Hawaiian Roots

Hawaiian Roots Native Hawaiian culture, history and pride. Genealogy, too. Curated by Christine Hitt

Then and now: Santa Cruz, California, where, in 1885, three Hawaiian princes “rode the waves at the mouth of the San Lor...
06/07/2025

Then and now: Santa Cruz, California, where, in 1885, three Hawaiian princes “rode the waves at the mouth of the San Lorenzo River on redwood planks,” over 100 pounds in weight and 15 feet in length.

The princes and brothers, HRH Jonah Kūhiō Kalanianaʻole (sitting), HRH David Laʻamea Kahalepouli Kawānanakoa (left) and HRH Edward Abnel Keliʻiahonui (right), were attending a school in San Mateo and vacationing in Santa Cruz at the time.

This was the first recorded account of surfing on the continent, as it was reported in a Santa Cruz newspaper.

A plaque with the three princes was added at Santa Cruz Surfing Museum at Mark Abbott Memorial Lighthouse. Present-day photo and video by

Moku Pāpapa is illustrated on historical maps and referred to in old ship journals. It’s written about in early newspape...
10/18/2024

Moku Pāpapa is illustrated on historical maps and referred to in old ship journals. It’s written about in early newspaper articles and spoken of in Hawaiian chants and stories. It is somewhere southwest (not northwest) of Niʻihau, around the small island of Kaʻula, but its exact location is a mystery. Here’s all the maps & English articles I could find:

1. An undated French map from the 1700s of the “Sandwich Islands,” recreated from an officer’s map in the Cook expedition.

2. 1835 Dutch map

3. 1843 London Hydrographic Office of the Admiralty map

4. 1847 French “Sandwich Isles” map

5. 1856 US Navy North Pacific Surveying Expedition map. R refers to rock.

6. April 16, 1870, Pacific Commercial Advertiser article

7. May 8, 1918, Honolulu Star-Advertiser article

8. 1925 Territory of Hawaii map published by the US Coast Guard and Geodetic Survey. I believe Moku Papapa is denoted as “Rk” (rock again?) here, next to Kaula.

9. 1990 book “Niihau: The Traditions of an Hawaiian Island”

My full article about Moku Pāpapa, including interviews and more info, can be found at https://www.sfgate.com/hawaii/article/moku-papapa-hawaii-five-fathom-pinnacle-19832554.php

Portrait taken circa 1912, by photographer R.J. Baker. No other details.
09/21/2024

Portrait taken circa 1912, by photographer R.J. Baker. No other details.

Pre-lūʻau photo in front of this stunning house in Moanalua. No date or other details. Update: The photo is reference...
09/17/2024

Pre-lūʻau photo in front of this stunning house in Moanalua. No date or other details.

Update: The photo is referenced in the book “The Hawaiian Calabash” by Irving Jenkins. “The thatched Hawaiian house was a private museum on the grounds of [Samuel] Damon’s estate at Moanalua, Oahu. … The posts hewn from trees and the limbs or branches which serve as beams are bound together by a cord fashioned of plant fibers, and not a single nail has been employed in the construction.”

One of my favorites photos… that looks somewhat like a painting? Kahakuloa in the distance. Based on the angle, I believ...
09/15/2024

One of my favorites photos… that looks somewhat like a painting? Kahakuloa in the distance. Based on the angle, I believe the fisherman was on Molokai. What do you think?

The inscription says cowboy, but no date, name or other context is given. Photo courtesy Hawaii State Archives, filed un...
09/15/2024

The inscription says cowboy, but no date, name or other context is given. Photo courtesy Hawaii State Archives, filed under Hawaiian men.

Pre-1900 portrait of Hawaiians. No details. Photo: Hawaii State Archives
09/03/2024

Pre-1900 portrait of Hawaiians. No details. Photo: Hawaii State Archives

Portrait, pre-1900. No details. Photo: Hawaii State Archives
09/03/2024

Portrait, pre-1900. No details. Photo: Hawaii State Archives

Imagining the number of canoes that must have been seen from here to inspire so many engravings of these crab claw shape...
05/01/2024

Imagining the number of canoes that must have been seen from here to inspire so many engravings of these crab claw shaped sails…

In this petroglyph field on the island of Hawaiʻi, there are about 155 petroglyphs of crab claw sails among a sea of approximately 480 total petroglyphs at Kaʻūpūlehu, next to the cultural center at Kona Village Resort.

“You think about the location. It was a place where they could safely enter the bay to rest,” Kumu Wela, the cultural manager, said. “This could have been the greenest or most abundant of foliage, which means water under us. … There could have been lots of hala trees. Hala was the material of choice to weave to make these sails. Or for trade or barter. The families on this coast here actually made salt.”

The last photo, she says, is of a kite. They were used as tools “by our sailors because they need to check the wind speed and things like that.” And, she says, it could have been used for kite fishing. “They were survivalists. They were creative. I believe our people were geniuses.”

Moku o Loʻe, Kāneʻohe Bay, Oʻahu. No date.
02/08/2024

Moku o Loʻe, Kāneʻohe Bay, Oʻahu. No date.

Night fishing, courtesy Hawaii State Archives. No info.
11/04/2023

Night fishing, courtesy Hawaii State Archives. No info.

1, 2, & 3: Lāhainā, watercolor and pencil by James Sawkins, 1855. (That’s Waineʻe church, Mokuʻula island surrounded by ...
08/20/2023

1, 2, & 3: Lāhainā, watercolor and pencil by James Sawkins, 1855. (That’s Waineʻe church, Mokuʻula island surrounded by Mokuhinia fishpond.)

4. Lāhainā coconut grove wood engraving from a daguerreotype by B. Jay Antrum, 1856

5. Lāhainā illustration by Charles Nordhoff, 1875

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