From Our Files

August archives

In 1888, King Kalakaua issued a royal charter, commissioning a magazine. Then titled Paradise of the Pacific, this publication became HONOLULU Magazine, making it the oldest magazine west of the Mississippi.

1917 With the start of U.S. involvement in World War I, the territory of Hawaii looks for ways to increase its food supply. “A food commission was established to … safeguard the Islands against shortage,” Paradise of the Pacific writes. “One of the first tasks of the commission was to ascertain what [foodstuffs] … could best be raised [by residents].” The photo at left captures “the first impulses of the planting campaign in Honolulu,” with the commission urging residents (in English and Japanese) to “Grow Beans!”

1957 Paradise of the Pacific visits Hawaii’s only trout farm, the Shoe String Ranch. Founder Harry Moritz, a Colorado native, modeled his business after California trout farms, charging fishermen 10 cents an inch or $3 per yard ($22.20 in 2007 dollars.) “With patience and a dream, [Moritz] has just succeeded in hatching over 30,000 Rainbow trout, proving that it can be done on the island of Oahu,” Paradise writes.