The result, still visible today, was a three-dimensional graphic portrayal of population size and distribution.

ʻUmi collected all the people of Hawaiʻi at a small plain between the cones on the inner side of Hualālai.  Two small hills are said to have been the seats of the king and queen, with their retainers, while the census was being taken

Later all the people went down on the plain, where each deposited a stone, the strongest the largest, making huge stone-pile memorials around the heiau, one for each district and on the sides toward the districts.  (Baker)

Here are some early accounts getting there.  “… after a day’s travel they reached the site of the ancient temple … These ruins lie equally distant from three mountains, Mauna Kea, Mauna Loa and Hualālai.  This temple is said to be built by ʻUmi ….”  (Wilkes, 1841)

“Up the long slope of Hualālai we ascended to Kaʻalapuali, following the old Judd trail through fields of green cane, through grass lands, through primeval forests, over fallen monarchs, finally out on that semi-arid upland which lies between Hualālai and Mauna Loa.  Here we turned up the slope of Hualālai, climbing through a forest cover of ʻōhiʻa lehua and sandalwood carpeted with golden-eyed daisies – another picture of Hawaii, never to be forgotten.”

 “Farther up the Judd trail, we came to that unique “Plain of Numbering”, where King ʻUmi built his heiau over four centuries ago and called his people together from all the Island of Hawaiʻi. There is a romantic glamor hanging around those heaps of rocks which numbered the people who gathered at Ahu a ʻUmi that will remain as a fond memory throughout eternity.”  (Thrum, 1924)

 “… we unexpectedly fell upon an ancient temple of the Hawaiian gods, built in a dreary wilderness, far from the habitations of men. … (it) is a square, 100 feet on a side. Its walls, built of the fragments of ancient lava, were eight feet high, and four feet thick. … Around the principal structure, and at the distance of ten to twenty feet, there were eight pyramids, about twelve feet in diameter, and twelve to fifteen in height.”  (Hiram Bingham, 1830)

The piles (pyramids, as Bingham called them) showed the relative size of the population of the districts.  “Kona is the most populous of the six great divisions of Hawaiʻi.” (Kohala is next.)  (Lots of information here from Baker, Schmitt and Thrum.)

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Charles Lambert

Kalākaua had a great interest in science and he saw it as a way to foster Hawai‘i’s prestige, internationally.

The opportunity to demonstrate this interest and support for astronomy was made available with the astronomical phenomenon called the “Transit of Venus,” which was visible in Hawai‘i in 1874.

“The coming transit of Venus will be observed from about 75 stations, at many of which there will be a large number of instruments. … Wherever knowledge can be gained it is worth being gained … these expeditions will lead to most valuable results.”  (George Forbes, Chief Astronomer)

The King allowed the British Royal Society’s expedition to set up three sites in the Islands, Honolulu’s waterfront in a district called Apua (mauka of today’s Waterfront Plaza,) Kailua-Kona at Huliheʻe Palace and Waimea, Kauai.

The mission of the British expedition was to observe a rare transit of Venus across the Sun for the purpose of better determining the value of the Astronomical Unit – the Earth-to-Sun distance – and from it, the absolute scale of the solar system.

The orbits of Mercury and Venus lie inside Earth’s orbit, so they are the only planets which can pass between Earth and Sun to produce a transit (a transit is the passage of a planet across the Sun’s bright disk.)

Professor George Forbes was the Chief Astronomer for the British expedition.  He befriended Charles Lambert, eldest son of an English gentleman residing at Coqnimbo in Chile.  (Lambert, not one of the astronomers, had been invited by his friend Captain Ralph P Cator, (Commander of the ‘Scout’) to accompany him in his cruise to the Hawaiian Islands.)

“(Lambert) had come out for his health on the ‘Scout,’ from Valparaiso, his father being one of the richest copper-mine owners in Chile. He intended to stay here a short time with the Venus Transit party (Prof. Forbes and Barnacle.)  (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, December 5, 1874)

Then, the fateful day … not December 8, 1874 (the date of the Transit of Venus) – rather, November 13, 1874 when tragedy struck.

“During three days previously a Kona had been blowing into the bay, and having on Thursday seen the natives using the surf-board, Mr Forbes and his friend (Lambert) thought of trying their hands at it.”

“They were furnished by the Hon. Simon Kaʻai, Sheriff and Representative of the District, with surf-boards, he not considering that there was any danger in so doing.”

“Professor Forbes entered the water first.  When it was up to his chest, being about thirty yards from the shore, he began to look out for a good wave to try to ride in upon.”

“Not having been successful and happening to look round he found that he was a hundred and fifty yards from the shore, having been carried out by the under current.  He did not however at that time apprehend any danger.”

“A small native boy, an adopted son or Simon Kaai, now shouted to him, gesticulating and pointing to Mr Lambert, who was about fifty yards nearer to the shore than himself.  He saw that Mr Lambert had let go of his surf-board, and was in difficulty.”

Forbes reached Lambert and tried to bring them both in to shore.  “He made however no head way, but was drifted farther out, and it then occurred to him that there was no prospect of either of them being saved, and he resolved to hold up his friend until they should both go down together.” (Hawaiian Gazette, December 2, 1874)

Folks on shore were able to bring a canoe out through the surf.  Henry Weeks, a carpenter putting up the astronomical buildings, and a local swam “out to their assistance, but (Weeks) was soon exhausted and was just able to reach the canoe.”  (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, December 5, 1874)

“The surf was at this time dashing against the rocks at their side so that landing seemed impossible. … Ten minutes after Professor Forbes became absolutely exhausted; his arms lost their power, and it was only with the greatest difficulty that he was able to hold on to Mr Lambert, every wave engulphing them both.”

Lambert drowned.

“The Professor with the dead body of his friend was put into (the canoe,) and reached the shore in safety.”

“Great credit is due to Simon Kaʻai for his attempts to aid Professor Forbes and his friend, he (Simon Kaʻai) stated that he was much flurried, and that was why he did not think of a canoe sooner.”

“Thanks also are due to Mr Bergman, a German resident here, for coming off in the canoe, and likewise to the stepmother of Simon Kaʻai for the same service.”

“Mr Lambert met his end, as all who knew him must have felt that he would, with fortitude and resignation, it is believed that he died without pain; and the calmness of his expression showed that he died in peace.”

“The conduct of Professor Forbes, in whose arms Mr Lambert drew his last breath, and who, with unequalled courage and devotion, risked and would have sacrificed his life to save that of his friend, is beyond all praise.”  (Hawaiian Gazette, December 2, 1874)

Lambert “was buried the next day, twelve natives carrying the coffin to the English Episcopal Church in South Kona.  The case is all the sadder from the circumstance that Lambert was actually improving here with a good prospect of completely recovering his health.”  (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, December 5, 1874)

On December 8, 1874, the transit was observed by the British scientists; however, the observation at Kailua-Kona was interrupted by occasional clouds.  The Honolulu and Waimea sites were considered perfect throughout the event, which lasted a little over half a day.

Ironically, on December 8, 1874 the big day, the king was absent, being in Washington to promote Hawaiian interests in a new trade agreement with the United States.

When American astronomer Simon Newcomb combined the 18th century data with those from the 1874/1882 Venus transits, he derived an Earth-sun distance of 149.59 +/- 0.31 million kilometers (about 93-million miles), very close to the results found with modern space technology in the 20th century.

After the Transit of Venus observations, Kalākaua showed continued interest in astronomy, and in a letter to Captain RS Floyd on November 22, 1880, he expressed a desire to see an observatory established in Hawai‘i.  He later visited Lick Observatory in San Jose.

Perhaps as a result of the King’s interest, a telescope was purchased from England in 1883 for Punahou School.  The five-inch refractor was later installed in a dome constructed above Pauahi Hall on the school’s campus.

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Kona Lagoon

“Originally called the ‘Kona Hawaiian Resort,’ the new hotel’s developers renamed it ‘to better reflect its environment and because operations will be under management of Hawaiian Pacific Resorts, operators of Hilo Lagoon.’” (HTH, Nov 9, 1972)

“Located next to the Keauhou Beach Hote on Alii Drive, the new Lagoon is a joint venture between Hawaiian Pacific Management Resorts and Mitsubishi of Japan.” (HTH, May 30, 1973)  The 462-room hotel opened April 6, 1973

“A prime feature of the resort will be a 600 person capacity convention hall in Polynesian longhouse design.” (HTH, May 30, 1973) “With the completion of the Kona Lagoon hotel recently my list of impressive buildings on this island is up not one, but two!”

“Portions of this new hotel are the equivalent of an artistic museum of Hawaiian history. The main lobby is a bifurcated sort of a structure with an ‘island’ in the middle on which there is a pictorial history that really amounts to an art gallery.”

“The presentation is vital and the art good, and with enough variations in style to denigrate any possibility of the boredom that can sometimes come with historic subjects.” (Von Garske, HTH, Agu 4, 1974)

“The Kona Lagoon is the third large-scale resort hotel in Keauhou, joining the 314-room Keauhou Beach Hotel operated by Amfac and the 550-room Kona Surf operated by Interisland Resorts. The Bishop development south of Kailua Village now has nearly 1,500 guest rooms in a project that has cost more than $40 million to date.”

“The Lagoon features a 700-seat convention building known as the Polynesian Long House, a highly decorative structure in front of the hotel along AIii Drive. … The resort has two dining facilities – the Tonga Dining Room and the Wharf Gourmet Restaurant – two bars and a specialty Japanese steak house.”

“Another feature is a salt water lagoon surrounding the hotel with first floor guests encouraged to leap immediately from their rooms into the water.” (HnlAdv, March 21, 1974)

“When the Kona Lagoon Hotel opened its doors, guests and staff reported a wide variety of unexplained phenomena – shadowy figures roaming the hallways, disembodied screams piercing the night, and lights flickering without cause. Such events led to whispers of a curse, a belief that the hotel was built upon land that the living were never meant to inhabit.” (AmericanGhostWalks)

“The property was sold in May 1986 through a foreclosure auction … to Otaka Inc.” (Hnl Adv, May 7, 1988) In 1987, Azabu USA, a subsidiary of Azabu-Jidosha, a foreign car bought the Kona Lagoon from Otaka. (SB, April 17, 1987) About a year later, they announced the hotel would close for a 17-month reconstruction to turn it into an all-suites resort. (SB, April 15, 1988)

“When the hotel closed in 1988, the official reason was because the Japanese owners ran out of money and were unable to obtain additional financing.” (Harry Helms)

“Some people think the Kona Lagoon Hotel was cursed from the start. Surrounded by ancient temples and archaeological sites, it was built on the dwelling place of supernatural twin sisters, ‘aumakua who took the form of lizards, according to Hawaiian legend.”

“Security guards hired to watch the property when the 462-room hotel closed in 1988 were frightened at night, said Joe Castelli, who lives at the neighboring Keauhou Kona Tennis and Racquet Club.”

“They told me that they would see lights up there and hear Hawaiians singing and talking,” Castelli said. “…But when they got there, they didn’t find anything. So they said they just didn’t go anymore.”  (HnlAdv, Oct 14, 2002)

“Construction of the hotel obliterated the legendary Keawehala Pond, once thought to be inhabited by twin sisters who wielded extraordinary powers. These superwomen were the fierce protectors of local fresh water, who could transform themselves into formidable 30-foot lizards known as mo‘o.”

“The giant edifice of concrete and glass also infringed on nearby heiaus, sacred Hawaiian temples. … One of these sacred Hawaiian temples, called a luakini, was specifically dedicated to human sacrifice.”

“This ancient walled structure, built from native volcanic rocks, was 7-feet high. Providing a platform for carved wooden idols called ki‘i, which represent Hawaiian gods, the fortress-like enclosure protected thatched huts that held drums and offerings. This luakini was named Ke‘eku Heiau.” (AmericanGhostWalks)

“Whether or not the property is cursed, it’s true that attempts by landowner Kamehameha Schools and its for-profit subsidiary, Kamehameha Investment Corp., have failed to find a lessee.” (HnlAdv, Oct 14, 2002)  The Kona Lagoon was demolished in 2004.

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