Rearview Mirror: Kapiolani college’s early roots traced back to 1946, a pivotal year in Hawaii history

KAPIOLANI COMMUNITY COLLEGE

Kapiolani Community College now occupies a beautiful campus behind Diamond Head, where Fort Ruger once was located.

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Swimming at the Natatorium and attending football games at Honolulu Stadium were favorite activities in 1946. The Blaisdell Center and Aloha Stadium did not exist at that time.

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In 1957 the Kapiolani Technical School opened in the lower part of McKinley High at Pensacola Street and Kapiolani Boulevard in a building erected just for it. It became Kapiolani Community College 10 years later.

Kapiolani Community College is celebrating its 75th anniversary, and I participated Thursday in a webinar about Hawaii in 1946, the year the college started.

I have come to see that 1946 was a pivotal year in Hawaii’s history. Let’s take a look.

World War II had ended after four long years of fighting, internments, blackouts, rationing and martial law in the islands. The war also had brought an end to the misery of the Great Depression, and as we returned to civilian life, a new sense of optimism swept the country.

Territorial days

Hawaii was still a territory in 1946. Our governor, Ingram Stainback, was appointed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Statehood was a distant dream. We had no idea whether it would come. The application of statehood for Alaska brought Hawaii’s status to a head, and both came to pass in 1959.

In 1946 Aloha Tower was the tallest building in Hawaii. The Dole Pineapple water tower was visible from everywhere, too, even miles out to sea.

Tourism

Today 10 million tourists visit Hawaii each year and spend roughly $17 billion. In 1946 tourism, which had stopped during the war, was just beginning to return.

Before the war, tourists were mostly wealthy. They often came to Hawaii in the 1930s with a car and serv­ants, and stayed at the Moana, Royal Hawaiian, Halekulani or Alexander Young Hotel (downtown) for over a month.

After World War II the tourists who were coming to Hawaii were more middle­-class as the overall wealth of the country increased.

Economy

The Hawaii economy in 1946 was driven by sugar and pineapple, which didn’t peak for another 25 years.

Thousands of Japanese, Chinese, Portuguese, Filipinos, Koreans and Puerto Ricans had come to work on the plantations, and many had left to take other jobs or start a business.

Hawaii was dominated by the Big Five sugar producers: American Factors, Alexander & Baldwin, C. Brewer, Castle & Cooke and Theo Davies.

Today tourism, military and federal spending drive Hawaii’s economy, and agriculture is a tiny percentage of Hawaii’s revenue.

Politics was changing

Women and minorities were just beginning to speak up against white male power structures in business and government.

Young Japanese men returned from the war ready to demand a seat at the table. The “table,” by the way, was at Iolani Palace, where the governor and Legislature met.

The Republican Party ran local government until 1962, when returning vets, led by Daniel Inouye, Spark Matsunaga, John Burns and many others, brought Democrats to power.

Technology

No one had computers or even calculators in 1946. There was no worldwide web, social media or email.

We had landline phones we had to dial, and many shared a “party line” with one or more neighbors. No cellphones existed and there was no texting. Calling neighbor islands or the mainland was “long distance” and expensive.

We listened to music on phonographs with vinyl records that were often a single channel called mono. Big-band music was popular. Rock ’n’ roll, pop or rap did not yet exist.

In 1946 no one had television. Every neighborhood had one or more movie theaters — over 300 on Oahu — and the average person went to one weekly. They usually showed two films, a cartoon, a short feature and a newsreel.

The Hawaii Theatre had the word ASBESTOS across its curtain in big letters, promising fire safety. Today it says HAWAII.

We had only two radio stations: KGU and KGMB. Families often sat around the radio in the living room at night, listening to music or variety shows.

After the war many more radio stations began — KHON, KPOA and KULA — and in the early 1950s so did TV, although it was only four black-and-white channels.

Shopping

Shopping on Oahu was primarily where it had been for over 100 years: downtown. Ala Moana Center was 13 years away. Waialae Shoping Center was eight years away, and wouldn’t become the indoor Kahala Mall until 1969, another 15 years.

Some surfers or tourists wore aloha shirts. Business people wore suits. The Fashion Guild pushed for aloha wear on summer Fridays beginning in 1965 — but that was 19 years away from 1946.

Transportation

Few islanders had cars. Most rode on buses and streetcars. But after World War II autos began to dominate, although they lacked air conditioning and seat belts.

The Oahu Railway was about to shut down after a 60-year run. There were no freeways, or tunnels to the Windward side, although they were being considered in 1946.

There were no jet planes for another 15 years. We flew in propeller planes that took 10-plus hours from the mainland and landed at the old airport off Lagoon Drive.

Housing

Many who served in WWII wanted to stay in Hawaii after the war, and huge housing projects were created in Manoa, Kalihi and Palolo valleys.

Kahala in 1946 was mostly farms but was developed into luxury homes within 10 years. Hawaii Kai was farmland, too.

Central Oahu to Aiea was mostly sugar and pineapple. Mili­lani did not yet exist. The Windward side was mostly pastures and farmland.

Businesses

Longs, Zippy’s, McDonald’s, Foodland, ABC Stores and Times Supermarket did not exist in 1946.

But you could shop at Liberty House, McInerny, C.S. Wo, Ming’s, Tamashiro Market, the Ritz, Kress, Sears or Carol & Mary.

You could dine at the Columbia Inn, the Willows, KC Drive-In, Pearl City Tavern, Dot’s in Wahiawa, Kemoo Farm, Wo Fat, Waikiki Lau Yee Chai or a dozen Japanese teahouses.

First Hawaiian Bank, Bank of Hawaii, Hawaiian Airlines, Consolidated Theatres, Serv­co, Love’s Bakery, Young Laundry and HMSA were all open for business before 1946.

We played ball at Honolulu Stadium, swam at the Natatorium and watched boxing and roller derby at the Civic Auditorium. But there was no Blaisdell Center or Waikiki Shell.

News of 1946

A tsunami killed 159 on April 1, mostly on the Big Island.

Duke Kahanamoku was sheriff.

About 26,000 sugar workers began a strike on Sept. 1, 1946. It lasted 79 days and completely shut down 33 of the 34 plantations in the islands. The strike brought increased wages and benefits.

The GI Bill

In 1946 the war had just come to an end, we put down our guns and went back to our lives. Soldiers returned to find employment or go to college under the GI Bill.

In that effort to return to civilian life, we can see the beginnings of what would become Kapiolani Community College.

The first, tiny thread of it was a tuition-free training program in food services for returning vets and others needing job skills.

It was jointly done by the Department of Education, then called the Department of Public Instruction, and the Oahu Restaurant Association. The four-week program met at McKinley High School twice a week for 90 minutes beginning Oct. 15, 1946.

It was for waiters and waitresses, hosts and hostesses, and taught how to take phone reservations, menu design, seating of guests, handling complaints, etc. Graduates earned a certificate.

A year later a second thread was sewn: a nurses training program, also through the Department of Public Instruction. Classes were held at Washington Intermediate until 1949 and then in a bungalow at McKinley high.

Kapiolani Technical School

Ten years later, in 1956, a business education program was launched.

A year after that, these first three programs combined to form the Kapiolani Technical School. It occupied the lower part of McKinley High at Pensacola Street and Kapiolani Boulevard in a building erected just for it.

These programs expanded greatly, developing into Kapiolani Community College. That name was first used in 1964 when the community colleges became a part of the University of Hawaii system. The school was named for Queen Kapi‘olani, the wife of King Kalakaua.

KCC joined with the other community colleges, which had evolved out of vocational trade schools from as early as 1920. Kapiolani outgrew its “McKinley” campus and moved to the Fort Ruger site about 25 years ago.

So that’s a little bit about Kapiolani Community College and the world it was born into. I congratulate it on its 75th anniversary.

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Have a question or suggestion? Contact Bob Sigall, author of the five “The Companies We Keep” books, at [email protected].

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