Efforts afoot to restore splendor of Irwin Park

Irwin Memorial Park in front of Aloha Tower Marketplace celebrated its 85th anniversary Thursday with a significant celebration put on by Hawaii Pacific University and the state Department of Transportation.

There are a few interesting things about William G. Irwin and the 2-acre park I thought my readers would enjoy knowing.

Since World War II most of the park has been arguably Hawaii’s prettiest parking lot. The Army needed space for cars to park during World War II, and the park lost some of its charm. OK, a lot of its charm. But there’s movement afoot to change that.

I was surprised to find out that before it was set aside for a public park in 1930, it was a steamship coal yard and warehouse area.

It was the first waterfront beautification project in Honolulu, and today it’s a centerpiece of greenery in that part of the harbor fronting downtown Honolulu. Imagine ships docking at Aloha Tower and passengers disembarking to face a coal yard instead of a park.

Irwin Park is where the public would buy garlands from lei sellers and wait for their friends to disembark. On many “Boat Days” more than 10,000 people came to greet arriving ships.

Helene Irwin Fagan donated the land for the park to the territory in 1930 and named it in honor of her late father, William G. Irwin, a Honolulu philanthropist, businessman and leader in banking, shipping and sugar production.

The park opened in 1934 across from the former site of Irwin’s shipping agency 110 years ago.

Irwin was close to King Kalakaua and was a member of the Privy Council at one time. He and Claus Spreckels founded the Bank of Honolulu, which later merged with the Bank of Bishop & Co.

After he died in 1914, his former home became the Kapiolani Park site that includes the War Memorial Natatorium.

At its grand opening, officials hoped Irwin Park would stand out as “distinctly different from other seaport cities with their usually ugly approaches and distasteful port surroundings” and instead be seen as the “most beautiful port under the Stars and Stripes.”

Gov. Lawrence Judd thanked Fagan for the “magnificent gift … one of the richest gifts the territory has ever received.”

Michelle Spalding Matson, president of the Oahu Island Parks Conservancy and family descendent of Irwin, told me that renowned Honolulu landscape architects Thompson & Thompson designed the park.

Their resume included Thomas Square, Washington Place, Ala Moana Park, Punchbowl Memorial Cemetery, Tripler Hospital, the Honolulu Academy of Arts, Richards Street YWCA, C Brewer Building, Pacific Club, Outrigger Canoe Club, etc.

It is hoped that in the near future the park will be restored to its intended magnificence, with the historic trees continuing to provide a shady canopy for park users and parking moved to Piers 5 and 6 with a traditional trolley shuttle for the complex, as advocated by the preservation groups, Matson says.

In 1926 Irwin’s estate was valued at $10 million. Today the William G. Irwin Charity Foundation has assets of $95 million and provides grants to local nonprofits.

Reader request

Dr. Jack H. Scaff Jr. wrote to me in August. He and others co-founded the Honolulu Marathon in 1973.

“I corresponded with R. Alex Anderson (who wrote ‘Lovely Hula Hands’ and ‘Mele Kalikimaka’) and asked if he would compose a song especially for the Honolulu Marathon,” Scaff said.

“He did just that and called it ‘The Honolulu Marathon Hula.’ He played and sang it at the marathon awards ceremony, and my wife Donna danced to it accompanied by Ms. Butterworth’s hula troupe.

“It was a rousing success,” Scaff says, “but unfortunately it seems to have been lost in time and we are unable to locate the song.

“We have contacted various family members as well as different music agencies. We know the song existed and was copyrighted as part of his estate; nevertheless, his family members are also unaware of its existence.

“I would be willing to pay a handsome reward if the lyrics and tune could be found as I would like to use this as part of the marathon’s folklore.”

Readers: Do any of you know where this song can be found?

Follow-up

On July 10 I wrote about companies whose names came from songs, movies or TV shows.

Ruth Rittmeister told me how she named her travel business A Touch of Class Travel.

“In 1973 I took a trip around the world on Pan Am. At that time the in-flight entertainment consisted of one movie, which was shown during the whole month (i.e. from the 1st until the 31st before another would be shown).

“It so happened that, by sheer luck, the movie ‘A Touch of Class,’ a British comedy with George Segal & Glenda Jackson, was playing when I boarded the second day of the month. It was a fun movie and I did not mind at all watching it a couple of times.

“However, by the end of the month I had flown to several destinations and by the time I arrived in Tehran (in Iran) it had played eight times.

“I promised myself that, if I ever opened my own travel agency, it would be called ‘A Touch of Class Travel.’”

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.