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By Dr. Bob Uda, Ph.D., CM, CHSP, ILO (Reporter)
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My Kailua

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This article just came over the transit.  The article titled “My Kailua” is written by Lawrence Downes of The New York Times.  For those of you who once lived there, like the author and I, I’m sure it will bring back fond memories.

http://travel.nytimes.com/2011/09/04/travel/return-to-kailua-hawaii.html?emc=eta1

I wrote a little about “roughing” it while growing up in Keolu Hills of Kailua, Hawaii, back during 1948-62.  Here is the URL:

/story/903/054/I_TOLD_YOU_SO_Getting_Back_to_the_Basics.html

Here below is a little bit of my growing up in Kailua, Hawaii.

This is sunrise at Kailua Beach.

Hughes Drug Store during the 1940s and 50s.

The Pali Highway being built during the 1950s.

A Barefoot Boy Growing Up in Kailua, Hawaii

Country Jacks

      Upon moving from Honolulu to Kailua, we officially became known as “country jacks.”  And country jacks we were.  In the town of Kailua, we moved into a brand new subdivision and community known as Keolu Hills.

Keolu Hills Was a Great Place to Grow Up

Buying a Home

      My dad bought a home on Hele Street in Keolu Hills for $11,000 in 1948 and sold it for at least $20,000 13 years later (in 1961) when we moved to the Enchanted Lake Estates (also in Kailua) and bought a home there for $35,000.  We moved into the house at 1120 Hele Street and proceeded to make a house into a home.

      I see on the Internet that the homes in Keolu Hills are now selling for anywhere between $300,000 and $650,000 and more.  Unbelievable!  And I also see that range is one of the lower priced range of homes in Kailua.  In Enchanted Lake Estates, the homes now range from $650,000 to $1,200,000 (lakeshore homes).  Unbelievable!  In Lanikai, the homes there go up to $10 million (oceanfront homes) and more.  Unbelievable!

      When we first moved there in 1948, there were about 100 homes in the Keolu Hills community.  We got to know almost everybody in Keolu Hills.  This fact was made possible because we had newspaper routes for years in that community.  Keolu Hills was just one huge family.  It was great growing up there.

Geography of Keolu Hills

      Keolu Hills was surrounded by a mountain range on one side, guava and wild plum fields we called Indian Valley on another side, and the Kawainui Swamp on the third side.  Mango field (or Mounawili) was situated beyond Indian Valley.  It was a beautiful, cozy community nestled between these three geographical sides.  I loved Keolu Hills.

House Warming

      Shortly after we moved into our home, my parents held a house warming.  The house warming was nothing less than a huge luau with kalua pig cooked under ground in an imu (underground oven) in our back yard plus all of the other familiar Hawaiian foods.  My mother was good at preparing delicious Hawaiian foods because she was ably taught how on the Big Island by her pure Hawaiian adoptive parents.

Yard Work

      Kids from throughout the neighborhood always congregated at our home.  Mom would put them all to work in the yard.  The incentive she provided was to feed them well . . . all of the good food they wanted to eat.  So there always were kids working in our yard.  Remember the signs you see held by street beggars these days?  “I’ll work for food.”  Well, my mom had those hungry kids truly working for food.

      Because I did so much work in the yard as a youth, I now hate working in the yard.  That’s why I never work in the yard at all.  I would rather pay a yardman to come in each week and clean it up for 30 minutes and pay him 10 bucks.

      The most meaningless kind of work I can ever think of doing is yard work.  You pull the weeds.  Weeks later, they all grow back.  You mow the lawn, and it grows back in a week.  You trim the edges and hedges, and they grow back.

      It’s like getting a haircut or trimming your fingernails and toenails.  They all grow back!  We only do it out of necessity.  It’s never lasting . . . unless of course you burn your hair off or cut the ends off your fingers and toes (nails included).  Then and only then is it permanent and lasting.

      Writing is more permanent and lasting.  If you write a classic book, it could last throughout the ages.  That leaves a lot better legacy than mowing the lawn or trimming the hedges.  Remember, the pen is mightier than the sword  . . . or the plow.

Kailua Quarry

      Remember the Kailua Quarry adjacent to the Campos Dairy and adjacent cow pastures?  The quarry was an area filled with mounds of coral rock, which was crushed and made into concrete for the building industry that constructed homes and commercial buildings throughout Kailua and surrounding towns.  The noisy rock crushing went on during the workdays for years, and ready-mix concrete trucks would go in and out of the quarry all day long.

      When the quarry was first begun, the guy who started the business approached my father to go into business with him.  Being risk averse, my father declined the opportunity.  Well, the guy became a millionaire and my father didn’t.  Another missed opportunity.  I had several similar opportunities throughout my life, but I let them slip through my fingers too.  Dumb!

Fond Memories

      After a 29-year hiatus, we visited Hawaii in March 1999.  I drove my kids to see our old house at 1120 Hele Street.  It brought back a rush of fond memories.  And you know what, the yard looked the same as it did 50 years ago!

      Over the years, my memory has faded.  Because of that, after being away for so long, I thought that Liku Street was a steep hill that we had skateboarded on when we were kids.  Well, I took my children to see this steep street, and, when we got there, lo and behold, it looked almost flat!  I couldn’t believe my eyes!  My kids razzed me about this steep hill we used to go down speeding with our bikes and skateboards.  I just couldn’t believe it!

      I definitely had a senior moment.  Later on, I found out from someone that Liku Street was not the steep street.  I was thinking of the wrong street.  It was the next street over.  I believe it was Hui Street that was a steep hill.  The next time I take my kids to Hawaii, I am going to show them the right street so that they will stop razzing me about it already.

###




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    • Live Free or Die

      Hey Bob! Thanks for sharing; I too had the opportunity of a lifetime to spend a brief year + in Kailua back in 78/79 while my dad, who worked for NSA at the time, got us transferred out there. To say that my short stay there molded me for life would be an understatement! At 15, the short bike ride to the beach was pure Heaven; the Pakalolo the best in the world! We lived in the Enchanted Lakes Estate while there, too; thanks for bringing back fine memories! Aloha…

    • Dr. Bob Uda, Ph.D., CM, CHSP, ILO

      @Live Free or Die,
      Glad you enjoyed it. When I was in college, we moved from Keolu Hills to Enchanted Lakes Estates (around 1961 time period). My dad, as construction superintendent, helped build many of the homes in the Enchanted Lake Estates. How nostalgic it is to reminisce of “the good old days” back in Kailua Hawaii. Cheers!

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