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Ancient Waikiki was beloved by the ali'i (chiefs) who, over the centuries, board surfed upon the bay's spectacular waves at Kalehuawehe, rested in the shade of Helumoa's 10,000 coconut trees, feasted upon the bounty of the loko (fishponds) and lo'i (taro patches) and enjoyed the gentle ka'ao breeze. The greatest chief in O'ahu's past, Kakuhihewa, reside at the royal compound of Uluniu and participated in the games at the Makahiki field at Helumoa. Kalamakua was another noted Waikiki chief who was praised by the kanaka (people) for his skill of cultivation. Through extensive auwai(irrigation ditches), Kalamakua constructed the large pond fields of Ke'okea, Kualulua, and Kalamanamana. This generous, good chief was thus responsible for the name to be given to this bountiful ahupua'a (land division" of O'ahu -- Waikiki or "spouting waters." It was at Ka-lua-o-kau in Waikiki that Kalamakua's beautiful daughter, La'ie-lohelohe was raised. Betrothed to a Maui chief, La'ie-lohelohe would be the mother of Kiha-a-Pi'ilani, the great Maui leader who was also born in Waikiki at 'Apuakehau near Ka-lua-o-kau. Today, these lands are the site of the world famous International Market Place at Waikiki.
"Ka-lua-o-kau" literally means "the pit of kau." There may be several meanings associated with the term "kau." This place may have been a place for celestial observation - "kau" is a star in the northern sky that served as a guide to mariners. "Kau" may also be a poetic reference to "kaukau ali'i," lesser-ranking chiefs, or has a meaning "to discuss," an interpretation that suggests a pit where discussions took place. No specific reference to the meaning or origin of the name has ever been published.
The place names of Waikiki recorded in an 1897 map show Ka-lua-o-kau to be located just 'ewa (west) of the 'Apuakehau Stream which flowed from Manoa Valley to Kamo'ili'ili, and then through Waikiki into the ocean at the place where the Outrigger Hotel now stands. Just Diamond Head (east) of the river was 'Ainahau, the lands of Princess Likelike, sister of King Kalakaua. After the princess passed away in 1887, her land and cottage became the home of her daughter, Princess Kai'ulani and husband, Governor of O'ahu, Archibald S. Cleghorn. Next door to 'Ainahau was Uluniu, the former estate of King Kalakaua who used his Waikiki home for more casual and private receptions. Queen Lili'uokalani maintained a Waikiki home at Hamohamo, a tract of land just Diamond Head of Uluniu. Until her death in 1917, the Queen would be occasionally seen riding in her stately black carriage down Kalakaua Avenue to her Waikiki home at Lili'uokalani Street. Thus did the Kalakaua dynasty impart to these graceful Waikiki lands the aura of royalty inherited from the ancient past and kept alive in street names.
Ka-lau-o-kau also eventually became the home of 19th century Hawaiian royalty. After the Mahele (land division) of 1848, which first established a system of private land ownership in the Hawaiian Islands, many haole (foreigners) began to acquire large tracts of Waikiki lands. Among these early entrepreneurs were Henry and Eliza Macfarlane who had arrived in the islands from New Zealand in 1846. Operators of a successful downtown Honolulu hotel, the Macfarlanes purchased the lands of Ka-lua-o-kau, planting a large banyan tree on their property. This banyan tree, the landmark centerpiece of the International Market Place, remains among one of the oldest historic sites in Waikiki - the 600 year old so-called "wizard stones" at Kuhio Beach Park being the oldest.
The Macfarlanes raised six children who, in turn, would contribute other significant milestones to Waikiki's past. George Macfarlane (1849-1921) is credited with initiating one of the first hotels in Waikiki, the Park Beach Hotel near Kapi'olani Park. He later became the proprietor of the Honolulu Seaside Hotel at the site of the present day Royal Hawaiian Hotel. His brother, Clarence Macfarlane (1858-1947), has been celebrated as the first haole in Honolulu to master the sport of surfing and canoeing in outriggers! One of Henry and Eliza Macfarlane's grandsons, Walter J. Macfarlane, who died at the age of 36 in 1943, is honored every Fourth of July by the Outrigger Canoe Club with the Walter J. Macfarlane Memorial Canoe Races at Waikiki, becoming the longest running canoe event in the islands.
After the Macfarlanes owned it, Ka-lua-o-kau eventually passed into the hands of King William Lunalilo, Hawai'i's first elected king. Born on January 3, 1835 in a house which was located on the Diamond Head grounds of the present 'Iolani Palace, William Lunalilo was the son of Charles Kana'ina and High Chiefess Miriam 'Auhea Kekauluohi, the niece of Kamehameha the Great. As a young man, Lunalilo was educated with Hawai'i's other future kings and queens at the Royal School. Although he had once been considered as a possible husband for Princess Victoria Kamamalu, the sister of King Kamehameha IV and Kamehameha V, Lunalilo remained a bachelor throughout his life. With the death of Kamehameha V in 1872 without an heir apparent or designated successor, William Lunalilo was at the time the highest-ranking chief and could have claimed the throne. Yet recognizing that the election of a king from among the ali'i would be more in accordance with a constitutional monarchy, Lunalilo refrained from assuming the crown. Although he won the election, the reign of King William Lunalilo was fated to be brief. Stricken with tuberculosis in August of 1873 at his beloved Waikiki home, King Lunalilo finally passed away in Honolulu on February 3, 1874. He was buried on the grounds of Kawaiaha'o Church, the only King of Hawai'i not to be buried at the Royal Mausoleum at Mauna 'Ala in Nu'uanu.
Unfortunately for the Kingdom, Lunalilo had died before naming an heir to the throne. In the weeks before his death, it was said that he considered designating Queen Emma, the widow of Kamehameha IV to be his successor. Indeed, the bachelor King had once, in better health, even considered marrying the gracious and delicate Queen Emma, an offer to end her widowhood to which she was said not to be averse. Believing that it was the intention of the dying monarch to name her as his heir, Queen Emma actively competed against David Kalakaua for the selection of a monarch in 1874. When she lost the election, her avid supporters rioted in downtown Honolulu, burning down the Courthouse where the Kingdom's legislature convened.
Queen Emma was born on January 2, 1836 to Fanny Kakelaokalani Young and George Naea. The granddaughter of the Englishman, John Young, who served many years as Kamehameha the Great's advisor, she was also the great-granddaughter of Keliimaikai, the half-brother of Kamehameha I. Also a student of the Royal School, Emma married Alexander Liholiho, Kamehameha IV on June 19, 1856. Two years later, she gave him an heir to the throne, Prince Albert Leiopapa Kamehameha. Tragically, the young prince died at the age of four, followed several months later by his father in 1863.
The widowed Queen Emma then devoted herself to her many charities. In 1860, she had been instrumental in the founding of Queen's Hospital for which she continued to play an active role through the women's volunteer society. She made an extensive tour of England from 1865-66, stimulating an interest in Hawai'i's Anglican Church, an institution that she also helped to bring to the islands. Queen Emma also supported the establishment of 'Iolani School which was named for her husband.
At his death, the estate of King Lunalilo had been sold for the support of the Lunalilo Home, an institution devoted to providing shelter and support for Hawaiian elderly. However, his Waikiki lands of Ka-lua-o-kau were bequeathed to his friend, Queen Emma. She resided occasionally at her Waikiki home which was marked on the 1897 map of the district as being close to Waikiki Road (later called Kalakaua Avenue) and 'Apuakehau Stream. She had the stones from Papa'ena'ena, the ancient heiau near the base of Diamond Head, dismantled and moved to her home to be used as a wall around her estate. Near her home, the Waikiki School and a Hawaiian church were built on lands today directly across from the Moana Hotel.
When Queen Emma died at the age of 49 on April 25, 1885, her remains were interred at the Royal Mausoleum in Nu'uanu Valley. In accordance with her many years of devotion to Queen's Hospital, her vast land holdings, including Ka-lua-o-kau, were put into trust, the proceedings from their use to support the hospital. Over the years, the land had been used for many purposes, eventually becoming a parking lot for the Outrigger Canoe Club, which leased the land from the Queen Emma Estate. The clubhouse complex was across the street at the site of the present day Outrigger Hotel. Then on January 16, 1955, Donn Beach, an entrepreneur best known as Don the Beachcomber, announced anew use for Ka-lua-o-kau. A new "Waikiki village" was to be created by Paul W. Trousdale and Clint Murchinson, Jr. with plans by architects Wimberly & cook. The new village was to be called "The International Market Place."
The market place was originally designed to encompass 14 acres of Queen Emma Estate lands between the Waikiki Theater and the just-completed Princess Ka'iulani Hotel, extending from Kalakaua Avenue halfway to Kuhio Avenue. Intended to meet the visitors expectations of Waikiki being a casual, tropical village with the arts, crafts, entertainment and foods of Hawai'i's truly diverse people, the International Market Place reflected the early awareness that cultural tourism required a creative vision. Villages of various ethnic groups including Hawaiian, South Sea Islander, Japanese, Chinese, Indian and Filipino were to be built. Original plans called for the construction of a small hotel with a tropical design on the land presently occupied by Kuhio Mall - if the need for more rooms in Waikiki ever made the venture financially viable. The premier restaurant in the marketplace was to be Don the Beachcombers.
Over the last hundred years, Waikiki and Ka-lua-o-kau have undergone tremendous change. The International Market Place, as a central pedestrian shopping village under the shade of her historic banyan, has in the last forty years grown into a busy, exciting bazaar of small shops, food stands, Polynesian entertainment, restaurants, an art gallery and storytelling theatre. As Waikiki's future continues to evolve, the sense of its Hawaiian heritage becomes all that more meaningful, instilling a pride and respect for its ancient and recent past.
Sources
Don Hibbard and David Franzen, The View from Diamond Head
Samuel M. Kamakau, Tales and Legends of the People of Old
Keone Nunes, Hawaiian language and culture specialist
Barbara Petersen, Notable Women of Hawai'i
Mary Pukui and Samuel H. Elbert, Hawaiian Dictionary
Edward B. Scott, Saga of the Sandwich Isles
"Waikiki Village Opens", The Honolulu Advertiser, January 16, 1955
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