Halawa Xeriscape Garden

A fun Saturday at the Halawa Xeriscape Garden Open House

sponsored by the Garden and the Board of Water Supply.

A very nice Cactus and Succulent display.

A bag of free mulch for each person!

Dole Pineapple Water Tower

For more than 60 years the Dole Pineapple Water Tower was a prominent icon in Honolulu. 

   Rick Carroll, in 1986, writing in The Honolulu Advertiser, noted that “locals use it for directions. Are you Ewa or Diamond Head of the pineapple?’ they ask.”

   In 1927, the Hawaiian Pineapple Co., later Dole Pineapple, in Iwilei needed a water tower for its cannery’s fire-prevention sprinkler system. The company was enlarging its cannery operations, which now covered some 19 acres. Hawaii architect Charles William Dickey, James Dole’s brother-in-law, proposed to company engineer Simes Thurston Hoyt that the water tank might be fashioned to resemble a pineapple. Hoyt ordered blow-ups of the fruit, Ananas comosus—which is neither a pine nor an apple—and began sketching. He designed a 100,000-gallon tank, complete with 46 leaves, in eight sizes, rotated “to avoid too much regularity.” The tallest leaf was nearly nine feet tall, the smallest three feet. The tank would be 40 feet tall with a 24-foot circumference, constructed of 5/16 steel plates. He decreed that it should be painted in the “appearance of a pineapple.”

   The Pineapple Water Tower was completed in January 1928 and CB&I’s newsletter, The Watertower, predicted that it would “no doubt be one of the important objects of interest to visitors at Honolulu.” The tower was shipped by rail and steamship to Hawaii. Originally it had green leaves and a canary-yellow body. It was erected on Feb. 23, 1928, placed on 100-foot steel legs atop the cannery, its tip nearly 200 feet above sea level. Because of its height, it was certified by the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Service as a beacon to arriving ships and—when floodlit at night—as a signal to airplanes.

   By the early ’90s, the pineapple’s steel-girder legs grew rusty. Soon its paint job faded and streaks of rust appeared down its flanks. The cannery closed in December 1992, and the pineapple was dismantled in October 1993, cut up into its original three pieces, and put in storage. Dole Canneries was converted to a movie-theater complex, sandwich shops and parking lots.

   In 2001, the crown was put on display near the cannery, but it was soon stored again. In 2006, a bill was introduced in the Hawaii Legislature to preserve the tank. It went nowhere, but it was a worthwhile effort.  By 2009,  “It’s gone...It was badly corroded."

Information gathered and quoted from Honolulu-Magazine/March-2010/The-Largest-Pineapple-in-the-World

Sun Halo in Hawaii, June 27, 2017

Wow!  Sun Halo seen in Ewa Beach, Hawaii, on June 27, 2017.

The halo is produced by light interacting with ice crystals

 suspended in the atmosphere.

Hokule'a Arrives Home - June 17, 2017

Hōkūle‘a and Hikianalia, our Polynesian voyaging canoes, sailed across Earth’s oceans to join and grow the global movement toward a more sustainable world. 

Hōkūleʻa, our Star of Gladness, began as a dream of reviving the legacy of exploration, courage, and ingenuity that brought the first Polynesians to the archipelago of Hawaiʻi.  See http://www.hokulea.com for more information.

St. Andrew's Priory - 150 Years

St Andrew's Priory just celebrated her 150th birthday.

Queen Emma was honored for founding the school at a time where education was limited.

Ascension Day and Queen Emma Ball events highlighted the school's achievements and goals.

Pride for Ewa 2017

Pride for Ewa 2017

lots of vendors - food, art, non-profit booths

and entertainment -- local groups

highlighted by Maunalua and Natalie Aii Kamauu

The Hub - Contemporary Art

The Hub -- contemporary art gallery -- right now part of the Honolulu Biennial art displays.

Just a taste of some of the art work displayed.

You really have to read the little blurbs that accompany each art to understand what the artist is saying.  Some depicting culture, history, cruelty, migration, nuclear disasters, etc.  Many video and interactive displays. Then there was the live performance of dancers who at one point carried bamboo stalks with leaves.