From Our Files

The April 2012 archives from our files of Paradise of the Pacific and HONOLULU Magazine.

Our History

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.

1927 Hawaiian for “flying fish,” the Malolo was part of the air fleet of Lewis’ Air Ports, a Honolulu flight company launched that year by local businessmen Ed Lewis. “Already more than 1,300 passengers have skimmed ethereal altitudes in Lewis’ machines,” notes Paradise of the Pacific, predecessor to HONOLULU Magazine. “These, chiefly, have enjoyed celestial journeys around the island of Oahu, or circling the well-known circumambient above Hawaii’s capital, the city of Honolulu.” By the end of 1927, the company hoped to start regular interisland travel with three of its larger planes.
1962 “As a working newspaper man for the past quarter century,” writes Charles Young in a Paradise story, “my scrap books are filled with clippings of planned hotels that never got off the planning boards for one reason or another. But today, it is a solid fact that Maui, with the plush Kaanapali Beach Resort, is coming into its own with at least 525 new hotel rooms this year.” That year, the hotel and beach-cottage rooms more than doubled the existing Valley Isle’s total of 395 rooms. Around 17,000 tourists visited Maui in 1962 as part of a 17-day charter-plane cruise from California, which cost $345, or $2,600 in today’s dollars.
1972 “If there’s a Cinderella secretarial job in Hawaii, Gloria Gewelke owns the glass slipper,” notes HONOLULU. “As Don Ho’s personal secretary, she’s engulfed in the aura of the show business world.” Gewelke worked in Ho’s Waikiki penthouse with pristine Diamond Head views. “Here she sorts fan mail, selects autographed photos to satisfy fans’ requests and keeps in touch with Ho’s Hollywood office about recording dates or television and nightclub appearances.” Gewelke landed the job as Ho’s secretary when she met him backstage after one of his shows; his previous secretary was leaving. “I see a side of Don that fans never see,” she said. “Every once in awhile he comes in and decides to cook Hawaiian beef stew.”