It’ll take more time to detail Chinatown’s names, places

I spoke to the Honolulu Young Presidents Organization recently. They had an event in Chinatown and asked me to talk about its history.

One could write a book about Chinatown. They gave me 15 minutes. It’s kind of like this column. The paper allots about 700 words per column, not enough to be comprehensive. But it’s enough to cover some of the high points.

Estimates are that 30,000 to 50,000 Chinese came to Hawaii from the early 1850s until about 1890. Most came to work on plantations, but many left those jobs to open shops. By 1880, 60 percent of stores in Honolulu were Chinese-owned. In its early days the area was referred to as the "Chinese Quarter."

In the 1850s and 1860s, Honolulu was a pretty small area bordered by the harbor and River, Beretania and Punchbowl streets. Back then "town" was considered to be makai of Beretania street. "Country" was mauka of it.

The YPO met at Madre Chocolate on Pauahi Street. The street was so named because of a fire that hit the area in 1866. Pauahi means the end of fire, or the fire is extinguished.

A more catastrophic fire in January 1900 burned uncontrollably for 17 days. It was intentionally set to combat bubonic plague, but the wind shifted and it got out of control, authorities said. It burned down most of Chinatown. Over 4,000 lost their homes. Many moved to the new developments of Kaimuki and Papakolea. Most businesses in the area rebuilt, but not the homes.

City Mill was originally in Chinatown and was uninsured at the time of the fire. Founder C.K. Ai had to go to his backers and ask for more money. When another fire burned City Mill in 1920, it was insured. These and other challenges taught the family the value of perseverance.

The original Kaumakapili Church was also destroyed by the 1900 fire. It moved from Beretania and Smith streets a mile Ewa, to Palama, next to where Tamashiro Market is today.

Kaumakapili opened in 1838 and could hold 2,500 people. It was affectionately called the Church of the Common Man, and Honolulu Town Hall.

Where Zippy’s and Borthwick Mortuary are today on Maunakea Street was the site of Hawaii’s first grape vineyard. It was planted by Francisco de Paula Marin about 1815. Vineyard Boulevard was named for it.

Around the corner from Madre Chocolate is the intersection of Nuuanu Avenue and Beretania Street. It was the site of Hawaii’s first traffic signal in 1936. Queen Emma was raised on the Diamond Head-makai corner of those streets in her hanai parents’ mansion.

In more modern times there was a Texaco station and the Liberty Theatre on the property. The Liberty Theatre (built in 1912, closed in 1984) was one of the five theaters "consolidated" by Joel Cohen into his chain along with the Palama, Empire, Bijou and Hawaii theaters.

From the time the Hawaii Theatre opened in 1922, until it was refurbished in 1996, "ASBESTOS" was emblazoned on its curtain in foot-tall letters, promising safety from fire for moviegoers. Now it has "HAWAII" in big letters on the curtain.

A block mauka on Bethel Street was the place where Frank Sinatra filmed the last role of his career. In 1987 he played a New York cop on "Magnum P.I." who chased a killer all the way to Hawaii. He cornered the killer on the roof of a building on Bethel near Beretania Street.

Sinatra shot the killer, who fell off the roof. Behind him you can see the curve of the building that was once the Empress Theatre, now turned into the New Life Church.

Frank Sinatra’s childhood friend was Matty Jordan, who became Sinatra’s touring chef. He founded Matteo’s restaurants in Los Angeles and Waikiki and, for a short time, had one on Merchant Street downtown.

Wo Fat restaurant opened in 1882 in Chinatown. For several decades it proudly displayed liquor license No. 1.

The original Royal Hawaiian Hotel was once on Hotel Street, between Richards and Alakea streets, and some think Hotel Street was named for it. Hotel Street was actually named for Warren’s Boarding House, which stood near Fort Street as far back as 1819.

I know this just scratches the surface of Chinatown. In future columns I’ll write about it some more.

Bob Sigall is the author of “The Companies We Keep” books. His third book is now available in the Amazon Kindle store. Email him at Sigall@yahoo.com.