Images of Old Hawaiʻi

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Waikīkī’s Construction Evolution

The present Waikīkī has a land area of approximately 500-acres; it once was a vast marshland whose boundaries encompassed more than 2,000-acres.  Consistent with the character of the watered wetland of ancient Waikīkī, where water from the upland valleys would gush forth from underground, the name Waikīkī, which means “water spurting from many sources.”

Three main valleys Makiki, Mānoa and Pālolo are mauka of Waikīkī and through them their respective streams (and springs in Mānoa (Punahou and Kānewai)) watered the marshland below.

Since Maʻilikūkahi founded Waikīkī as a Royal Center of Oʻahu in the 1400s, Waikīkī served as the site of the royal residence and center of governance until 1809 (when Kamehameha I moved the government to Honolulu Harbor.)

Subsequent Kings and Queens visited and stayed in royal beach cottages in Waikīkī.  Mid- and late-19th century Hawaiian royalty were prominent among the first of the new wave to permanently settle in Waikīkī.  It was a place to escape to, as well as a pleasant location to entertain.

In 1877, Kapiʻolani Park was dedicated; its initial intent, through a 30-year lease, was to make available a limited number of beachfront cottage sites and a race track as an attraction.

In 1896, the Honolulu Park Commission took over management of the park and began to operate the park land and “permanently set (it) aside as a free public park and recreation ground forever.”  (In 1913, the City and County of Honolulu took over the management and operation of the park.)

In the 1890s, Waikīkī drew the elite who constructed Victorian mansions.  Starting with James Campbell, Frank Hustace and WC Peacock, larger mansions began to be constructed in Waikīkī.

The later homes of William Irwin (1899) and James Campbell (“Kainalu,” in 1899) epitomized the extravagance of luxury living.  The wealthy discovered the ultimate destination of Waikīkī.

Starting on a small scale, Waikīkī had a number of small residential tracks.  In February 1895 a small subdivision (13-lots, each approximately 5,000-square feet in size) was developed makai of Waikīkī Road (Kalākaua Avenue) and mauka of the John ‘Ena Road intersection.

Then, in 1897, a subdivision map for the Kekio tract was recorded.  The Kekio Tract, shaped somewhat like a triangle, was bounded by Lili‘uokalani Avenue, Waikīkī Road (Kalākaua Avenue), Makee Road (Kapahulu Avenue) and the lands of Kāneloa (Thomas Jefferson Elementary School).

As time went on, the royal estates were sold and subdivided on the dry areas of Waikīkī.

In 1921 the former estates of James Campbell and George Beckley were offered to perspective buyers by developer Waterhouse Trust Company.  With this subdivision the last of the large, readily-developable landholdings in Waikīkī had been broken up.

Further residential development would have to wait for the drainage of the area by the Ala Wai Canal.  Then, they started “land reclamation” projects on the coastal wetlands.

Back then, nearly 85% of present Waikīkī was in wetland.  The Army began the transformation of Waikīkī from wetlands to solid ground at Fort DeRussy and it served as a model that others followed (1909.)

The Waikīkī wetlands were characterized as, “stretched useless, unsightly, offensive swamps, perpetually breeding mosquitoes and always a menace to public health and welfare”.

The Territory saw the opportunity to drain and fill the land that “was valueless” to be “available for the growth of the business district of the city” and attain “a valuation greatly in excess of the cost of the filling and draining.”

During the 1920s, the Waikīkī landscape would be transformed when the construction of the Ala Wai Drainage Canal, begun in 1921 and completed in 1928, resulted in the draining and filling in of the remaining ponds and irrigated fields of Waikīkī.  (By 1924, all of the streams were diverted into the canal and stopped flowing through Waikīkī.)

Walter Dillingham’s Hawaiian Dredging Company dredged the canal and sold the material he had dredged to create the canal to build up the newly created land.  (The canal is still routinely dredged.)

With construction of the Ala Wai Canal, 625-acres of wetland were drained and filled and runoff was diverted away from Waikīkī beach.

The completion of the Ala Wai Canal not only created the opportunity for the development of Waikīkī as Hawai‘i’s primary visitor destination, but also expanded the district’s potential for residential use.

Before reclamation, assessed values for property were at about $500-per acre and the same property was reclaimed at ten cents per square foot, making a total cost of $4,350-per acre.  The selling price after reclamation, $6,500 to $7,000-per acre, showed the financial benefit of the reclamation efforts.

In 1924, the first post-canal residential venture, the McCarthy Subdivision, owned by and named for the Territory’s Governor McCarthy, was makai of what would become Ala Wai Boulevard.  The property, roughly triangular in shape and widest on the Diamond Head side, was bisected by Lili‘uokalani, ‘Ōhua and Paoakalani Avenues.

The mid- and late-1920s saw more and more of Waikīkī being subdivided into residential lots until most of the area was gridded into residential plots.  Before and during this time of residential development, there were hotels.

Hawai‘i’s first accommodations for transients were established sometime after 1810, when Don Francisco de Paula Marin “opened his home and table to visitors on a commercial basis … Closely arranged around the Marin home were the grass houses of his workers and the ‘guest houses’ of the ship captains who boarded with him while their vessels were in port.”

By 1820, Anthony D Allen (a former slave from the continent) owned a dozen houses, “within the enclosure were his dwelling, eating and cooking houses, with many more for a numerous train of dependents. There was also a well, a garden containing principally squashes, and in one part, a sheepfold in which was one cow, several sheep, and three hundred goats.”  (Sybil Bingham Journal)

Reverend Charles Stewart notes of Allen’s place in his journal, “… it is a favourite resort of the more respectable of the seamen who visit Honoruru. …”

While these were part of the first hotel uses in the islands, as time went on, downtown Honolulu had the core of the hotel supply, and Waikīkī, two-miles away by foot over dirt roads, was not considered in the accommodation business.

But that changed.

Sans Souci Hotel, a Waikīkī beachfront resort that opened in 1884 and offered private cottages and bathing facilities, turned it into an internationally-known resort after it hosted writer Robert Louis Stevenson, who wrote about staying there for five weeks in 1893.

In the late-1890s, with additional steamships to Honolulu, the visitor arrivals to Oʻahu were increasing.  When Hawaiʻi became a US territory (June 14, 1900,) it was drawing cruise ship travelers to the islands; they needed a place to stay.

Hotels blossomed, including Waikīkī’s oldest surviving hotel, the Moana Hotel. Often called the “First Lady of Waikīkī,” the Moana Hotel has been a Hawaiʻi icon since its opening opened on March 11, 1901.

By 1918, Hawai‘i had 8,000 visitors annually, and by the 1920s Matson Navigation Company ships were bringing an increasing number of wealthy visitors.  This prompted a massive addition to the Moana.  In 1918, two floors were added along with concrete wings on each side, doubling the size of the hotel.

On February 1, 1927, the Royal Hawaiian (nicknamed The Pink Palace) was officially opened with the gala event of the decade.  Over 1,200-guests were invited for the celebration that started at 6:30 pm and lasted until 2 am.  Over the subsequent decades, promotional efforts grew and so did the number of visitors.

1955 saw the first of a new wave of hotel construction.  Three high-rise hotels opened in Waikīkī that year: the Princess Kaʻiulani, the Reef Hotel and the Waikīkī Biltmore (which itself became a victim of progress and was imploded to make room for what is now the Hyatt Regency Waikīkī.)

Another hotel – Henry Kaiser’s Hawaiian Village, which was not yet a high-rise, opened its first 70-rooms.

Between 1950 and 1974, domestic and international visitor numbers shot up to more than 2-million from less than 50,000.  Statehood and the arrival of jet-liner air travel brought unprecedented expansion and construction, in Waikīkī and across the Islands.

Construction’s dominant role in the state’s economy dates back to Statehood in 1959, which focused tremendous investment interest, as well as visitor interest, in Hawai‘i. Construction activity accelerated in the mid-1960s, and accounted for 8.2% of the State’s Gross State Product in 1970.

The driving force in this increase in construction was the post-statehood tourism boom and related investment activity.  The industry hit post-statehood peaks in 1960, 1970, 1975, 1980, and 1992. (DBEDT)

The image shows locations and dates of Waikīkī construction evolution (over Google Earth.)

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

A Building Tells Stories About Buildings

This story is one of the unhappy stories I had while at DLNR.  We were dealing with the last of its kind – so losing it had a different, and more permanent, meaning.  I hope telling the story will help keep the memory alive.

This is not only of personal concern, at the time I was also the State Historic Preservation Officer.

Anyway, on December 27, 1850, the Honolulu Fire Department was established, by signature of King Kamehameha III, and was the first of its kind in the Hawaiian Islands, and the only Fire Department in the United States established by a ruling monarch.

Back in those early days, firefighting equipment was primarily buckets and portable water supplies.  As the department grew, several hand-drawn engine companies were added.

In 1870, the tallest structure in Honolulu was the bell tower of Central Fire Station, then-located on Union Street.  Spotters would sit in the tower, ready to sound the alarm.  Central Fire Station was later relocated to its present site at Beretania and Fort Streets.

Until 1901, most business buildings in downtown were 2-3 floors, that year the 6-floor Stangenwald Building was completed; it remained the tallest building until 1950, when the seven-story Edgewater Hotel in Waikīkī took over that title.

So, for a very long time, firefighting in Honolulu was handled pretty close to the ground, with buildings essentially accessible via hand-raised ladders.

Also, back then, with all the buildings relatively similar in scale, spotting was easy from the towers adjoining the stations and firefighting equipment was pretty consistent to deal with the similar building heights.

The old Kakaʻako Fire Station was occupied on October 1, 1929, by Engine Company Number 9.  In 1930, a hook and ladder building was constructed.  It housed a ladder truck for 20 years.

It housed the equipment that transported ladders to the downtown fires.  Its size and shape showed the scale of Honolulu’s buildings.

The lengths of the ladders on the ladder trucks were tall enough to effectively fight downtown structure fires.  Taller ladders were not needed, because Honolulu, then, did not have taller structures.

And that’s the point of this story.

When the Fire Department was going through its consultation with DLNR’s Historic Preservation Division, I got involved in the discussions when I heard they wanted to get rid of the ladder building.

It was the last of its kind (all other ladder buildings (typically attached to the various fire stations) had been removed from the other older fire stations.)  Kakaʻako had the last one.

I suspect some may wonder what the big deal was – that’s the position the Fire Department took.  What is so important about a rotting wood attachment to an historic Fire Station? (The Kakaʻako Station was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.)

And, with a brand spanking new Administration building going up next door, this old building was an eyesore and in the way.

We had a meeting with the top brass from the Fire Department – the Chief and his Assistant Chiefs.

I tried to convince them that simply looking at the ladder building (that they wanted to remove) helped tell the story of what Downtown Honolulu used to look like (especially in the present context of predominantly high-rise and relatively few low-rise structures.)

That building helped tell the story of the other buildings in the area and the look of Honolulu at the time.

Well, after several discussions (several of them not pleasant,) we compromised on retaining the facades of the front and rear of the ladder building, with trellising forming the height of the building (trying to give the sense of scale of the ladder building) and tiles on the ground noting the perimeter walls.

Unfortunately, during the course of construction, we were belatedly-told that the facades could not be saved and there was nothing anyone could do about that.

I’ve been back to the Station and was happy to see the tiled outline of the old ladder building in the connecting walkway between the Old Kakaʻako Station and the Administration building.

It’s difficult to imagine that Honolulu was once a low-rise central business district – and was that way for such a long time.  Fortunately, we have some representation of what it looked like, told through the tiles on the ground.

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Ka Iwi

The winds will turn before you and find you,
You’ll be overwhelmed, O deaf aliʻi,
The winds will gather,
The naʻenaʻe leaves will bend,
You’ll be swept ashore at Awāwamalu.
Caught in the fishing net of the head fisherman,
Your thigh bone and upper-arm bone
Will be made into fishhooks,
To catch the paoʻo and the ʻopakapaka,
Your flesh will be without bones,
The black crab, the shearwater will eat your remains,
The life from the parents will be broken off.
Here I am, the ʻaumakua kanaka,
Listen to my life-giving words,
Keawenuiaʻumi, come ashore, a storm is coming,
When you sailed yesterday, it was calm.
(Excerpt from The Wind Gourd of Laʻamaomao – (hawaii-edu))

Wāwāmalu or Awāwamalu (“Shady Gulch or Valley” – referenced above,) was on the Waimānalo side of the Ka Iwi Coastline, (known today as “Sandy Beach.”)  Corpses of fisherman and sailors who drowned in the Kaiwi channel were swept ashore by the currents there and at other spots along the southeast coast of Oʻahu, like Hanauma Bay.  (Ka Poʻe Kahiko 76; hawaii-edu)

The meanings of the two core words are: ka (the) and iwi (bone.) This is the literal meaning of the word iwi, but we can be sure that there is also a deeper meaning, for bones of ancestors were very sacred; it was in the bones that mana (supernatural power) was believed to have been stored and that it remained in the bones even after death.  (Marion Kelly)

This coastline is called Ka Iwi; it fronts Ka Iwi Channel.  It may have been named for the bones of lost travelers who failed to make the crossing between Molokai and Oʻahu.

Others suggest it may be because the raw, wild, volcanic landscape of the area, rising from the sea, reminded the ancients of the exposed bones of the earth.

The ancient Hawaiians paddled the channel waters in their canoes for food, recreation, trade, communication and military purposes. The rich history of the islands is full of accounts of mythical demigods and real-life heroes testing their skills on the oceans. Control of Hawaiʻi’s channel waterways was an important part of Hawaiian society. This importance is reflected today in modern Hawaiʻi’s claim to state ownership of interisland waters (Hawaiʻi State Constitution, Article XV).  (NOAA)

Control of the interisland waterways was an extension of domination of the land by the aliʻi. The “nature of the dominion exercised over a channel lying between two portions of a multi-island unit was based on Polynesian rather than Western concepts.” The Polynesians view the surrounding waters as part of the land. Control of the ocean by Hawaiians was implicit in the control of the islands themselves.  (NOAA)

Kaiwi is known for the Kualau or Kuakualau – the strong wind and the rain out in the ocean.  It is customary for it to blow in the evening and in the morning but sometimes blow at all times.  “Where are you, O Kualau, Your rain goes about at sea.” (McGregor)

Wind speeds decrease in the lee of each island; whereas winds in the channel increase in strength. The area out in the channel is subject to heavy, gusty trade winds.

These winds had an effect on the waters in the channel; “… the ship turned toward Lae-o-ka-laau.  As we went on the Kualau breeze of Kaiwi blew wildly, and many people were bent over with seasickness”.  (Ku Okoa, 1922; Maly)

In Hawaiian tradition, Lāʻau Point on Molokai represents a point of no return. For those traveling by canoe from Oʻahu to Molokai across the Kaiwi Channel, once Lāʻau Point is sighted, there is no turning back to Oʻahu.

More commonly known today as the Molokai Channel, the Kaiwi Channel separates the islands of Molokai and Oʻahu; it has the reputation as one of the world’s most treacherous bodies of water.

The channel is about the length of a marathon (26.2-miles) but it’s a body of water; annually, swimmers, paddlers and others seek to cross its span as an individual achievement, or the glory of participating/winning a race.

In 1939, William K Pai is reportedly the first person to swim the Kaiwi Channel, from ʻIlio Point on Molokai to the Blowhole near Oʻahu’s Sandy Beach (because he first paddled a little offshore before swimming, it was ‘uncertified.’)  Since then, several others have tried and succeeded.

On October 12, 1952, three Koa outrigger canoes launched from Molokai’s west side; nearly nine hours later, Kukui O Lanikaula landed on the beach at Waikīkī in front of the Moana Hotel. Thus began the world’s most prestigious outrigger canoe race, the Molokaʻi Hoe.  Two years later, the women’s Na Wahine O Ke Kai, Molokai to Oʻahu Canoe Race, was inaugurated.

We are reminded of the hazards and risks crossing Kaiwi Channel, when on March 16, 1978, Hokuleʻa left Ala Wai Harbor in Honolulu on a voyage to Tahiti.  According to the Coast Guard report, the canoe left O‘ahu in 30-knot trade winds, with clear skies, 6-8 foot seas from the NNE, and 8-10 foot swells from the NE.  (PVS)

“Swells were high, but the canoe had ridden out such seas before. However, this time it was heavily laden with food and supplies for a month’s journey. The added weight put unusual stress on the canoe, making it difficult to handle.”

“Turning off-wind eased the strain but it also caused the sea to wash in over the gunwales, filling the starboard compartments and depressing the lee hull. Winds pushing on the sails rotated the lighter windward hull around the submerged lee hull, now dead in the water.”

“Five hours after leaving Ala Wai Harbor, Hokule‘a was upside-down in the sea between O‘ahu and Molokai.”  (Will Kyselka, An Ocean in Mind; PVS)

“All that night (sixteen crew members) clung to the hulls of the stricken vessel, huddling to protect themselves as best they could from wind and wave. Daylight came. Airplanes flew overhead but no one saw Hokuleʻa. …. Most alarming, though, was the fact that the canoe was drifting away from airline routes, decreasing its chance of being spotted.”  (Will Kyselka, An Ocean in Mind; PVS)

“Eddie Aikau wanted to go for help.”

“An expert waterman, he had saved the lives of many swimmers in trouble in the powerful surf of Waimea Bay on the north shore of O‘ahu. … Eddie would go alone.”

“The crew, clinging to the overturned hulls, watch(ed) in silence as he rode the waves into a fate not unknown to many of the people of old who sailed toward distant lands.”  (Will Kyselka, An Ocean in Mind; PVS)

In the early morning of March 18, 1978, the Coast Guard arrived to assist the Hokuleʻa; later that day, they sighted Aikau’s surfboard.  Eddie was never seen again.

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Waipiʻo Kimopo

At the time of Captain Cook’s arrival (1778,) the Hawaiian Islands were divided into four kingdoms: (1) the island of Hawaiʻi under the rule of Kalaniʻōpuʻu, who also had possession of the Hāna district of east Maui; (2) Maui (except the Hāna district,) Molokai, Lanai and Kahoʻolawe, ruled by Kahekili; (3) Oʻahu, under the rule of Kahahana; and (4) Kauai and Niʻihau, Kamakahelei was ruler.

Kahahana was high-born and royally-connected. His father was Elani, one of the highest nobles in the ʻEwa district on Oʻahu, a descendant of the ancient chiefs of Līhuʻe.  While still a child, Kahahana was sent to Maui to live in the court of his relative, Kahekili.  (Fornander)

Then Oʻahu chiefs selected Kahahana to be their leader (this was the second king to be elected to succeed to the throne of Oʻahu, the first being Māʻilikūkahi, who was his ancestor.)

Kahahana left Maui and ruled Oʻahu.  When war broke out between Kalaniʻōpuʻu of Hawaiʻi Island and Kahekili in 1779, Kahahana had come to the aid of Kahekili.

Later, things soured.

“At that time Kahekili was plotting for the downfall of Kahahana and the seizure of Oʻahu and Molokaʻi, and the queen of Kauaʻi was disposed to assist him in these enterprises.” (Kalākaua)

In the beginning of 1783, King Kahekili from Maui sought to add Oʻahu under his control.   Kahekili invaded Oʻahu and Kahahana, landing at Waikīkī and dividing his forces in three columns (Kahekili’s forces marched from Waikīkī by Pūowaina (Punchbowl,) Pauoa and Kapena to battle Kahahana and his warriors.)

Kahahana’s army was routed, and he and his wife fled to the mountains. For nearly two years or more they wandered over the mountains, secretly aided, fed and clothed by his supporters, who commiserated the misfortunes of their former king.

Weary of a life in hiding, Kahahana sent his wife, Kekuapoʻiʻula, to negotiate with Kekuamanohā (her brother, and chief under Kahekili) for their safety.  Kekuamanohā sent messengers to Kahekili at Waikīkī informing him of the fact.

Kahekili immediately ordered the death of Kahahana, and he sent a double canoe down to ʻEwa to bring the corpse to Waikiki.  This order was faithfully executed by Kekuamanohā.  Kahahana and Alapaʻi were killed in Waikele.

Some of the remaining Oʻahu chiefs sought revenge and devised a wide-spread conspiracy against Kahekili and the Maui chiefs.  The conspiracy was led by Elani, father of Kahahana and included a number of Oʻahu chiefs.

At the time, Kahekili and his chiefs were quartered in various areas around the island.  Kahekili was in Kailua, while others were in Kāneʻohe and Heʻeia, and the remainder in ʻEwa and Waialua.

The plan was to kill the Maui chiefs on the same night in the different districts.

The conspiracy and revolt against Kahekili on Oʻahu was called Waipio Kimopo, (the “Waipiʻo Assassination” – named such, having originated in Waipiʻo, ʻEwa.)

However, before they could carry out their plan, Kalanikūpule found out their intentions and informed his father, Kahekili.  Messengers were sent to warn the other chiefs, who overcame the conspirators and killed them.  (Apparently the messenger to warn the chiefs in Waialua was too late and the Maui chiefs there were killed.)

It was found to be the best policy for a newly conquered people to give prompt and zealous allegiance to Kahekili, lest his piercing eyes should detect a want of aloha in his newly acquired subjects. For such delinquency he had given the people of a whole town to midnight slaughter.  (Newell)

Gathering his forces together, Kahekili overran the districts of Kona and ʻEwa, and a war of extermination ensued. Men, women and children were killed without discrimination and without mercy.  This event was called Kapoluku – “the night of slaughter.”  (Newell)

The streams of Makaho and Niuhelewai in Kona (Oʻahu,) and that of Hōʻaeʻae in ʻEwa, were said to have been literally choked with the corpses of the slain. The Oʻahu aristocracy had almost been entirely killed off.

Kalaikoa, one of the Maui chiefs, scraped and cleaned the bones of the slain and built a house for himself entirely from the skeletons of the slaughtered situated at Lapakea in Moanalua.  The skulls of Elani and other slain Oʻahu chiefs adorned the doorways of the house. The house was called “Kauwalua.” (Lots of information from Fornander and Bishop Museum.)

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Ala Wai Canal

A son of Mā’ilikūkahi (who ruled about the time Columbus crossed the Atlantic) was Kalona-nui, who in turn had a son called Kalamakua. Kalamakua is said to have been responsible for developing large taro fields in what was once a vast area of wet-taro cultivation on Oʻahu: the Waikiki-Kapahulu-Mōʻiliʻili-Mānoa area.

The early Hawaiian settlers gradually transformed the marsh above Waikīkī Beach into hundreds of taro fields, fish ponds and gardens.  For centuries, springs, taro lo‘i, rice paddies, fruit and vegetable patches, duck ponds and fishing areas were a valuable means of subsistence for native Hawaiians and others.

Formerly the home of Hawaiian royalty, including King Kamehameha, Waikīkī, meaning “spouting waters,” once covered a much broader area than it does today.

The ahupuaʻa, or ancient land division, of Waikīkī actually covered the area extending from Kou (the old name for Honolulu) to Maunalua (now referred to as Hawai’i Kai).

Waikīkī’s marshland, the boundaries of which changed seasonally, once covered about 2,000-acres (about four times the size of Waikīkī today) before the marshes were drained.

During the first decade of the 20th-century, the US War Department acquired more than 70-acres in the Kālia portion of Waikīkī for the establishment of a military reservation called Fort DeRussy.

They drained and filled the area, so they could build on it.  Thus, the Army began the transformation of Waikīkī from wetlands to solid ground.

In the early-1900s, Lucius Pinkham, then President of the Territorial Board of Health and later Governor, developed the idea of constructing a drainage canal to drain the wetlands, which he considered “unsanitary.”  This called for the construction of a canal to reclaim the marshland.

The Waikīkī Reclamation District was identified as the approximate 800-acres from King and McCully Streets to Kapahulu Street, near Campbell Avenue down to Kapiʻolani Park and Kalākaua Avenue on the makai side (1921-1928.)

The dredge material not only filled in the makai Waikīkī wetlands, it was also used to fill in the McKinley High School site.

During the 1920s, the Waikīkī landscape would be transformed when the construction of the Ala Wai Drainage Canal, begun in 1921 and completed in 1928, resulted in the draining and filling in of the remaining ponds and irrigated fields of Waikīkī.

The initial planning called for the extension of the Ala Wai Canal past its present terminus and excavate along Makee Island in Kapiʻolani Park, connecting the Canal with the ocean on the Lēʻahi side of the project.

However, funds ran short and this extension was contemplated “at some later date, when funds are made available”; however, that never occurred.

By 1924, the dredging of the Ala Wai Canal and filling of the wetlands stopped the flows of the Pi‘inaio, ‘Āpuakēhau and Kuekaunahi streams running from the Makiki, Mānoa, and Pālolo valleys to and through Waikīkī.

Walter F. Dillingham’s Hawaiian Dredging Company dredged the canal and sold the material he had dredged to create the canal to build up the newly created land.  The canal is still routinely dredged.

During the course of the Ala Wai Canal’s initial construction, the banana patches and ponds between the canal and the mauka side of Kalākaua Avenue were filled and the present grid of streets was laid out.  These newly created land tracts spurred a rush to development.

With construction of the Ala Wai Canal, 625-acres of wetland were drained and filled and runoff was diverted away from Waikīkī beach.  The completion of the Ala Wai Canal not only gave impetus to the development of Waikīkī as Hawai‘i’s primary visitor destination, but also expanded the district’s potential for residential use.

During the period 1913-1927, the demand for housing in Honolulu grew along with the city’s population.  Waikīkī helped satisfy this demand; the large kamaʻāina landholdings virtually disappeared and the area started to be subdivided.

Before reclamation, assessed values for property were at about $500-per acre and the same property was reclaimed at ten cents per square foot, making a total cost of $4,350-per acre.  The selling price after reclamation, $6,500 to $7,000-per acre, showed the financial benefit of the reclamation efforts.

From an economic point of view, without the Ala Wai Canal, Waikīkī may never have developed into the worldwide tourist attraction it is today.

In 1925, the City Planning Commission requested the citizens of Honolulu to submit suitable Hawaiian names for the renaming of the Waikīkī Drainage canal; twelve names were suggested.

The Commission felt that Ala Wai (waterway,) the name suggested by Jennie Wilson was the “most euphonic”.  (An engineer with the Planning Commission was quick to note that, “the fact that Mrs. Wilson is the mayor’s wife had nothing to do with the choice of the name.”)

In November 1965, a storm, classified as a 25-year event, overflowed the Ala Wai Canal banks and flooded Ala Wai Boulevard.

Ala Wai Canal and the historic walls lining the canal are owned by the State of Hawaiʻi. The promenades on the mauka side of the Ala Wai Canal are owned by the State, and by, Executive Ordered to the City and County of Honolulu, the promenades on the makai side are owned by the City.

The promenades on both sides of the Ala Wai Canal are maintained by the City Department of Parks and Recreation.  The Ala Wai Canal is listed in the National and State registers of historic places.

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