Images of Old Hawaiʻi

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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.)

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Hula Show at Lalani Hawaiian Village, Waikiki-BM-ca.1935
Grass house at Lalani Village, Waikiki-PP-32-4-001
Grass house at Lalani Village, Waikiki-PP-32-4-003
Grass house at Lalani Village, Waikiki-PP-32-4-005
Grass house at Lalani Village, Waikiki-PP-32-4-006
Grass house at Lalani Village, Waikiki-PP-32-4-007
Grass house at Lalani Village, Waikiki-PP-32-4-008
Grass house at Lalani Village, Waikiki-PP-32-4-009
Grass house at Lalani Village, Waikiki-PP-32-4-010
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
Hawaiian_man who built grass houses at Lalani Village, Waikiki-PP-32-4-021
Lalani Village-Coconut Tree Climbing-ebay
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Pualani Mossman dancing the hula at Lalani Village, Waikiki-PP-33-1-017-1935
Tourist at Lalani Village, Waikiki-PP-32-4-004
Tourist at Lalani Village, Waikiki-PP-32-4-011
Tourist at Lalani Village, Waikiki-PP-32-4-024
Two hula dancers with ukulele, wearing tapa outfits, Lalani Village-PP-32-10-007

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Public Baths

In the late-19th 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)

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by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Queen’s Surf

“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.” (Queen Liliʻuokalani)

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.”

Because of her nearby homes, they called the coastal area in this part of Waikīkī Queen’s Surf Beach.

In 1914, Mr & Mrs WK Seering of the International Harvester Co in Illinois built a home there.  A couple decades later, Fleischman’s Yeast heir, Mr CR Holmes, bought the home (he also had other Hawaiʻi property, including Coconut Island in Kāneʻohe Bay.) (ilind)

During WWII, the house was used for military retreats and other military uses.  Admiral Nimitz, General Douglas McArthur and staffs spent time there.

After World War II (and following Holmes’ death,) the City & County of Honolulu bought the property and leased it to the Spencecliff Corporation restaurant chain; it became their flagship property and operated it as the hugely popular Queen’s Surf Restaurant and Nightclub.

Sterling Edwin Kilohana Mossman (February 3, 1920 to February 21, 1986) headlined at its upstairs Barefoot Bar.  A man as versatile as he was talented, literally led a double life. A detective with the Honolulu Police Department during the day, after dark he was one of Hawaiʻi’s most popular entertainers. His diversified careers earned him the nickname “Hula Cop”. (TerritorialAirwaves)

The Barefoot Bar was ground zero for this new brand of local comedy. Mossman was the ringleader, along with the likes of Lucky Luck, a zany radio personality, and Kent Bowman, known as KK Kaumanua.  They told stories, sang songs and, when a celebrity from the Mainland happened to come by (and they did a lot), they became part of the show.  (HonoluluMagazine)

Mossman sang and did comedy and included a lot of others in the evening’s entertainment.  The footprints of many of these Island and internationally known entertainers lined the stairway up to the second floor bar.

For a while, downstairs, at the Surf Lanai, Kuiokalani (Kui) Lee sang for the crowds – inside and out of the restaurant.  During the day, the beach was crowded with sun bathers; at night it was full of Island residents listening in on Kui Lee’s long list of local favorites (he’d turn to the ocean and sing a final song to the folks on the beach.)

Born in Shanghai, China, the third child and only son of Hawaiian entertainers Billy and Ethel Lee, Kui Lee was a prolific songwriter.  Folks like Don Ho, Elvis, Tony Bennett and Andy Williams recorded and performed his songs: “I’ll Remember You,” “One Paddle, Two Paddle”, “She’s Gone Again”, “No Other Song”, “If I Had To Do It All Over Again”, “Yes, It’s You”, “Rain, Rain Go Away”, “Get On Home”, “The Days Of My Youth” and “Lahainaluna.”

“Kui was very brash, very positive about his songs,” said Kimo McVay, owner of Duke Kahanamoku’s nightclub from 1961 to ’71 and manager/promoter of Don Ho from 1963 to ’66. “He gave them to Don, and Don, of course, made them hits. When Don became a star because of that material, a national star, that’s what launched Kui. And Kui became the star of Queen’s Surf.” (star-bulletin)

Here is Kui Lee singing Days of My Youth (a reminder for me of growing up in the Islands, and the one time I was able to sit on the beach and listen to Kui Lee perform – unfortunately, Kui Lee died of cancer at the age of 34 in 1966.)  Click HERE for a YouTube for one of Kui Lee’s songs.

Queen’s surf also offered a regular lūʻau on the property.

The stories vary on the cause, but later there was a lease dispute with the City and the Queen’s Surf and the neighboring Kodak Hula Show were evicted, the Queen’s Surf was torn down (1971) and the Waikīkī beachfront area was turned into a public park.

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Ala Wai Boat Harbor

Waikīkī was well-suited for Hawaiian shallow-draft canoes that did not require deep water and could be easily beached.

Deeper-draft Western ships anchored off-shore, “it is unquestionably the most eligible anchoring place in the island.”  Its advantages were sandy bottom, soft coral, irregular reef and mild surf. Nonetheless, while foreign ships did anchor at Waikīkī, it was not the perfect harbor.  (Vancouver 1793)

“…On rounding Diamond hill the village of Wyteetee (Waikīkī) appears through large groves of cocoanut and bread-fruit trees … A reef of coral runs along the whole course of the shore, within a quarter of a mile of the beach, on which the sea breaks high; inside this reef there is a passage for canoes. Ships frequently anchor in the bay, in from sixteen to twenty fathoms, over a sand and coral bottom.”  (Corney, 1818)

On shore, Waikīkī was famous for its fishponds with one listing citing 45 ponds.  The ten fishponds at Kālia were loko puʻuone (isolated shore fishponds formed by a barrier sand berm) with salt-water lens intrusion and fresh water entering from upland ʻauwai (irrigation canals.)  These were later used as duck ponds.

Following the Great Māhele in 1848, many of the fishponds and irrigated and dry-land agricultural plots were continued to be farmed, however at a greatly reduced scale (due to manpower limitations.)

In the 1860s and 1870s, former Asian sugar plantation workers (Japanese and Chinese) replaced the taro and farmed more than 500-acres of wetlands in rice fields, also raising fish and ducks in the ponds.

Toward the beginning of the 1900s, downtown Honolulu was the destination for Hawaiian visitors, who numbered only about 3,000. While Honolulu had numerous hotels, there were few places to stay in Waikīkī.

In 1891, at Kālia, the ‘Old Waikiki’ opened as a bathhouse, one of the first places in Waikīkī to offer rooms for overnight guests. It was later redeveloped in 1928 as the Niumalu Hotel; the site eventually became the Hilton Hawaiian Village.

In 1906, the US War Department acquired more than 70-acres in the Kālia portion of Waikīkī for the establishment of a military reservation to be called Fort DeRussy.

The Army started filling in the fishponds which covered most of the Fort site – pumping fill from the ocean continuously for nearly a year in order to build up an area on which permanent structures could be built.  Thus, the Army began the transformation of Waikīkī from wetlands to solid ground.

As part of the government’s Waikīkī Land Reclamation project, the Waikīkī landscape was further transformed with the construction of the Ala Wai Drainage Canal – begun in 1921 and completed in 1928 – resulted in the draining and filling in of the ponds and irrigated fields of Waikīkī.

During the 1920s (before Ala Moana Park,) a barge channel was dredged parallel to the shore through the coral reef to connect Kewalo Basin to Fort DeRussy.

Part of the dredge material helped to reclaim wetland that was filled in with dredged coral; this created the area now known as Ala Moana Park (completed in 1934.)

Smaller boats, moored in the dredged area, also traveled along this channel to Kewalo Basin to get out to sea.  While no formal facilities were built, boats anchored in the nearshore waters; this was the beginning of the Ala Wai Boat Harbor.

Portions of the coastal area were used as a public park (1936-1947.)   Around this time, the land was conveyed from the City to the State (1949) and some land-based boat-related uses started popping up.

Ala Moana Park grew in popularity as swimming beach; with growing use and concern for interaction between Park users and boaters, in 1951, a channel was dredged directly out to sea.  The reef rubble that was dredged was used to fill in this old navigation channel (between Kewalo and the Ala Wai Harbor.)

Over the years, the Harbor grew incrementally.

The Ala Wai Small Boat Harbor is the State’s largest recreational boat harbor, among about fifty small boat harbors, launching ramps, jetties, wharves and landings statewide transferred from the Department of Transportation to the Department of Land and Natural Resources, Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation.

It consists of about 700 berths. There are also dry berthing spaces, a harbor agent’s office, comfort stations, showers, paved parking, a launching ramp and pier.

In 2022, there were nearly 333.3-million people in the US. There were close to 12-million registered recreational water vessels in that year, meaning that about 4% of our population owns a recreational watercraft of some sort.

Hawaiʻi, the only island state completely surrounded by water, ranks last (50th) in the number of boats, as well as boats per capita in the country (Florida ranks 1st in the number of boats; Minnesota ranks 1st per capita.)

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by Peter T Young 1 Comment

ʻĀina Haina (ʻIli of Wailupe)

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.

It included several ʻili, subdivisions/portions of ahupuaʻa.  Wailupe is one of these ʻili; it is actually an ʻili lele (jumping ʻili) that includes the area we now call ʻĀina Haina and kalo (taro loʻi) lands in nearby Pālolo Valley.

From ancient times, we learn Wailupe is part of the tradition of Kamapuaʻa, a multi-formed deity.

The Hawaiian deity Kamapuaʻa, is a part of the Lono god-force, and possessed many body forms (kinolau), representing both human and various facets of nature. He was born in pig-form to Hina (mother) and Kahiki‘ula (father) at Kaluanui in the Koʻolauloa District of O‘ahu.  (Maly)

ʻOlopana, an Oʻahu Chief (and younger brother of Kahiki’ula,) was an adversary of Kamapuaʻa.  After several skirmishes and confrontations between them, Kamapuaʻa finally killed ʻOlopana and conquered Oʻahu.

When Kamapuaʻa started to divide the land, one of the notable aspects of the tradition of Kamapuaʻa is that, Lonoawohi, his priest, asked for and received the lands whose names begin with the word “wai” (i.e. Waikiki, Waianae, Waiawa … and Wailupe.  Thus, the priests of the Lono class received the “wai” lands.  (Maly)

In Hawai‘i and essentially in all cultures – water meant life and growth. In Hawai‘i – “Wai” – fresh water – is a life force – it meant abundance and wealth and was a consistent theme in native traditions, practices, land use and historical accounts.

Wailupe (literally, “kite water”) suggests this was one of the prescribed places to fly kites, some suggesting the land was named “for a kite-flying woman (he wāhine hoʻolele lupe.)”

Another name for the area was Kekaha (“the place”) and is noted in the names of the winds the canoes could expect while sailing along the southeast coast of Oʻahu:

Puuokona is of Kuliʻouʻou
Ma-ua is the wind of Niu
Holouhā is of Kekaha (Wailupe)
Māunuunu is of Wai‘alae
The wind of Lēʻahi turns here and there …

There are three gulches forming the valley; the main Wailupe Gulch follows the lower Wailupe Stream and a branch to the northwest. The northeast branch follows Laulaupoe Gulch, which is named for a round (poe) type of leaf package (laulau) used for food and for presentations.

Above, there is a third gulch called Kuluʻī, which is named for a type of tree/shrub.   On early maps, a second small stream is shown on the western side called Waialiʻi (probably “water of the chiefs.”)  (Cultural Surveys)

What we know today as Wailupe Peninsula is the former Wailupe Fishpond. The Hawaiian term for the pond was Loko Nui o Wailupe, “big pond of Wailupe.”

Just mauka of the fishpond (makai of the main coastal trail, now covered by Kalanianaʻole Highway) was a spring called Puhikani. There was a second spring, which fed a fishpond of the same name, on the west side of Wailupe Pond called Punakou, which means “kou tree spring.”

Kawaikuʻi Beach Park is named after a freshwater spring in this area that was the only source of drinking water for the coastal residents. Kawaikuʻi means “the united water” (named either because of the salt and fresh water “united” at the spring or because Wailupe residents once came to wash their clothes on flat rocks near the spring and to gather limu – thus the population congregated or “united” at this spot.)

In 1826, the missionary Levi Chamberlain took a tour of the island of O‘ahu, traveling through the southern coast of O‘ahu westward from Makapuʻu. He recorded a settlement of eighteen houses at Maunalua, with three additional settlements between Maunalua and Wai‘alae. These settlements were probably at Kuliʻouʻou, Niu and Wailupe. At Wai‘alae he stopped at a settlement with a schoolhouse.  (Cultural Surveys)

The land of Wailupe was reportedly distributed to the father of Kamaha by Kamehameha the Great following the Battle of Nuʻuanu in 1795.

At the Māhele, Kamaha, konohiki (land manager) of the land, received Wailupe, retaining half and returning half.  (The King accepted “the large Fish pond (Wailupe Pond) and one acre of Kula land in the Ili of ‘Wailupe’ Oʻahu;” Kamaha received the remainder of the land and all of the smaller fishponds.)  (Cultural Surveys)

In Wailupe, 57 claims were made and 37 were awarded, indicating that there was substantial settlement in the area. The claims were mainly for kula lands with sweet potato, coconut, orange, hala, ipu and pili grass with no mention of taro being grown. Lots averaged 1.5-acres with two kula patches. The majority of lots were adjacent to major streams within the valley.

In 1924, Robert Hind purchased 2,090-acres and established the Hind-Clarke Dairy.  The Hind-Clarke Dairy was a favored stop along the road, as noted in a 1930 visitor’s guide: “The Hind-Clarke Dairy, a short way ahead and to our left with a large sign over the entrance, is not to be passed unnoticed. The dairy is a model of its kind and well affords an opportunity to see dairying in its most scientific form. The cottage cheese on sale is, perhaps, the most delicious you have ever tasted.”  (Cultural Surveys)

In 1946, Hind sold his dairy operation to Creameries of America, and soon after that began to develop the remainder of his land for residential use.  The former cattle pasture was subdivided into lots to form a new residential community called ‘Āina Haina (which means, “Hind’s land.”)

Soon after this the Hawaiian Dredging Company filled in the old Wailupe Fishpond, forming the Wailupe Circle subdivision. A deep channel (depth of approximately 12 to 20 feet) was dredged around the pond, as well as a channel through the reef to the open ocean) and dredge material filled in the pond.

The ‘Āina Haina Shopping Center was built in 1950 (Hawaiʻi’s first McDonald’s opened there on November 2, 1968.)  (The Hind Clark Dairy operation occupied the area now used as ʻĀina Haina Shopping Center and ʻĀina Haina Elementary School.)  (Lots of information here from Maly and Cultural Surveys)

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