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This year marks significant anniversaries of many important Hawaii companies and organizations. Here are a few.
1850: 170 years ago
King Kamehameha III, at a meeting of his Privy Council, declared Honolulu to be a city and capital of the kingdom in August 1850.
Thirty-five streets were officially named, often with both Hawaiian and English names, such as Puowaina (Punchbowl) Street and Papa (Fort) Street.
Others were named for foreign governments, warships, eminent Hawaiian chiefs and foreign residents, such as Britania or Beretania Street for Great Britain; Pensacola Street, for the American warship Pensacola; and Miller Street after Gen. William Miller, who was British consul-general in the 1840s and 1850s.
1900: 120 years ago
The Honolulu Young Women’s Christian Association, or YWCA, was founded by a group of 50 women who gathered at the “Woodlawn” home of Emma Louise Dillingham in 1900, at Punahou and Beretania streets, where Central Union Church is today.
The group wanted an establishment near the city center that had reading rooms, a gymnasium, a swimming pool, lunch rooms, a parlor, classrooms and a meeting hall.
“There are many progressive women in this community,” said Mary Frear, “and it would be altogether fitting if they could have some common ground of meeting, some center through which their work and their views could focus and come to some definite expression.”
A boarding home for young working women was proposed. It became a reality in 1921 when the J.B. Atherton family donated their home at 752 S. King St. (near Alapai Street), called Fernhurst.
In 1952 it moved to Punahou Street and Wilder Avenue, and today helps women transition from prison to a brighter future.
Renowned San Francisco architect Julia Morgan designed the YWCA’s Richards Street building, which opened in 1927. It is a three-story semi-Colonial structure facing Iolani Palace.
It’s named Laniakea, which means “open skies” or “wide horizons,” because the YWCA wished to provide women with unlimited opportunities.
Morgan was the leading female architect in America and previously had designed the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco, Hearst Castle in California as well as, at that point, 12 U.S. YWCA buildings.
The Honolulu YWCA had a spacious, open-air interior courtyard, pool, fountain, cafeteria, gymnasium, library, office and meeting rooms. The courtyard cafeteria today is named Cafe Julia for the original architect.
The Kokokai YWCA also opened in 1927, on 27 verdant acres in Windward Oahu. It has an 800-foot frontage on Kaneohe Bay.
1935: 85 years ago
From 1935 to 1960 one of the most important drive-ins in Hawaii was the Kau Kau Korner, at the Diamond Head-mauka corner of Kalakaua Avenue and Kapiolani Boulevard.
It was founded by Hanley P. “Sunny” Sundstrom as a small hamburger stand. The carhops, clad in red-and-white uniforms, could take care of 100 cars and their occupants in the parking lot 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
The drive-in’s sign, labeled “Crossroads of the Pacific,” had arrows pointing to many world cities with the miles they were from Hawaii. It was the most photographed object in Honolulu, a Kodak spokeswoman said.
The Kau Kau Korner was a well-known gambling den and had an emergency escape slide from the second floor to the ground below.
In 1960 Sundstrom lost the lease to Spencecliff, which erected Coco’s Coffee House. It later became a Hard Rock Cafe.
1940: 80 years ago
Island Insurance, Hawaii’s largest locally owned and managed property and casualty insurance carrier, is celebrating its 80th anniversary in 2020.
Island Insurance was founded by Masayuki Tokioka, an immigrant from Japan. He moved to Hawaii at age 12 and graduated from McKinley High School in 1921, when it was at Beretania and Victoria streets. He went on to earn an M.B.A. from Harvard University.
His business career spanned 70 years, during which he founded not only Island Insurance, but also International Savings & Loan and National Mortgage & Finance Co.
1955: 65 years ago
The Outrigger Reef Hotel opened in Waikiki in 1955. Hawaii was attracting 100,000 tourists for the first time, and many hotels were opening.
The site had been the Edgewater Cottages and was bought by Roy Kelley during World War II for just $60,000.
His hotel had 308 rooms. Room rates were $10 a day, or $40 for a deluxe penthouse. Roy Kelley had a desk near reception so he could keep an eye on things. He could often be seen carrying guests’ bags to their rooms.
A unique feature of the Reef was a “ready room” — guests arriving before their regular room was ready could register on the beach level, change their clothes and go out to the beach.
Similarly, those who had to check out by noon, but had a later departure, could use the ready room to change from beach clothes to traveling clothes.
Lockers and full-room services were available from the moment they arrived until they departed.
1955: 65 years ago
The Princess Kaiulani Hotel, formerly the site of the Moana-Seaside Bungalows, opened on Kameha- meha Day, June 11, 1955. It has 300 rooms on 4 acres and was a part of Matson Hotels.
The hotel was named for the princess but was just Ewa of Princess Kaiulani’s 10-acre estate, called Ainahau. The princess died in 1899.
When it opened, it had the highest vantage point in Waikiki, with panoramic views from the 11th-floor lounge of the surf, sea, beach, sky and mountains.
A teahouse on the grounds was a nearly exact replica of a summer house at the Katsura Palace in Kyoto.
The Pikake dining room was named after Princess Kaiulani’s beautiful peacocks.
Pikake — Arabian jasmine, a green-leafed plant with a white flower — formed a hedge border at her Ainahau home. By a natural association of these two favorites of hers, jasmine became “pikake” and peacocks became “pikake.”
1955: 65 years ago
Henry Kaiser’s Hawaiian Village Hotel opened on Sept. 17, 1955. His 16-acre “corner” of Waikiki was considered, at the time, far away from the heart of Waikiki. The Niumalu Hotel and the Kahanamoku family’s Kalia estate previously had occupied the site.
Kaiser’s first foray into the hotel business had 70 cottages topped with interwoven coconut fronds, made by 11 Laie Samoan women.
A 16-story hotel building was planned.
It had three swimming pools, one with a wooden cover that became a dance floor.
1955: 65 years ago
In 1955 restaurateur Andy Wong started his first restaurant, a tavern named Leon’s in Kailua. Wong went on to own 17 restaurants that included Andy’s Drive In, Byron’s Drive In, Orson’s Seafood Restaurant, the Coral Reef, Fishmonger’s Wife and Wong’s Okazu-ya.
1955: 65 years ago
Saint Louis Junior College opened in 1955, and two years later became Chaminade College of Honolulu. Now called Chaminade University, it is named for Father William Joseph Chaminade (1769-1850), a priest who lived and worked during the French Revolution and founded the Society of Mary.
This year is also the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II, and a celebration is in the works for late August. I’ll be writing a series of stories about the war beginning next month.
Have a question or suggestion? Contact Bob Sigall, author of the five “The Companies We Keep” books at Sigall@Yahoo.com.
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