Images of Old Hawaiʻi

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Waikīkī Historic Trail

George Kanahele designed the Waikīkī Historic Trail, a walking tour that traces the history and cultural legacy of this area where chiefs and commoners once lived.
 
It is seen as a way to enhance awareness of Waikīkī both as a sacred place to Hawaiians and a huge part of Hawaii’s history.
 
Bronze cast trail markers in the shape of surfboards (designed by Charlie Palumbo) describe a Waikīkī that few knew existed. Once part swamp, part playground for Hawaiian royalty, Waikīkī was for centuries a center of Hawaiian hospitality and seat of Oahu’s government.  Following are brief descriptions of the sites along the trail.
 
Stewards of the trail are the folks from Native Hawaiian Hospitality Association (NaHHA.)  Waikīkī Improvement Association supports and promotes the trail.
 
Marker 1 (Kapiʻolani/Waikīkī Beach)
This section of Waikīkī Beach contains four distinct areas: Outrigger Canoe Club (founded in 1908,) Sans Souci (1890s,) Kapi’olani Park and Queen’s Surf (demolished in 1971.)
 
Marker 2 – (Kapahulu groin)
From ancient times Waikīkī has been a popular surfing spot – it’s one of the reasons chiefs of old make their homes and headquarters in Waikīkī for hundreds of years (he‘e nalu, surfing.)
 
Marker 3 (Ala Wai/Lili‘uokalani Site)
Waikīkī served as a marshy drainage basin for the Koʻolau Mountain Range; in 1927, the Ala Wai Canal reclaimed the land for the development of today’s hotels, stores and streets. Here was Queen Lili’uokalani’s home, the last reigning monarch of the Kingdom of Hawai’i.
 
Marker 4 (Kuhio Beach)
This stretch of beach (from the Kapahulu groin to the Beach Center) is Kuhio Beach Park. It is named for Prince Jonah Kuhio Kalaniana’ole, Hawaii’s second Delegate to the United States Congress (1902-1922.)
 
Marker 5 (Kuhio Beach)
Duke Paoa Kahanamoku statue – Duke was known as the “Father of International Surfing;” he introduced surfing to the Eastern Seaboard of America, Europe and Australia.  He has been recognized as Hawaii’s Ambassador of Aloha since 1962.
 
Marker 6 (Kuhio Beach)
The Healing Stones of Kapaemahu statue  These stones were placed here in tribute to four soothsayers with famed healing powers, Kapaemahu, Kahaloa, Kapuni and Kinohi, who came from Tahiti to Hawaii in the 16th century.
 
Marker 7 (King’s Alley Entrance)
King David Kalakaua (1836-1891) had a residence here, in Uluniu, in the late-1800s; it was a two-story, frame structure, situated in a grove of towering, very old coconut trees. The house was big enough for hosting large parties, which he was fond of giving.
 
Marker 8 (‘Ainahau Park/Triangle)
 
Nani wale ku’u home ‘Ainahau I ka ‘iu – So beautiful is my home ‘Ainahau in a paradise.  These are the words from a popular song honoring ‘Ainahau (“land of the hau tree”), once described as “the most beautiful estate in the Hawaiian Islands.”
 
Marker 9 (International Marketplace, Under Banyan Tree)
King William Kanaʻina Lunalilo (1835-1874), the first elected king in Hawaiian history, had a summer residence here in the area known as Kaluaokau. Here he enjoyed “the quiet life of Waikīkī and living simply on fish and poi with his native friends.”
 
Marker 10 (Courtyard, next to Banyan Tree, Moana Hotel Restaurant)
The first hotels in Waikīkī were bathhouses, which began to offer rooms for overnight stays in the 1880s.  The Moana Hotel, the “First Lady of Waikīkī,” which opened in  1901, established Waikīkī as a resort destination.
 
Marker 11 (Next to Patio, Duke’s Restaurant)
Overlooking favored surf spot for some of Waikīkī’s famed beach boys. This elite group got their start sometime in the 1930s when the first Waikīkī Beach Patrol was organized.  They have been called “Waikīkī’s ambassadors,” serving the needs of royalty, Hollywood celebrities, and the general public alike.
 
Marker 12 (Back Lawn, Royal Hawaiian Hotel)
The royal coconut grove known as Helumoa once stood here, nearly 10,000 trees.  Kamehameha the Great and his army camped as they began their conquest of O’ahu in 1795. They returned victorious from the battles in Nu’uanu Valley and made Waikīkī the first capital of the Kingdom of Hawai’i.
 
The Royal Hawaiian Hotel or “The Pink Palace” was completed in 1927 and was touted as the “finest resort hostelry in America.”
 
Marker 13 (Beach, Next to Outrigger Reef Hotel)
From olden times Waikīkī was viewed not only as a place of peace and hospitality, but of healing.
One of Waikīkī’s places of healing was this stretch of beach fronting the Halekulani Hotel called Kawehewehe (or the removal). The sick and the injured came to bathe in the kai, or waters of the sea.
 
Marker 14 (Next to U.S. Army Museum)
On this site stood the villa of Chun Afong, Hawaiʻi’s first Chinese millionaire, who arrived in Honolulu in 1849.  He was the inspiration for Jack London’s famous story, “Chun Ah Chun.”  In 1904 the US Army Corps of Engineers purchased the property to make way for the construction of Battery Randolph and the no-longer-extant Battery Dudley to defend Honolulu Harbor from foreign attack.
 
Marker 15 (Kālia Road)
In 1897, Waikīkī’s largest fish pond (13-acres,) the Kaʻihikapu, was here. All of today’s Fort DeRussy on the mauka (toward the mountain) side of the road was covered with fishponds (growing mostly ‘ama’ama or mullet and awa or milkfish.) in 1908, the US military acquired 72 acres of land and started draining it in 1908 to build Fort DeRussy.
 
Marker 16 (Paoa Park)
Olympic swimming champion Duke Kahanamoku (1890-1968) spent much of his youth here in Kalia with his mother’s family the Paoas. The family owned much of the 20 acres which the Hilton Hawaiian Village now occupies; they grew their own taro and sweet potatoes and fished for seaweed, squid, shrimp, crab, lobster and varieties of fish.
 
Marker 17 (Patio of Ilikai Hotel)
 
The Pi’inaio was Waikīkī‘s third stream which entered the sea here where the Ilikai Hotel stands.  Unlike the Kuekaunahi and ‘Apuakehau streams, the mouth of the Pi’inaio was a large muddy delta intersected by several small tributary channels.
 
Marker 18 (Diamond Head Corner of Entrance to Ala Moana Park)
In the late 1800s, Chinese farmers converted many of Waikīkī’s taro and fishponds into duck ponds. This area, including the Ala Moana Shopping Center, was covered with duck farms.  In 1931, the City and County of Honolulu decided to clean up the waterfront.  The new Moana Park was dedicated by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1934.
 
Marker 19 (Ala Wai Canal Side of Hawai’i Convention Center)
Ala Wai (freshwater way) Canal was at the heart of Waikīkī Reclamation Project launched in the early 1900s to “reclaim a most unsanitary and unsightly portion of the city.” With the canal’s completion in 1928, the taro and rice fields, the fish and duck ponds, vanished.  Begun in 1996, the Hawai’i Convention Center is the largest public building of its kind in Hawai’i.
 
Marker 20 (Near Corner of Ala Moana and Kalakaua Avenue)
This green expanse in the middle of Waikīkī is Fort DeRussy.  It was started in 1908 as a vital American bastion of defense, but today it serves as a place of recreation and relaxation for U.S. military personnel and their families.
 
Marker 21 (Intersection of Kuhio and Kalakaua Avenue)
Kalākaua Statue at Kalākaua Park, intersection of Kalākaua and Kūhiō Avenues. Kalākaua was the first king in history to visit the United States; he was often referred to as “The Merry Monarch” and was fond of old Hawaiian customs.  Kalākaua died while on a trip to San Francisco on January 20, 1891.
 
Marker 22 (Hilton Hawaiian Village)
Ali’i (royalty) from all points came to Kālia to enjoy great entertainment along with lavish banquets with the freshest fish and shrimp from the largest fishponds in all the Hawaiian Islands. Here once stood the gracious Niumalu (coconut shade) Hotel; today, the Hilton Hawaiian Village continues the rich heritage of Kālia with a tradition of ho’okipa (hospitality.)
 
Marker 23 (Hilton Hawaiian Village)
In ancient Hawaii, the “Kālia” area where the Hilton Hawaiian Village is located was once swampland. Early Hawaiian farmers converted the marshes into ponds, lo’i, rich with taro, the staple food of the Hawaiian people. The Kālia area was also known for its abundant fishing grounds. It was also a favorite playground for the Ali’i (royalty).

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Waikiki Toboggan

In the late 19th century, Waikiki’s shoreline was mostly a day-use beach; overnight accommodations were scarce.  Visitors were usually residents of Honolulu who would arrive via horse-drawn carriage, on horseback of in a canoe.

They came to enjoy gazing at the surf or taking a ‘sea bath’.  As ‘sea bathing’ gained popularity in coastal areas of the US, as well and England, private bathhouses began to appear, there, as well as at Waikiki.

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.

At the Long Branch Bathhouse (named after a popular New Jersey resort) another form of recreation was established …

“Our reporter visited Long Branch Waikiki Tuesday and saw the working of the toboggan slide at that place. The following particulars regarding this inovation in bathing tactics were gathered on the spot and may be of interest to our readers.”

“The platform of the arrangement is reached by a flight of steps and the chute or slide is twenty inches wide. This narrow width gives a great momentum to the toboggan as it slides over the rollers for about 200 feet until the water is reached.”

“Only one toboggan starts at a time and it is placed level on the platform and afterwards its forepart is depressed by a lever to the angle of incline when it starts toward the water.”

“The toboggan itself is a wooden frame with a turn up end upon which the bather reclines and the pleasure is in the swiftness of motion over the chute.”

“When the bather reaches the water his toboggan skips on the surface for some distance from fifty to one hundred feet in proportion to the momentum acquired in the descent and then he has to swim ashore and propel his toboggan to a landing.”

“To a young person either male or female this pastime cannot be otherwise than delightful and it gives an excitement which ordinary bathing lacks. It is almost impossible that any accidents should occur on the chute as there is no chance to topple over nor is there any fear of the construction giving way.”

“Originally the toboggan is a Canadian Indian invention and was first brought into public notice at the Chaudiere Falls Province of Quebec where an ice slide forms every winter below the cataract.”

“Of late years the pastime has undergone many changes and improvements and from being an exclusively winter sport the same idea has been extended to summer and to any clime.”

“Mr Sherwood the proprietor of the Waikiki bathing establishment and chute informs us that the work of perfecting tho constructions of his unique slide and the neccessary buildings will cost him nearly 5000 and that he intends to make still more accommodations.

“There are now forty two dressing rooms for gentlemen and eighteen boudoirs for ladies. To these accommodations will be added a bathing platform 100 feet along the beach by 80 feet wide and a trapeze and spring board attached.”

“There will also be a restaurant and when the whole is finished we may expect to have occasionally to report aquatic feats of considerable magnitude.”

“It may be expected that pastimes of this nature will be enjoyed chiefly by young persons but there is no reason why the seniors should not participate in what is really an enjoyable and sanitary sport.”

“The price of each scoot on the toboggan is the remarkably low figure of five cents.” (Hawaiian Gazette, May 28, 1889)

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

“Reclamation” Projects – Early-1900s

“Whenever in the opinion of the Board of Health any tract or parcel of land situated in the District of Honolulu, Island of Oahu, shall be deleterious to the public health in consequence of being low …”

“… and at times covered or partly covered by water, or of being situated between high and low water mark, or of being improperly drained, or incapable by reasonable expenditure of effectual drainage or for other reason in an unsanitary or dangerous condition…”

“… it shall be the duty of the Board of Health to report such fact to the Superintendent of Public Works together with a brief recommendation of the operation deemed advisable to improve such land.”  (So stated Section 1025, Revised Laws of the Territory of Hawaiʻi, in 1906.)

That year, Board of Health President, LE Pinkham, stated in a report “for the Making of Honolulu as Beautiful and Unique in Character, as nature has Endowed it in Scenery, Climate and Location:”

“Nature, situation and human circumstance fix world-wide prominence and importance on certain strategic points in commerce, navigation and defense. Human events have moved slowly, but are becoming intensely accelerated, and it would seem Honolulu is now beginning to fulfil her destiny.”

Likewise, laws in place gave the Superintendent of Public Works the right to make Improvements to property which had been condemned as insanitary by the Board of Health.

Also 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.  Back then, nearly 85% of present Waikīkī was in wetland.

The Army started filling in the fishponds and wetland that 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 and it served as a model that others followed.

Back then, much of the makai lands from Honolulu to and including Waikīkī were characterized with lowland marshes, wetlands, coral reef flats and farming of fishponds along with some limited wetland kalo (taro) taro agriculture (and later rice.)

However, they were also characterized as, “stretched useless, unsightly, offensive swamps, perpetually breeding mosquitoes and always a menace to public health and welfare”.

The Territory saw the opportunity to drain and fill the land that “was valueless” to be “available for the growth of the business district of the city” and attain “a valuation greatly in excess of the cost of the filling and draining.”

Likewise, in areas such as Kakaʻako there were practical issues to contend with.   “Calmly wading around in muddy water up to waist, on Tuesday after noon last, a Kakaako housekeeper was busying herself hanging out the family washing to dry. Her clothes basket she towed after her on a raft.”

“None of the neighbors marveled at the strange sight for when it was wash-day at their places they had to do the same. Tied up at the front gates of many of the houses in the block were rafts, upon which the more particular members of the families ferried themselves back and forth from house to street”.  (Hawaiian Gazette, April 3, 1908)

This set into motion a number of reclamation and sanitation projects in Kakaʻako, Honolulu, Waikīkī, Lāhaina, Hilo and others.

The first efforts were concentrated at Kakaʻako – it was then more generally referred to as “Kewalo.”  The Kewalo Reclamation District included the area bounded by South Street, King Street, Ward Avenue and Ala Moana Boulevard.

This area already had a practical demonstration of dredging and filling.  In 1907, the US Army Fort Armstrong was built on fill over Kaʻākaukukui reef to protect the adjoining Honolulu Harbor.

“The plan practically takes in all the land from King street to the sea, and it will be the first step in a general reclamation scheme for the low lying lands of the city.”  (Hawaiian Star, October 24, 1911)

Kapālama Reclamation Project included approximately 60-acres of land between King Street and the main line of Oʻahu Railway and Land Company.  In addition, approximately 11-acres of land were filled from dredge material between Piers 16 and 17.

In 1925, the “practically worthless swamp lands” were converted “into property selling as high as $30,000.00 per acre.”

During this project, Sand Island and Quarantine Island were joined to the Kalihi Kai peninsula. In 1925 and 1926, a channel was dug from the Kalihi Channel into Kapālama Basin creating a true island out of “Sand Island.”

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 Waikīkī wetlands, it was also used to fill in the McKinley High School site.

The initial planning called for the extension of the Ala Wai Canal past its present terminus and excavate along Makee Island in Kapiʻolani Park, connecting the Canal with the ocean on the Lēʻahi side of the project.  However, funds ran short and this extension was contemplated “at some later date, when funds are made available”; however, that never happened.

Eleven-and-a-half acres of Lāhaina “swamp land” (near the National Guard Armory,) drainage canals and storm sewers were part of the Lāhaina Reclamation District.  (1916-1917) Mokuhinia Pond was filled with coral rubble dredged from Lāhaina Harbor.

By Executive Order of the Territory of Hawaiʻi in 1918, the newly-filled pond was turned over to the County of Maui for use as Maluʻuluʻolele Park.

In Hilo, the Waiolama Reclamation Project included the draining and filling of approximately 40-acres in the area between the Hilo Railway tract, Wailoa River, and Baker and Front Streets.  It included diversion of the Alenaio Stream.  (1914-1919)

Generally, the consensus was the reclamation projects were successful in addressing the health concerns; in addition, they made economic sense.

As an example, in Waikīkī, before reclamation assessed values for property were at about $500 per acre and the same property reclaimed at ten cents a foot, making a total cost of $4,350 per acre.  The selling price after reclamation, $6,500 to $7,000 per acre, showed the financial benefit of the reclamation efforts.

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Manuia Lanai

Henry French Poor was the eldest son of Henry Francis Poor and Caroline Paakaiulaula Bush; he was born in the Islands, June 8, [1857].

“Henry F Poor was one of the most brilliant Hawaiians whose cradle ever rocked in these beautiful Islands.  … He possessed the generous spirit of his race and the keen intelligence of his New England’s forebears.”

“As secretary to Colonel Iaukea on the Kalakaua embassy to the rulers of the world he covered himself with honors and his bright letters were published in the local papers.” (The Independent, Nov 29, 1899)

Poor hosted Robert Louis Stevenson on his visit to the Islands.  On January 24, 1889, Stevenson arrived in Honolulu and spent the first six months of that year in the Hawaiian Islands (he later settled and lived in Samoa.)

On January 24, 1889, Stevenson arrived in Honolulu and spent the first six months of that year in the Hawaiian Islands (he later settled and lived in Samoa.)

“For the first few days the Stevenson party stayed with Henry Poor and his mother Mrs Caroline Bush, at 40 Queen Emma Street, Honolulu (24-27 January).”

“Then on 27 January 1889 they moved to Poor’s bungalow, Manuia Lanai [“a pavilion of the native pattern” (Brown)], at Waikiki, three miles east of Honolulu.  In early February Stevenson decided to send the Casco back to San Francisco and stay on to work in Hawaii.”

“As a result he rented the house next to Henry Poor’s. This too was a one-storey ‘rambling house or set of houses’ in a garden, centred on a lanai, ‘an open room or summer parlour, partly surrounded with venetian shutters, in part quite open, which is the living room’”.  (RLS Website)

“Mr. Robert Louis Stevenson has retired to ‘Manuia Lanai’ Mr. H. F. Poor’s sea-side place at Kapiolani Park, where he will probably

remain some time in quiet in order to complete some of the literary work he has undertaken.  We are informed privately however, that it is the intention of Mr. and Mrs. Stevenson after this week to be ‘at home’ on Wednesday afternoons from 2 to 5 pm.” (Daily Bulletin, January 28, 1889)

On Oʻahu, Stevenson was introduced to the King Kalākaua and others in the royal family by fellow Scotsman, Archibald Cleghorn.  Stevenson established a fast friendship with the royal family and spent a lot of time with his good friend King Kalākaua.

On February 3, 1889, there was a luau party at Manuia Lanai, where both Kalakaua and Liliuokalani were invited as special guests.  At the height of the party, Mrs Stevenson presented Kalākaua with a golden pearl from the Tuamotus.  (Ejiri) In giving the gift, Stevenson recited the following line of his sonnet (Daily Bulletin. Feb 4. 1889):

The Silver Ship, my king, – that was her name

In the bright islands whence your fathers came –

The Silver Ship, at rest from wind and tides,

Below your palace, in your harbour rides;

And the sea-farers sitting safe on the shore,

Like eager merchant, count their treasures o’er.

One gift they find, one strange and lovely thing,

Now doubly precious, since it pleased a king.

The right, my liege, is ancient as the Lyre,

For bards to give to kings what kings admire.

‘Tis mine to offer, for Appollo’s sake;

And since the gilt is fitting, yours to take.

To golden hands the golden pearl I bring:

The Ocean jewel to the Island King.

“The feast was purely Hawaiian there being no foreign dish upon the table. Aside from pig, fish, and fowls, roasted underground, were many strange edibles: pu-pu, opihi, two kinds of opae, koelepalau, and kulolo, taro and sweet potato poi, besides others, all beautifully arranged upon a bed of fern leaves.” (Daily Bulletin, Feb 4, 1889)

In the Islands, the renowned author found time for writing, completing The Master of Ballantrae and The Wrong Box and starting others during his short stay.

Stevenson visited Kalaupapa (shortly after Damien’s death) and later wrote of the good work of Father Damien (now Saint Damien.)  He also travelled to Kona on the Big Island (the setting for most of his short story “The Bottle Imp.”)

Henry French Poor died in Honolulu on November 28, 1899 and is buried at O‘ahu Cemetery.

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

“Honolulu’s Tropical Jewel”

This CW Dickey-designed structure was once referred to as “Honolulu’s Tropical Jewel.” (TheatresOfHawaii)

No one man has a more central place in Hawaiʻi’s architectural history than Charles William Dickey (1871-1942.) Born of a kamaʻāina family (his maternal grandfather was missionary Rev. William P Alexander,) he grew up on Maui, graduated from MIT in 1895 and practiced architecture in Honolulu from 1895 to 1904 and from 1920 until his death twenty-two years later.  (Neil)

“Previous Waikīkī buildings had divided into two types: the palatial – such as the Moana Hotel and the Castle residence – and the small and informal – such as the beach house of Kamehameha V. … Dickey’s 1936 design for the Waikīkī Theater is an extreme contrast.”

“His problem was to design a 1930s movie palace which would be appropriate to Hawaiʻi. He used the expected art deco with such flair and taste that the theater compares favorably with any of the type … He then made the theater appropriate.”  (Charlot)

Its initial design was based on a building at Chicago’s moderne 1933 and 1934 ‘A Century of Progress International Exposition,’ but in harmony with its island location.

The final tropical moderne design featured a large garden courtyard between the street and auditorium entrance, with lush plants surrounding a large fountain.

Inside, past fresco murals on the walls and ceiling, the atmospheric auditorium was flanked by lush artificial plants with the proscenium in the form of a rainbow, and tall artificial coconut palms on each side.  (TheatresOfHawaii)

No expense was spared in its construction and furnishings.  This was intended to be owner’s (Consolidated Amusement) deluxe flagship theater.

The 1,353-seat Waikīkī Theater opened with great fanfare on August 20, 1936.  “This first-class theatre survived as a single-screen house its entire life.”  (TheatresOfHawaii)   Dickey created an environment as charming and artificial as the image on the screen.  (Charlot)

In 1939, the Waikīkī Theatre was equipped with a Robert Morton theatre organ, which had originally been installed (with a twin console) in the Hawaiʻi Theatre in 1929.  (Peterson)

“No theater in the world has a more picturesque setting than Waikīkī.  Situated on the beach at Waikīkī, it stands on the site where once Hawaiʻi’s royalty played.  The playhouse now becomes a glorious new addition to the beach made famous in song and story.  It is the new center of activity of that district which long been the mecca of travelers from the world over.”  (Honolulu Advertiser; Alder)

“The auditorium is a revelation in theatrical architecture. Spacious, cool, it is acoustically correct in every detail. Perfect hearing and vision are available from every seat of the huge auditorium.”

“One of the most unique ideas in theatre ‘atmosphere’ has been incorporated in the decorations. The ceiling, done in soft blue, becomes a replica of the heavens through special lighting effects.”

“Stars twinkle, soft, fleecy clouds float about, the planets send off their soft light. The Waikīkī theatre is one of the few in the world in which this unusual lighting feature has been installed.”

“Through this lighting the great rainbow that spans the proscenium becomes a soft, misty, fairy arch rivaling in loveliness the great rainbows that arch Hawaiʻi’s skies.”  (Honolulu Advertiser, August 20, 1936; Del Valle)

“Inside the theater, it felt as if you were in a tropical paradise. A full-colored rainbow arched over the curtains that hid the screen. Along the side walls, there were palm trees that reached from floor to ceiling and lush jungle plants, which appeared absolutely real to my child’s eyes.”

“Then, a distinguished gentleman named Ed Sawtelle would appear and sit down at a large organ console, located just below and in front of the stage, and begin a concert that filled the hall with rolling music that vibrated off the walls.”

“About that time, with the house lights dimmed, someone would flip a switch and magical images of moving clouds would be projected onto the arched, midnight-blue ceiling, completing the illusion of having landed in the middle of a tropical jungle on a remote Pacific island.”

“Finally, the curtains would part and the show would start with a short cartoon and the Fox Movietone News. The ‘news’ events shown were about four weeks old by the time they got to Hawaiʻi, but that’s how we would find out what was happening in the world in those pre-television days.”  (Richard Kelley)

After successfully celebrating its first 30+years, and as the multiplex made movie-going more competitive, in 1969 the Waikīkī Theater name was relegated to Waikīkī #3 (following the construction of the Waikīkī #1 & #2 nearby.)

Renovations in the late-60s, and remodeling a decade or so later kept the theater on life support.   An expanded concession area replaced most of the forecourt, the interior decoration was removed and the auditorium draped.

“Imagine how much half an acre on Kalākaua Avenue is worth. By then, Consolidated was paying half a million dollars per year in property taxes – you have to sell a lot of popcorn to cover that.” (Lowell Angell, Theatre Historical Society of America; Hana Hou)

Waikīkī Theater (Waikīkī #3) remained a single screen theatre until it closed in late-November 2002; Waikīkī #1 & #2 closed at the same time.  They demolished all three in 2005 (the demolition started about 9-years ago, today.)

“Over the years, the movie business has changed dramatically. …  Multiplex theaters offer a variety of features almost any time of the day or night. Cartoons are now feature films. The news of the day is seen on one’s TV, laptop or cell phone.”

“The gracious theater usherettes have long since retired and have not been replaced. The guy at the door who takes your ticket is often dressed in a baggy T-shirt and jeans and barely looks up as he says, ’Your film will be shown in theater seven, second on the right.’”  (Richard Kelley)

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