Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Old Hawaii

A friend e-mailed me this collection of Old Hawaii photos. More can also be found at Good Old Hawaii.

Ala Wai Canal Aliiolani Palace 1887
Civic Auditorium
Elks Lodge 1920
Fort Street and King Street
Fort Street 1862
Kalakaua Avenue
KC Drive Inn 1942
Lau Yee Chai in Waikiki
Makee Island in Kapiolani Park (where the zoo is today).
Moana Hotel 1920
Waikiki 1859
Waikiki 1880
Waikiki 1938
Waikiki Theater

It just so happened that while I was at Costco today, I found this book, Honolulu Then and Now. It is so interesting to me. I know I cannot post pictures from the book, but I think I won't get into trouble if I just tell you about it. As you leaf through the book, the "Then" pictures are on the left and the "Now" pictures are on the right. The author does an amazing job of providing historical data throughout the whole book.

On page 18 there's this 1880 photo of Merchant Street. It looks like a Wild West town complete with horse and buggy.

On page 46 there's a 1900 photo of a burned down Chinatown after a fire purposely set to control the outbreak of bubonic plaque spreads when winds picked up and changed direction.

On page 56 masted ships are docked at Fair Haven ("Honolulu" in Hawaiian) in 1890.

On page 58 a camouflage-painted Aloha Tower looms behind arriving servicewomen and men in a 1940 photo.

On page 108 there's a photo of Manoa Valley with just a scattering of a few houses and farmland captured sometime between 1890 and 1905.

On page 130 an 1890 photo shows a racetrack at Kapiolani Park!

On page 140 captioned beneath a 1900 photo of Hanauma Bay the author describes how the City and County of Honolulu purchased Hanauma Bay and its surrounding areas, including Koko Head and Sandy Beach for $1 in 1928!!

On page 142 the USS Arizona shrouded in black smoke starts to sink. My first thought was, H*ly Cr*p I wonder who took that photo? I think I would have been digging . . . but then again, maybe not.

Anyway, it's an unreal historical account and for $11.99 a major steal. Costco . . . go now!

6 comments:

Betty Townsend said...

One of my cousins sent these pictures to me some time ago. They are all pretty awesome. I can remember the Lau Yee Chai. I'll have to see if I can find that book in our Costco here. That would be fantastic to have.

Pest 3 Aerosal Dynamiks/808Urban said...

Very cool find there Jalna. I enjoyed looking at pics and reading on that book. I might have to go and look for it and finger through it some time soon....Have fun

Tony
808Urban.com

OkiHwn said...

A lot of the photos are online at the Honolulu Advertiser website:

http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/150/150photogallery

jalna said...

Wow!! Thanks Nate! I just took a quick look . . . unreal photos. I know where I'll be spending the next few nights.

Unknown said...

Wonderful photos!!! Thank you for sharing. Hawaii is a true beauty, then and now. My daughter and I are new bloggers, stop by at www.puddlesprice.com

jalna said...

Hey Mutti, just checked out your blog. You two are the cutest mother/daughter pair EVER!!