George Kanahele designed the Waikīkī
Historic Trail, a walking tour that traces the history and cultural legacy of
this area where chiefs and commoners once lived.
It is seen as a way to enhance
awareness of Waikīkī both as a sacred place to Hawaiians and a huge part of
Hawaii’s history.
Bronze cast trail markers in the shape
of surfboards (designed by Charlie Palumbo) describe a Waikīkī that few knew
existed. Once part swamp, part playground for Hawaiian royalty, Waikīkī was
for centuries a center of Hawaiian hospitality and seat of Oahu’s
government. Following are brief
descriptions of the sites along the trail.
Stewards of the trail are the folks
from Native Hawaiian Hospitality Association (NaHHA.) Waikīkī Improvement Association supports
and promotes the trail.
More information on the trail is
available at: http://www.Waikikihistorictrail.com/ (the virtual tour on the
website gives you a lot more background information on each site)
Marker 1 (Kapiʻolani/Waikīkī Beach)
This section of Waikīkī Beach
contains four distinct areas: Outrigger Canoe Club (founded in 1908,) Sans
Souci (1890s,) Kapi’olani Park and Queen’s Surf (demolished in 1971.)
Marker 2 – (Kapahulu groin)
From ancient times Waikīkī has been
a popular surfing spot – it’s one of the reasons chiefs of old make their homes
and headquarters in Waikīkī for hundreds of years (he‘e nalu, surfing.)
Marker 3 (Ala Wai/Lili‘uokalani Site)
Waikīkī served as a marshy drainage
basin for the Koʻolau Mountain Range; in 1927, the Ala Wai Canal reclaimed the
land for the development of today’s hotels, stores and streets. Here was Queen
Lili’uokalani’s home, the last reigning monarch of the Kingdom of Hawai’i.
Marker 4 (Kuhio Beach)
This stretch of beach (from the
Kapahulu groin to the Beach Center) is Kuhio Beach Park. It is named for Prince
Jonah Kuhio Kalaniana’ole, Hawaii’s second Delegate to the United States
Congress (1902-1922.)
Marker 5 (Kuhio Beach)
Duke Paoa Kahanamoku statue - Duke was
known as the “Father of International Surfing;” he introduced surfing to the
Eastern Seaboard of America, Europe and Australia. He has been recognized as Hawaii’s Ambassador
of Aloha since 1962.
Marker 6 (Kuhio Beach)
The Healing Stones of Kapaemahu
statue These stones were placed here in
tribute to four soothsayers with famed healing powers, Kapaemahu, Kahaloa,
Kapuni and Kinohi, who came from Tahiti to Hawaii in the 16th century.
Marker 7 (King’s Alley Entrance)
King David Kalakaua (1836-1891) had a
residence here, in Uluniu, in the late-1800s; it was a two-story, frame
structure, situated in a grove of towering, very old coconut trees. The house
was big enough for hosting large parties, which he was fond of giving.
Marker 8 (‘Ainahau Park/Triangle)
Nani wale ku’u home ‘Ainahau I ka ‘iu
- So beautiful is my home ‘Ainahau in a paradise. These are the words from a popular song
honoring ‘Ainahau (“land of the hau tree”), once described as “the most
beautiful estate in the Hawaiian Islands.”
Marker 9 (International Marketplace,
Under Banyan Tree)
King William Kanaʻina Lunalilo
(1835-1874), the first elected king in Hawaiian history, had a summer residence
here in the area known as Kaluaokau. Here he enjoyed “the quiet life of
Waikīkī and living simply on fish and poi with his native friends.”
Marker 10 (Courtyard, next to Banyan
Tree, Moana Hotel Restaurant)
The first hotels in Waikīkī were
bathhouses, which began to offer rooms for overnight stays in the 1880s. The Moana Hotel, the “First Lady of
Waikīkī,” which opened in 1901,
established Waikīkī as a resort destination.
Marker 11 (Next to Patio, Duke’s
Restaurant)
Overlooking favored surf spot for some
of Waikīkī’s famed beach boys. This elite group got their start sometime in
the 1930s when the first Waikīkī Beach Patrol was organized. They have been called “Waikīkī’s
ambassadors,” serving the needs of royalty, Hollywood celebrities, and the
general public alike.
Marker 12 (Back Lawn, Royal Hawaiian
Hotel)
The royal coconut grove known as
Helumoa once stood here, nearly 10,000 trees.
Kamehameha the Great and his army camped as they began their conquest of
O’ahu in 1795. They returned victorious from the battles in Nu’uanu Valley and
made Waikīkī the first capital of the Kingdom of Hawai’i.
The Royal Hawaiian Hotel or “The Pink
Palace” was completed in 1927 and was touted as the “finest resort hostelry in
America.”
Marker 13 (Beach, Next to Outrigger
Reef Hotel)
From olden times Waikīkī was viewed
not only as a place of peace and hospitality, but of healing.
One of Waikīkī’s places of healing
was this stretch of beach fronting the Halekulani Hotel called Kawehewehe (or
the removal). The sick and the injured came to bathe in the kai, or waters of
the sea.
Marker 14 (Next to U.S. Army Museum)
On this site stood the villa of Chun
Afong, Hawaiʻi’s first Chinese millionaire, who arrived in Honolulu in
1849. He was the inspiration for Jack
London’s famous story, “Chun Ah Chun.”
In 1904 the US Army Corps of Engineers purchased the property to make
way for the construction of Battery Randolph and the no-longer-extant Battery
Dudley to defend Honolulu Harbor from foreign attack.
Marker 15 (Kālia Road)
In 1897, Waikīkī’s largest fish pond
(13-acres,) the Kaʻihikapu, was here. All of today’s Fort DeRussy on the mauka
(toward the mountain) side of the road was covered with fishponds (growing
mostly ‘ama’ama or mullet and awa or milkfish.) in 1908, the US military
acquired 72 acres of land and started draining it in 1908 to build Fort
DeRussy.
Marker 16 (Paoa Park)
Olympic swimming champion Duke
Kahanamoku (1890-1968) spent much of his youth here in Kalia with his mother’s
family the Paoas. The family owned much of the 20 acres which the Hilton
Hawaiian Village now occupies; they grew their own taro and sweet potatoes and
fished for seaweed, squid, shrimp, crab, lobster and varieties of fish.
Marker 17 (Patio of Ilikai Hotel)
The Pi’inaio was Waikīkī‘s third
stream which entered the sea here where the Ilikai Hotel stands. Unlike the Kuekaunahi and ‘Apuakehau streams,
the mouth of the Pi’inaio was a large muddy delta intersected by several small
tributary channels.
Marker 18 (Diamond Head Corner of Entrance
to Ala Moana Park)
In the late 1800s, Chinese farmers
converted many of Waikīkī’s taro and fishponds into duck ponds. This area,
including the Ala Moana Shopping Center, was covered with duck farms. In 1931, the City and County of Honolulu
decided to clean up the waterfront. The
new Moana Park was dedicated by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1934.
Marker 19 (Ala Wai Canal Side of
Hawai’i Convention Center)
Ala Wai (freshwater way) Canal was at
the heart of Waikīkī Reclamation Project launched in the early 1900s to
“reclaim a most unsanitary and unsightly portion of the city.” With the canal’s
completion in 1928, the taro and rice fields, the fish and duck ponds,
vanished. Begun in 1996, the Hawai’i
Convention Center is the largest public building of its kind in Hawai’i.
Marker 20 (Near Corner of Ala Moana
and Kalakaua Avenue)
This green expanse in the middle of
Waikīkī is Fort DeRussy. It was
started in 1908 as a vital American bastion of defense, but today it serves as
a place of recreation and relaxation for U.S. military personnel and their
families.
Marker 21 (Intersection of Kuhio and
Kalakaua Avenue)
Kalākaua Statue at Kalākaua Park,
intersection of Kalākaua and Kūhiō Avenues. Kalākaua was the first king in
history to visit the United States; he was often referred to as "The Merry
Monarch" and was fond of old Hawaiian customs. Kalākaua died while on a trip to San
Francisco on January 20, 1891.
Marker 22 (Hilton Hawaiian Village)
Ali'i (royalty) from all points came
to Kālia to enjoy great entertainment along with lavish banquets with the
freshest fish and shrimp from the largest fishponds in all the Hawaiian
Islands. Here once stood the gracious Niumalu (coconut shade) Hotel; today, the
Hilton Hawaiian Village continues the rich heritage of Kālia with a tradition
of ho'okipa (hospitality.)
Marker 23 (Hilton Hawaiian Village)
In ancient Hawaii, the
"Kālia" area where the Hilton Hawaiian Village is located was once
swampland. Early Hawaiian farmers converted the marshes into ponds, lo'i, rich
with taro, the staple food of the Hawaiian people. The Kālia area was also
known for its abundant fishing grounds. It was also a favorite playground for
the Ali'i (royalty).
In addition, I have posted images at
each of the markers and expanded discussion about each site in the Photos
section of my Facebook page.
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