Question: The beach on the former Queen’s Surf site is sometimes referred to by the news media as Queen’s Surf Beach and at other times as Queen’s Beach. Which is correct? I thought Queen’s Beach was next to Sandy Beach.
Answer: Queen’s Surf Beach is between the Kapahulu Groin (pedestrian walkway) and the Waikiki Aquarium, and named after Queen Liliuokalani.
Queen’s Beach is along the Ka Iwi Coast, next to Sandy Beach and near the Hawaii Kai Golf Course.
That said, Queen’s Surf Beach also is sometimes referred to as Queen’s Beach, according to John R.K. Clark, retired deputy chief of the Honolulu Fire Department and well-known author and authority on Hawaii’s beaches and shores.
In his book, "Hawai’i Place Names/Shores, Beaches, and Surf Sites," Clark explains that Queen’s Beach was what Hawaii Kai developer Henry J. Kaiser wanted to name a planned 1,800-acre development at the eastern end of Oahu. It was to include homes, schools, parks, commercial facilities, a golf course in Kalama Valley and a resort complex.
"On the shore the project extended from the old Wawamalu Ranch boundary wall to the breakwater at the west end of Makapu’u Head," Clark writes. "Although the resort complex was never built, this shore is still known as Queen’s Beach."
Today, Queen’s Beach is better known as Alan Davis Beach, named after a former head trustee of the Campbell Estate who lived in the area from 1932 to 1946.
Clark told us that "name has been perpetuated mostly by the fishermen and surfers who frequent the area. Surfers also call the Alan Davis surf spot ‘A.D.’s.’"
Meanwhile, in his book, Clark notes that Queen’s Surf Beach not only refers to the famous Waikiki surfing spot, but "is also a play on the word queen, which is slang for ‘gay.’" The beach is popular with the gay community.
When we contacted him, Clark offered a more complete version of the story behind the naming of Queen’s Surf Beach, which, because of beach volleyball, is now also called "Queen’s Beach Sandbox" and "Queen’s Surf Sandbox."
He noted a 1975 Star-Bulletin article about Queen Liliuokalani by writer Susan Yim, which credited two young surfers, Larry Kerr and Edward "Dude" Miller, for coming up with "Queen’s Surf."
Kerr, 87 at the time, recalled that Liliuokalani "would tell her attendants to ‘get those two haole surfers’ to surf for her. … We called the beach in front of her home the Queen’s Surf because we felt it was hers."
Clark subsequently also talked to Kerr, who said he and Miller surfed the area from 1900 to 1905, "so the name ‘Queen’s Surf’ in Waikiki was coined about 1900."
In 1946 the city bought a two-story mansion on the beach across from the Kapiolani Park Bandstand, Clark said. It was converted into a restaurant and named "Queen’s Surf." In 1961, SpenceCliff Corp. took over the lease, "and the Queen’s Surf became one of Waikiki’s most popular restaurant/
nightclubs until it closed on Dec. 31, 1969."
The city demolished the restaurant in 1971.
In the years that followed, beach volleyball courts were established next to the Kapahulu Groin.
"The name "Queen’s Surf Beach’ was expanded to include the volleyball courts," Clark said. "As time went on, some people dropped the ‘Surf’ in the name, so it is called both ‘Queen’s Surf Beach’ and ‘Queen’s Beach.’"
Clark said the most recent variation on the name comes from the volleyball courts, enclosed by retaining walls on three sides and a lawn on the fourth, "which has given rise to the name ‘Queen’s Surf Sandbox.’"
Mahalo
To an honest group of young women. I was eating lunch at the Kua ‘Aina hamburger place at Ward Centre. Afterward I walked off, leaving my purse hanging from the back of the chair. I went back to look for it a half-hour later. The group of women eating there had already turned it in to the cashier, saving me a lot of problems. I was here for medical treatment. — Mary
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