HONOLULU (KHON2) – In ahupuʻa of Kawailoa, which is in moku of Waialua here on Oʻahu, once stood the first hotel on this side of the island.
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We are talking about the Haleʻiwa Hotel.
While the Moana Hotel, now known as the Moana Surfrider, is considered the “First Lady of Waikīkī,” the Haleʻiwa Hotel on the north shore of the island was opened a year earlier by the Oʻahu Railway and Land Company.
Located at the end of the Oʻahu Railroad Line, the Haleʻiwa Hotel was built as a measure to expand and diversify rail operations.
The Haleʻiwa Hotel, which opened on August 5, 1899, was built in the Victorian style, cost $40,000, and could accommodate about 30 guests.
The hotel was known for growing its own fruit and vegetables, raising its own chickens, and catching fresh fish every morning.
Back then there was a stark contrast to what we see today.
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Imagine: Instead of a boat harbor, the railroad tracks led to a depot station, where passengers got off the train and crossed a bridge over the Anahulu River to the Haleʻiwa Hotel on the opposite side.
And I wonder if this is the foundation for what was once one end of this pedestrian bridge.
In 1900, a hotel room with a $2 round-trip ticket from Honolulu to Haleʻiwa cost only $3 per day.
But the more people drove, the less they used the train. The railway company and its hotel increasingly got into financial difficulties.
The Oʻahu Railway closed its hotel operations in 1928 and the building was converted into a private club.
During World War II it was used as an army officers’ club until it was demolished in 1952.
As a new building was constructed in its place and the Haleʻiwa Harbor replaced the railroad tracks, the landscape changed over time.
Today, Haleʻiwa Joe’s restaurant occupies the building and the legacy and stories of the Haleʻiwa Hotel live on.
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