Long ago, life in ‘the camp’ felt like nothing was lacking

One of the things I like about writing this column is that readers tell me stories about growing up and living in Hawaii, and introduce me to things I never knew.

Jeffrey Wataoka wrote me recently about the neighborhood he grew up in, which was razed by the building of the H-1 freeway and Pali Highway. One of the roads they took out was Holt Lane. It ran parallel to and was makai of School Street.

Holt Lane crossed Fort Street, which, before Pali Highway was built, ran all the way up from the harbor to Pauoa Road and Pacific Heights Drive.

Wataoka says the people there called the area simply “the camp.”

“I’m 68 years old and lived at 58-C Holt Lane around 1957,” Watakoa said. “You entered the lane from Fort or School streets.”

“There was not a blade of grass in the whole camp, which probably consisted of 100 homes,” Wataoka says. “I guess today people would call it the slums, but we never thought of that way. It was home and I was comfortable. I’m not sure if my parents thought of it that way.”

Wataoka says there were two nationalities at the park separated by a fence: Japanese and Portuguese.

“As a youngster I always felt a little afraid when I cut through the area occupied by the Portuguese,” he says. “My uncle was the landlord of this leased area.

“My world was about a 1-mile radius. The end of the world was the Hawaii or Princess Theater. These theaters were reserved only for special occasions.

“I attended Royal elementary. I didn’t know any Caucasians, Koreans, Hawaiians, Chinese or blacks, although some attended Royal School.

“At Kamamalu Park we played softball every weekend, marbles, cards in the pavilion or basketball. There were yo-yo and top contests, and once a year or so the Fire Department coordinated a water fight.

“The adults played poker and hanafuda. I don’t know what else they did to entertain themselves. I can only recall once when we went to the movies together. My father always cut my hair. I never went to a barber until I got married.

“There were five children and my parents living in a one-bedroom house. My older brothers slept in the laundry room and the porch,” Wataoka recalls. “I slept in the living room while my mom and dad and younger siblings slept in the bedroom. Rats and scorpions were common.

“I guess we were very poor as there were seven of us in a very small duplex. I didn’t wear any shoes until I was in intermediate school and didn’t eat in a restaurant until I was about 18.

“Funny how we did not feel deprived, nor did I hear anything about welfare.

“Everything was close to us: Foster Garden, the Golden Wall theater, Royal and Central schools, the Hongwanji, YMCA, Kaneda’s Restaurant and Fort Street Market.

“It was a simpler time. We never heard of anyone being robbed as everyone in the camp was poor, so we probably never worried about locking our doors.

“Seems like we were always hungry, so we picked wild cherries (very sour), tamarind (terrible), vee and mango.” (Do any of my readers know the English name of the vee tree?)

“We caught crayfish at Waikahalulu Falls (at Liliuokalani Botanical Garden) with the stripped fronds from the coconut tree and cooked them over a fire. I can’t believe we ate them.

“My uncle was the first to own a television, and my cousin Francis was the only one with a bicycle. I think we bought a TV in 1957.

“It seems like every weekend, we went to Golden Wall theater. There was an organ, and the shows were not the latest ones but there was always a double-header, news, cartoons and a serial. My favorites were cowboys Lash LaRue and Johnny Mack Brown.

“The cost was 9 cents. We could spend a nickel for something to eat.”

The Golden Wall was at 66 S. School St. on the mauka side of the street. It had a Golden Wall Hotel next door at 60 S. School. Today there’s an apartment building at 60 S. School. There is no longer a 66 S. School St. as that would be where the Pali Highway is today.

I asked theater historian Lowell Angell about the Golden Wall. He said “it was originally built for Chinese drama in 1929 and called the Kam Sing Theatre. It was converted to movies in 1941, and the name changed to Golden Wall sometime after that. It became affiliated with the Royal Theatres chain in later years and closed on July 4, 1962.”

In the old days every neighborhood had one or more theaters, Angell told me. Oahu had more than 400 theaters in the days before every house had television.

Wataoka’s old neighborhood gave way to the H-1 freeway and Pali Highway sometime after 1960, he says.

“I would give $10,000 to go back to the camp,” Wataoka concludes. “Seems to me that everything was good. However, by going back, I mean only for one day.”

Wataoka asks whether any of my readers remember the camp or Golden Wall theater.

Bob Sigall, author of the “Companies We Keep” books, looks through his collection of old photos to tell stories each Friday of Hawaii people, places and companies. Email him at Sigall@Yahoo.com.