Mahalo for supporting Honolulu Star-Advertiser. Enjoy this free story!
L&L Hawaiian Barbecue Co-chairman Eddie Flores Jr. called in January. He’s leading a project to build two arches in Chinatown, at the Hotel Street side of Kekaulike Street, and the King Street side.
Three years ago, he said, Mayor Kirk Caldwell met with him. “He lamented that Honolulu has one of the oldest Chinatowns in the country, and yet it does not have its own arch,” Flores said. “He asked me to take on the project to build a Chinatown arch that the Chinese community will be proud of.”
Next week Central Pacific Bank Foundation will unveil an exhibit that takes a step to improve and promote Chinatown. It honors 14 outstanding Chinese men and women who have made significant contributions to Hawaii. Their names will be displayed on the arches, which will be built in the next two years.
Here are some of those who will be honored and their stories.
Tai Heong Kong Li
One of those highlighted in the exhibit was the first woman to practice Western medicine in Hawaii in 1896. Dr. Tai Heong Kong Li was credited with delivering 6,000 babies, more than any practitioner in the United States at the time.
Kong and her husband, Dr. Khai Fai Li, opened the first Chinese hospital in Hawaii — Wai Wah Yee Yin Hospital — in Palama in 1896 with the support of over 300 Chinese residents.
In 1917 the hospital acquired 15 acres in Palolo Valley that today is called the Palolo Chinese Home. It’s one of the oldest care homes in the U.S.
Chun Quon
You may not have heard of Chun Quon, but you probably heard of C.Q. Yee Hop, one of his many companies.
Chun completed just the fourth grade. He came from China to the U.S. in 1888 with just 90 cents in his pocket. He was the founder of the C.Q. Yee Hop grocery store at 125 N. King St.
Chun expanded his businesses to include ranching, food wholesaling, logging and furniture manufacturing. He owned two newspapers, a brewery and a hotel.
At his death in 1954, he was the largest Chinese real estate holder in Hawaii. His funeral included a 500-car procession, local and military dignitaries, and three bands. Honorary pallbearers included Gov. Samuel Wilder King, Mayor John Wilson, Honolulu Star-Bulletin Editor Riley Allen and Sen. Hiram Fong.
Sau Ung Loo Chan
James Michener once said he learned more about the spirit of Hawaii from Sau Ung Loo Chan than from any other person.
Chan received a Yale law degree and was the first female lawyer of Asian ancestry in Hawaii in 1943. She fought for the rights of the poor and the less privileged. Her testimony in 1948 before Congress helped amend unfair aspects of the Immigration Act of 1924.
“Today it’s just assumed that the law is open to women and minorities,” said Kalowena Komeiji of the Hawaii State Bar Association. “But there was a time when it wasn’t open so much to either. And here’s this woman who blazed the trail. It’s a pretty remarkable story.”
“My dad was very farsighted,” recalled Chan, who was born in Honolulu in 1906, the youngest of six children of Joe and Choy Shee Loo. “He gave us the very best education. Girls at Punahou in those days were a no-no. His friends criticized him. He said, ‘Nope. Boys or girls, if they want an education, they shall have it.’”
Clarence T.C. Ching
Clarence Ching was born in 1912 in Anahola, Kauai. He had 10 brothers and sisters. His father looked into the future of his sickly son and predicted that if he survived, he would become an important, prosperous and outstanding man who would help the rest of the family.
Because of this prophecy, the family worked hard to send Clarence to Saint Louis School in Honolulu, where he was twice elected president of his class.
After high school Ching opened a store in Damon Tract, the area between Nimitz Highway and the old Honolulu Airport terminal on Lagoon Drive. Ching sold canned goods, ice cream, soda and liquor.
He became friends with Sam Damon and made a deal with him to develop his Damon Tract into the Airport Industrial Park. He partnered with K.J. Luke, and it was a success, launching both their careers.
Damon then sold him the entire ahupuaa of Moanalua, which he developed into Mapunapuna, Salt Lake and the Honolulu Country Club.
He was part of a group that founded Hawaii National Bank, and played an instrumental role in the redevelopment of the Chinese Cultural Plaza and Kukui Gardens. His foundation continues to help many needy Hawaii communities.
C.K. Ai
Chung Kun Ai and his family have turned City Mill, founded in 1899 as a rice and lumber mill, into one of the largest building material suppliers in the Pacific.
City Mill burned down twice, in 1900 and 1920, the first time without any insurance. When the big companies raised shipping costs, City Mill countered by building its own ship, the Vigilant, in 1920. It was the largest five-masted schooner in the Pacific and could carry 2 million board feet of lumber.
Ai was instrumental in building the First Chinese Church of Christ in 1929. He was also one of the founders of the Nuuanu YMCA, one of the first multiracial YMCAs in the country.
Chinn Ho
Businessman Chinn Ho’s humble start could be traced to McKinley High School in 1924, when Principal Miles Carey asked whether he could persuade former classmates to pay $38 to fix a school window they had broken.
Ho organized a hui which not only paid for the window, but began making money as Commercial Associates, a business and social club that was the forerunner of Capital Investment, which he organized in 1944.
Ho broke many color barriers. He was the first Asian American to be a trustee of a landed estate, Robinson Trust, and the first Asian American director of a Big Five firm, Theo. H. Davies.
He was the first Asian American president of the Honolulu Stock Exchange; the first Asian American board chairman of a Honolulu daily newspaper, the Honolulu Star-Bulletin; and the first president of a Triple-A baseball team, the Hawaii Islanders.
Chinn Ho is also well known as the developer of the Ilikai Hotel and Makaha Valley resort. His name inspired a character on “Hawaii Five-O,” Chin Ho Kelly.
Hiram Fong
Hiram Leong Fong rose from being a shoeshine boy to being the first Asian American U.S. senator, serving from 1959 to 1977.
He was born in Kalihi, the seventh of 11 children whose parents emigrated from China. His father earned $12 a month as a laborer. As a boy, Hiram worked to supplement the family’s meager income by selling newspapers, delivering poi and caddying.
He began his education at Kalihi Waena Elementary School and finished it at Harvard Law School.
He partnered with five other families to establish Finance Factors in 1952 and served as president of several other companies.
K.J. Luke
Kan Jung Luke was the youngest of 13 children in Kohala. He graduated from St. Louis College in Honolulu, the University of Hawaii and Harvard Business School.
He partnered with Clarence T.C. Ching to develop the Damon Tract. He founded Hawaii National Bank in 1960.
Also honored will be Connie Lau, Lawrence Tseu, Joanna Sullivan, Lum Yip Kee and Joseph W.C. Young.
The exhibit will be open to the public at Central Pacific Bank’s atrium lobby at 220 S. King St. from Tuesday to Feb. 26. After that it will move to American Savings Bank’s main downtown branch from Feb. 28 to March 6.
———
The Rearview Mirror Insider is Bob Sigall’s now twice-weekly free email newsletter that gives readers behind-the-scenes background, stories that wouldn’t fit in the column, and lots of interesting details. Join and be an Insider at RearviewMirrorInsider.com. Mahalo!
Correction: Hiram Fong was senator from 1959-1977. An earlier version of this story gave an incorrect year.
78
