“The animals are coming!” proclaimed the headline in Honolulu’s Pacific Commercial Advertiser on August 16, 1916. It was the beginning of what would become the Honolulu Zoo, and included among the creatures on a steamship from Canada was Daisy the elephant. Readers of this blog might recall that, soon after her arrival, Daisy was a…
Yearly Archives: 2015
Joking Around: Ethnic Humor in Hawai`i
You’ve probably heard the Beamer Brothers’ song about Mr. San Cho Lee, which pinpointed an aspect of local culture that is sometimes bewildering to newcomers. Its chorus goes like this: One thing I wen’ notice ’bout this place All us guys we tease the other race It’s amazing we can live in the same place…
Hawaii Books Make Good Reading
Hawai`i has a long history of storytelling. The Polynesian people who first arrived here more than 1,000 years ago believed fervently in the power of the word, and though they never developed writing, they memorized long, subtle, elaborate chants to preserve their history. When Christian missionaries came in 1820, their first task was to create…
Railroads Once Big in Hawaiian Islands
Long gone now, railroads once provided much of the transportation needed by Islanders and the crops that supported them. Beginning with the first recorded locomotive run on Maui in July 1879 (between Kahului and Wailuku), trains chugged along tracks that crossed deep gulches on tall trestles, hauling their sweet cargo from field to harbor. Within…
Pineapple Brings Back Memories
I learned to cut pineapples from a pre-movie feature at a theater in El Paso, Texas, the year Hawai`i became a state. The Islands were all the rage that year, with the advent of jet travel making it possible for the average mainlander to think of flying off to a tropical paradise newly joined to…
