From Our Files

1945

“The boys and girls of Punahou are going back to their campus,” writes Paradise of the Pacific. “Day after day scores of Punahou people have peered through the ugly rolls of barbed wire that now surround the campus and swallowed lumps in their throats.” In February 1945, after more than two years of being taught in nearby houses and backyards, Punahou students and faculty were allowed to return to the Mānoa campus. During World War II, 50,000 military officials occupied the campus to build “fortifications, gun emplacements, storage tunnels, barracks and other vital installations for the millions of our fighting men on the bloody road to Tokyo.”

1965

Paradise of the Pacific chronicles the popularity of the jump suit and its versatility in the Islands. “Since, in these hostile times, a girl might be better off down in the gym learning Karate than home knitting in the rocker, we brought this Hawaii collection of jump suits to the YMCA where a nightly session of the manly art of Karate was in session.” Whether it’s a shorts or a pants suit, the silk, cotton or satin two-piece suits left a lady feeling fashionable, but free to move. “Jump suits were made for jumping,” notes Paradise. Or a graceful roundhouse kick.

1980

“The Aloha Tower, symbol of Honolulu Harbor, was for years a Mecca for transpacific travelers,” writes HONOLULU. Some may recall the excitement of the former boat days, but as air travel eclipsed passenger liners, the tower seemed to lose some of its luster. That year, community members proposed transforming Aloha Tower into a maritime center. “The Aloha Tower, gateway to Honolulu Harbor, is an appropriate site for a museum. It is, after all, because of the harbor that Honolulu exists.” Aloha Tower became a shopping center in the ’90s. The Hawaii Maritime Center opened next door in 1982, and later became part of Bishop Museum, but closed in 2009.