Presentations!

Here is the list of presenters. Might as well keep in the order you signed up, too. Remember, three deep breaths! Eager to hear you present--

Friday:

Vanessa
Natsumi
Jennifer
Blessie
Jon
Amity
Brian
Kana


Monday:

Sylvia
Elissa
Jaimee
Arlene
Rochelle
Michael
Hunter
Richard

An Unknown History of Chinatown

Rows of buildings two to three stories high line up like matrixes, hiding its stories within each individual apartments. The Chinatown we see today are often crowded with busy shoppers and it is a concentration place for the homeless population. It is not considered to be the cleanest and most beautiful part of the Island; However, it has a graceful and exquisite history that not many people know. Honolulu was the larger ahupua'a, land section, included the areas between Waikiki and Kapalama,  including Punchbowl and Kewalo before the invasion of foreigners. However, when Captain William came, the towns started to be hugely populated and Honolulu became an official name for the town in 1825. As immigrants started to move into the island, there began more technological and cultural development. Later on as foreign sailing vessels started arriving in the Hawai'i harbor, and the Chinese population boomed, Chinatown was born.

Honolulu's Chinatown took shape earlier than the Chinatowns of San Francisco, New York, Settle and other mainland cities. As Honolulu's Chinese community grew, as did the rest of the world, it did not spawn as much social conflicts and severe discrimination experienced on the mainland. The Chinatown as we see today are full of stores and little rental apartments on top of the business establishments downstair. Those stores and apartments used to function as meeting places and aid houses, welcoming especially those who had arrived from the same Chinese village. Chinese businessmen established grocery stores, retail stores, herb shops, temples and restaurants. By 1880, Chinese held 24% of wholesale, 62% of retail, and 85% of restaurant licenses in Hawai`i. By 1896, there were 153 Chinese stores in Honolulu, 72 of them in Chinatown. The rich history of Honolulu Chinatown is offered not studied and everyday pedestrians often fail to notice its history and stories. If we pay more attention to our surroundings, we might begin to understand not only where we came from, but also how our towns began to grow. 

Work Cited:
Chinatown: Economic Adaptation and Ethnic Identity of the Chinese, Bernard P. Wong (Fort Worth: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc. 1982)
Chinatown Historic Preservation Plan, Department of Housing and Community Development (Honolulu: City and County of Honolulu, 1974)
Hawaii: A Pictorial History, Joseph Feher (Honolulu: Bishop Museum, 1969) 

The History of Pearl City

Hunter Garrett
Post #11

        While traversing through Pearl City, I mainly see side street after side street of homes.  The area itself is mainly a residential area that is occupied by the older generation, and it is really not lively at all at any given time.  The neighborhood is also very quiet, but given how the homes are built in extremely close proximity to each other, I can hear what anybody says or does all the way down each and every street.  Pearl City is elevated 89 feet above sea level making it one of the highest residential areas on the island.  I am able to see a good majority of the island in certain spots.  Simply looking out of the window of my house alone allows me to see the Honolulu airport.  It is also the area near the historic Pearl Harbor which is a major tourist destination.  Through the entrance of Ford Island, one can visit the historic decommissioned Battleship Missouri which the empire of Japan surrendered on marking the end of World War II.  It was where the Japanese foreign minister Mamoru Shigemitsu signed the Japanese Instrument of Surrender on behalf of the Emperor and Government of Japan.  U.S. general of the Army Douglas MacArthur signed the Instrument of Surrender four minutes later on behalf of the allied powers as Supreme Commander.  The battleship serves as a memorial as part of Pearl Harbor's fascinating array of historical exhibits of the era of World War II.  One can also visit the USS Arizona memorial where one can observe the destroyed remnants of a submerged battleship that was destroyed in the bombing of Pearl Harbor by the Imperial Japanese Navy on December 7, 1941 as part of their surprise offensive attack that started World War II.  I am actually able to see Pearl Harbor clearly and frequently in the area, and from one road, I can see the massive naval ships docked in the harbor.
        There are also some shopping centers such as the Pearl City shopping center, the Pearl Highlands shopping center, and Pearlridge.  This gives the area multiple restaurants, fast food places, and tons of other retailers.  There is also the usual stores in the area that only take a few minutes to get to such as Long's Drugs, Foodland Supermarket, Walmart, Sam's Club, and Home Depot.  The area itself is actually over four ahupua'a, or traditional Hawaiian wedge-shaped land divisions that run from the mountain to the sea situated around a central stream.  The four ahupua'a are:  Waiawa meaning "from the towering mountains to the brilliant sea;" Manana meaning "bitter water;" Waimano meaning "an area where lava flows meet;" and Waiau meaning "swirling beautiful waters."  Originally at the time of King Kamehameha I, the harbor which at that time was known as Pearl River, contained bountiful oysters and their pearls.  In 1815, the King ordered the Spaniard Francisco de Paula Marin to lead the Pearl trade in the region.  Pearl City itself used to be mainly rice patties and fields in the mountain areas which people used to raise cattle and water buffalo to help plow those fields.  However, the livestock destroyed the forests and mountains which caused the oyster population in Pearl River to rapidly decline.  Later on, the businessman Benjamin F. Dillingham wanted to convert the lush western areas including Pearl City into crop producing lands.  This would eventually become the start of the successful sugar industry in the early 1900's up until World War II which led to their downfall.  He made Pearl City the final stop for Benjamin Dillingham's O'ahu Railway in the early 1880's, and patches of land in the area went on sale in 1889 soon after its completion.
         History is something that always interests me, so after learning about the history of the area, I have found it to be very fascinating.  They are all things that I wouldn't have really known about unless I have had the desire to research the location.  I normally don't go around my neighborhood examining everything and trying to find the history behind the land itself and everything that exists there, but I have found the discoveries that you can get can be quite fascinating.  Pearl City and its nearby surroundings definitely has a rich history since the days of early westerner contact that the name itself hints at.  While its history is only going to expand as time progresses and the landscape changes, the knowledge of it will always exist regardless of how hidden away it is.

Ka Papa Loʻi O Kānewai

Rochelle Coloma

Blog Post #11

When I first moved to Oahu, I rarely ventured past the city and commuted everywhere by bus. After three years, I bought a car and in doing so, I would leave it at a parking structure near the Hawaiian Studies building. On my usual route to the structure, I would always walk past a little stream and directly to the left were little plots which consisted of taro leaves. The area itself is called the Ka Papa Loʻi ʻo Kānewai and I recently had the opportunity to attend a service event held by the director and students of the taro patch.

             The service event has been a tradition dating back to the 1980’s when the land was found by a few Native Hawaiian students from the University and discovered that the area was used to function for kalo production. Since then, the Ka Papa Loʻi ʻo Kānewai was cultivated by an array of farmers and craftsmen (also known as the maka’ainana) to now purpose as a place that gathers communities to immerse themselves with rich history and partake in activities such as cleaning the taro patches. As I continued to hear the stories of this particular land, I was at awe that something so full of history was literally two hundred feet away from my dorm room!

            Another main feature they discussed was the ‘auwai (water irrigation system) for the lo’i (taro) patches.  The ‘auwai is considered to be one of the most integral systems to keep the land and patches thriving. The system was designed to transfer water from the Mānoa stream directly to the lo’i patches. I found it interesting when the student leader mentioned how they manage water levels to prevent the plots from overflowing. They would simply hike up to the stream and place rocks at particular sites to slow down the water flow to the pipelines of the 'auwai.

           Due to my curiosity, it led me to learn the value of some Hawaiian culture practices and the fascinating history behind the lo'i patches. To end, I encourage others to take the opportunity and attend this free and exciting event.    

A Recent History of the Amberjack Fish

Blog Post

Author: Richard Ho

Driving around my neighborhood, I noticed most people tend to have a big garden with flowers, green trees, and palms. Stone fences, walls, and green shrubs encircle each house. During the day, the neighborhood has a beautiful and peaceful atmosphere. However, during the night, the quietness evokes an atmosphere of enigma and loneliness. I suspected that it might be the lack of street lamps that cause this huge contrast between the daytime and nighttime. Most notably, upon entering the neighborhood, one would either feel right at home, or an outsider, completely alienated, as if entered a secluded sanctuary in paradise.  

Aside from the environment of my neighborhood, I also notice the age group of the people that predominantly live in the neighborhood are a lot older than the students on campus. Most individuals strolling on the sidewalk are wearing their elegant silver hair and warm smiles, greeting every person they past by. Walking along side the beach next to my neighborhood, I see a lot of luxurious mansions that stand over 3 stories tall with an open view of the ocean.

My neighborhood’s history is fairly recent compared to other places in Hawaii. Hawaii isn’t a place that has set boundaries or borders that bound each region of the island. Because of this, my neighborhood has always been under the term, “Waialae”. This term given to the region affected many of the local infrastructures, which gave rise to the Waialae Country Club, Waialae Post Office, and Waialae Beach Park.

It wasn’t until approximately 100 years ago, when the people in Hawaii decided to give my neighborhood it’s new name, Kahala, referring to it as the coastal region of Waialae, and the fish, “amberjack”. Unfortunately, as the year progresses, the meaning of Kahala soon changed into an icon of the rich and wealthy, forgetting its recent history and it’s “innocent beauty”.

Blog post 11_History

After the rain, the sea became muddy in a lead color, a strong wind blows, small wave breaks roughly onto the wave dispersion rocks. Heavy black stones stack on top of each other, keeping its balance. A winter sea in countryside rage, town side lays gently in calmness. 

The random walk took me to the beach/ surf point ten minutes away on foot from where I live.

There are various kinds of rocks, stones, and sand of the sea. I walked barefoot on the white beach sand leaving foot step after step to the wave dispersion rocks. The rocks had small holes in it which made it feel sharp. Green sea glass on the rocks made it slippery and hard to walk. 

When I arrived at the end of the wave dispersion rocks, I looked back at them to find out its history. 

I assume the rocks are from mother nature and people brought and placed them decades ago to where it is right now. The wave dispersion rocks quietly yet strongly stand again the waves.  

The erosion advanced as the waves hit them. The substance, salt in the seawater fastened the erosion and made rough jagged texture on the surface of the wave dispersion rocks. The texture is almost like lava rock. As wave hit rocks one after another, it leaves a small amount of water which makes it look like the rocks been polished with wax. Black baby crabs carefully walk on the surface of slippery rocks; in a flash, the wave hits the rocks and half of them wiped out and are gone. Yet baby blackfoot 'Opihi (shell) sticks on the rock. 

Sun started to settle, reddish orange sunlight reflected on the surface of sea water and wave dispersion rocks. These place surely have been seeing more history than me. 

Wahiawa's History (Post #11)

A Fruit, a Pool of History

In Hawaiian, Wahiawā means ‘a place of noise,’ but in the sphere of the residents’ knowledge about its rich history, ironically so.

Today, when one drives along Kamehameha Highway on the way from the North Shore, he or she is surrounded by pineapple fields for a couple of miles, then comes across unusual rock formations which are a common tourist destination. These rock formations comprise the Kukaniloko Birthing Stones, the birthplace of the Ali’i (Hawaiian royalty). Legend has it that birthing here was painless and that the gods would recognize children born on site. It was so sacred that commoners were killed if they stepped foot on it. Over the years, the birthing stones were phased out as Kamehameha I expanded Wahiawā’s status as a sugar plantation to a pineapple plantation, per Don Francisco de Paula y Marin’s advice. In the mid-1800’s, plantations like Wahiawā’s quickly sprung up around the island, creating more jobs. These jobs were mostly taken up by an influx of workers primarily from China, Japan, and the Philippines, a reason why Hawai’i is known as a ‘melting pot’ today. However, WWII shut down these plantations and Wahiawā became industrialized after the war.

Part of the industrialization movement was the building of a pool. WWII soldiers returned from the war and expressed interest in building a pool because if people living in coastal areas could always get swimming access, why can’t the people in Wahiawā have that as well? Backed by the community, WWII soldiers advocated for pool construction and got approval from the City and County of Honolulu to legally build it. The pool was fully funded by Wahiawā residents and in July 1949, Wahiawa War Memorial Swimming Pool became the first of its kind on the island. Today, all that remains to document this history is a tarnished sign outside the entrance of the pool. 21 WWII veterans come from Wahiawā, but only a few realize that.

Wahiawā is a fruit and a pool of history, but also so much more. Hopefully, more people can be aware of its history so Wahiawā can live up to its namesake (at least, in terms of history).