Let's take a journey back in time & explore Honolulu as it was before many wonderful buildings were destroyed & hundreds of ugly buildings replaced them!
Historic Honolulu
Photo Essay: Everyday Life in 20th Century Honolulu
Everyday Life in 20th Century Honolulu by Tiffany Hill, Michael Keany and A. Kam Napier on
Honolulu Magazine
Salute! Sailors cross King Street as trolley cars and Model T’s zoom by in this 1925 photo. Flags line the street in honor of the U.S. Navy fleet’s arrival in Honolulu.
photo: bishop museum
Honolulu Iron Works workers, and their bosses pose in the undated photo above. As the sugar plantations thrived, so too did David Weston’s machine shop, which began producing the hardware of the sugar mills. His invention of the suspended centrifuge for drying sugar revolutionized the industry. By the early 1900s the Iron Works was making complete sugar “factories” for Hawaii’s Big Five sugar planters as well as for factories in Puerto Rico, Cuba, Mexico, the Philippines and in Louisiana.
After decades of unstoppable success, in the 1950s Honolulu Iron Works began to feel the effects of the changing industry. The company faced stiff competition on the Mainland and many plantations were making and repairing their own parts. In 1973, Honolulu Iron Works shut its doors for good.
photo: state archives
Going to the Market: The first people of Chinese ancestry arrived in Hawaii in 1788. The community remained small until 1852, when the first Chinese contract laborers arrived. By 1900, around the time this photo was taken, almost 26,000 Chinese people called Hawaii home. While most were plantation laborers, some residents opened restaurants, apothecaries, launderettes and markets, like the men pictured above.
photo: state archives
In its early issues, Paradise of the Pacific, predecessor of HONOLULU Magazine, every month listed “Facts about Honolulu,” listing the city’s population, attractions and businesses. It also listed things that didn’t exist in Hawaii, “such as no venomous reptiles, no cyclones, no virulence in epidemic diseases, which are generally serious elsewhere,” and more.
Photo: state archives
Dining out in 1913: The staff prepares the dining room of the Alexander Young Café on Hotel and Bishop streets. The café was part of the 300-room Alexander Young Hotel, its namesake a prominent Honolulu businessman. Young opened the hotel in 1903 and would later buy the original Royal Hawaiian Hotel at Richards and Hotel streets and the Moana Hotel in Waikiki.
photo: l.e. edgeworth / bishop museum
Fresh Catch: Men pose alongside their catch in a local fish market. “The fishing day for the tuna fleet start at about 4 a.m.,” notes Paradise of the Pacific. “Tuna boats with a good day usually bring in from 5,000 to 15,000 pounds each day.”
Photo: bishop museum / keystone view company
Coming to Hawaii in 1913: Chinese men gather around eating bowls of rice aboard the steamer Sierra en route to Hawaii. The men were most likely contract laborers brought over to work in the plantations. This image was originally printed on a postcard.
Photo: state archives
Hands on Learning: Children learn to sew in a Waipahu classroom in this 1914 photo. Education during this era emphasized manual skills, such as sewing, carpentry and printing.
Photo: bishop museum
In the early 1900s, large, freestanding billboards dotted Oahu’s downtown landscape. Many advertised cigarettes, bars and plays. Some were political, such as the Hawaiian-language one above promoting a Territorial Legislative candidate. Some residents actively protested billboard advertisements, especially Outdoor Circle members.
Photo: state archives
Desk jockeys: Honolulu businessmen and their secretary take a break from work to pose for this 1920s photo. By then, telephones, typewriters and mechanical adding machines were commonplace in Island offices.
Photo: Bishop Museum
In October 1899, Henry Baldwin and Edward Tenney became the first Honoluluans to drive automobiles in the Islands, cruising down King and Punahou streets. The papers described the two vehicles as Wood electrics. By 1914, there were 1,782 registered car owners. That same year, townies could get to Bijou Theatre by riding in a Model T Ford from the Honolulu Taxicab Company. The fare was $.15 to $.75 ($3.40 and $16.99 in today’s dollars).
The first traffic light was installed in 1936, at Nuuanu Avenue and Beretania Street. By then some laws were already in place, such as requiring lights after dusk, vehicle taxes and a four-mile-per-hour speed limit over bridges.
Photo: State archives
Open Wide: If you had a toothache in 1935, you could get dental work done at Palama Settlement. The settlement first began providing care and social services to Oahu residents in 1896. By then Western dentistry was well established in Hawaii. Dr. Mott Smith, Hawaii’s first professional dentist opened his office in 1851.
photo: state archives
To Serve and Protect: Dozens of boys, part of the Honolulu Police Department’s Junior Police Officers, parade down a Honolulu street in the 1920s.
photo: state archives
Local Filipino men celebrate their home country’s independence in 1934 with a patriotic float at the Iolani Palace grounds. More than 63,000 Filipinos lived in the Islands in the early 1930s.
photo: state archives
Social Hot Spot: In 1937, Benson Smith Drug Store, on King and Fort streets, was a mainstay in Honolulu, not only for its pharmacy, its supply of toiletries, candy and perfumes, but also for its soda fountain. It was a popular meet-up spot for the town’s socialites.
photos: bishop museum
Good Eats: P.Y. Chong (left), his son (in the car) and four unidentified women pose with Chong's new LaSalle in front of his legendary Waikiki restaurant, Lau Yee Chai, in 1937.
Traveling to Hawaii from the West Coast in the 1930s used to be a five-day journey, with wealthy passengers pampered along the way with gourmet food, drinks and services. Matson’s luxury liners epitomized the era’s preferred travel mode of transportation.
The first successful air flight from Oakland to Wheeler Air Field took place in 1927. That same year, the John Rodgers Airport opened, later renamed the Honolulu International Airport. Inter-Island Airways (now Hawaiian Airlines), the Islands’ first local airlines, began operating in 1929, using two Sikorsky seven-passenger planes and a Bellanca monoplane.
It was the arrival of regular jet service between Hawaii and the Mainland in 1959 that jump-started decades of growth and prosperity in the Islands. The flood of new travelers to Hawaii sparked a surge of development in Waikiki. Almost 10 years later, Matson’s Lurline took its last voyage. Hawaii was no longer the exclusive destination of the wealthy.
(Above) Fifteen hours after departing from San Francisco, 25 passengers on the 1939 inaugural flight of Boeing’s California Clipper arrive in Honolulu.
photo: state archives
Hal Wilcox (left) and Harvey Dukelow (right) silk-screen fabric at Hawaiian Hand Prints in 1949. Aloha prints took the town by storm, on shirts and upholstery.
photo: ray j. baker/ bishop museum
Touchdown: Four UH Rainbows football players talk strategy in their huddle in this 1946 photo. The Rainbows, which were first founded by the College of Hawaii in 1909, played in the 24,000-seat Honolulu Stadium in Moiliili.
photo: honolulu magazine archives
Watermen: The men of the Healani Boat Club gather for a group shot. The club formed in 1890 and was the only active rowing club during World War II. In 1950, the club became a member of Hawaiian Canoe Surfing and Racing Association, along with the Outrigger Canoe Club, Waikiki Surf Club and Hui Nalu Canoe Club.
Photos: state archives
Plantation Work: Filipino laborers at work in the sugar plantations circa 1950. The men rolled down furrows on modern agriculture machinery. Training programs enabled them to learn new skills, which earned them the highest year-round agricultural wage in the world.
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From the Hawaii State Archives Digital Collections
Merchant street looking toward Waikiki. Kamehameha V Post Office in left foreground, then Honolulu Hale and P.C.A. Printing shop. Schaefer & Co. on right, then Bishop Bank.
Date: c1885
Photographer: Unknown
Source:
Hawaii State Archives Digital Collections
King Street looking toward Fort Street with streetcar in the background.
Date: c1910
Photographer: Unknown
Source:
Hawaii State Archives Digital Collections
Corner Fort and King Streets. Sun Pearl Photograph Gallery and J.T. Waterhouse buildings visible.
Date: c1879
Photographer: Unknown
Source:
Hawaii State Archives Digital Collections
Japanese contract laborers landing from the S.S. Miike Maru at Honolulu Harbor.
Date: 1893
Photographer: Unknown
Source:
Hawaii State Archives Digital Collections
Japanese immigrants landing at Honolulu Harbor.
Date: 1893
Photographer: Unknown
Source:
Hawaii State Archives Digital Collections
Exterior view of the U.S. Immigration Station in Honolulu.
Date: c1905
Photographer: Unknown
Source:
Hawaii State Archives Digital Collections
Hawaiian Hotel on Richards Street, Honolulu.
Date: c1890
Photographer: Unknown
Source:
Hawaii State Archives Digital Collections
Theo H. Davies building at the corner of Merchant and Bishop Streets looking toward the ocean.
Date: c1920
Photographer: Unknown
Source:
Hawaii State Archives Digital Collections
Hotel Street in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Date: Unknown
Photographer: Unknown
Source:
Hawaii State Archives Digital Collections
Fashion Stables at the corner of Hotel and Fort Streets, Honolulu.
Date: c1880
Photographer: Unknown
Source:
Hawaii State Archives Digital Collections
Policeman directing traffic on Fort Street from Hotel Street in Honolulu.
Date: c1919
Photographer: Unknown
Source:
Hawaii State Archives Digital Collections
Group of people in front of McCabe, Hamilton & Renny Stevedores and British-American SS Company building.
Date: c1900
Photographer: Unknown
Source:
Hawaii State Archives Digital Collections
Corner of King Street looking up Fort Street. First National Bank on the right. M.A. Gunst building on left.
Date: c1917
Photographer: Unknown
Source:
Hawaii State Archives Digital Collections
Samuel Parker and Friends
Date: Unknown
Photographer: Unknown
Source:
Hawaii State Archives Digital Collections
PP-96-13-01
Source:
Hawaii State Archives Digital Collections
PP-96-13-09
Source:
Hawaii State Archives Digital Collections
PP-96-13-016
Source:
Hawaii State Archives Digital Collections
Hawaii's last King (center) -- King David Kalakaua
PP-96-14-003
Source:
Hawaii State Archives Digital Collections
I believe that those to the right were Portuguese immigrants
PP-96-19-021
Source:
Hawaii State Archives Digital Collections
PP-97-1-014
Source:
Hawaii State Archives Digital Collections
I'm not exactly sure where this was taken but it could be on another island
PP-97-1-028
Source:
Hawaii State Archives Digital Collections
I'm not exactly sure where this was taken but it could be on another island
PP-97-1-027
Source:
Hawaii State Archives Digital Collections
PP-97-2-020
Source:
Hawaii State Archives Digital Collections
King David Kalakaua
PP-97-2-022
Source:
Hawaii State Archives Digital Collections
Honolulu Engine Company No. 1.
Date: Unknown
Photographer: Williams, J. J.
Source:
Hawaii State Archives Digital Collections
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Downtown Honolulu
A view of downtown Honolulu's historic district as it appeared in December 1944.
Photograph: U.S. Marine Corps, Arthur H. Navarre Collection (Courtesy of Diane Hindy) @
Marine Bombing Squadron Six-Thirteen Association
Fort Street in Honolulu
Source:
Oahu Publications
May 11 The old Civic Auditorium was torn down in 1974. Built in 1933, it was the home of boxing and wrestling, roller derby, the 'Show of Stars,' and early rock 'n roll. Fabian, Chubby Checker, Sandra Dee, Little Anthony and the Imperials, Chuck Berry and Pat Boone all performed at the Civic.
Source:
Oahu Publications
May 8 The home of the late Dr. Sanford Katsuki on Keeaumoku, one of only two homes of Queen Anne architectural style in the state, in a 1975 photo. Saved from demolition, it was to be moved in sections to upper Manoa Valley. But the 79-year-old home was destroyed in a fire in 1978.
Source:
Oahu Publications
April 29 The James B. Castle home on Waikiki beach was demolished in 1958 to make way for the present Elks clubhouse.
Source:
Oahu Publications
April 16 The Alexander Young Building on Bishop Street in a photo that was published in the Jan. 1, 1904, issue of the Pacific Commercial Advertiser.
Source:
Oahu Publications
April 14 The American Factors Building was demolished in 1970 to make way for a new building.
Source:
Oahu Publications
On November 1 1962, the United States conducted one of several nuclear tests over Johnston Island. This photo by Advertiser staffer Jerry Chong shows how the fireball from that test lit up Honolulu's night sky.
Source:
Oahu Publications
Downtown Honolulu in 1956. That's McInerny on the left. Note the overhead lines for trolley buses.
Source:
Oahu Publications
Hollister Drug Co. at the corner of Koko Head and Waialae avenues in an undated photo. There is a First Hawaiian Bank branch at that corner now.
Source:
Oahu Publications
The old Dole Cannery pineapple water tank? Built in 1928, it was a Honolulu landmark until it was demolished in 1993. It stored water for the cannery's sprinkler system.
Source:
Oahu Publications
From 1924 to 1966, the Castle and Cooke Building at 130 Merchant St was a downtown landmark. It was demolished in 1966 to make way for the Financial Plaza of the Pacific (Advertiser photo by Leland Chong / Feb 8, 1966)
Source:
Oahu Publications
Old-timers may remember when there was a Piggly Wiggly grocery store at the corner of 10th and Waialae. This photo from our files is undated.
Source:
Oahu Publications
The Stangenwald building on Merchant Street was built in 1901. The six-story structure was the tallest in Honolulu for more than 50 years.
Source: State archives 1912 @
Honolulu Advertiser
Park your auto safely at home and use the street car service in Downtown Honolulu, 1930s.
Source:
State of Hawaii -
Hawaii Rapid Transit street cars at King and Fort Streets, Honolulu, 1930s.
Source:
State of Hawaii -
OR&L Honolulu Depot 1890
Source:
State of Hawaii -
OR&L Station, Alakea Street, Honolulu.
Source:
State of Hawaii -
OR&L Honolulu Depot 1914
Source:
State of Hawaii -
Oahu Railroad Station, 1890.
Source:
State of Hawaii -
Downtown Honolulu and Honolulu Harbor from Punchbowl, 1890.
Source:
State of Hawaii -
Honolulu Harbor, June 11, 1924.
Source:
State of Hawaii -
Honolulu Harbor, December 25, 1927.
Source:
State of Hawaii -
Honolulu Harbor, 1930.
Source:
State of Hawaii -
Downtown Honolulu 1938.
Source:
State of Hawaii -
Royal Hawaiian Hotel in Waikiki Beach, December 15, 1934.
Source:
State of Hawaii -
Cross Roads of Pacific sign at Kau Kau Korner restaurant, Honolulu, 1940s.
Source:
State of Hawaii -
Honolulu Harbor and Aloha Tower, 1950s.
Source:
State of Hawaii -
Fort Street, Honolulu, Hawaii
Source:
University of Hawaii - The Hawaii Nisei Project
More to come....
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