Rearview Mirror: Streets of Honolulu and stories about them

Hawaii streets and avenues often have interesting stories about how they were named or designed. In this column I’ll respond to questions from readers about several particular streets.

Corkscrew Lane

Carl “Soot” Breedhoff remembers a narrow street near where his dad worked. “As a small kid, I remember a Corkscrew Lane off of Fort Street somewhere in the neighborhood of the Princess Theater and the Consolidated Amusement Film Exchange office. Do you have any information on that?”

Corkscrew Lane was mauka of Beretania Street and makai of Kukui Street, and between Fort and Queen Emma streets. It connected to both Fort and Kukui streets. The Central Fire Station at Fort and Beretania streets was once part of that block.

Capitol Place, the building where Pacific Honda is, was where Corkscrew Lane was from before 1880 until 1950. Pali Highway cut through the property in the 1960s.

Blake Clark of the University of Hawaii English Department said in 1938 that Corkscrew Lane is suggestive of the movements of inebriated seamen returning to their ships from shore leave.

A 1903 Honolulu Advertiser article said, “Corkscrew Lane is a tortuous, winding pathway with entrances on Fort and Beretania streets and egress on Emma Street.” The Fire Department claimed it was too narrow for its trucks.

I asked readers of my newsletter if they knew about it. Harris Hirata responded. “For nearly 10 years of my life, my residence was at 130-A Corkscrew Lane.

“It started off at Fort Street between Endo Store and Princess Chop Suey. It went up past the Filipino Camp, past the Japanese/Korean Camp (my home) and on past the Kanaka Camp. They were referred to as ‘camps’ because they were tight concentrations of specific ethnic groups.

“Our camp was composed of Japanese families like mine and, in our case, many Korean bachelors. My uncle owned the ‘camp’ and my folks managed it. I think the Pacific Honda service department now occupies my former home.

“I remember helping my mother change the sheets of the bachelors’ beds weekly. They lived in a two-story rooming house. The other family dwellings were one- and two-bedroom duplex units.”

The city considered changing the lane’s name in 1948, to Kaakopua Lane, a Hawaiian word meaning to “pick flowers.”

Mayor John Wilson was opposed to it. He said he was “raised in that block, and a change of name will only confuse the people who’ve known that pathway as Corkscrew Lane for 70 years.”

“In 1955 they razed the whole area and turned it into a metered parking lot that could hold over 1,000 cars,” Hirata concluded. “I was forced to relocate to Moiliili.”

Trout Farm Road

Ken Takeya asked, “How about Trout Farm Road in Kaaawa? I know there was a trout farm that somebody had started a long time ago. but I do not know the details.

“My uncle George Ing, who started the Haiku Gardens restaurant, had brought in about 100 barrels of trout fingerlings (baby trout) and put them in the pond at the bottom of his property. The idea was to allow fishing there.

“Unfortunately, Kaneohe had a huge storm, and the entire pond flooded into the drainage canal and most of the trout were lost.”

Answer: There was a Rainbow Trout Farm in Kahana Valley, near Kaaawa. Also, past that in Waiahole, there was the Shoestring Ranch Trout Farm. It was founded in 1954 by Harry Moritz and Bill Sallman. They built five small lakes back in the valley where islanders could fish.

In April 1963, 18 inches of rain fell in one eight-hour period. The runoff flooded the trout farm, and an estimated million fish were washed into the ocean, Moritz said. Maybe the same flood hit Haiku Gardens.

Dalene Way

An anonymous reader asked, “Does anyone know about Dalene Way in Kuliouou?”

Yes. In 1941, Donald Billam-Walker wrote a newspaper column called “Half- minute Holoholo,” about local streets.

Dalene Way, he said, was named by the Board of Supervisors in 1941. The name was suggested by William P. Young Sr., a linotype operator at The Honolulu Advertiser who was subdividing a tract he owned in Kuliouou.

It honored Mr. Young’s 2-year-old granddaughter. Dalene (pronounced “day-lean”) Young was born in 1939. She left the islands for a career in writing and acting.

She acted in 10 films and wrote 32, including “Little Darlings,” “The Babysitters Club” and “The Last Dance.” She lives in Portland, Ore., with her husband, producer Robert Martin Carroll.

Date Street

Helen Walker wrote, “I don’t know if the date trees growing on Date Street were planted there for the purpose of naming it!

“I was born in an apartment on Makahiki Way in 1941. Small kid time, we were allowed to walk wherever we wanted to, and when we got to Date Street, I picked up the dates from the ground and ate them! Ono!”

Answer: This street mauka of Kapiolani Boulevard runs from McCully Street to Kapahulu Avenue. Near it are Lime, Fern and Citron streets, leading to the conclusion that they were named for plants, trees and fruit.

Lower Manoa streets

Phyllis Hironaka said, “I live in lower Manoa and always wondered who the people were on the streets in that area: Marques, Chamberlain, Metcalf and Clement streets.”

Marques Street was named for Dr. Augustus Marques (1840-1921), a French physician. He played viola in Honolulu’s first symphony and taught music and French at Punahou School. He was a member of the Legislature in 1890-91 and championed the introduction of Portuguese laborers to Hawaii.

Marques bought 400 acres of land in an area makai and Diamond Head of Punahou School that would be called Marquesville.

He dug one of Honolulu’s first artesian wells in 1883 near his home at Alexander Street and Wilder Avenue. There were a Catholic church and a Marquesville School for kids in the neighborhood.

Father Clement (1832-1909) was a Catholic priest. He was born Ernest Evrard in Calais, France, in 1832. In 1864 he and Saint Damien came to the kingdom of Hawaii, where they spent the rest of their lives. In the 1880s he was the principal of St. Louis School.

Levi Chamberlain came to Hawaii in 1823 as a lay missionary. He was one of the founders of Punahou School.

Theophilus Metcalf was the first photographer in the kingdom in 1842. He owned a sugar company and was appointed marshal of Honolulu Fort, at the base of Fort Street.

Kapahulu streets

Loretta Baptist asked about streets in Kapahulu. “I could always remember where to find each street because of the way they were named, alphabetically beginning with Brokaw, then Catherine, Duval, Esther, Francis, George, then Hayden.”

I could find only some of them. Maybe readers know more.

Gilbert Brokaw was a captain of Claus Spreckels’ tug Fearless. It towed sailing vessels into and out of Hono- ­lulu Harbor in the 1890s.

Campbell Avenue in Kapahulu is named for financier James Campbell. He and his wife, Abigail, had a summer home near Diamond Head. and Campbell Avenue was the old approach road to it.

Duval Street was named for Albert Duval, a Hawaii Sugar Planters’ Association forester.

Julie Percell thinks Esther Street in Kapahulu might be named for Esther Kaleikini (1897-1981). She raised six children on Esther Street with her husband, Jacob.

In 1970, Kaleikini was honored as Kapahulu mother of the year. Danny Kaleikini said he is not related to Esther Kaleikini.

Hayden Street was named for Jesse B. Hayden, a streetcar conductor for the Honolulu Rapid Transit Co. He died in 1920 at the age of 35.

Author Veneeta Acson said she was researching the Martin House on Campbell Street. “The street next to the Martin house is named Makini, Hawaiian for Martin. Other streets include Edna, his daughter and Charles, his first name.”

Winam Avenue was named for Ching Winam (or Wainam), a prominent Chinese merchant who came to Hawaii about 1870. He worked as a manager for Yuen Kee & Co.

Winam Avenue was one of many streets whose names were changed in 1931. Formerly it was Kimo Avenue.

Cat and mouse?

Margie Kiessling said, “I have always had a chuckle when driving on Popoki (‘cat’) Street in Kaneohe. It ends at Iole (‘mouse’ or ‘rat’) Street. Someone had a sense of humor!”

Do you have a question about a Hawaii street or a story about one? If so, send me an email.