The History of Waikīkī (1989) | PBS HAWAIʻI CLASSICS

[@thomarch81]

I'm from mainland/Missouri with an awesome island adventrue career living/working as design resort Architect over 7 years in late 1987 -1993 in Waikiki! This at the time this video created & thank you / Mahalo for posting this as memories are back then for me! Still have colleagues/friends there keeping in touch! How Waikiki to airport has further grown & has changed with each visit back up to 2020s!

[@Kim-mz8co]

Thank you for posting this presentation. Hawai'i was my home for 9 years. I get a very different sensation when I remember Hawai'i than I do from thoughts of ANY of the amazing places and 4 countries I've lived in. I taught in schools there, did social work with the elderly, and published bilingual Hawaiian-English books while I was there. Watching this video triggers so many sensations of smells, sounds, and the feeling of water and sunsets. My skin aches and I experience a sadness and appreciation for old home Hawai'i. Thank you. Best wishes from Cambodia.

[@lprks60]

Stayed at the Moana Resort in the 1980’s for $100 the whole week ! Beautiful, had the original wood paneling that I think is painted now. Don Ho would sing in the lounge 😊

[@ikaikamaleko8370]

No place like home, the food, the ppl, the beaches, flowers, fauna, the mana, one of a kind.

[@ggrace1133]

So true. I’ve often wished I was born Hawaiian, I love the people and culture so.

[@mikethompson3534]

Mr Hong you couldn’t have said it any better about kids now days. Kids now days are mentally challenged and can’t interact with other people because they are locked up in their rooms staring at a phone or computer screen

[@JAnotherday]

Wonderful old times! Thank you

[@paula889]

Thanks for posting the classic videos.

[@pohanahawaii]

🌺 Mahalo nui loa, PBS Hawai'i!

[@kamuelalee]

I remember watching these shows as a kid in Kaneohe. Mahalo for reposting.

[@robertivers4200]

Took a surf lesson on Waikiki in 1965 at the age of 16. I was in Heaven😊 then we went to Kauai to the Coco Palms and it was paradise❤😊❤changed my life forever. Got married in Maui 1978 stayed at Hana. Went t9 Mona twice in 80s but always wanted to go back to Kauai to Hanalei. Instead I just keep a Hawaiian themed home😊Aloha❤

[@myronyoshioka8742]

Great video and a wonderful recollection of our precious past.....Mahalo Plenty

[@fabulousfinds1045]

Listening to Chinn Ho is so sad - if he only saw Waikiki now: Vegas style strip with high end stores and homeless encampments lining the beach...

[@mariomacias1146]

Is it worth going?

[@normamattson-liu1412]

I love all of this, the song and music, the pictures, the people sharing stories. I'm going to look for more of these ... 🤙🤙

[@dtna]

I miss the old Oahu.... The outdoor Ala Moana Mall, Ward Warehouse, Kalapana, C&K and Mililani Town! Waikiki wasn't a beach. All the sand there was shipped over from Manhattan Beach in CA until the '70s.

[@viethuynh6808]

I lived in Waikiki from 2009-2019. I love Hawaii. Now I’m living in California. The weather is always warm in Hawaii. I just ride the bus 8 kuhio to Ala Moana to diamond head clubhouse. Paul Newell is the director of the clubhouse. I work at times supermarket and kalani high school.

[@laurakibben4147]

Da bus!

[@ワクチンパパ]

私は日本に住んでいる日本人です。ウクレレを弾いているお爺さんのアロハシャツと同じ物が家にありビックリしました。昔から家にあったので1960年代のアロハシャツだと思います。大切にします。

[@4FYTfa8EjYHNXjChe8xs7xmC5pNEtz]

昔ハワイに住んだことあるの？

[@ワクチンパパ]

住んでいた事はありませんが３０年前位まではよく行っていました。2週間ほど滞在しレンタカーでオアフ中回ってました。よく行ってたので現地の日系の友達ができ色々なところに連れていってもらいました。今は有名な観光地は有料になってますが当時は無料が多かったしレンタカーも駐車場も安かったですね。

[@dougl945]

I moved there about this time. Stayed 10 years. I miss it. It’s not the same anymore.

[@TheWoodensong]

I really loved the entire video but hearing Andy Cummings singing his song, “Waikiki” put me over the top! His “outgoing music that ran during the closing credits were awesome as well…. Now, I gotta find the music to the “Waikiki” tune and or it up on my ukulele…

[@Mikenopolis]

It's June 2023 and my first time in Waikiki I would've like the old Waikiki, what I'm seeing now isn't what imagined it to look like. It's now similar to the Vegas strip, just quieter and less crowded, and with a beach that you can't see unless you go through a hotel or alley. The International Market Place is just an outdoor mall. Being from Southern California and living 10 minutes from the beach, It's almost not worth it to come here. Luckily good food can still be found.

[@lindawoody8501]

I've only visited Waikiki four times and three times at the Sheraton Moana (once in the then 1970 new tower addition). Lovely lovely place and nice historical exhibitions. My Grandfather was US Navy and was in the islands a few times for months on end on Oahu and the Big Island near Volcano.

[@MilesCobbett]

I used to drive a red Paradise Pedicab in Waikiki back in 1980. I had been a bicycle racer back on the mainland before moving to Hawaii and couldn't believe I could get a job using my cycling skills and make money providing a service for Tourist Visitors :) 😀

[@tonytygrrHI]

Yeah! When the pedicab used to be able to park on left and right of Kalakaua Avenue! I remember!

[@dougl945]

Then they banned the pedicabs. When I moved to Waikiki in 1991, they were already gone.

[@laurakibben4147]

Does the island allow Uber, door dash, etc? Traffic was already bad enough last time I was there in '12 and I know what those damn courier services caused to my home city post COVID 🤬🤬

[@4700_Dk]

Lewers street was where they parked, by Moose’s.

[@lanaigirl]

Oh man that PBS intro at the very beginning brings back memories. I ain’t that old but it was so familiar. I love it.

[@youtube8775]

So, it's been almost 40 years & the canal hasn't noticeably risen. I don't think we need to worry about it reaching the 1st floor in our lifetime, much less the 7th floor, ever.

[@Brandespada]

24:30 A doomsayer of the time, and the doom he predicted hasn't come to pass.

[@johnrobb9408]

I did enjoy this show. Still hearing "Waikiki " every day at ORH!

[@dougl945]

It is a world that is now lost. People in 50 years will remember 2023 being the good times.

[@MM5150LA]

My first experience with being in paradise was in 1972 went back with mom and dad in 1975 papa had to return to the mainland and my mama enrolled me in Kaimuki high school so I started high school in Hawaii we did not want to return to Los Angeles California but my parents were still married and loved each other for 65 years anyway I did not make it back to paradise until 1980 stayed until 1984 got stupid and left went back in 1997 and been stuck in hell ever since LA Ca oh how I wish to return to paradise and go hopefully to heaven from paradise God how I miss paradise 😢

[@US_ARMY_25_INF._DIV.]

I lived there from 84 to 2007.....I am moving back in 2024 as a 60 year old and am going to die there hopefully ......I had to leave due to a drug/meth problem at age 42....glad i am coming back to live there on my pensions...i am a white boy from NY, but the 808 is my home...

[@nagai2962]

Thank you very much for posted!! I enjoyed it to see the very natural and nature of the local Hawaiian community!! My first time to visit with Hawaii was1980. It was a lot of condominiums and Hotels around the Waikiki street. But, it wasn’t resort of tourist areas . I remember that I see small local stores and restaurant in the street. I didn’t see the big shopping mall. We were staying at motel where the just couple blocks from Waikiki beach. Now, I’m kind of disappointed in the Waikiki beach area. Because, very expanding in the business and density of the tourist.,,,,,, ☹🙁😔😞

[@d.808lf5]

24:53, well, here we are 35 years later and the polar caps haven't melted and Waikiki is still above ground.

[@kluvsank78]

This.

[@alicen.5943]

Interesting how Mr. Datong talks about the ozone layer. Which we now call Climate Change. Much has changed in out climate since those days. I miss my Hawaii. I was blessed to grow up there from elementary to high school, right there is Waikiki and then Kapahulu, and Salt Lake. Hawaii is the only place my soul felt at ease and at home.

[@hawaiianheartbreakherstory_tm]

You forgot the mention my 3rd great grandfather high Chief Kahope was the original land owner of Waikiki “beach” bestowed to him by king kamehameha at the wedding of queen Ka’ahumanu.

[@hwn8088]

We Love Waikiki For What it Has Done For U and Me 🏖 ALOHA OI 🏄‍♂️

[@dixiewrinkle]

oh how i love this at 28:00 laughing i do not like the cold mainland weather, EITHER!!!

[@danielroque8504]

I was sitting in a restaurant (Its closed now, but served great food) across from the Hilton Hawaiian village Waikiki. The family next too me asked is there anything authentic Hawaiian here? (my answer was no). They said, we could have just went to Santa Monica.

[@jeffjeff4477]

Love Waikiki

[@kapenaliu]

Please post the waialua one next!! 😭 i know you guys gettum!!

[@rodazi]

35 years after this aired, it doesn't look like it's changed all that much. The biggest difference I noticed was at 19:31 as the shot crosses the Ala Wai on Ala Moana Blvd into the neighborhood. It looks like the Prince Hotel was less than half way through being constructed, and the Grand Waikikian (which is now a dominating presence) hadn't gone up yet. Also, it seems that sea level rise has become less of an issue than shoreline erosion.

[@justmee9441]

"Hasn't changed much". Tell me you not from Hawaii without telling me you not from Hawaii😂

[@williamwoolcock]

What role did Jack London play in bringing in tourists? Great book, "Jack London in Hawaii". With "The Royal Sport" - a humorous look at surfing. A top seller on the mainland 1906.

[@davec3651]

Miss the good days

[@jeannemoore6610]

Went to Waikiki every time I had a day off from work back before they tore down the old International Market place and there were 6 movie theaters in Waikiki. There's nothing to go to Waikiki for me any more

[@jaymo8206]

At 24:55, the speaker acknowledges the impact of climate change in the future. This segment was taped and broadcast in 1989. I lived on the Big Island then. Fast forward to 2023. Have we done anything since to combat climate change?

[@dcxxx6850]

Not enough even though we had the ability to make positive changes back then governments didn’t want to believe the facts, businesses didn’t want to decrease their profits and people didn’t want to be inconvenienced. So here we are 30 years later living with those selfish decisions. Even today people are not willing to sacrifice their comfort and convenience for future generations. Not much human intelligence in that behavior.

[@rreznor660]

It’s all BS

[@drewroycroft]

First time I went to Waikiki was in March 2020 right before Covid started. It was beautiful and not many people were visiting. This year I went back to Waikiki in February and it was so crowded and prices were ridiculous compared to 2020. People who are not native to Hawaii needs to stop moving there. It’s not a state of mind but a state of grace. I wish I could’ve been there in the 1900s.

[@iprey4surf]

I remember when the Japanese were buying up everything in the late 80's and prices 'rose' so much. Almost laughable compared to what they are now.

[@rjeezy6783]

Love the sound of that ukulele

[@jonhashi6965]

This video was on point about sea level rise. Common sense was good back then.

[@youtube8775]

Unless you are joking, tell me you don't know math & have never seen the Ala Wai Canal without telling me.

[@mr808steelers]

There's no place like home. There's no place like home. There's no place like home. 😊 No matter where you are from, nothing beats home.

[@rreznor660]

James Datong…it’s over 30 years… when is the water going to start to rise?

[@TheManofsorrows]

Waikiki is also my home but my real home is with the Lord.

[@Me97202]

🙄

[@mikeycbaby]

Prophetic towards the end with regards to climate change.

[@kathlynemarkham3119]

MAHALO ♥️🤗🙏

[@Malama_Ki]

2024: 35 years later and not a single home for sale under a MILLION dollars ANYWHERE on the island and homelessness is rampant.

[@ceciliagarrido2966]

No cabe duda que todo tiempo pasado fue mejor.

[@US_ARMY_25_INF._DIV.]

I lived there from 84 to 2007.....I am moving back in 2024 as a 60 year old and am going to die there hopefully ......I had to leave due to a drug/meth problem at age 42....glad i am coming back to live there on my pensions...i am a white boy from NY, but the 808 is my home...

[@ghaili1175]

Aloha Waikiki

[@schreds]

listening to James Dator u can only laugh .. moved outer island over 20 yrs ago when i miss Oahu or Waikiki it only takes me about a day when i return to realize its the Oahu of my youth i miss not what its become today ,, all the charm and aloha has been taken out and replaced with mainland style attitude a bit sad really

[@johnrobb9408]

Still waiting for the climate sea rise...

[@timothyzakaria7397]

Point Break movie sent me here.

[@laurakibben4147]

Whatever for?

[@laurakibben4147]

Either way, look for The Ride Back to the Soul of Surfing. Super charming movie if your not too "masculine". Don't give up on it in the first 15 minutes.

[@Paul11B2P]

🤙🤙🤙

[@hawaiianheartbreakherstory_tm]

Caucasian Americans named it Diamond Head. Stop calling it that. It’s called Leahi.

[@dougl945]

British sailors named it diamond head because there were sparkly minerals in the rock they mistook as diamonds Stop being racist. And learn your history.

[@laurakibben4147]

They could always Lahaina it and change it to a 15 minute city...🤬🤬 as i fear will happen to Haliewa.

[@ElseAndrecool]

whats wrong with a 15 minute city?

[@x3r9g6]

I was born in 88.

[@marcielynn4886]

To think it was once all a swamp.🏝

[@pulehushortribs157]

I grew up in Waikiki in the 60s and 70s lived in the jungle on Wai Nani Way, I went to Jefferson Elementary on Ala Wai and Kapahulu, at 6 learned how to Paipo at The Wall and at 11 got my first surfboard. We used to play hide and seek in the zoo when there was no waves. what a great place to grow up! A real melting pot, I pray the rising seawater doesn't make it unlivable, that would be heartbreaking if my beloved Waikiki would be only a memory

[@1veryreal]

This was before 1989. The “experts” told us the sea level would destroy cities by 1996, 2000, then 2010, then 2014, and so on. It hasn’t risen at all. When the experts like Al gore and others continue to buy ocean front real estate you have to question all their predictions and statements that never came

[@pulehushortribs157]

you are out of your mind or simply ignorant, or both, obviously you haven't been keeping up with current world affairs concerning the very real current consequences of global warming around the world or you have let your mind be corrupted by those who would lie for their own selfishness, like that fraud trump, if you haven't yet, I suggest you visit miami at high tide, talk to the local government and the military about sea level rise and what they are doing right now to keep miami liveable. I don't want to say you are an idiot but no other description seems to fit properly.@@1veryreal

[@youtube8775]

The water won't rise enough, but all of the islands will sink & new ones will be born over the course of millions upon millions of years. By then, there will be multiple mass extinctions and "dominate" species that will come & go, as has been the case on Earth since the big bang. Our only hope for survival as a species is to learn how to live in multiple places throughout the Universe.

[@pulehushortribs157]

you sound like a redneck, check close to home, ask the insurance companies in Florida about 2024 flood insurance coverage. WILL THey OR WON'T They. Do some research just like your savior Q told you too DO and stop talking like you know something, you know nothing about It. this is 2024 hillbilly lets talk about 2024 and stop spreading your stink spin!! and if you think the sea level all around the world hasn't risen, you're IGNORANT of what's happening around the world, too much time in the MUD@@1veryreal

[@kauimanera726]

Paipo board!,hadn’t heard that word in decades!,

[@patriciayomes8800]

Lady In flashy clothes look like in the 60’s

[@kauimanera726]

The hotels should never be built on the ma kai side.

[@peaceprevailonearth]

Secretary General of the World Future Studies Federation. Ok. 🤣

[@bigredfred33]

Sounds official, lol

[@fabulousfinds1045]

...and the homeless now??

[@Brandespada]

24:30 A doomsayer of the time, and the doom he predicted hasn't come to pass.

[@wannacashflow4009]

Aliens 👽?

[@Ailith]

a lot of misinformation...

[@PukaSHellTourGuide]

Sea level rise, melting polar ice caps. U see the nonsense even back then? He said Waikiki would be under water.

[@blockchainfork]

I can't tell if you are making a joke or not.

[@robertevans9897]

Great filmn but it's the way of humans we'll do the same to Mars

[@JamesCordillio]

There were just the Moana,halekulani,royal Hawaiian hotel it was paradise as chinn ho stayed.