Oahu | Page 14 | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

November 21, 2024 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

It’s Raining … Inside

The Koʻolaupoko moku (district) encompasses lands from Kualoa Point to Makapuʻu Point. Encompassing 43,598-acres (68-square miles,) Koʻolaupoko makes up approximately 11-percent of Oʻahu’s land mass.

The Koʻolau Mountain Range forms the inland (mauka) boundary of the district. The ridge elevation generally ranges from 2,500 to 2,800-feet; Kōnāhuanui, the tallest peak on the Koʻolau Mountain Range (3,150-feet) is found in Koʻolaupoko. (BWS)

Koʻolaupoko is the remnant of the Koʻolau volcano. Eruptions forming the mountains occurred approximately 2-million years ago and left lava flows that layered over each other. Magma pouring out of fissures in the volcano solidified in the narrow cracks; the rock that is created is much denser and much less permeable than the surrounding porous lava flows.

These dense, usually vertical geological structures are known as volcanic dikes. These dikes form wall-like areas that can capture and contain water.

Trade winds, which blow over the Pacific from the northeast across the Hawaiian Islands, bring large quantities of moist air to the Koʻolau Range. When these winds are deflected up and over the range, the water vapor condenses into clouds and falls as rain.

The rainfall does one of three things: (1) it runs off, eroding the land, forming valleys and gouges in the mountain slopes (and also creates some spectacular periodic waterfalls;) (2) wets the land surface, shallow infiltration saturates the uppermost soil layer and replaces soil moisture used by plants and then is absorbed by the vegetation and/or evaporates (evapotranspiration;) or (3) it percolates into the ground (slowly sinks into the ground and becomes groundwater.)

For the latter, it takes about 9-months for the rain, now groundwater, to seep down through cracks and permeable materials in the mountain; much of the groundwater ends up contained in dikes inside the mountain.

As these dike compartments become filled with water and overflow the dike edges, sometimes the water emerges at the surface as springs or streams.

Dike water is good for drinking water.

Development of dike-impounded reservoirs for domestic water offers two basic benefits: (1) the water level is typically high (limiting pumping (as in energy to pump water up wells) and allowing gravity to distribute to the needs at lower elevations) and (2) the reservoirs are isolated from saline water.

Groundwater impounded by dikes in the Koʻolau Range is a major source of water for the island of Oʻahu, and many tunnels have been bored into the range to develop it. (USGS)

The typical sequence of excavation of a high-altitude tunnel starts with the removal of a zone of weathered rocks, either by tunneling or trenching and is followed by penetration of dike intrusions in the basalt rock.

As tunneling advances farther and farther through the dikes and basalts, the contained dike water leaks and water flow increases, often in instantaneous jumps when key restraining dikes are punctured, until either a single dike, or a series of them, releases such a large volume of stored water that excavation must be halted. (Mink; USGS)

When a tunnel is bored into a dike-water reservoir, if allowed to flow freely, it will drain water out of storage. Over the course of water exploration in this area, several dikes were struck.

The reduction of dike-confined groundwater storage caused by construction of eight tunnels in Oʻahu has been estimated at 25,800-Million gallons, equivalent, then, to the total ground-water withdrawal on Oʻahu for about 60 days. (USGS)

Little consideration was given to the storage potential of dike compartments tapped and dewatered by water-development tunnels until a bulkhead was placed in a Waikāne tunnel of the Waiāhole system in 1934 to stop the draining and allow the dike to refill with water (about 40 years after high-altitude water-development tunnels were first constructed in Hawaiʻi.)

The bulkhead at Waikāne held back some water in storage, but not in sufficient volume to be considered successful. Use of the Waikāne bulkhead was discontinued, but other attempts at bulkheading were tried elsewhere, also without much success.

That changed on February 8, 1955. A 12-foot dike 1,600 feet into the Waiheʻe tunnel was penetrated and water gushed out at an initial rate of about 2.5-mgd (million gallons per day.) A bulkhead was built to contain the water.

The bulkhead held and the concept of inducing and controlling storage was resoundingly proved with the placement of the bulkhead in Waiheʻe tunnel. The storage above the tunnel in Waiheʻe Valley has been estimated at 2,200-Million gallons. (Mink; USGS)

In Koʻolaupoko, fresh water comes entirely from precipitation along the Koʻolau Mountain Range; Waiheʻe provides much of the drinking water to Windward Oʻahu, from Kahaluʻu to Kailua.

The Honolulu Board of Water Supply recently drilled an inclined well to tap dike-impounded water. This technique permitted the development of dike impounded water without the large initial and uncontrollable waste of stored water common to prior development by tunneling.

Dike tunnel systems are also at Waimānalo, Luluku, Haiku, Kahaluʻu, Pālolo, Mānoa and two Waianae tunnels, as well as in the Kohala region of the island of Hawaiʻi and in West Maui.

Oh, It’s Raining … Inside (?)

While the bulkhead holds the dike water, along the Waiheʻe tunnel into the Koʻolau, whatever the weather outside, rainwater (now groundwater) that missed the dike continues to make its downward percolation through the mountain, through cracks in the ceiling … producing a constant ‘rainfall’ for all in the darkness of the tunnel to the Waiheʻe bulkhead.

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.

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.

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.

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.)

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.)

November 18, 2024 by Peter T Young 3 Comments

Termite Palace

1926 … Aloha Tower was completed; construction begins on the Richards Street YWCA building; Sanford Dole, former president of the Republic of Hawaiʻi, died … and the Honolulu Stadium was completed.

“Thursday afternoon (November 11, 1926,) at 2:30, the University football team plays against the (Schuman’s Townies) team for the football championship of the Territory of Hawaii. The title fight will be the first game to be played in the newly erected Honolulu Stadium. How about winnnig that game?”

“For three years we have won every game which we played. … Are we to lose the first game to be played in the Stadium, as well as the championship of the islands? We must not. We will not. “The Fighting Deans” shall not be outfought. We’ve got to win that game!” (Editorial in Ka Leo O Hawaiʻi, November 10, 1926) UH lost, 14–7.

But let’s step back a bit.

We first need to introduce John Ashman Beaven (born at Oswego, New York on October 31, 1869, son of John Hort and Rebecca (Ashman) Beaven,) a newspaperman from Upstate New York. He arrived in Honolulu in 1910 and became Hawaiʻi’s first sports promoter.

In 1912, he established the Oʻahu Baseball League, O‘ahu Service Athletic League and the Catholic Youth Organization. In 1917, he leased land and built Moʻiliʻili Field on King Street; the baseball teams, as well as the football league played there.

In 1925, Beaven purchased 14-fee simple acres at the ‘ewa/makai corner of King and Isenberg streets and built the Honolulu Stadium (across from Moʻiliʻili Field.). From 1925 to 1939, he was general manager of the stadium. (HawaiiSportsHallOfFame)

Honolulu Stadium was maintained by Honolulu Stadium Ltd, a company Beaven formed on September 9, 1926. It was built, owned and operated by private interests. Five years later the UH bought it from them.

Beginning in 1936, many shareholders donated their stock to the university of Hawaii to build the Scholarship Loan Fund. The University of Hawaii also purchased stock, with Board of Regents authorization. (DLNR)

The Honolulu Stadium opened on November 11, 1926. It served as one of the major recreational outlets for Honolulu; events held at the stadium included a wide spectrum of activities: football, baseball, stock car racing, boxing, reIigious ceremonies, carnivals and concerts. (DLNR)

Hawaiʻi’s first night game was held at the Honolulu Stadium in 1930; the UH Rainbows defeated Hackmen of Neal Blaisdell’s Honolulu Athletic Club (28-0.) (Cisco)

The stadium hosted Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio (who hit a home run out of the park in 1944) and Jesse Owens. Irving Berlin performed in 1945, Elvis Presley performed in 1957, while Billy Graham preached in 1958.

It was the home of the Rainbows of University of Hawaiʻi (1926-1975,) the Hawaiians of the World Football League (1974) and the Hawaiʻi Islanders of the Pacific Coast League (1961 to 1975.)

April 20, 1961, Honolulu Stadium hosted the first game of the new home-team Hawaiʻi Islanders, a minor-league pro baseball franchise of the Pacific Coast League. (The Islanders beat the Vancouver Mounties 4-3.)

On the morning after the UH Rainbows defeated the Willamette Bearcats, 20-6, in the Shrine Game in front of a sold-out Honolulu Stadium crowd, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor (1941.) Football was on hold through the 1945 season.

In the late 1950s and early 1960s, before Hawaii Raceway Park came into existence, they raced stock cars in Honolulu Stadium. It was a multipurpose stadium, used for baseball, football and track and field events. The dirt race track ran around the outside of the football field. (Fulton)

The stadium was also the venue for the Poi Bowl (1936-1939,) Pineapple Bowl (1940-1952) and Hula Bowl (1947-1974.)

In 1969, the Hula Bowl’s first sellout crowd watched USC’s Heisman Trophy winning tailback OJ Simpson set a Hula Bowl record with an 88-yard kickoff return for a touchdown. (I was downstairs getting a hot dog at the concession and heard the crowd go wild.)

The stadium sat about 24,000-people; it had only about 80-parking stalls. You parked where you could and walked as far as you needed in order to get to whatever was happening there at the time.

It was made of wood … “It creaked, actually creaked, like it was alive; (it was) kinda spooky,” says Larry Price (star-bulletin)

Its wood construction led to its later moniker; “A somewhat famous example of a termite problem gone out of control is the old Honolulu Stadium, known affectionately as the ‘Termite Palace.’ The stadium was found to be severely termite-damaged”. (hawaii-edu)

In January of 1971, the Stadium Board announced the decision to close the stadium after the 1973 Hula Bowl game.

On April 11, 1974, the legislature passed a supplement budget authorization for the state to purchase the stadium for public recreational use; that year, the stadium property was sold to the State. (DLNR)

The Honolulu Stadium was demolished in 1976, after Aloha Stadium was completed in Halāwa; the former site of the Termite Palace is now a public park (too many changes have been discussed about the Aloha Stadium site, it is not clear what (or when) will happen to that rust bucket).

Honolulu Stadium, fondly known as the Termite Palace opened in Novmber 1926 until the early 1970s

Honolulu Stadiuim-Statehood celebration at the old Honolulu Stadium. March 13,1959

Honolulu Stadium-1970 photo of baseball fans lining up on King Street and Isenberg at the Honolulu Stadium box office to purchase playoff tickets

Halawa Stadium, above, under construction in 1974-(star advertiser)

Honolulu Stadium Stock Car racing-(fulton)

November 2, 2024 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Hawai‘i Natural Area Reserves System (NARS)

Hawai`i contains unique natural resources, such as geologic and volcanic features and distinctive marine and terrestrial plants and animals, many of which occur nowhere else in the world.

In 1970, the legislature statewide Natural Area Reserves System (NARS) was established to preserve in perpetuity specific land and water areas which support communities, as relatively unmodified as possible, of the natural flora and fauna, as well as geological sites, of Hawai`i.

Areas that are designated as NARS are protected by rules and management activities that are designed to keep the native ecosystem intact, so a sample of that natural community will be preserved for future generations.

Contained in the System are some of Hawai`i’s most treasured forests, coastal areas and even marine ecosystems. Some would argue the NARS are the best of the best natural areas.

The Natural Area Reserves System (NARS) currently consists of reserves on five islands, totaling 109,165 acres. (DLNR)

NARS was established to protect the best remaining native ecosystems and geological sites in the State.

A Natural Area Reserves System (NARS) Commission assists DLNR and serves in an advisory capacity for the Board of Land and Natural Resources, which sets policies for the Department.

The diverse areas found in the NARS range from marine and coastal environments to lava flows, tropical rainforests and even an alpine desert. Within these areas one can find rare endemic plants and animals, many of which are on the edge of extinction.

While NARS is based on the concept of protecting native ecosystems, as opposed to single species, many threatened and endangered (T&E) plants and animals benefit from the protection efforts through NARS.

Major management activities involve fencing and control of feral ungulates (wild, hoofed animals such as cattle, sheep, deer and pigs), control of other invasive species (weeds, small mammalian predators), fire prevention and control, rare plant restoration, monitoring, public outreach, and maintenance of existing infrastructure, such as trails and signs.

The reserves also protect some of the major watershed areas which provide our vital sources of fresh water.

To protect Hawai`i’s invaluable ecosystems, a dedicated funding mechanism was created for the Natural Area Partnership Program, the Natural Area Reserves, the Watershed Partnerships Program and the Youth Conservation Corps through the tax paid on conveyances of land.

These revenues are deposited into the Natural Area Reserve (NAR) Special Fund and support land management actions on six major islands and engage over 60 public-private landowners, partners and agencies.

The Natural Area Reserves System is administered by the Department of Land and Natural Resources, Division of Forestry and Wildlife. Here is a list of the reserves:

Big Island:

Pu‘u O ‘Umi
Laupāhoehoe
Mauna Kea Ice Age
Waiākea 1942 Lava Flow
Pu‘u Maka‘ala
Kahauale`a
Kīpāhoehoe
Manukā
Waiea

Maui

West Maui
Hanawi
Kanaio
‘Ahihi Kīna’u
Nakula

Molokai

Oloku‘i
Pu‘u Ali‘i

O‘ahu

Ka‘ena Point
Pahole
Mount Kaʻala
Kaluanui
Pia

Kauai

Hono O Na Pali
Kuia

See more here: https://dlnr.hawaii.gov/ecosystems/nars/

October 31, 2024 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Kyoto Gardens

Driving down the Pali, after you pass Kapena Falls, off to the right are a number of cemeteries (including Mauna ʻAla, Oʻahu Cemetery and others – including Honolulu Memorial Park.)

Part of the Honolulu Memorial Park, rising out of the foliage, is the Sanju Pagoda – it’s discernible and it’s deteriorating.

With over 20-years of neglect, the neoprene roofing material has sprung leaks, exposing the reinforced concrete rafters to weakening moisture and decay. (Historic Hawaii Foundation) Historic Hawaii Foundation listed it as one of Hawaiʻi’s Most Endangered Historic Sites in 2006.

The pagoda is the only concrete pagoda outside of Japan and is built in the authentic fashion of a wood-constructed pagoda.

The neoprene was supposed to be the best thing ever, but it turned out to be not so good. The eaves are in jeopardy right now, in bad condition and very heavy. At any point, one of those eaves could fall down. If one falls, it falls on the next, and the building would most likely collapse. (Historic Hawaii Foundation)

Located in the eastern half of the Honolulu Memorial Park, Kyoto Gardens consists of two large columbarium (a structure of vaults lined with recesses for urns holding a deceased’s cremated remains) structures and a Japanese garden.

The Territory of Hawaiʻi established the Honolulu Memorial Park as a community service cemetery in 1958.

The Honolulu membership of the Buddhist Federation commended and endorsed the development of the cemetery in 1964, whereupon it was decided that a monument be erected which would honor the followers of the Buddhist faith.

Founded by the Richards family, Honolulu Memorial Park includes the Sanju Pagoda along with the Kinkaku-ji memorial, which were completed and opened in July 1966.

The name of the Kyoto Gardens was designated in 1966 with the donation of a bronze bell donated by Mayor Takayama of Kyoto, and brought to Honolulu in May of 1966.

The inscription on the bell was written in both Japanese and English. In English, it reads: World Peace Forever, and continued with the inscription: Praying for the Everlasting Fellowship of Honolulu and Kyoto, Mayor Yoshizo Takayama, January 1, 1966.

With the arrival of the bell, the name of the Nuʻuanu Memorial Gardens Funerary Home was changed to Kyoto Gardens. In 1966, the Senior Minister of the Kinkaku-ji of Kyoto, Japan, Abbot Jikai Murakami, was present for the opening of the Kinkaku-ji memorial and gave his blessing.

The three-tiered Pagoda, the Kenkaku-ji Temple and the Mirror Gardens located within the Honolulu Memorial Park are historically important for being the best examples of Japanese traditional-style structures and gardens built outside of Japan.

The Pagoda is architecturally significant for three reasons: it was designed with the original proportions of the Nara Pagoda and uses the bracketing construction techniques found in the traditional design; it is the largest pagoda ever built; and it incorporates new construction techniques using concrete and steel.

The Sanju-Pagoda, designed by Robert Katsuyoshi, is a 1½-times larger model of a pagoda located on the grounds of the Minami Hoke-ji Temple in Nara, Japan, built in the Momoyama Period (1571-1602.)

Its height from the foundation to the top of the roof, not including the ku-rin copper spire is 80-feet, the total height, including its spire, is 116-feet.

The Kinkaku-ji columbarium models itself after the world-famous Kinkaku-ji located on the grounds of the Roku-on-ji Temple in Kyoto, built in the Muromachi Period (1335-1573) style.

The Kinkaku-ji columbarium is a three-story steel-framed and plaster finished columbarium. The height of the building measures approximately 38-feet high, not including the phoenix finial at its roof peak (the symbol of the Paradise of the heavenly Buddhas.)

The Mirror Lake Garden is also designed in the style of the Muromachi Period (1335-1573.) The design of this garden is based upon the symbols of the Buddha’s world.

Originally, carp fish were donated to Mirror Lake – traditionally the significance of the carp fish is a Japanese historical and religious one: carp fish are always found in the ponds of the temples for, through the carp, one’s sins were washed clean.

The inspiration and information for this summary is primarily from the National Park Service. While at DLNR, I signed off on the nomination forms to list these improvements on the National Historic Register of Historic Sites; it was listed on February 11, 2004.