From Our Files: Moments from Hawai‘i’s Past–August Edition

A look back at Honolulu from August 1937 to 1992. Stories taken from the archives of Paradise of the Pacific and HONOLULU Magazine.

OUR HISTORY

In 1888, King Kalākaua 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.

1937

“Connecting Our Islands: How about aerial bridges, suspended from helium-filled metal containers (instead of piers), from Island to Island?”

1952

‘Iolani School signs a contract to begin building an upper school campus at the Ala Wai location. It is anticipated that the building will be completed by September of 1953. 

1957

The one-and-two-tenths-miles-long Nu‘uanu Pali Highway is dedicated after construction finishes a week ahead of schedule, creating a passage through the Ko‘olau range connecting the Windward and Leeward sides of the island. HONOLULU says, “For centuries the hulking ridge of the Ko‘olau range has been a barrier between the Windward and Leeward sides of O‘ahu. Early Hawaiians found it easier to sail around the island in their canoes than to climb the steep windward slopes.”

1967

Sen. Daniel K. Inouye visits President Lyndon B. Johnson with his son Kenneth and presents him with a copy of his new book, Journey to Washington. “It was Gift Day,” says HONOLULU. “Dan gave LBJ the book, inasmuch as it was the senator’s son’s third birthday, LBJ then started looking around for presents for the boy.”

1982

A rock ’n’ roll new-wave-music hybrid takes the island by storm, creating a sound that keeps bars and clubs busy into the early hours of the morning. This new genre of music gives birth to fresh fashion for the “new wave devotee: synthetic fabrics and lurid colors.”

1992

HONOLULU runs a contest to name a new restaurant in Kaimukī. Readers submit names hoping to win a dinner for two and an invitation to the restaurant’s opening party the next month. HONOLULU says, “The ‘perfect one’ was actually a combination of two. Ben Paulo of Sunnyvale, California, suggested ‘Thirty-Six Sixty.’ (The building’s at 3660 Wai‘alae Ave.) Honolulu resident Randy Ahlo suggested ‘On the Rise,’ because the restaurant is located at the bottom of Wilhelmina Rise.” And 3660 On the Rise was born.

1937	1957	1967

Learn more about the evolution of covers in HONOLULU Magazine and Paradise of the Pacific: 125 Years of Covers, available at shop.honolulumagazine.com.

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