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We’re proud of Hawai‘i Modern--a concise 24 page overview of mid-century building and landscape design expertly crafted by author Don Hibbard, researcher Tonia Moy, and graphic artist Viki Nasu showcasing a small but significant portion of the built environment from mid-20th century in Hawaii.  Find your Modern favorites as you peruse through illustrated pages of homes, commercial buildings, resorts, public facilities, sacred sites, and landscapes significant to this era. (*Drawings held on the 20th of each month--winners chosen from those residing in the U.S. and limited to one book per contestant.)

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The Boys of Waialee

An historical profile of Waiale‘e’s most curious piece of architecture

by Donovan Kuhio Colleps | Aug 1, 2012      HONOLULU WEEKLY

Between Kahuku and Waialua, the rubble of a looming territorial-age building leans exhaustedly on the property where Crawford’s Convalescent Home now resides. Trade winds spill into what’s left of its four concrete walls, and the mountain ridgeline travels through each open hole, making landscape paintings out of rows of rectangular voids.

Hand-painted on wood and nailed to what used to be an entrance, a trio of signs greet us: No Parking; No Drink; Keep Out. Our photographer is already outside, respecting the imaginary boundary lines, taking pictures of what looks like the cubistic ribcage of some long-forgotten monster; a 2002 fire destroyed all but the concrete walls left standing now.

Although the building has long been vacant, one can’t help thinking about the boys who lived here from 1903 to around 1950: the boys of Waialee. According to Myron B. Thompson who wrote a Masterʻs thesis on the place, reasons for their confinement ranged from truancy, to larceny, assault and disobedience, but they shared one thing in common: a collective vitiation from society.

For the ‘Helpless and Neglected’

Hawaiʻi’s first reformatory school moved from Kapalama to Waialee in 1903, where it was named the Waialeʻe Industrial School For Boys. In 1865 the Pacific Commercial Advertiser reported that in the previous year, Kamehameha V, under the recommendations of the Board of Education, approved an act authorizing the BOE to “establish an industrial and reformatory school for the care and education of helpless and neglected children, and also for the reformation of juvenile offenders.”

The last section of the Act states that six thousand dollars were to be appropriated from the public treasury to help establish the school, “and with a surplus of funds accruing from the labor of children . . . may enlarge the school and establish branch schools on the other islands.”

Six thousand dollars in 1864 is roughly equal to $82,674 today, and bought the school an ahupuaa that included about 700 acres from the mountains to the sea.

Dark Cells

The school appears ghastly in a photograph in a 1919 Star-Bulletin article with the caption, “Dormitory.” The article reports, “[m]embers of the education committee of the house of representatives are of the opinion that the so-called dark cells or dungeons are improper and should be abolished.” The basement still exists today, hiding behind the overgrowth. One can’t help but wonder if this was where the “dark cells,” and dark activitiy held therin, were located.

Another Star-Bulletin article reveals excerpts of a journal discovered by then-superintendent Morris Freedman that covers most of the inmates from 1989 to 1908. “Disobedience to the moral suasion of parents [resulted in] a man-sized term of 3 to 5 years . . . Runaways were not few and far between . . . Ball and chain were used.”

Thompson’s thesis quotes from an unpublished article written by Freedman between 1935–1939 that reflects on the school’s startling policies on corporeal punishment before his tenure: “Oregon boots, shackles, leg irons, cat-o-nine tails, straps soaked in vinegar and salt, terrific lashings and beatings were the order of the day. In 1921, when Mr. Wesson [took over] the school his first act was to destroy these vestiges of the Dark Ages era [and he] discontinued the use of dark cells which were built below the level of the street surface . . . his treatment was by far more humane than it had been before.”

Sustainable Irony

The Waialeʻe Industrial School For Boys was meant to be a self-sustaining school. The boys, whose ages ranged from seven to 25, cultivated their own taro, bananas, sweet potato and sugarcane and raised cattle and pigs for milk and meat, and managed the school’s farm, repair shop, engine room, generators, water power, carpenter shop, tailor shop [and] ice house,” according to the Honolulu Advertiser in 1928. As times changed however, the boys’ work moved from agriculatural to industrial.

An average of 180 boys are reported to have lived at the school at any given time; they even assembled a music band and performed in many parades in Honolulu. The practice hall remains today, covered in graffiti across the street.

It’s surprising then, that in the school’s 50 controversial years of behavioral correction there is only one instance of a known escape. In 1946, four kids apparently made it all the way to Kahala in stolen cars, only to break into several homes in the area before they were captured by Honolulu police.

Alice Lou, the current owner of the property and administrator of Crawford’s Convalescent Home was amazed at how far the boys got when they had escaped. She and her husband have owned the property for over 50 years, yet claim to know very little about its history.

“You know,” she said, “when I was a little girl we used to take the open train from Aala Park in town, all the way to Haleiwa Beach Park over here. All the roads after that were covered in rough coral rocks. It must have been a whole other world for [those boys], out here in the country at that time.”

PUBLIC LAND DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION TO HOLD PUBLIC HEARINGS ON PROPOSED NEW ADMINISTRATIVE RULES

ABOUT PLDC: The Public Land Development Corporation is a state entity created by the Legislature in 2011 to develop state lands and generate revenues for the Department of Land and Natural Resources. Through public-private partnerships, the corporation aims to attract private companies as joint partners in development opportunities.

The corporation was formed after the Legislature passed Senate Bill 1555 which was signed into law as Act 55 by Governor Neil Abercrombie. The corporation is governed by a five-member board of directors. Executive director is Lloyd Haraguchi.  Three state agencies are represented on the board either by its director or their designee. The agencies include the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism; the Department of Budget and Finance; and the Department of Land and Natural Resources. One member is appointed by the speaker of the House of Representatives, and one member is appointed by the Senate president.

 HONOLULU --  The Public Land Development Corporation (PLDC) will hold statewide public hearings, starting Monday August 20,  for adoption of new Hawai‘i Administrative Rules (HAR) for the PLDC. Some provisions may affect small business.

Lloyd Haraguchi, Executive Director for the PLDC, stated: “The upcoming public hearings are an opportunity to inform the public about the PLDC’s mission, objectives and priorities. We welcome public participation and encourage individuals to utilize this opportunity.”

The proposed adoption of a new Chapter 13-301, HAR, Practice and Procedure establishes operating procedures for the PLDC. It contains general provisions relating to the office location and hours, board meetings, and delegation of authority to the Executive Director; and sets forth procedures for proceedings before the board, contested case hearings, declaratory rulings, and petitions for amendment, adoption, or repeal of administrative rules.

Proposed adoption of a new Chapter13-302, HAR, Public Land Development Program sets forth a procedure for the PLDC to initiate, by itself or with qualified persons, or enter into cooperative agreements with qualified persons for the development or financing of projects that make optimal use of public land for the economic, environmental, and social benefit of the people of Hawai‘i.

Proposed adoption of a new Chapter 13-303, HAR, Project Facility Program establishes a procedure for undertaking and financing any project facility as part of a project. Project facilities include improvements, roads and streets, utility and service corridors, utility lines, water and irrigation systems, lighting systems, security systems, sanitary sewerage systems, and other community facilities where applicable.

Public hearings will take place from 6 to 8 p.m. at the following times and locations:

HILO: Monday, August 20, at Waiakea High School Cafeteria, 155 West Kawili St., Hilo, HI 96720;

KONA: Tuesday, August 21,  at Konawaena High School Cafeteria, 81-1043 Konawaena School Rd., Kealakekua, HI 96750;

MAUI: Friday, August 24, at Maui Waena Intermediate School Cafeteria, 795 Onehe‘e St., Kahului, HI 96732;

MOLOKA‘I: Monday, August 27, at Mitchell Pau‘ole Community Center, 90 Ainoa St., Kaunakakai, HI 96748;

O‘AHU: Wednesday, August 29, at Dept. of Land and Natural Resources, Kalanimoku Building, Land Board Conference Room132, 1151 Punchbowl St., Honolulu, HI 96813; and

KAUA‘I: Friday, August 31, at Elsie H. Wilcox Elementary School, 4319 Hardy St., Lihu‘e, HI 96766.

All interested persons are urged to attend the public hearing to present relevant information and individual opinion for PLDC to consider. Persons unable to attend or wishing to present additional comments may e-mail comments to randal.y.ikeda@hawaii.gov or postmark written testimony by Friday, September 14, 2012 to: PLDC, PO Box 2359, Honolulu, HI  96804.
More information on the PLDC is available at www.hawaii.gov/dlnr/pldc <www.hawaii.gov/dlnr/pldc> .
Copies of the proposed rules change are available on-line at http://hawaii.gov/dlnr/pldc/rules <http://hawaii.gov/dlnr/pldc/rules> .

Copies for public review are available Monday through Friday, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., at No. 1 Capitol District, 250 S. Hotel St., Room 501, Honolulu, HI 96813. The public may make written request for a mailed copy by indicating mailing address in correspondence sent to the PLDC address in the preceding paragraph.

Any person requiring a special accommodation (i.e. large print materials, sign language interpreters) should make a request in writing to the PLDC address in the preceding paragraph or by calling 587-0393 (V/T). The request will need to be received at least seven days before the hearing date.

News from Volcanoes National Park’s Volcano House

Volcano House, Kilauea, Hawaii, 1902

A NEW DAY FOR VOLCANO HOUSE

By Colin M. Stewart, Hawai‘i Tribune-Herald

Aug. 9, 2012: A new concessioner is set take the reins Monday at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park’s Volcano House.

Pending Congressional approval, Hawaii Volcanoes Lodge Co. LLC will assume operation of the historic hotel and restaurant overlooking Kilauea Caldera. Once the company has taken possession, it will begin an estimated year-long process of renovating the property, said Cynthia Orlando, superintendent of the national park.

“The contract should be signed by Monday the 13th,” she said Wednesday. “We’ll get notification from Washington, D.C., and then we’ll hand it over to them (Hawaii Volcanoes Lodge Co.).”

By Aug. 18, Orlando said, the property’s gift shop is expected to have a “soft opening” and be available to purchase a few limited items.

“It will be grab-and-go sandwiches, drinks, limited retail sales,” she explained.

About a week later, the Namakanipaio campground’s 10-tent cabins will also be in operation, said Walt Poole, concessions management specialist at HVNP.

“To get those open, basically they just need new floors and new mattresses,” he said.

Also scheduled to make an early opening to the public will be the eight bedrooms located in the Volcano House’s annex, which was added to the property in 1953.

“They’re going to push to get those open as soon as they can,” Poole said. “Perhaps before the first of the year. It will probably be at a reduced rate, because food and beverage won’t be ready yet.”

All of the hotel’s 32 rooms are expected to be overhauled, as well as the dining area and the addition of a lanai eating area. The entire process is expected to cost between $2.5 and $3 million and be complete sometime in late 2013, Orlando said.

“We are bringing back the culture and the history, and we’re putting more tradition in as many of the spaces as we can,” said Tanya Ortega, co-owner of Ortega National Parks, in an interview earlier this year.

Other features on the property may become available as work on them is completed, Orlando added.

“We’ll be opening things up in phases,” she explained.

Hawaii Volcanoes Lodge Co.’s contract is for 15 years. The company is a subsidiary of Honolulu-based Aqua Hotels and Resorts Inc. and Ortega National Parks LLC, a company with 16 years experience operating concessions at national parks in California and New Mexico.

Volcano House was built in 1846, although the modern building dates back to 1941. During its more than 150-year history, the hotel has been operated by George Lycurgus, Sheraton Hotels and Ken Fujiyama’s Ken Direction Corp.

Ken Direction’s contract expired in December 2008, but the company received a one-year extension while the National Park Service hammered out the details of a contract prospectus seeking a new concessioner. The building has been closed to the public since December 2009, when the National Park Service began a series of seismic and fire safety upgrades costing about $4 million.

TALK STORY ON THE HISTORY OF THE HAWAIIAN SOVEREIGNTY MOVEMENT

Sugar, Sovereignty, Statehood

by Judge William Fernandez (part of the Kaua‘i Historical Society History Program series)

Date and Time: 08/16/2012 -- 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM  Location: Kauai Museum, Courtyard

Hear how the ocean voyaging canoe "Hokule`a" awakened Hawaiian pride. Discover how white business interests plotted illegally to overthrow the Monarchy. A continuation of his historical review of Hawai‘i, Fernandez will focus on how the cultural and physical landscape changed for the Hawaiian and why the Hawaiian sovereignty movements have formed.  Experience a thought provoking talk story!  

 Free admission; donations welcome.

Syrian splendor

“Especially given the current civil unrest in Syria and reports of damage to cultural sites, we hope the Damascus Room will open a window on the country’s extraordinary cultural heritage,” says Deborah Pope, executive director for the museum (as quoted in the Honolulu Weekly, July 18, 2012).

 

Shangri La visitors can bask in the Damascus Room's lavish glow

By Gary C.W. Chun, Honolulu Star-Advertiser

July 8, 2012: A newly restored room at Doris Duke's Shangri La estate provides a rare glimpse of the opulent lifestyle of Syria's well-to-do during the late 18th century.

The Damascus Room, which will open to tours starting Wednesday after years of conservation work, is also further testament to the lengths the late heiress and philanthropist went to indulge her passion for Islamic art.

Duke approached Georges Asfar and Jean Sarkis — art dealers with whom she had worked in the late 1930s — to help reassemble a historic Syrian home interior at her Black Point estate. Nine cases of ornate wood panels were shipped from Beirut in November 1954, arriving in Hono­lulu two months later, accompanied by detailed drawings and instructions for rebuilding the paneled room, which was finally installed in a guest room adjoining the foyer in 1958.

Every surface of woodwork covering the walls, ceiling, doors and cabinets in the room is adorned in elaborate floral and geometric patterns in paint, metal leaf or raised gesso ornamentation — a decorative technique known as ‘ajami — along with flourishes of calligraphy in gold paint.

Typical of an affluent household of the late Ottoman Empire, there are luxury trade items on display, including ceramic plates and silk velvets from Turkey, glassware from Iran and Europe, and four enameled hanging lamps from North Africa.

Visitors to the Damascus Room will be encouraged to sit and absorb the exotic ambience, perhaps imagining themselves as honored guests sharing a hookah with wealthy hosts while enjoying Middle Eastern music and delicacies.

"Visitors will have a different experience in that room than in the entire house," said Keelan Overton, curator of Islamic art at Shangri La. "They'll have a moment to explore the room on their own terms. They can read about the conservation process or about Duke's travels in Syria.

"This also marks the first time that we'll be displaying original archives from the collection, documentation that relates how the room came to be through cablegrams, letters and receipts from the 1930s and photographs from 1954."

Before restoration, the room was part of the old staff office wing, according to Deborah Pope, executive director of Shangri La. She said the long process started in 2004 after the repair of a roof leak that damaged ceiling paint and gesso surfaces.

"We had a small symposium workshop with other conservators, scholars and curators familiar with the Ottoman house interiors from Damascus," she said. "It was a far-flung group who shared information with us in helping lay out a plan of attack in conserving and treating the room.

"There was much photographing and documenting over the next three summers, done with the help of conservators and graduate interns from the Winterthur/University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation."

Originally decorated in bright colors, the wooden panels darkened over the centuries as a result of routine cleaning and varnishing, Overton said.

"The look of the room is golden brown," she said. "Originally the ceiling and wood panels would've been extremely bright — bold primary colors, red, blue and green, offset with white panels with calligraphy rendered in gold."

Pope said this is the first time a new room has been opened for the regular Shangri La tours since the public was granted access to the estate in 2002.

"I've never seen anything like this in Hawaii. … Every square inch of the room is exceptionally beautiful," she said.

Shangri La is one of the few museums in the world to exhibit Syrian interiors. Others include the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Museum of Islamic Art in Berlin.

The Damascus Room will be included in Shangri La's guided tours starting July 11th. 

SHANGRI LA TOURS » Where: Meet at Honolulu Museum of Art, 900 S. Beretania St. » When: Wednesdays-Saturdays » Cost: $20 Hawaii residents (free on first Wednesday monthly), $25 nonresidents » Reservations: 532-DUKE (3853) or 866-DUKE-TIX (385-3849)

Travel Back in Time to Kauai's Sugar Era

A monthly train trip gives riders a glimpse into the Garden Isle's plantation history

By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi, Honolulu Star-Advertiser

July 8, 2012: 1931. The Great Depression. Stocks were plummeting, unemployment numbers were soaring, thousands of businesses were failing and millions of people were homeless. Across America, shanty villages were sprouting up around cities, and lines at soup kitchens were stretching for blocks.

But there were bright moments even during those dismal times. On a morning in 1931, shortly before his fifth birthday, a little boy saw an electric train set at the hardware store in his hometown of Minot in North Dakota. It was love at first sight.

Made of tin-plated steel, the train had a locomotive, coach, baggage car and observation car — all painted maroon and equipped with lights and spring-loaded doors. It came with 20 feet of track, barrier and railroad crossing signs, and a price tag of $39 ($575 in today's money) — more than what his parents earned in two weeks at his grandparents' farm and bakery.

Although the couple wanted to put a smile on their only child's face, they knew they couldn't afford such an extravagant toy. So the boy's mother asked relatives to contribute what they could. She collected a dollar here, two there, and managed to scrape together enough to buy her son the gift he cherished for nearly 70 years.

"Dad took really great care of that train," said Scott Johnson, who, like his father, is an avid train enthusiast. "He gave it to me in 2000, and it still runs! I don't take it out of storage very often because salt air is rough on the metal and I live near the ocean, but I occasionally set it up at Christmas, under the tree. Everyone loves to watch it going around and around."

Johnson is known on Kauai as "the train guy." Grove Farm museum hired him in 1982 as the mechanic for its four steam locomotives — Paulo, Wainiha, Wahiawa and Kaipu (see sidebar). Today he's in charge of everything related to the vintage engines, including research, repairs, restoration, maintenance, track installation, funding, public relations, special events, and presentations for schools and other organizations.

All four locomotives hauled cane at Kauai sugar plantations and are on the National Register of Historic Places. During the heyday of Hawaii's sugar industry in the late 1930s, 28 plantations on Oahu, Maui, Kauai and Hawaii island were running trains on about 900 miles of track.

Most of the trains were gone by 1950, replaced by trucks and machinery that were more efficient and less expensive to operate. On Sept. 24, 1957, the use of steam-powered engines at Hawaii's sugar plantations ended when Wainiha pulled a train carrying cut cane to Lihue Plantation's mill. Two years later, on Oct. 10, 1959, a diesel locomotive powered Hawaii's last sugar cane train, which also hauled cane to the Lihue mill.

VISITORS can experience a bit of that history on the second Thursday of every month, when Johnson fires up Paulo or Wainiha for Grove Farm museum's free Train Day. With its whistle blaring and white puffs rising out of the engine's smokestack, the train rolls along 2,000 feet of original right of way — 1,800 feet from Lihue Plantation dating back to 1891 and 200 feet from Grove Farm Plantation dating back to 1895.

Founded by entrepreneur George Wilcox, Grove Farm Plantation (incorporated in 1922 as Grove Farm Co.) operated from 1864 to 1974. Over the years, the plantation acquired acreage, facilities and equipment; by 1955 it owned Paulo, Wainiha, Wahiawa and Kaipu.

"Disney offered to buy the locomotives for $500 apiece in 1970," Johnson said. "Mabel Wilcox, George's niece, said, ‘For that price, I'll buy them to keep them on Kauai.' Grove Farm Co. wound up not selling the locomotives. The following year, Miss Mabel bought the plantation's homestead and created a nonprofit organization to preserve it as a living museum."

IMPRESSED by her vision, Grove Farm Co. executives donated the locomotives to Grove Farm museum in 1975. Miss Mabel died three years later, leaving an endowment for the museum which included care for them.

"She restored Wainiha with her own money right after the museum received the donation, which showed that she wanted the engines to be kept in operating condition," Johnson said. "Her wish was to preserve Kauai's plantation history, and Train Day helps fulfill that."

Fully loaded, the train carries about 80 people seated on benches in a restored 1930s flatcar and cane car and two replica cane cars. It chugs along at a walking pace, the only hints of Kauai's once vibrant sugar industry being water tank pillars, the concrete foundation of one of the bachelors' quarters for Lihue Plantation workers and the dilapidated shell of the plantation's mill, built in 1849, which serves as the backdrop for the boarding and disembarking area.

The mill operated for more than 150 years, until the plantation's closure in 2000. Soon it, too, will be gone; deteriorated beyond repair, it will be demolished over the next three months.

During stops along the way, Johnson walks beside the cars, describing Hawaii's sugar plantation life and the role trains played in it. "The ride is as much about people as it is the historic equipment," he said. "Guests have so many great memories to share. They talk about relatives who worked on plantation trains, the trains they saw in the cane fields when they were kids and the toy trains somebody they knew owned or that they always wanted. I listen to their stories and tell them on other rides. That's how I'm preserving Hawaii's train history — one story at a time."

Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi is a Honolulu-based freelance writer whose travel features for the Star-Advertiser have won several Society of American Travel Writers awards.

 

TRAIN DAY » Where: Meet at former employee parking lot of Lihue Plantation's mill, on Haleko Road between Rice Street and Nawiliwili Road, Lihue, Kauai. » When: Second Thursday of every month; the next ride will be Thursday. Advance reservations aren't necessary. Rides are sometimes scheduled on other days. Call for details. The 45-minute rides begin at 10 a.m.; last boarding is at 2 p.m. » Cost: Free » Call: 245-3202 » Email: tours@grovefarm.net » On the Net: www.grovefarm.net and www.kauaitrains.com » Notes: The train is available for private tours and functions. Call for prices and availability. ABOUT THE LOCOMOTIVES Paulo (built 1887) Named for Paul Isenberg, owner of Lihue Plantation and a partner in Koloa Sugar Co., Paulo is the oldest operating plantation locomotive in Hawaii. It was built in Dusseldorf, Germany, and purchased by Koloa Sugar Plantation, which, established in 1835, was Hawaii's first commercial sugar plantation. Paulo hauled cane until the 1920s. When Grove Farm Co. bought Koloa Sugar in 1948, Paulo was part of the sale. The locomotive was restored in 1981. Wainiha (built 1915) Manufactured by Baldwin Locomotive Works in Philadelphia, Wainiha, named for a stream and valley on Kauai's North Shore, was first owned by McBryde Sugar Co. Lihue Plantation bought it in 1932, and Grove Farm Co. acquired it in 1955. Wainiha was restored in 1975 and now takes turns with Paulo for Train Day rides. It portrayed a Japanese train transporting British prisoners of war in the 2001 World War II drama "To End All Wars." Wahiawa (built 1921) This engine, also built by Baldwin Locomotive Works, first pulled a passenger train for Kauai Railway Co. Its original name was Port Allen, after the harbor on Kauai's west coast that was the end of that line. When McBryde Sugar Co. bought the locomotive in 1938, it was named Wahiawa, after one of the workers' camps. Grove Farm Co. purchased it in 1947. It's being restored as funds permit. Kaipu (built 1925) Kaipu holds the distinction of being one of the last locomotives built for Hawaii's sugar industry. Hawaiian Sugar Co. purchased it from Baldwin Locomotive Works and dubbed it Kokee. When Grove Farm Co. acquired the engine in 1941, it was renamed Kaipu, after George Wilcox's right-hand man. It was retired in 1953 and restored in 1983. Although Kaipu is operational, it is not being used; it is stored at Grove Farm Co.'s roundhouse in Puhi along with Wahiawa. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Historic Hawaii Foundation  We’re Social!    Like Us on Facebook   Follow Us on Twitter    sign up for our E-newsletter for the latest on preservation-related events, news and issues here in Hawai‘i & beyond.