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Sometimes my research takes me to unexpected places. I’ve written about Hawaii streets several times this year, and a recent question from a reader revealed that a Wahiawa man and his daughter were booked on the ill-fated 1912 sailing of the RMS Titanic. Here’s how the story unfolded:
Mark Maddox wrote to me, saying, “It’s been fun lately following all the street name meanings in your column. What about Wahiawa? I’ve always been curious about the origins of California Avenue, Eames Street and Karsten Drive. Any idea?”
Sure, I told him. The people who first settled the “Wahiawa Colony,” as it was called around 1898, were from California. That’s why we have a California Avenue in Wahiawa.
Karsten Drive was named for Karsten Thot, a pioneer in the pineapple industry. Born in Germany in 1889, Thot came to Honolulu in 1904 and was a resident of Wahiawa until his death in 1932. A bridge over Lake Wilson was named in his honor in 1937.
Alfred W. Eames Sr. (1851-1914) was born in Wisconsin. He came to Wahiawa in 1898. Eight years later he and four others established the Hawaiian Island Packing Co. — now part of Del Monte — to grow and can pineapple.
I turned to the newspaper archives and was surprised to find the following headline in the Hawaiian Star on April 18, 1912: “Was Wahiawa man lost?”
“It is reported at Wahiawa that Alfred Eames and his daughter Bessie were on the ill-fated Titanic,” the article read.
William Lewers Hopper, a sugar grower, was quoted as saying, “Alfred Eames and his daughter were coming home on the Titanic.”
The next day, the Hawaiian Star had new information and reported they were probably safe.
Eames and Bessie returned to Honolulu on May 22, 1912. “I wanted to return on the Titanic,” Eames said, “but my daughter wished to take a French steamer, as a friend was on the passenger list. So, I reluctantly changed my plan. We got the news of the disaster the Monday after it occurred.”
As far as I can tell, they were the only Hawaii residents who came close to being on the Titanic in 1912. But a woman who later moved to Hawaii was on the Titanic and did survive.
Ed Allan said he heard a Titanic survivor was buried at Oahu Cemetery. Her name was Lucinda Parrish. Cemetery historian Nanette Napoleon Purnell wrote about it in 2001.
Parrish was born in Lexington, Ky., in 1852 and didn’t move to Hawaii until after World War I, where she and her husband, Samuel, resided in Ewa.
Parrish and her daughter, Imanita, then 25, were second-class passengers on the Titanic’s 1912 maiden voyage. They ended up in a lifeboat with 26 others, even though there was room for 65. Six hours later they were rescued by the ocean liner Carpathia.
Parrish died in 1930 and was buried at Oahu Cemetery.
So, that’s three Hawaii residents who had a connection with the Titanic. Are readers aware of any others?
Kahanamoku Street
Bob Hampton, who owns Waikiki Beach Activities at the Hilton Hawaiian Village, and Daniel Dinell fought for years to change a Honolulu street name.
The street was called Dewey Lane. It begins at Ala Moana Boulevard just Diamond Head of the Ilikai hotel, and runs makai toward the Duke Kahanamoku Lagoon.
Kamaaina might remember that the Tahitian Lanai used to be on Dewey Lane.
Dewey Lane might have honored Adm. George Dewey, best known for winning the Battle of Manila Bay during the Spanish-American War in 1898, Hampton thinks.
“We wanted to honor Duke Kahanamoku because he was the greatest waterman of the 20th century and the most famous ambassador of aloha.”
Hampton felt the change was appropriate because Duke lived in the area, then known as Kalia (now the Hilton Hawaiian Village) from 1891 until he went off to Europe to bring home gold and silver medals at the Stockholm Olympics in 1912.
It took three years to navigate the city’s process, but in 2006 the Dewey Lane street signs came down and Duke Kahanamoku signs went up.
“By changing the name of a city street,” Hampton says, “we were able to put Duke Kahanamoku at the front door of Waikiki. He is now greeting all our visitors every day.”
Rolling sweet potato
The proper Hawaiian name of Round Top is Ualakaa, which literally means “rolling sweet potato,” Manoa historian Beatrice Krauss said. The state park there is also named Ualakaa, as is a street in Makiki.
There are several versions of the name’s origin. Pukui, Elbert and Molokini in “Place Names of Hawaii” said Kamehameha I planted sweet potatoes there.
George Mossman, founder of Lalani Hawaiian Village in Waikiki, said in 1934 that the site derived its name from an ancient legend.
“One day a famous bow-and-arrow expert, resting on Punchbowl a mile or so away from the potato field, looked over that way and spied a mouse eating one of the potatoes. He shot his arrow and the mouse fell dead. But the potato, which it had been eating, rolled down the hill.
“In commemoration of the feat, the Hawaiians gave the name of ‘rolling potato’ to the district.”
Clarice Taylor and George Miranda wrote in 1956 that there was once a farmer in Manoa Valley who took great pride in his sweet potato crop.
“The farmer tended his garden carefully, and one day nature rewarded his hard work with a giant sweet potato.
“He told all his friends about his special potato, but a jealous neighbor, after hearing about the farmer’s pride and joy, stole the potato. That night, while all were asleep, the potato came to life, and knowing its true owner, rolled down the hill from the bad neighbor’s house to the farmer’s home below.”
Sand and Magic islands
Naming streets and places can be challenging, Robert Schmitt, chairman of the Hawaii State Board of Geographic Names, said in 1974.
“Public acceptance or rejection is often unpredictable, new names often (but not always) drive out the old, and purists are driven to drink!
“A prime example was the effort to rename Sand Island,” Schmitt continued. “In a contest sponsored by the Star-Bulletin, John Burns and two other judges selected ‘Rainbow Island’ as the best choice for a new designation.
“In deference to a state policy giving preference to Hawaiian names, the governor later issued an official proclamation naming this feature ‘Anuenue,’ the Hawaiian word for rainbow.
“Not long thereafter, the legislature enacted a bill restoring the original name (which the public had never abandoned), and there the matter rests.
“The state has officially designated its peninsula off Ala Moana Park ‘Aina Moana,’ but the public (and newspapers) continue to use the earlier (and grossly inappropriate) name ‘Magic Island.’”
Not-so-sacred pools
“Some publicist added ‘sacred’ to the Seven Pools on Maui, and notwithstanding total rejection by state and federal authorities of this gratuitous addition, many maps, tourists, and even residents now refer to this feature as the Seven Sacred Pools,” according to Schmitt.
Russ and Peg Apple wrote about it in their “Tales of Old Hawaii” column in 1975. Kipahulu residents told them the “phony name was given to offer hotel guests a romantic destination for a day trip.”
They don’t say, but I believe they are referring to the Hotel Hana-Maui, now the Hana-Maui Resort.
The National Park Service officially refers to the popular spot as the Pools of ‘Ohe‘o. And there are many more than seven. They’re in the Kipahulu District of Haleakala National Park, about 12 miles past Hana.
Former Gov. William F. Quinn encouraged Laurence Rockefeller to develop a hotel there. Rockefeller decided they were too beautiful to build upon and chose another site across the Alenuihaha Channel instead: the Mauna Kea Beach Hotel.
Rockefeller did buy the 52 acres around the pools, but held it in trust until the National Park Service could take it over.
If you have a question or story about how a street or place got its name, send me an email.
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Bob Sigall’s “The Companies We Keep 5” book contains stories from the past three years of Rearview Mirror. “The Companies We Keep 1 and 2” are also back in print. Email Sigall at Sigall@yahoo.com.
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