Images of Old Hawaiʻi

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.

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Last House on the Beach

“In the latter post-contact period (ca. post 1850), the area [along Waikiki Beach] has been used for private residences: in the early portion of this period it was the domain of the royal family and the high ali‘i.”

“Foreign born businessmen and the children of missionaries began to acquire property along the beach in the late nineteenth century. They built large beach houses, which were used on weekends and holidays. The Young, Wilder, and Macfarlane families had house lots within and adjacent to the project area by 1897.”

Alexander Young was born in Blackburn, Scotland, December 14, 1833, the son of Robert and Agnes Young. His father was a contractor. When young, he apprenticed in a mechanical engineering and machinist department.

One of his first jobs included sailing around the Horn in 1860 to Vancouver Island with a shipload of machinery and a contract to build and operate a large sawmill at Alberni.

He left Vancouver Island for the distant “Sandwich Islands,” arriving in Honolulu February 5, 1865; he then formed a partnership with William Lidgate to operate a foundry and machine shop at Hilo, Hawaiʻi, continuing in this business for four years.

Moving to Honolulu, Young bought the interest of Thomas Hughes in the Honolulu Iron Works and continued in this business for 32 years. On his retirement from the iron works he invested in sugar plantation enterprises. He became president of the Waiakea Mill Co.

During the monarchy he served in the House of Nobles, 1889, was a member of the advisory council under the provisional Government and was a Minister of the Interior in President Dole’s cabinet.

With the new century he started a new career, when in 1900 he started construction of the Alexander Young Hotel, fronting Bishop Street and extending the full block between King and Hotel streets in downtown Honolulu.  The 192-room building was completed in 1903.

In 1905, Young acquired the Moana Hotel and later the Royal Hawaiian Hotel (the ‘old’ Royal Hawaiian in downtown Honolulu that was later (1917) purchased for the Army and Navy YMCA.)

The Honolulu businessman whose downtown hotel that bore his name helped him became known as the father of the hotel industry in Hawaiʻi.

“Even before the Waikīkī coast became a tourist attraction, rich haole businessmen built their own beach houses along the shore. West of the Seaside were three houses, according to the recollections of Elizabeth Kinau Wilder, who grew up in their Waikīkī home in the 1910s. She recalled:”

“‘A narrow driveway, which faced the length of our front yard, led to the Youngs. Mr. Young didn’t have enough room for his carriage to turn around, so S.G. [Samuel Gardner Wilder, Elizabeth’s grandfather] let him use some of his property as a friendly gesture, never dreaming that he would never get it back! And when the Macfarlanes’ house was found to be fifteen feet on our land, S.G gave it to him rather than have the house torn down!’”

A 1914 Fire Insurance map, shows to the west of the Seaside dining room (with a semicircular rotunda), the “Seaside Hotel Rooms” partially over the water, which is the old Hawaiian Annex. Adjacent to this is a series of bathhouses and then a large family residence (labeled with a “D” for dwelling).

“This house is identified in several historic photographs as the ‘Bertha Young’ house. Bertha was a playmate of Elizabeth Wilder, who remembers many pleasant days spent at the adjacent Seaside Hotel.”

“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 muliwai or lagoonal backwater of ‘Āpuakēhau Stream that reached the sea between the present Royal Hawaiian and Moana Hotels was filled in between 1919 and 1927. The filling in of ‘Āpuakēhau Stream and the excavating of the Ala Wai canal were elements of a plan to urbanize Waikīkī and the surrounding districts:”

“‘The [Honolulu city] planning commission began by submitting street layout plans for a Waikīkī reclamation district. In January 1922 a Waikīkī improvement commission resubmitted these plans to the board of supervisors, which, in turn, approved them a year later.’”

“The Royal Hawaiian Hotel was formally opened on February 1, 1927 and with a maximum height of 150 feet was the tallest privately owned building in the Territory at that time.” (Cultural Surveys).

“At the Ewa end of the Royal was the Bertha Young property. Bertha Young was part of the family who started the Young Hotel. Bertha Young’s place fronted on the ocean right next to the Royal.” (Fred Hemmings Sr. OCC)

The Bertha Young home survived the demolition of the Seaside Hotel in the 1920s and the construction of the Royal Hawaiian Hotel in 1927. (Cultural Surveys)  “Miss Young attended Punahou School and was graduated from Oakland High School in California. … During World War II, Miss Young worked with the Red Cross.” (SB, June 12, 1963)

Bertha Young, “who refused to surrender to the concrete jungle of Waikiki,” (SB June 12, 1963) died June 11, 1963. “[S]he lived in the last privately owned beachfront home in Waikiki.” (SB, June 13, 1963)

She built the house in 1927, designed by Dickey & Wood, for $13,400. (SB, Nav 12, 1927)  “She lived for more than 50 years on the property given to her by her mother, Ruth.” (SB, June 12, 1963)

The Bertha Young property was sold in 1963 for $600,000 to the Von Hamm-Young Company.  (SB, Aug 20, 1963)  Her sister was Bernie Von Hamm and brother-in-law was Conrad C Von Hamm.

On February 26, 1969, “a bulldozer jazzed up with the flower leis dug the first spade of earth … for the Sheraton-Waikiki in an era full of memories for many kamaainas.” (SB, Feb 27, 1969)

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

“Kidnap and Rape” – “Kidnap and Murder”

On the night of Saturday, September 12, 1931, Navy Lt. Tommie and Thalia Massie went with some of their friends to the Ala Wai Inn, a restaurant overlooking the drainage canal that marked the boundary of the Waikīkī resort area.

“The truth of what transpired on the night of September 12, 1931, at the Ala Wai Inn on the way to Waikīkī or on the Ala Moana Road (which paralleled the shore on the way to downtown Honolulu) will probably never be known.”  (Hunter)

Two dramatic criminal trials, one for rape and one for murder and both involving multiple defendants, called attention to race relations and politics.  No trials ever had a more significant effect on a state’s history than those that shocked and shook Hawaiʻi in 1931 and 1932.  (Linder)

They are:
Territory of Hawaiʻi v. Ben Ahakuelo, Horace Ida, Joseph Kahahawai, Henry Chang and David Takai; 1931 (Rape trial) (also known as the “Ala Moana trial;” the name of the street where the assault allegedly took place)
Territory of Hawaiʻi v. Grace Fortescue, Thomas Massie, Edward Lord and Deacon Jones; 1932 (Murder trial)

“That the wife of Lieutenant Thomas Massie, United States Navy, was beaten, was evident; that she was raped was not clearly shown; that the five Hawaiian youths indicted for rape were not guilty was probable; and that she had asked for trouble the evidence shows.”   (Hunter)

Back to the night of September 12 at Waikīkī … Thalia left her husband behind and walked out of the Ala Wai Inn, and when she returned home early the next morning … “Something terrible has happened.” (She claimed she had been abducted and raped by five young Hawaiian men.)

The case for the prosecution was shaky.  Neither Mrs Massie’s body or her clothes showed that she had been raped.  Likewise, after a thorough physical examination of their bodies and the clothes they were wearing that night when they were arrested, the defendants showed no sign that they had had sexual intercourse.

The jury stayed out from the afternoon of Wednesday, December 2, until the afternoon of Saturday, December 5.  It was a hung jury (seven for not guilty and five for guilty;) the judge declared a mistrial December 6, 1931.  It was the longest jury deliberation in Hawaiʻi’s history.  (Hannon) The defendants were released to await a second trial.

The aftermath of the Ala Moana trial reverberated throughout Honolulu and the mainland. The mistrial outraged Navy personnel, the business community and white citizens in Hawaiʻi and government officials throughout the US.  (Hannon)

Instead of sticking to the facts, the white press in Hawaiʻi and the mainland press played the race card, which only served to further anger whites. Numerous newspapers and magazines added to the misinformation, hysteria and racial atmosphere surrounding the situation in Hawaiʻi.

Time Magazine reported in an article titled ‘Lust in Paradise’ a few weeks after the mistrial:  “Honolulu, paradisaic melting pot of East & West, was tense with trouble last week. Yellow men’s lust for white women had broken bounds. … A tremor of apprehension ran through Hawaiʻi’s motley population…”  (Hannon)

Joseph Kahahawai had been released; while out on bail the defendant was required to report in court every morning about nine o’clock.

Fortescue (Thalia’s mother) had a plan … with help, she would pick up Kahahawai at the courthouse after he had reported in and take him to a cottage, about 2-miles away.  She wanted to get a confession.  She let Tommie in on the plan, as well as a couple Sailors.

Lieutenant Massie, Fortescue and two non-commissioned sailors, Albert ‘Deacon’ Jones and Edward Lord, collaborated on the scheme.   Fortescue faked a subpoena addressed to Kahahawai, commanding him to appear before the high sheriff of the island of Oʻahu.

January 8, 1932, Massie and Lord drove to the Judiciary Building in a rented Buick; Fortescue and Jones followed in Massie’s roadster. When Kahahawai came out of the courthouse, Jones waved the fake summons at him, pushed him into the Buick, and they drove off.

In the back of Mānoa Valley, they threatened Kahahawai if he did not admit to the rape.  The pistol they brought went off and Kahahawai later died with a gunshot through the chest.

The four were put on trial for murder.

The most notorious trial in the history of Hawaiʻi began on April 4, 1932 and was titled Territory of Hawaiʻi vs. Grace Fortescue, et al., Crim. No. 11891. The trial would be presided over by forty-two year old Judge Charles “Skinner” Davis.  (Honnon)

Noted criminal trial lawyer, Clarence Darrow, was hired by the defense.  The defense argued the killing was justified under the “unwritten law” – a defense usually used by a husband who kills a man immediately after catching him having relations with his wife or raping her.  (Hannon)

The courtroom was jammed with anxious listeners, day after day, many waiting outside all night so they would be sure to get in when the case opened in the morning. The Honolulu papers carried a full stenographic report of the case, and the daily press on the mainland gave almost as full an account.

The main interest of the trial was the testimony of Lieutenant Massie and that of his wife; each of these witnesses was on the stand for two days.   No others who were at the cottage testified.

Massie told the jury of his emotions when the man had ravished his wife sat there in front of him, how it called all the anxiety and trouble he and his wife had through for two or three months, and that he proposed to have the matter settled now.  (Darrow)

Darrow gave his closing argument on Wednesday, April 27, 1932. The last major courtroom argument of his career, it was heard live on radio stations across the country. Anxious to hear Darrow speak, many people waited in line the night before and some places in line were bought and sold.  (Hannon)

The jury returned a verdict of manslaughter, leniency recommended.

The guilty verdicts inflamed the already caustic political atmosphere. Mainland politicians saw it as continued miscarriage of justice in the whole sordid case. They were already angry that Hawaiʻi’s justice system had failed to convict in the Thalia Massie case.  The White House was flooded with telegrams protesting the verdict and asking President Hoover to issue immediate pardons. (Hannon)

All four were sentenced to ten years imprisonment. Amid a storm of protest, the Governor of Hawaiʻi, Lawrence Judd, immediately commuted their sentences to one hour in the sheriff’s office.

Thalia and Tommie, along with Mrs. Fortescue, left Hawaiʻi at once and returned to the mainland. (The couple found no peace; they were divorced soon after the trial.)

A couple of years later, Thalia in an unsuccessful attempt at suicide, slashed her wrists during a transatlantic cruise. Tommie left the Navy, took a second wife, and established a career in business. Thalia married a second time, and on July 2, 1963, she died in West Palm Beach from an overdose of barbiturates.  (Riccio)

The surviving four Hawaiians defendants in the Thalia Massie rape case (the Ala Moana trial) were never retried.

“Many times I have been asked why I went to Honolulu. I was not sure then, and am not sure now. I had never been to that part of the Pacific … But the more I thought of those islands in the Pacific that I had so long wanted to see, and the more I investigated the strange and puzzling case, the more I felt that I had better go.”  (Clarence Darrow)

“The old man (Darrow) came down to the Islands believing his personal presence and his known tolerance and understanding of human suffering would help smooth over any racial problems that might exist. When he left the Islands two months later the racial issues were more deeply graven than ever.”  (Theon Wight, Rape in Paradise)  (Lots of information here from Darrow and Hannon.)

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

New ‘Road’ into the Ala Wai

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, but 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.

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.

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.

Then, in 1956, Hawaiian Electric installed cables across the Ala Wai Canal to provide Waikīkī with additional electric power capacity. (HECO)

As part of the installation process, “A ‘road’ nearly spanning the Ala Wai has appeared almost overnight, surprising thousands of passers-by who are accustomed to seeing the canal as an unbroken ribbon of water from Kapahulu to the sea.”

“But Hawaiian Electric Co. assured the public yesterday that the ‘road’ would stay there only as long as to bury a 44,000-volt cable needed to bring more electricity to an expanding Waikiki.”

“The ‘road’ will support cranes which will dig a trench 23 feet deep and four feet wide under the Ala Wai. Then the cable will be laid across the canal, down Kaiolu St. and ino the Waikiki sub station.”

“Erling V Schoenberg, Hawaiian Electric’s superintendent for the job, said the Ala Wai ‘road’ was the cheapest way of getting the digging equipment into the area.”  (Advertiser, Sep 11, 1956)

“Clam shell cranes will begin digging a ditch in the floor of the Ala Wai from a causeway today or tomorrow, according to Erling V Schoenberg, Hawaiian Electric Company underground superintendent.”

“The dirt and rock causeway was been built four-fifths of the way across the canal from the Iolani School area to Kaiolu Street. A 50-foot passage was left on the makai side for boats.”

“The cranes will dig a trench 23 feet deep and four feet wide under the Ala Wai in which a 44,0000-volt cable will be buried.  When this is accomplished, the causeway will be removed.”  (Star Bulletin, September 11, 1956)

“As electricity use increased, the original cables were replaced in 1990 with higher capacity cables …. In 2002-03, when the Canal was last dredged, it was determined the cables were at risk of damage from dredging.”

“Hawaiian Electric, DLNR and the dredging contractor developed an interim solution to dredge around the cables. The current cable relocation project will be a permanent solution to not interfere with future dredging operations.” (HECO)

Then, “The State Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) plans to dredge the Ala Wai Canal for flood control and increased recreational use starting in 2019, pending approval of permits. Hawaiian Electric currently has 46 kilovolt (kV) electrical cables buried under the canal that must be removed for efficient dredging.”

“Hawaiian Electric plans to install new 46kv cables about 40 feet below the canal using horizontal directional drilling. Once new cables are in service, the old cables will be removed. Hawaiian Electric plans to install new 46kv cables about 40 feet below the canal using horizontal directional drilling.”

“To minimize disruption from conventional trenching in the city streets, Hawaiian Electric will use horizontal directional drilling to install the new cables.”:

“As with any major construction, however, some short-term impacts are unavoidable. Hawaiian Electric will make every effort to limit closed traffic lanes, noise and dust.”  (HECO)

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

DLNR’s Roles at the Ala Wai

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.

“Over the decades, all sorts of pollution – pesticides, heavy metals, sediments and even raw sewage –  has flowed into the canal. As Honolulu’s upstream population mushroomed, contamination in the canal has steadily increased …”

“… and over the years levels of pollution have tested well above limits considered safe. One local man died from bacterial infections he picked up after falling in the water.” (Civil Beat)

One role DLNR plays is dealing with the trash that floats down the respective drainage ditches up mauka that make their way into the Ala Wai.

Ala Wai small boat harbor is particularly prone to collecting trash that heavy rains, such as has been experienced this summer, wash down from watershed areas of Manoa, Makiki and Palolo streams.

Trash then flows down the Ala Wai canal, where a portion is captured in a debris trap, or amid the harbor front row piers and boats that is visible to the public.

“The trap utilizes a floating boom on the makai side of the bridge span next to Ala Wai Marine boatyard that captures tons of refuse after every rainstorm. But, like any trap, once it’s filled it must be emptied before it can function again.” (Pendleton)

DLNR Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation (DOBOR) is responsible for removing this mess from the traps. (DLNR) The trap is normally cleaned three to four times a year. The expense is paid through the Boating Special Fund (paid by boaters), not from General Funds from tax revenues.

That responsibility became more profound when, in 2006, “the city dumped 48 million gallons of untreated sewage into the canal – which flowed out into the ocean and polluted Waikiki beaches – in order to keep the waste from backing up into hotels, homes and businesses.”  (Civil Beat)

“This spill is such a large magnitude. We have never seen this before,” said state Health Department spokesman Kurt Tsue. “It’s pretty bad.”

“More than 100 warning signs to stay out of the water were posted along a 1 ½-mile stretch covering 18 beaches from Waikiki to downtown Honolulu.” (LA Times)

“Oliver Johnson, a 34-year-old mortgage broker, died April 6 from a bacterial infection after falling or being pushed into the sewage-contaminated Ala Wai Harbor on March 31.” (Star Bulletin, April 15, 2006)

DLNR had to clean up the debris trap and we viewed it as a biological hazardous waste removal/treatment and “Workers in protective gear will begin cleaning the sewage-polluted Ala Wai Boat Harbor today, under a $50,000 state contract.” (Star Bulletin, April 15, 2006)

Some may recall the ‘black noodle’ in and around the Ala Wai.  “The 5,135-foot sewage pipe that juts out of the water near community gardens on the mauka bank of the canal, has been a constant reminder of that environmental disaster.” (Civil Beat)

It took the City seven years to remove the large black sewage pipe that snaked along the bottom of the Ala Wai Canal and out toward the mouth of the boat harbor, adjacent to Waikiki’s famous beaches.

In addition to the surface collection of debris, DLNR is also responsible for periodic dredging of the Ala Wai Canal.  Just as debris comes downstream, accumulated silt and sediments come down and collect in the Ala Wai.

The Ala Wai Canal serves as an essential drainageway and sediment basin for the Ala Wai watershed. Over time, the build-up of sediments into the Ala Wai Canal has affected the canal’s sediment- and water-holding capacity, reducing the canal’s ability to temporarily contain and then release storm water when there are heavy storm events. (Army Corps)

At times, “some areas are only 4 to 6 feet deep at high tide and canoes ply inches-deep water at low tide” (Honolulu); dredging is targeted to get water levels closer to “12-6 feet below the mean lower low water mark”. (DLNR)

As reported in 2003, “The dredging is a state-financed, $7.4 million effort to restore a measure of health and self-respect to the Ala Wai, which began filling with sediment almost as soon as the Army Corps of Engineers dug it in 1927 to control floods and mosquitoes and to provide landfill for the swampland that was then Waikiki.”

“The canal, which collects runoff from streams and storm drains on the densely populated mountain slopes above Waikiki, has been dredged periodically, most recently in 1979.” (NY Times, March 3, 2003)

A challenge was that Hawaiian Electric has underground electrical cable crossing under the Ala Wai (first installed in 1956 replaced in 1990 with higher capacity cables).  “DLNR encountered Hawaiian Electric’s cables during routine maintenance dredging of the Ala Wai Canal” and “it was determined the cables were at risk of damage from dredging”.

“As a temporary solution, sections of the active cables on the makai side of the canal were covered with twelve 20-foot by 8-foot pre-cast concrete panels. The panels provided protection and allowed the dredging operations to continue in areas upstream of the cables.” (Belt Collins)

Later, “Hawaiian Electric relocated underground sub-transmission line cables that connect to HECO’s Waikiki Substation located on Kai‘olu Street.” This also shifted the alignment of the cable to the west of the existing route. New technology allowed for horizontal directional drilling to cross under the Ala Wai Canal.

In part, HECO’s action supported the Department of Land and Natural Resources’ efforts to provide continuous maintenance dredging of the Ala Wai Canal. The replacement cables also help maintain the reliability of the electrical distribution system. (Belt Collins)

DLNR Chief Engineer Carty Chang said, “The long-term benefits of this project include maintaining the ability of the canal to efficiently convey storm water flows to the ocean to reduce the risk of flooding, and to improve the aesthetics and safe use of the canal for recreational users.”

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