Waikiki | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

November 23, 2025 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

An Extraordinary ‘Happening’ – a Pre-Bicentennial Event in Hawai‘i

“Nichiren Shoshu Academy is a branch of Soka Gakkai of Japan, a lay organization made up of followers of a Japanese Buddhist sect called Nichiren Shoshu, whose own roots go deep into Japanese culture.”

“Soka Gakkai was founded as an educational society prior to World War II and after the war experienced a period of rapid growth. “In 1979, it claimed a membership of 7,880,000 households (Japan Times Weekly, May 12, 1979). It is not only the largest religious organization in Japan today, but the largest organization of any kind.” (Yoko Yamamoto Parks, 1980)

“Around 1970 NSA leaders adopted a further ‘Americanizing’ strategy by presenting the movement as a force for the revitalization of American revolutionary ideals. On the one hand, the American Revolution of 1776 was defined as an ‘ideal,’ conducted in a true ‘spirit of democracy’ and a ‘pioneer spirit.’”

“But on the other, NSA contended, this tradition of a democracy at the service of the interests of every individual had collapsed in America under the weight of problems of war, drugs, racial discrimination, and a pervasive sense of anomie.”

“NSA was presented as a movement to bring America back to the spirit of democracy, freedom, and happiness (NSA Quarterly, 1975 Special Summer Issue).” (Yoko Yamamoto Parks)

NSA “calls itself: ‘A non-profit organization aimed at building better communities through restoring hope and confidence among individual citizens, who often are discouraged and disillusioned by the complex problems facing modem society …’”

“‘NSA’s many activities are all an expression of renewed courage, determination and happiness in meeting the challenge of modem times.’” (Smyser, Star Bulletin)

“In 1969 the ‘Spirit of 1776’ was chosen as the theme of the NSA National Convention for that year.” (Yoko Yamamoto Parks) Then, in 1975, as part of Pre-Bicentennial activities, “A ‘HAPPENING’ took place in Waikiki last weekend that deserves understanding, but may defy it.”

“Twenty thousand white. black and yellow members of Nichirenshoshu Sokagakkai Academy (NSA for short) put on:

The most fantastic parade Kalakaua Avenue has ever seen.
From an offshore floating stage, a daytime International Show and Water Festival, and a dramatic nighttime Spirit of ‘76 Pre-Bicentennial Pageant.
Three nights of gigantic fireworks displays.
Three days of a Polynesian Village exhibit at Fort DeRussy.”

“They called their gathering a convention, but there were no business sessions, or debates, or resolutions, just the events staged and prepared by the members themselves, and free to the public as NSA’s ‘Bicentennial gift to the people of Hawaii.’” (Smyser, Star Bulletin)

On Saturday, July 26, 1975, Waikiki Beach became an outdoor arena for thousands of spectators attending the SGI-USA’s Twelfth US Nationwide General Meeting.

“Among the highlights for the 20,000 members were the International Show and Water Festival and the Spirit of ’76 Pre-Bicentennial Pageant, both held on an offshore floating stage.” (Star Adv)

There was entertainment from a floating island stage anchored in waters off Waikiki opposite the Surfrider Hotel. “The Multi-Million-dollar stage measures 100 by 150 feet and the volcano backdrop with its rear projection screen stands as high as a five-story building. The stage weighs more than 2,500 tons in addition to 20 tons of props.”

“Hidden behind the floating stage is a smaller barge area with a fresh water supply, dressing rooms, toilets, and rest areas for the several thousand performers and crew members.” (Hnl Adv, July 25, 1975)

“The floating stage was an amazing engineering challenge as fireworks were shot off from the volcano, there was a rear projection screen and hundreds of performers were shuttled by boat at night to perform on stage.”

“It was quite an amazing production to say the least. To bring a floating stage in required the EPA’s and Hawaiian Government’s approval.” (James C. Stephens)

“A Polynesian Village we constructed in the warehouse and moved in the middle of the night from the old Dole Pineapple warehouse to Fort DeRussy in downtown Waikiki.” (James C. Stephens)

“The Polynesian Village requires one hell of a lot of bamboo. I’m sure we’ve used well into 14,000 pieces of bamboo. Well, the Ranger let’s us cut in the bamboo forest reserve. They wouldn’t even let the Boy Scouts cut any during the big Jamboree.” (James C. Stephens)

“Virtually every aspect of the convention – from building the stage and props to writing the shows’ songs and dances to moving members’ luggage to the hotels – has been planned, organized and carried out by NSA members themselves.”

“Convention planners estimate that about 350,000 work hours – almost all voluntary – have gone into the design and production of the stage. Hundreds of members have been working for months in Hawaii and elsewhere”.

“In this way NSA members believe the convention serves to ‘tap the unknown potential’ in themselves. Or, as the convention booklet says: …”

“‘In challenging themselves to do what’s never been done before, people find that by working together they can conquer their limitations and discover new capabilities.’” (Hnl Adv, July 25, 1975)

October 16, 2025 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Public Access on Beaches and Shorelines

State law states that the right of access to Hawaii’s shorelines includes the right of transit along the shorelines. (HRS §115-4)

The right of transit along the shoreline exists below (seaward of) the private property line (generally referred to as the “upper reaches of the wash of waves, usually evidenced by the edge of vegetation or by the debris left by the wash of waves.”) (HRS §115-5)

However, in areas of cliffs or areas where the nature of the topography is such that there is no reasonably safe transit for the public along the shoreline below the private property lines, the counties by condemnation may establish along the makai boundaries of the property lines public transit corridors (not less than six feet wide.) (HRS §115-5)

Generally, the Counties have the primary authority and duty to develop and maintain public access to and along the shorelines. (HRS Secs 46-6.5, 115-5 & 115-7)

The State’s primary role in the shoreline area is to preserve and protect coastal resources within the conservation district and support public access along and below the shoreline. (HRS Chap. 205A)

When the shoreline erodes, lateral access is not lost; instead, the State’s acquires title to the newly eroded lands. (Application of Sanborn, 57 Haw. 585, 562 P.2d 771 (1997)) In other words, the public continues to have access along the shoreline to the upper reaches of the wash of the waves.

There is a specific situation related to ownership of beach areas; it is a special circumstance in Waikiki that dates back to 1928.

Waikiki is a ‘built’ beach. Over the last 100-years it has been built primarily in two ways, (1) construction of walls and groins in the nearshore waters and (2) beach nourishment/replenishment (adding sand to the beach.)

Between 1913-1919, the majority of Waikiki had seawalls; they were placed to protect roadways and new buildings. The beach was lost fronting Kūhiō and Queen’s Beach.

In 1927, the Territorial Legislature authorized Act 273 allowing the Board of Harbor Commissioners to rebuild the eroded beach at Waikiki.

In 1928, the Territory of Hawaiʻi entered into a “Waikiki Beach Reclamation” agreement with several of the beachfront property owners.

Effectively, the agreement authorized the Territory to build a beach from the existing high water mark fronting the shoreline from the Ala Wai to the Elks Club.

The new beach was “deemed to be natural accretion attached to the abutting property, and title thereto shall immediately vest in the owner or owners of the property abutting thereon”.

In exchange, the property owners agreed not to build anything “within seventy-five (75) feet of mean highwater mark of said beach” and “at no time prevent such beach in front of their respective premises from being kept open for the use of the public as a bathing beach and for passing over”.

As part of the 1928 Beach Agreement, eleven groins composed of hollow tongue and concrete blocks were built along Waikiki Beach with the intent of capturing sand. (SOEST)

A lot of the sand to build the beach was brought in to Waikiki Beach, via ship and barge, from Manhattan Beach, California in the 1920s and 1930s.

As the Manhattan Beach community was developing, it found that excess sand in the beach dunes and it was getting in the way of development there. At the same time, folks in Hawai‘i were in need for sand to cover the rock and coral beach at Waikiki.

Kuhn Bros. Construction Co supplied the sand; they would haul the sand up from Manhattan Beach, load it onto railroad cars, have it transported to the harbor in San Pedro and shipped by barge or ship to Hawai‘i. (Dalton)

Since 1929, about 616,500 cubic yards of sand have been used to enlarge and replenish Waikiki Beach between Fort DeRussy and Kuhio Beach, but every year more erodes away. Little new sand has been added since the 1970s. (DLNR)

When I was at DLNR, we initiated a demonstration project to move nearshore sand back on to the beach. In 2006, DLNR spent $500,000 to siphon 10,000 cubic yards of offshore sand – this was the largest replenishment effort of Waikiki’s beaches in more than 30 years.

It worked; then, a larger project was implemented. Early in 2012, a larger-scale replenishment project pumped sand from 2,000 feet off Waikiki to fill in the shrinking beach. Later, other replenishment projects occurred.

The 2006 demonstration project and the subsequent replenishment activity were really recycling projects, because the sand now settled offshore was brought in years ago to fill out the beach.

March 3, 2025 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Pālolo

Waikīkī (“water spurting from many sources”) ahupuaʻa lies between Honolulu (from the west side of Makiki Valley) and Maunalua (the east side of Wailupe) – essentially from Piʻikoi Street to the ʻĀina Haina/Niu Valley boundary.

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.

As they entered the flat Waikīkī Plain (and merge and separate,) the names of the streams changed; the Mānoa became the Kālia and the Pālolo became the Pāhoa (they joined near Hamohamo (now an area mauka of the Kapahulu Library.))

While at the upper elevations, the streams have the ahupuaʻa names, at lower elevations, after merging/dividing, they have different names, as they enter the ocean, Pi‘inaio, ‘Āpuakēhau and Kuekaunahi.

The Pi‘inaio (Makiki) entered the sea at Kālia (near what is now Fort DeRussy as a wide delta (kahawai.)) The ‘Āpuakēhau (Mānoa and Kālia,) also called the Muliwai o Kawehewehe (“the stream that opens the way” on some maps,) emptied in the ocean at Helumoa (between the Royal Hawaiian and Moana Hotels.)

The Kuekaunahi (Pālolo) once emptied into the sea at Hamohamo (near the intersection of ‘Ōhua and Kalākaua Avenues.) The land between these three streams was called Waikolu, meaning “three waters.”

Pālolo valley, within the ahupuaʻa of Waikīkī, has ʻili for kalo (taro loʻi) and forest products that benefitted other portions of the ahupuaʻa (such as ʻĀina Haina, Wailupe, Niu and areas near the beach) – they are essentially ʻili lele (jumping ʻili) that provide these resource lands (wetland for kalo and mauka forest lands) to the other areas of the ahupuaʻa that do not have them.

According to legend, Kākuhihewa, Māʻilikūkahi’s descendent six generations later, encountered the supernatural rooster, “Kaʻauhelemoa” who flew from Pālolo valley and landed at Waikīkī to challenge Kākuhihewa by scratching the ground. The place was then named “Helumoa” which means “chicken scratch.”

Kākuhihewa felt that the appearance of the supernatural rooster was an omen, so he planted a grove of trees, which later multiplied into an estimated 10,000-coconut trees (this is the area in and around the Sheraton Waikīkī hotel.)

Fast forward a few centuries.

Pālolo Valley was once home to a golf course, rock quarry, two dairies and, during World War II, an airfield.

Pālolo Elementary School first opened its doors in September 1921 under the leadership of Principal William Kekepa. Its first buildings were converted military barracks and the school was next to a golf course.

Opened in 1931, the nine-hole Pālolo course was first one open to the masses (the Islands’ first course, Moanalua Valley course, opened in 1898; Oʻahu Country Club opened in 1906, Waiʻalae in 1928.) Later, that golf course was turned into a public housing project that is now Pālolo Valley Homes.

A May 1941 article in the Honolulu Advertiser titled “Army Maps Areas to Be Evacuated in Event of Emergency” informed civilians that 86,000-persons living in Honolulu resided in danger zones, and that half would have to evacuate in the event of a war. (Johnson)

The Pālolo evacuation camp, which the Office of Civilian Defense had erected in case of another Japanese attack, was later turned over to the Hawaiʻi Housing Authority (HHA) and converted into wartime public housing for several hundred families. (HHF)

Additional shelters for evacuees were built in Pālolo; however, they were “held in readiness for evacuees in connection with (another) attack.” The Pālolo Valley Camp never accommodated Islanders displaced after the initial attack on December 7. A memorandum written in February 1942 confirmed that Pālolo remained unoccupied.

The HHA also developed public housing. Members of a Congressional subcommittee, which came to investigate Honolulu’s housing situation (in Pālolo and elsewhere) in March 1945, learned of “hot bed apartments” where as many as eighteen men occupied one room in three shifts.

With the conclusion of World War II, the Pālolo School Camp was closed as they were deemed unsatisfactory for occupancy. The Pālolo Evacuation Camp adjacent to the 362-unit emergency housing project in Pālolo remained in operation.

Pālolo provided post-war housing opportunities; a three-bedroom home in 1950 cost about $11,500. In 1955, the Pālolo Golf Course was replaced by Jarrett Middle School and the Pālolo Valley District Park. More housing was also provided.

Jarrett Middle School was established in 1955. The school was named in honor of William Paul Jarrett (1877-1929,) who was a delegate to the US Congress when Hawaiʻi was a Territory. Mr Jarrett gained national and international recognition for his efforts as a humanitarian.

After it closed in 1951, the rock quarry became a 200-home residential subdivision and the airfield was developed into Pālolo Valley Housing. (Shellabarger) (Lots of information here from Green and Johnson.)

January 14, 2025 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Maluhia

Following the annexation of Hawaiʻi to the United States in 1898, plans evolved for the coastal defense of the island and the Naval station at Pearl Harbor.

The Artillery District of Honolulu was established in 1909 and consisted of Forts Ruger, DeRussy, Kamehameha and Armstrong. The District was renamed Headquarters Coast Defenses of Oahu sometime between 1911 – 1913.

In 1906, the US War Department acquired more than 70-acres in the Kālia portion of Waikīkī for the establishment of a military reservation; it was designated Kālia Military Reservation, but in 1909 was renamed Fort DeRussy in honor of Brevet Brigadier General Rene Edward DeRussy, a veteran of the War of 1812 and the Civil War.

Back then, nearly 85% of present Waikīkī was in wetland agriculture or aquaculture. The Army started filling in the fishponds which covered most of the Fort – thus, the Army began the transformation of Waikīkī from wetlands to solid ground.

The post was used almost exclusively as a seacoast defense for Honolulu Harbor during World War I. During World War II it was used for seacoast and antiaircraft defense, as a garrison for troops, headquarters for the Military Police, as a camouflage school, and as Headquarters for the US Armed Forces Institute.

The area also served as a rest and recreation area for personnel in the middle Pacific Area. Fort DeRussy was the biggest recreation center on Oʻahu, providing clubs and overnight accommodations for enlisted men and officers. In 1949, the post was officially designated an Armed Forces Recreation area.

And, that, in part, is what this summary is about … the Maluhia Recreation Center.

The area contained a gymnasium, bowling alley, bathhouses and dressing rooms, a snack bar, surfboard lockers, a fully equipped dark room, a studio for making recordings, a library, a hobby shop, a pistol range within the coastal battery, an officers’ club, hotel facilities, and bars and restaurants. A tram shuttle service ran between Maluhia and the bathhouses on the beach.

Before WWII, six different agencies were providing recreation, entertainment, and support services for the US Armed Forces, in addition to their regular services. These were the Salvation Army, the YMCA, the YWCA, the National Catholic Community Service, the National Jewish Welfare Board and the Travelers’ Aid Association.

In early-1941, the groups decided to pool their efforts, and a single group was formed – the United Service Organizations, or USO. The six agencies continued with their other charity efforts, and the USO managed the US Armed Forces work. The USO was entirely a civilian volunteer operation.

During WWII, the USO used what buildings they could, such as churches, private homes, beach and yacht clubs, commercial businesses, and even railroad cars. Services provided included dances, food, facilities for pressing clothes, showers, reading rooms, games, among others. The most publicized was the live entertainment for the military personnel stationed throughout the world.

It was provided by Camp Shows, Inc., which was a separate organization of professional entertainers and managers set up and supported by the USO.

Maluhia, which means “haven of rest,” was opened on April 27, 1943 as a recreation center for enlisted men. Although built by the Army on Army land, the building was constructed to serve as a recreation center for the men and women of all of the armed forces, including those stationed in Hawaiʻi and those passing through Hawaii while returning home from the warfront. It was one of the largest of its kind in the world.

The restaurant and terrace provided seating for 1,200 men and women (although on busy days many more were able to pack in.) It also contained the longest bar in the Hawaiian Islands. The 1944 wing addition on the west side added a hostess office, hostess consultation room, enlisted men’s quarters room, an office for the officer in charge and a store room.

“Broad lanais, spaciousness and a feeling of the ‘outdoors brought inside’ (were) some of the elements that (made) the building characteristically Hawaiian in atmosphere”.

During WWII, Maluhia was open seven days a week, from 11 am to 5 pm; typically 1,000 to 2,000 people a day visited Maluhia during the week, with often over 4,000 a day on the weekends.

Music was provided by various service bands throughout the islands. Free entertainment was provided each afternoon, including music, variety shows, movies and sketches. Dances were held at least three to four days a week.

At the end of the war, the troops stationed throughout the Pacific gradually were taken home. The number of military personnel in the Pacific increased due to the Korean Conflict in 1950-53 and the Vietnam Conflict in 1963-73. Later, demand waned and the Maluhia Hall was eventually torn down.

The Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies opened new “Maluhia Hall,” a new state-of-the-art learning center at Fort DeRussy. The learning center brings more than 10,000-sq ft of additional classroom space to support the US Department of Defense institute’s security cooperation and executive education programs (Lots of information here is from Maluhia-HABS-NPS.)

October 30, 2024 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Waikīkī, Place of Healing

From historic times, Waikīkī was viewed not only as a place of peace and hospitality, but of healing. There was great mana (spiritual power) in Waikīkī. Throughout the 19th century, Hawai’i’s royalty also came here to convalesce.

The art of healing they practiced is known in the Islands as la‘au lapa‘au. In this practice, plants and animals from the land and sea, which are known to have healing properties, are combined with wisdom to treat the ailing.

At Waikīkī, Oʻahu on Kūhiō Beach, Hawaiian legend says Na Pōhaku Ola Kapaemāhu A Kapuni were placed here in tribute to four soothsayers, Kapaemāhu, Kahaloa, Kapuni and Kinohi, who came from Tahiti to Hawaiʻi (long before the reign of Oʻahu’s chief Kākuhihewa in the 16th century.)

Kapaemāhu was the leader of the four and honored for his ability to cast aside carnality and care for both men and women. Kapuni was said to envelop his patients with his mana. While Kinohi was the clairvoyant diagnostician, Kahaloa— whose name means “long breath”—was said to be able to breathe life into her patients.

They gained fame and popularity because they were able to cure the sick by laying their hands upon them. Before they returned to Tahiti, they asked the people to erect four large pōhaku as a permanent reminder of their visit and the cures they had accomplished.

Legend says that these stones were brought into Waikīkī from Waiʻalae Avenue in Kaimuki, nearly two miles away. Waikīkī was a marshland devoid of any large stones. These stones are basaltic, the same type of stone found in Kaimukī.

On the night of Kāne (the night that the moon rises at dawn,) the people began to move the rocks from Kaimukī to Kūhiō Beach. During a month-long ceremony, the healers are said to have transferred their names — Kapaemāhu, Kahaloa, Kapuni and Kinohi — and or spiritual power, to the stones.

One of the pōhaku used to rest where the surf would roll onto the beach known to surfers as “Baby Queens”, the second pōhaku would be found on the ʻEwa side of ʻApuakehau Stream (site of Royal Hawaiian Hotel), and the last two pōhaku once sat above the water line fronting Ulukou (near the site of the present Moana Hotel.) In 1963, they were relocated to Kūhiō Beach.

One of Waikīkī’s places of healing was the stretch of beach fronting the Halekūlani Hotel called Kawehewehe (the removal). The sick and the injured came to bathe in the kai, or waters of the sea.

They might have worn a seaweed lei of limu kala and left it in the water as a symbol of the asking of forgiveness for past sins (misdeeds were believed to be a cause of illness and “kala” means to forgive.) Hawaiians still use the sea to heal their sores and other ailments, but few come to Kawehewehe.

From 1912 to 1929, a home here was converted to a small two-story boardinghouse, and operated by La Vancha Maria Chapin Gray, known as “Grays-by-the-Sea.” Its grounds were later incorporated into the Halekūlani. The beach is still known today as Gray’s Beach. (Kawehewehe is also the name of the surfing site called Populars, today.)

The natural sand-filled channel that runs through the reef makes it one of the best swimming areas along this stretch of ocean. It was dredged in the early-1950s to allow catamarans to come ashore at Gray’s Beach. The channel lies between two surf sites, Paradise and Number Threes.

There was a Kawehewehe Pond; people with a physical ailment would come to the pond in search of healing. A kahuna, or priest, would place a lei limu kala around their neck, and instruct them to submerge themselves in the healing waters of the pond. When the lei came off and floated downstream, it was said that the afflicted ones were healed.

It was for this particular ceremony that the area was called Kawehewehe, which literally means “the removal.” It was on the ʻEwa side of the Royal Hawaiian Hotel (adjacent to Helumoa), just east of the Halekulani Hotel, Waikīkī.

Kawehewehe takes its meaning from the root word – wehe – which means to remove. (Pukui.) Thus, as the name implies, Kawehewehe was a traditional place where people went to be cured of all types of illnesses – both physical and spiritual – by bathing in the healing waters of the ocean.

The patient might wear a seaweed (limu kala) lei and leave it in the water as a request that his sins be forgiven; hence the origin of the name kala (Lit., the removal.)

After bathing in the ocean, the person would duck under the water, releasing the lei from around his neck and letting the lei kala float out to sea. Upon turning around to return to shore, the custom is to never look back, symbolizing the oki (to sever or end) and putting an end to the illness. Leaving the lei in the ocean also symbolizes forgiveness (kala) and the leaving of anything negative behind.

In the 1880s, Helumoa was inherited by Kamehameha I’s great-granddaughter, Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop.

In the last days of her battle with breast cancer, Pauahi returned to Helumoa. Although the Princess could have gone anywhere to recuperate, she chose Helumoa, for the fond memories it recalled and the tranquility it provided.

Here she wrote the final codicils (amendments) of her will, in which she bequeathed her land to the Bishop Estate for the establishment of the Kamehameha Schools.

Further down the beach, Queen Liliʻuokalani found respite and healing at her Waikīkī retreats noting, “Hamohamo is justly considered to be the most life-giving and healthy district in the whole extent of the island of Oʻahu …”

“… there is something unexplainable and peculiar in the atmosphere of that place, which seldom fails to bring back the glow of health to the patient, no matter from what disease suffering.”

The Queen “derived much amusement, as well as pleasure: for as the sun shines on the evil and the good, and the rain falls on the just and the unjust, I have not felt called upon to limit the enjoyment of my beach and shade-trees to any party in politics …”

“While in exile it has ever been a pleasant thought to me that my people, in spite of differences of opinions, are enjoying together the free use of my seashore home.”

The author, Robert Louis Stevenson, also found respite, here. In 1888, his health had been declining; he was told by his doctor to travel here because the climate was good for his bad health.

Stevenson’s remarks in the guest book note: “If anyone desires such old-fashioned things as lovely scenery, quiet, pure air, clean sea water, good food, and heavenly sunsets hung out before their eyes over the Pacific and the distant hills of Waianae, I recommend him cordially to the Sans Souci.”

From Kālia to Kawehewehe to Helumoa to Kūhiō Beach to Hamohamo to San Souci, there are many stories of the healing power at Waikīkī.