April
1929: Paradise of the Pacific, predecessor to HONOLULU Magazine, welcomes
a new museum to the city-the Honolulu Art Academy. “Anything less like the accepted
idea of a museum would be hard to find. There is no musty smell, no dark corners,
no hush of the vaults of antiquity. Its atmosphere is that of a friendly home
of people of culture,” writes Paradise. Now known as the Honolulu Academy of Arts,
the museum was founded in 1927 by Anna Rice Cooke and built on a Cooke family
home site donated for that purpose. At the time of this article, one half of the
academy, designed by Goodhue Associates, had been built. April
1934: This view looking mauka on Bishop Street accompanies an article
on the varied life of downtown Honolulu. “Honolulu has its staid business houses,”
notes Paradise of the Pacific. “It has its dignified bank buildings and office
structures. There are the steamship offices, the trust companies, insurance companies
and the headquarters of big interests. Here are the factors and agents for the
sugar plantations. Vast establishments, always busy.” April 1949:
Paradise of the Pacific visits the entertainers and “glamor” spots
of post-War Waikïkï. Pictured here are Dan and Ginny Wallace, (at left) then featured
ballroom dancers at the Royal Hawaiian hotel; and the cast of a show called The
Drunkard, playing at the Tavern, including Vanessie Meyerhoff, William Tuttle
and Phyllis Shield, here (below right) shown “hamming it up on the beach.” April
1954: Paradise of the Pacific profiles local radio talent Michiko Arakaki,
star of the KPOA serial radio drama, Romance Time with Michiko. Arakaki’s show
“unfolds the daily adventures of ordinary people. It delves deeply into their
loves and romances, their triumphs and tragedies, their joys and jealously, their
troubles and their triangles,” writes Paradise. Romance Time with Michiko was
the ratings equal of such Mainland serials as Ma Perkins (a popular radio show
which ran from 1933 to 1960), but with some key differences-Romance Time with
Michiko was performed entirely in Japanese, with Arakaki performing all the roles. April
1969: “In late February, downtown merchants dedicated their new $4
million Fort Street Mall, complete with fountains, benches, flower boxes,” observes
HONOLULU Magazine. The result is an improvement over “the narrow street that clogged
with traffic,” but the buildings still looked “ticky-tacky,” complained the magazine,
with two exceptions. “Only Andrade and the Boston Building have done something
about their old fashioned buildings … PAINT!” As shown here, Andrade had gone
for a hot pink, the Boston Building a bright green. A Ross Store and the parking
structure of Executive Center now occupy this space. |
