Pali | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

April 2, 2025 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Alāla

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

January 12, 2025 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Nu‘uanu Valley

“Within the famous valley of that name
Now twice or thrice the high wind blows each year,
In spiteful gusts: sometimes it comes with bursts
Until you hear it pulsing through the gorge
Of rain, in fiercer squalls; and, howling down the glen,
It breaks great tropic fronds like stems of clay.
Lo! then, unbending palms and rugged dates,
Loud-whistling, strain in each recurrent blast.
Like things alive! -or fall, with roots up-torn,
The feathered Algarobas, as the gale
Treads out its wasteful pathway to the sea!”
(Robert Louis Stevenson, 1889; Overland 1909)

“The first object that arrests the attention on approaching the shore, is the beautiful valley of Nuuanu situated just in the rear of the city and extending inland between two spurs of the Mountain. It is clothed with perpetual green and with its numerous cottages whose white walls peep forth from amid the shrubery has a cool and inviting appearance.” (Gorham D. Gilman, 1841)

“The scenery of Nuanau [Nu‘uanu] is strikingly picturesque and romantic.”

“I accompanied my friend Mr. Pelly to his rural retreat in the valley of Nuanau. The change of temperature within a distance of four miles of gentle ascent was very remarkable, so that, at our journey’s end, we found a change from light grass clothing to warm pea-jackets highly acceptable.”

“Mr. Pelly’s residence was a snug little cottage, surrounded by a great variety of tropical plants, particularly by beds of pine-apples and miniature plantations of coffee.”

“At the head of the valley, distant but a few miles from the house, a pali of 1,100 feet in height overhangs the windward side of the island. I had intended to ride to this precipice in the course of the afternoon, but was prevented by the heavy rain …”

“… our time, however, was spent very agreeably in receiving visits from many of the neighboring natives. Next morning, though the rain continued to fall as heavily as ever, and the clouds and mist were driving down the gorge before the trade-wind, I was trotting away at dawn in the very teeth of the storm.”

“On looking downwards, the placid ocean breaking on the coral reefs that gird the island, the white houses of the town glancing in the sun, the ships lying at anchor in the harbor, while canoes and boats are flitting …”

“… as if in play, among them, form together a view which, in addition to its physical beauty, overwhelms one who looks back to the past, with a flood of moral associations.”

“In the opposite direction you discover a rugged glen, with blackened and broken mountains on either side, which are partially covered with low trees, while from crag to crag there leaps and bubbles many a stream, as if glad and eager to drop its fatness through its dependent aqueducts, on the parched plain below.”

“On arriving at the pali, I saw, as it were, at my feet a champagne country, prettily dotted with villages, groves and plantations, while in the distance there lay, screened, however, by a curtain of vapors, the same ocean which I had so lately left behind me.”

“Though the wind, as it entered the gorge, blew in such gusts as almost prevented me from standing, yet I resolved to attempt the descent, which was known to be practicable for those who had not Kamehameha to hurry them.”

“I accordingly scrambled down, having, of course, dismounted, for some distance; but as the path was slippery from the wet, I was fain to retrace my steps before reaching the bottom.”

“In all weathers, however, the natives, when they are coming to market with pigs, vegetables, &c., are in the habit of safely ascending and descending the precipice with their loads.”

“While I was drenched on this excursion, the good folks of Honolulu were as dry and dusty as usual, the showers having merely peeped out of the valley to tantalize them.” (Sir George Simpson, 1842)

The first foreigner to descend the Pali and record his trip was Hiram Bingham (my great-great-great grandfather.) His zeal for spreading the word of God led him to take a group of missionaries over the Pali to the Koʻolaupoko area in 1821.

There was no road then. The current Pali Highway is actually the third roadway to be built there. A large portion of the highway was built over the ancient Hawaiian foot paths that traversed the famous Pali pass.

In 1845 the first road was built over the Nuʻuanu Pali to connect Windward Oʻahu with Honolulu. It was jointly by the government and sugar planters who wanted easy access to the fertile lands on the windward side of Oʻahu. Kamehameha III and two of his attendants were the first to cross on horseback.

A legislative appropriation in 1857 facilitated road improvements that allowed the passage of carriages. The Rev. E. Corwin and Dr. G. P. Judd were the first to descend in this manner on September 12, 1861.

In 1897, Johnny Wilson and fellow Stanford student Louis Whitehouse won the bid to expand and construct a ‘carriage road’ over the Pali. Ground was broken on May 26, 1897 and the road was opened for carriages on January 19, 1898.

When the current Pali Highway and its tunnels opened (1959,) the original roadway up and over the Pali was closed and is now used by hikers.

In 1872, some referred to road into the valley as “Missionary Street,” although the Missionary Period had ended about 10-years earlier (the Missionary Period was from 1820 – 1863.)

You might more accurately call it the home of the elite, and that is not limited to folks of the Caucasian persuasion – both Kauikeaouli and Emma had summer residences here and included in the list of successful business people who called it home were the Afongs and others.

But you can’t help concluding the strong demand to live there based on early descriptions – even Realtors, today, would be envious of the descriptors Ellis used in 1831: “The scenery is romantic and delightful.”

“Across this plain, immediately opposite the harbour of Honoruru, lies the valley of Anuanu (Nuʻuanu,) leading to a pass in the mountains, called by the natives Ka Pari (Pali,) the precipice, which is well worth the attention of every intelligent foreigner visiting Oahu.” (Ellis, 1831)

“The mouth of the valley, which opens immediately behind the town of Honoruru, is a complete garden, carefully kept by its respective proprietors in a state of high cultivation; and the ground, being irrigated by the water from a river that winds rapidly down the valley, is remarkably productive.” (Ellis, 1831)

If you’re driving up the Pali Highway from town you can see two notches cut in the narrow ridgeline. The notches are man-made. Many believe they were cannon emplacements, used especially during the Battle of Nuʻuanu between Oʻahu’s Kalanikupule and Hawaiʻi Island’s Kamehameha.

However, per Herb Kane, “Kalanikupule had some arms bigger than muskets, but they were probably just swivel guns. Besides, the Battle of Nu‘uanu Pali started as a skirmish by Diamond Head, and no one knew where the battle would end up. Kalanikupule could not have planned it that way.”

“Hawaiians, like everyone else, understood the value of high ground. These are certainly (pre-Cook) lookout stations, and that’s why you see them all over the islands – if you look out for them.”

April 20, 2022 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

John (Johnny) Henry Wilson

His story starts in 1820, when his great grandfather, Andrew Henri Blanchard (captain of the brig Thaddeus that brought the first company of Protestant missionaries to Hawaiʻi) married Koloa, a Molokaʻi chiefess.

Fast forward a couple generations and John “Johnny” Henry Wilson was born December 15, 1871 to Charles Burnett (CB) Wilson and Eveline (Townsend) Wilson.

His parents’ friends included the John and Lydia Dominus and Kalākaua. “We had known Mr. Wilson quite well as a young man when he was courting his wife. My husband and myself had warmly favored his suit; and, with his wife, he naturally became a retainer of the household, and from time to time they took up their residence with us.” (Liliʻuokalani)

During her imprisonment, Queen Liliʻuokalani was denied any visitors other than one lady in waiting (Mrs. Eveline Wilson – Johnny’s mother.) Johnny would bring newspapers hidden in flowers from the Queen’s garden; reportedly, Liliʻuokalani’s famous song Kuʻu Pua I Paoakalani (written while imprisoned,) was dedicated to him (it speaks of the flowers at her Waikiki home, Paoakalani.).

Johnny Wilson attended Fort Street School and St. Alban’s College (forerunners to the present McKinley and ʻIolani High Schools.)

He had a short stint working for Dillingham’s Oʻahu Railway and Land Company – there he had interest in being a civil engineer. In 1891, with financial support from Liliʻuokalani, Wilson was in the first class of Stanford University – there, he was known as “Kanaka” Wilson.

Back in Hawaiʻi, in 1897, Johnny and fellow Stanford student Louis Whitehouse won the bid to expand and construct a ‘carriage road’ over the Pali. Ground was broken on May 26, 1897 and the road was opened for carriages on January 19, 1898. (Later, the Pali tunnels were completed and the old road abandoned – on August 1, 1961, Mrs. Jennie Wilson (his wife) led the dedication ceremonies.)

Wilson and Whitehouse also won the contract to extend Benjamin Dillingham’s railroad around Kaʻena Point. To keep the bid low, they carried laborers, equipment and supplies to the site and freight back by boat – on October 14, 1897, the place where the first Japanese laborers landed for this job is known to this day as “Yokohama Beach.” (ascehawaii)

He and his wife, Jennie “Kini” Kapahu (previously a court dancer) toured the continent in 1900 with their Hawaiian Village hula troupe. (Kini Kapahu claimed that she was the ‘first girl to leave Hawai‘i to go as a dancer in the mainland’.)

Wilson got involved with politics and is credited as being the most important Democrat in the first half of 20th-century Hawaiʻi; his name is used with Jack Burns in the party movement. He was in a meeting on April 30, 1900 that organized the Democratic Party of Hawaiʻi.

His initial political campaign in 1918 met with failure. Mayor Joe Fern, Honolulu’s first Mayor, appointed his good friend Wilson as road supervisor for the Honolulu district. Later, Wilson succeeded Fern as Mayor, following the illness and death of Fern.

Fern died on February 20, 1920; the Honolulu Board of Supervisors voted in Wilson on February 25, and he was sworn in as Mayor on February 29. He would serve three stints as mayor: 1920 to 1927, 1929 to 1931 and 1946 to 1954. (From 1941 to 1946, he was Director of Public Works.)

Honolulu Hale was an idea started by Joseph J Fern, but he died before it came to fruition. Mayor Wilson carried on Fern’s dream; Honolulu Hale was finally completed in 1928.

Wilson foresaw the growth on the windward side and excavation commenced on January 8, 1954 on the “Kalihi Tunnel.” Near the end of May 1954 tunnel excavation transitioned from rock to “earth” – in the summer of 1954, several tunnel collapses and surface sinkholes subsequently led to a large collapse on August 14 that killed five construction workers.

Construction ceased while they considered alternative methods of completion. Tunnel excavation restarted in February 1956 and the first half-mile tunnel was open to two-way traffic in 1958; both tunnels were fully operational by November 1960.

Initially known as the ‘Kalihi Tunnel,’ and often called the Likelike Tunnels, they are named in honor of John H Wilson. (1998 brought the completion of H-3 (and the Tetsuo Harano Tunnels – named after a longtime state highways administrator.))

In addition to the John H Wilson Tunnels, the John H Wilson Elementary School on Kilauea Avenue and the adjoining Wilson Playground at Papakōlea in Waiʻalae Nui Valley are named for Wilson.

Johnny Wilson passed away on July 2, 1956 at the age of 84.

January 9, 2022 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Clarence Hyde Cooke Home

Clarence Hyde Cooke was born April 17, 1876 in Honolulu, Hawaii, the second son of Charles Montague Cooke and Anna Rice Cooke (and grandson of missionaries Amos Starr Cooke and William Harrison Rice.) He graduated from Punahou (1894,) and attended, but did not graduate from Yale.

He married Lily Love, daughter of Robert Love on August 11, 1898; they had eight children: Dorothea, Martha, Anna, Clarence Jr, Harrison, Alice, Robert and John.

Cooke began his business career in Honolulu with Hawaiian Safe Deposit & Trust Co, in 1897. The next year he was at Bank of Hawaiʻi and about 10-years later (1909,) he succeeded his father as president of the bank and became Chairman in 1937.

In 1932, the Cooke’s built a home in Nuʻuanu (unfortunately, Lily died the next year.) The home was designed by Hardie Phillip, one of the associates of the New York architectural firm of Mayers, Murray and Phillip, the successor firm of Bertram Goodhue and Associates (who also designed the C Brewer Building, Governor Carter’s residence and others.)

The home has the distinctive double-pitched ‘Dickey Roof’ (following the signature element of architect CW Dickey.) The 24-room Cooke mansion (including 10-bedrooms, 7-full bathrooms and two half-baths) is noted for its sprawling spaciousness, numerous lanai, Hawaiian hipped roof and lush grounds.

Well-planned, well-crafted and paying high attention to detail, the house was built for, and was known for, lavish, opulent entertainment. As such, it epitomizes the finest traditions in upper class residential design in Hawaii for its period. (HHF)

The two-story white-washed brick and frame residence features an asymmetrical plan which lends the building a sense of sprawling informality. The house is laid out with two wings running perpendicularly in opposite directions off a formal entry hall. A number of lanai extend out from the principal rooms on both the ground and second floors.

A vine covered porte-cochere, shaded by a banyan tree, extends diagonally out from the intersection of the makai (left) wing and the entry area. It has segmental arched openings, and is paved with Chinese granite blocks. A tiled fountain is in the corner of the porte-cochere. (NPS)

Cooke lived there until his death on August 2, 1944. He bequeathed the estate to the Academy of Arts (architect Hardie Phillip also designed the Honolulu Academy of Arts building on Beretania.)

The Academy later (1945) sold the home to Alfred Lester and Elizabeth ((daughter of Lincoln L McCandless) Marks. (Since then, the property has been generally referred to as the “Marks Estate.”)

At about this time, Johnny Wilson, the builder of the original carriage-road over the Pali, was re-elected Mayor (1948.) One of his first actions was to seek approval from the Territorial Legislature for an increase in the gasoline tax to pay for a tunnel in Kalihi Valley.

Wilson argued the Kalihi alternative would serve the entire windward side, while the Pali would merely be a private access road for Kailua residents.

The Territorial legislature turned down Wilson’s 1949 gas tax proposal for the Kalihi tunnel. That same year, Governor Ingram M Stainback looked to build the Pali Highway alignment, instead. (ASCE) (This alignment would cut through the Marks Estate.)

Marks went to court to block the proposed highway. After lengthy legal battles, in 1956, the government bought 7-acres of the 17-acre estate, and also bought the home and other improvements.

(On May 11, 1957, the Honolulu-bound tunnels on Pali Highway were opened; the Pali Tunnels were fully-functional in 1959. The Kalihi ‘Wilson Tunnels’ were also later built and fully operational by November 1960.)

Although the State condemned and bought the property and home, they allowed Marks to continue to live there (the Marks paid $1,500-per month for the first three years, then $500-per month until 1976, then the State took over the property.)

After that, the now-defunct Hawaiʻi Institute for Management and Analysis in Government, part of the Department of Budget and Finance, acquired the property for a research, training and conference center. (The Institute was later absorbed into DBEDT.) (Danninger)

The State government then used the estate for office space, conferences and special events, and it was put on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.

After trying to sell it for years, the State finally auctioned off the property in 2002. Reportedly, it had been appraised for $4.5-million, but labor union Unity House Inc bought it for $2.5-million.

Real property tax records note a subsequent (2006) conveyance of the property for $4.41-million. Later listings note the property has since been on and off the market.

February 22, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Pali Saloon

“All visitors to Honolulu, even those who only have the few hours during which the Australian steamers remain in harbour, drive up the lovely Nuʻuanu valley to the Pali, a great precipice 1000 feet above the sea, over which all travellers must pass in crossing the island.”

“It is a seven miles’ drive, and generally a delightfully cool one, as the trade winds blow down through the pass. In the early missionaries’ days, travellers had to lower themselves down into the valley below by means of iron rods, from hand to hand. Now, however, there is a good road.” (Owen, 1898)

Before the construction of the Pali Road, residents living on the windward side of Oahu would travel over the Ko‘olau Mountains by foot, along a treacherous path, to reach Honolulu.

In 1876, improvements were made to the trail to allow horses access to the trail as well. Regardless of these improvements, the trail was still quite dangerous, and took time to travel.

In 1897, plans for the construction of Pali Road were initiated. Engineered by Johnny Wilson and Lou Whitehouse, after its completion, it was considered one of Oahu’s major roadways. Pali Road, connecting with Nu‘uanu Avenue (the present Pali Highway,) officially connected the windward side of the island with downtown Honolulu. (NPS)

“Perhaps no better point could be found along the road from which to look back upon the town and harbor than the veranda of Mr (TB) Arcia’s Half-way House.”

“A pleasant hostelry and a genial host are just the proper accompaniments to such a view; they are garnishing of the feast, which being good in themselves make all the rest the more enjoyable.”

“From here is to be had a panoramic view of town and shipping, suburban villas and the deep blue sea, towering peaks and rich tropical forest, verdant meadow dotted with Taro patches, banana groves and the huts of Kanakas. From here to the seashore is but four miles, but the change was most delightful from the daily surroundings of town life, even in Honolulu”.

“The Halfway House is conducted by Mr. Arcia on temperance principles, so the traveler whose first sensation on seeing an hotel is a craving for ‘old Bourbon’ or ‘lager,’ will not find all that satisfies him in the place. But a good meal is always available there on short notice.”

“If the tourist is bound for the Pali only, and intends to return at once to Honolulu, he cannot do better than order his lunch or dinner to be ready for him here on his return. He will get what is good, and can indulge in a delightful view whilst he is eating it, which is something he cannot secure in the town.”

“From the Halfway House to the Pali is a distance of two miles. As it is at least four miles from the middle of the town to Arcia’s inviting resting place, it is evident that whoever christened it the Halfway House took into account the amount of exertion to be undergone rather than the mere lineal distance.”

“And now for the Pali, of which every one arriving here hears so much beforehand, that he may reasonably expect the reality to disappoint him. Before it is reached, the road breaks into sharp ascents, winding among the projecting masses of the hills. “

“Just as I round the last corner, the wind coming up from the sea and pressing through this narrow gorge, is something terrific. The beauty and interesting character of the view, however, compensate for the blow, and, so far as I am concerned, I do not find any exaggeration in what I have heard about it.” (Polk, 1880)

Then, “Emil Wery, a Belgian, arrived in Honolulu, on the Island of Oahu, in or about the year 1878. His trade was that of a bricklayer”

“Shortly after his arrival he married a Hawaiian woman whose given name was Hattie, who, at the time of her marriage, was working as a nurse-maid … (they) had three children – Emily (now Emily Hudson… born in 1882, William, born in 1884, and Julius, born in 1896 or 1897.”

“Soon after William’s birth the family moved to a place a few miles outside of the city and there conducted a wayside tavern locally known as the ‘Halfway House.’”

“Wery, while there, worked at his trade and was also employed as overseer and caretaker of the nearby Nuʻuanu Valley reservoir, and his wife Hattie ran the tavern, assisted by Wery when he was not otherwise engaged. The family in 1893 abandoned the Halfway House and moved back to Kalihi, Honolulu.” (US Circuit Court of Appeals, 1937)

Later it was noted, “AF (Adelino Ferreira) Franca (a salesman Hawaiian Wine Co) will open the Pali Saloon in the vicinity of the Government Electric Lights to∙morrow morning for the sale of light wines and beer under the now license system. A free lunch will be set and everything will be in first-class style.” (The Independent, November 30, 1898)

And then, “AF Franca announces his Pali resort ready for business. It is half way between Honolulu and the Pali, and will prove a great accommodation to travelers.” (Hawaiian Star, December 1, 1898)

Although advertised as “Light Wines and Beers Served except Sundays,” Franca was “charged with selling on Sunday.” (The Independent, June 17, 1904)

Later, “Judge Geer began the hearing of the case of AF Franca, charged with selling liquor without a license at the Halfway House on the Nuʻuanu Pali road.” Franca was acquitted of the charges by the jury. (Hawaiian Star, September 20, 1904)

The property appears to have had different owners/operators and was identified under several names – Halfway House, Pali, Saloon, Pali Resort.

It was situated near Nuʻuanu Reservoir #2. As far as where that is today – it was about where the Old Pali Road ends (at a fence and gate.) (Old Pali Road and Nuʻuanu Pali Drive generally parallel the Pali Highway.) On Nuʻuanu Pali Drive there is a small hairpin turn with a small waterfall and pool – the way house would have been above that to the left (in the direction of Pali Highway.)

There are four dam-impounded reservoirs in Nuʻuanu Valley. They are numbered from 1 to 4 as one travels mauka. No. 1 is located near the O‘ahu Country Club on the ‘Ewa side of Pali Highway and No. 4 is to the right of the highway (it’s now known as Nuʻuanu Reservoir.)

“The construction of storage reservoirs in Nuʻuanu, and in connection therewith the utilization of the water power for the purpose of lighting the city” was among the topics that the Superintendent of Public Works WE Rowell discussed in his 1890 biennial report to Lorrin A Thurston, Minister of the Interior of the Kingdom of Hawai‘i.

He also said that “two reservoirs have been completed and the third is nearly so. In each case the same general plan of construction is followed viz: a dam of earth compactly rolled.”

“Reservoir No. 1 is located at the Electric Light Works, was completed in August 1889 … capacity of 23,240,000 gallons. Reservoir No. 2, located at the half way bridge, was completed in June, 1889, … with a capacity of about 7,959,000 U.S. gallons (and) Reservoir No. 3 is located about one-fourth mile mauka than No. 2.” (Papacosta)

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