Waikiki | Page 2 | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

August 30, 2024 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)

August 23, 2024 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

DLNR’s Roles at the Ala Wai

“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.”

August 2, 2024 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

ʻĀinahau Fire

“One of the biggest screen attractions offered to Maui this season is coming next week, the Aldrich Production, ‘The Black Lily.’ Manager Ross received announcement of the offering by wireless this morning. He expects that Mr Aldrich and Mrs Peggy Aldrich will be here at the same time.”

“As yet the mainland has had no chance to see this Hawaiian production. … It has been shown in Honolulu and was received with favor and followed by exceptionally flattering newspaper criticisms.”

“Peggy Aldrich is well known among the screen stars and as a producer Mr Aldrich has been successful. He has taken numbers of motion pictures of the Islands on other stays here before he purchased a home in Honolulu, knows the Islands and Island life and the ‘Black Lily’ is said to be one of the best Island plays ever screened.”

“Another Hawaiian feature is added, ‘Sonny’ Cunha in ‘Poi or Bust’ in which the Hawaiian musician seeks to rival Roscoe Arbuckle as a comedian.” (Maui News, May 27, 1921)

Aldrich zipped in and out of Hawaii to film travelogues, gather entertainers, and then return to the mainland to tour the results. He was a favorite of Hawaiʻi tourism business groups such as the Ad Club. He traveled across the mainland to theaters small and large showing his Hawaii travelogue supported by live entertainers, Aldrich’s Imperial Hawaiians.

His shows advertised Hawaii, correcting common erroneous beliefs (No, there is not an active volcano in Honolulu). In a letter to the Advertiser, Aldrich boasted his film and troupe reached 1 million people in a few months. He touted 400,000 viewers in greater Chicago. (Elks)

“William F Aldrich, adventurer, artist, globe-trotter, has done in celluloid what the old masters did with brush and oil. To say that he is a motion picture cameraman would be as much an error as to call Rembrandt a photographer.”

“With his camera he brings to the screen in glorious proportions the wonders of the universe. No beaten path he follows, but from the queer out-of-the-way places brings to live on the screen the romance of people and environments which we of this prosaic business world would meet only in books.” (Promotional brochure)

“William F Aldrich, a member of the expedition sent out by the Peter Pan Film Corporation to photograph the world, made an exceptionally interesting bit of motion picture history when he risked death in photographing the interior of the crater of Kilauea, Hawaii’s active volcano.”

“Numerous efforts to accomplish this feat have met with defeat, and Aldrich’s efforts are said to have netted the Peter Pan company the best photographic record of this boiling lake of flaming lava, which will be introduced in the fourth episode of ‘The Honeymooners,’ Peter Pan’s scenic serial.”

“The successful filming of the sputtering crater of Kilauea was accomplished by Aldrich on October 5. He wore a gas mask similar to those in use in European warfare, reinforced by a leather cap that covered all of his face except his eyes.”

“He made the descent of three hundred feet of almost perpendicular cliff to the inner edge of the lake of lava, and set up his tripod with the seething liquid earth licking at his shoes.”

“After completing his task Aldrich climbed out of the bowels of the earth and removing his fantastic headgear said: ‘It’s just like going to hell.’” (Motography, November 10, 1917)

It was an unfortunate later fire that also involved Aldrich; one August night, Aldrich, the “movie picture man,” was having dinner when his wife yelled “Fire!”

He ran to the room where the gas heater stood and saw flames. Neighbors tried to help by beating them out with cloths. A fire truck was summoned from Kaimukī, but the pin holding together the steering gear fell out and the truck crashed into a fence. By the time help arrived, the building count not be saved. (Cultural Surveys)

“With great difficulty the flames were prevented from spreading to adjacent buildings. Sparks were carried to the roof of the Moana Hotel by the high wind.” (Maui News, August 5, 1921)

“Historic ʻĀinahau, at Waikiki, was totally destroyed by fire August 2d (1921,) together with most of its furniture and fittings, on which $15,000 insurance was carried.” (Thrum)

“Historic ʻĀinahau, home of the wide lanais and lofty palms, rendezvous of Honolulu society in the reign of King Kalākaua, and haunt of Robert Louis Stevenson in his Hawaiian days, is gone. “

“The age old coconut trees which surrounded the famous palace were torches of remembrance, flaming high into the tropic night long after ʻĀinahau had become only a ghost among its glowing embers, but today they are charred stumps around blackened ruins.”

“Cleghorn, who survived both Princess Miriam Likelike and their daughter, died only a few years ago. His wish was that the estate might be preserved to posterity as a public monument, but the government did not see fit to accept the gift, and the property was cut up into building lots.”

“The palace itself, after a brief career as a hotel, passed into the hands of WF Aldrich, the moving picture producer, who, with his wife, “Peggy” Aldrich, had a rather close call last night when the place burned.” (Gessler, The Step Ladder, October 1921)

“For two or three years ʻĀinahau had been used for the developments of films depicting life in the Hawaiian Islands and from its dark rooms went forth celluloid impressions of Hawaii that have been displayed upon the screens of movie houses across the mainland” (The Garden Island, August 9, 1921)

“Mr. Aldrich plans to build on the property a model Hawaiian village of grass huts for the entertainment of visitors and the use of motion picture companies in filming Hawaiian scenes.”

“The Stevenson banyan was badly damaged, but it is expected to survive.” (Gessler, The Step Ladder, October 1921)

Ainahau_-_Kaiulani’s_House_after-1897-400

William F Aldrich

A Trip to the Hawaiin Islands and Aldrich’s Imperial Hawaiian Singers-cover

A Trip to the Hawaiin Islands and Aldrich’s Imperial Hawaiian Singers-1

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June 30, 2024 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Lalani Village

“In this idyllic setting, you will thrill to the romance of Island yesterdays. Delicious foods of the lū‘au will please the discriminating, Ancient Hula … native maids … weird chanting … thumping gourds … strumming ukulele … plaintive Island melodies … majestic palms … quaint grass huts.”

In 1932 George Paele Mossman opened the Lalani Hawaiian Village in Waikiki with demonstrations of traditional crafts, music and lū‘au as a way of preserving and teaching what he termed “Hawaiian lore that is fast vanishing.”

The village, conceived of as living museum, archive, school and tourist entertainment center, of 8-grass houses was erected on 1-acre and a program of classes (in Hawaiian language, hula, music, food preparation, surfing and fishing.)

For $2, the visitor received a 1-hour lecture on village life, followed by a lūʻau and a show, with performances led by the Mossman family.

Born March 28, 1891, Mossman was one of 11 children. His father was Scottish and his mother, Nahua Kealoha, was Hawaiian. George grew up fluent in Hawaiian culture. On January 21, 1910, Mossman married Rebecca G Kainapau.

The earliest written account of the life of George Mossman appeared in a Time magazine article describing a teenage Mossman’s attempt at the craft of violin making in 1908.

But it was not the violin that became Mossman’s musical instrument; Mossman turned his craftwork efforts to building ukuleles.

Mossman entered the ukulele business the year before the 1915 Pan Pacific International Exposition, in San Francisco. The Exposition featured Hawaiian culture of music and dance – including a new and curious instrument, the ukulele.

As an ukulele maker, Mossman was a major influence during the golden era of ukulele popularity and innovation. In 1927, he claimed to have perfected a ukulele which could be heard from half a mile away and yet still retain its clarity and tonal sweetness (he called it the Bell Tone.)

By 1933, he suspended the manufacture of ukuleles and devoted his time to Lalani Village. Lalani Village was designed to look and feel like an ancient Hawaiian community, one that had existed before western contact and long before the development of Waikiki as a visitor destination.

Lalani Village was the first of its kind and “probably the first ‘Hawaiian cultural center’” ever “for what (Mossman) hoped would be a great cultural awakening”. (Kealoha)

The Village, situated at the corner of Kalākaua and Paoakalani Streets (where the family was residing and now is the present site of the Waikiki Beach Marriott,) conducted hula and musical performances, featuring the entire Mossman family dressed in the fashion of the ancient aliʻi; Mossman himself in a loincloth and feather cape.

The family operation included every member of Mossman’s immediate family: his wife, Emma; several sons; and three daughters: Leilani, Piʻilani and Pualani.

Pualani was known for her “Volcano hula” dance, the highlight of the show. She would dance alone on a raised platform with another performer blowing fire and lighting a model of a volcano. (Pualani later performed at the Hawaiian Room in the Hotel Lexington.)

It was “called the last stronghold of real Hawaiian culture. It is encircled by a high wail and every day a cross-section of life as lived by Hawaiians 200 years ago is reenacted. There are grass huts for the men and grass huts for the women.”

“The native dances, the language, the customs are taught and preserved. There is a heiau (temple), and an imu (underground oven) where pigs are roasted.”

“Guides take you from point to point, lecturing on a picturesque form of living that has practically disappeared. It is Mossman’s idea to a preserve this culture through education. (The News, Frederick Maryland, August 11, 1938)

In 1934 the hula teachers, kapa makers, and canoe builders were joined by the 87-year-old Kuluwaimaka, who became a resident of the village; Kuluwaimaka was court chanter for the King David Kalākaua.

There were also afternoon shows targeting the regularly arriving ocean liner passengers, where a presumably less elegant show that could be enjoyed for a mere 50 cents. Also, for those who were residents or staying for a while, 40 hula lessons cost $10. Ukulele and language lessons were also available.

The Lalani village provided a restaurant, Lalani’s Poi Inn, where the visitors would adventure and where the kamaʻāina would savor genuine tradition.

A Lalani Village was considered for New York, as well. An August 24, 1938 newspaper article noted, “Yes, I like this. It will do. I don’t know just where it will be, but New York is the right place for it.” (Mossman quoted in the Free Lance-Star after a driving and aerial tour of Manhattan.)

During World War II, the military took over the property and used it for army bathhouses and a post exchange. The Mossmans finally reopened the village in 1946, and it stayed open until 1955 (the year Mossman died.) (Lots of information here is from Imada, Tucker, Desmond, Reynolds and King.)

Hula Show at Lalani Hawaiian Village, Waikiki-BM-ca.1935

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Hawaiian man thatching a grass house at Lalani Village, Waikiki-PP-32-3-004-1930s

Hawaiian man who built grass houses at Lalani Village, Waikiki-PP-32-4-021

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Pualani Mossman dancing the hula at Lalani Village, Waikiki-PP-33-1-017-1935

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Tourist at Lalani Village, Waikiki-PP-32-4-011

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Two hula dancers with ukulele, wearing tapa outfits, Lalani Village-PP-32-10-007

April 7, 2024 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Public Baths

In the late-19^th Century, Waikīkī’s shoreline was mostly a day-use beach; overnight accommodations were scarce. Visitors, usually residents of Honolulu, would arrive via horse-drawn carriage, on horseback or in a canoe. (White)

“The most popular resort of the people of Oʻahu is the famous Waikīkī … Waikīkī is the seaside and pleasure-resort of the island. … There are a number of private residences, picturesque-looking bungalows and cottages, but all airy, comfortable, and close to the murmuring sea. A beautiful grove of towering coconut-trees adds to the tropical charm of the place.” (Musick, 1898)

“The sea bathing is simply perfection. The water is never chilly; and yet it is most healthful and invigorating. The bottom is of nice smooth sand, always warm and pleasant to the feet. There is no fear of undertow or of any finny monsters. Not only is it pleasant to bathe here during the day, but moonlight bathing is indulged in. … It is a novelty, worth seeing, if not worth trying. (Whitney, 1895)

Just as “sea bathing” were gaining popularity on the American and European continents, private bathhouses, like the Long Branch Baths, Ilaniwai Baths and Wright’s Villa, began to appear in Waikīkī. (White)

Bathhouses began to appear along Waikiki Beach during the last quarter of the 19th Century. As early as the 1870s, for example, the Hawaiian Hotel “provided a cottage on the sea-shore at Waikiki, some three miles distant, where guests can . . . enjoy a morning or evening bath in the ocean.”

During the early ’90s, beachgoers patronized the Long Branch Baths with its “comfortable dressing rooms, fresh water douches, etc.” and the Waikiki Villa’s “commodious bath house” with “fresh water shower baths.” *Schmidt

“Bath-houses that equal those in Long Branch (New Jersey) are found here, and sea-bathing in January is as pleasant as in July. There is no clearer water, no finer beach, no smoother bottom in any of the many famous watering-places than are found at Waikīkī.” (Musick, 1898)

Bathhouses served customers with bathing suits and towel rentals, dressing rooms and each access to the beach. Initially, bathhouses served only day-use recreation of visitors, but eventually some of them began to offer overnight rooms.

The creation of the Public Baths alongside the aquarium in 1907 made it so there was a public beach for the first time in the park’s history. (Reynolds)

An August 1907 news report stated, “The public bath house at the beach will be finished inside of the next two weeks. There are other conveniences aside from the large number of dressing rooms. There is a large lounging room for ladles and their families, and a large dancing pavilion will soon be completed.”

In the men’s department there are thirty-five large dressing-rooms and six showers, In the ladles department there are accommodations for twenty bathers, with shower.” (Evening Bulletin, August 10, 1907) The City-owned public bathhouse was near Queen’s Surf Beach, in Kapiolani Park.

“When the moon become full Honolulu will see the opening of its first public dance pavilion. The building at the Kapiolani park bath-house has been put in shape for such dances … The Hawaiian band will be present to blow and beat the music for dancing.” (Star Bulletin, Dec 5, 1913)

“Twenty-five cents is the charge for use of a suit. No charge is made to those who bring their own suits and use the lockers. The money taken is dropped in a box at the bath house window”. (Honolulu Advertiser, Sep 20, 1924)

Then City officials were urging the construction of “a better bathing house . . . more attractive and sanitary.” Subsequently denounced as “unsanitary” and “an eye-sore to the community for many years.” (Schmidt)

In 1930, “Plans for the new public building to be constructed soon … on the site of the present frame structure next to the memorial natatorium, will be completed within the next two weeks … The new bath house will be a long, narrow, one-story structure paralleling Kalakaua Ave.”

“The main room will be a large lounge, 96 feet long facing the sea and opening onto a stretch of turf through several tall archways. … On either side of the main lounge, which will be furnished with comfortable chairs and tables, will be situated the ample locker rooms …”

“… the men’s dressing quarters will be fitted with 280 lockers and nine showers. The women’s dressing room will contain 128 lockers, 52 dressing booths and seven showers.” (Star Bulletin, Jan 7, 1930)

In 1957 the Park Board changed the name of the Kapiolani Public Baths (aka Waikiki Public Baths) to the Kapiolani Beach Center. (Advertiser, Nov 5, 1957)