Water Drum Song.

About 10 years ago, I remember reading an article mentioning that the meaning for the Town of “Waipahu” meant Water Drum and that water was sometime pour into drums to give it a desired pitch. This journal is basically about this town of about 35,000, which is not really a tourist destination. It is sometimes call “Sugar Town” as it basically was in the midst of sugar cane fields and also was the site of a fairly large sugar mill. The population is mainly inhabited by Filipinos, the latest of various immigrant groups brought into Hawaii to work the Sugar and Pineapple fields which for almost 100 years were the King industries for Hawaii.

About 30 years ago, with the competion of cheaper labor in the Philippines and Central America, the sugar and pineapple industries here were dying a slow death, and tourism became our saving grace. Just last month, the last pineapple plantation on this island announced it’s planned closing much to the surprise and anxiety of it’s employees. I remembered riding around the island as a lad, seeing miles and miles of either sugar cane or pineapples, but today these fields have been replaced by new tract subdivision homes.

Especially in Ewa a smaller village about 5 miles away from Waipahu, the land has been found especially desirable for the much coveted single family dwellings because of it’s flat terrain and it’s abundance. It also had a Sugar Mill which ceased operation about 15 years ago. Ewa in Hawaiian means “crooked or chaotic”, indeed a very strange name given to it, over a hundred years ago. When the mill there closed down, the people living in the homes built in the early 1900 were in danger of being evicted as they were no longer needed by the sugar co., as employees.

However, by some deal brokered by the City, the people in Ewa Village were able to remain in their old plantation homes and it would even be refurbished by the City. Basically it should have been a win-win situation, with the people being guaranteed a roof over their heads, the City looked as a benevolent savior and the sugar co. were somewhat compensated. However, it was not all roses as a scandal arose, as it was reported that some of the City Employees who headed the project, had done some skimming of the funds, or charging for work or materials which were never used. At least one went to prison and I think one committed suicide, and the Mayor had some egg on his face and lots of explaining to do. Some of the residents were also complaining of the shabby repair work.

So somehow, unwittingly, the forefathers who picked the name of Ewa or “Crooked” fulfilled a sort of prophesy. However, on the positive side, one can say the inhabitants of Ewa Village are living in a living museum. Because of our tropical humidity and termites, most houses are demolished after 60 or 70 years, as much of the original plantation homes in Waipahu were. Some of the old homes of Waipahu are now in a Museum called the Hawaiian Plantation Village-Museum. Aside from this Museum which is quite small, there is very little for the visitor to see here except maybe for the new Waikele Shopping Complex which is the site for many Clothing Outlets Stores and Japanese tourists especially are strongly attracted to it.

Waipahu is also the site of probably the largest Soccer Complex in the U.S. About 15 years ago, when it seem like Soccer would become an American craze, they decided to build a huge field, hoping maybe to even host International tournaments and possible attract the wealth and recognition that would come with it. Anyway the game hasn’t never quite take off in the U.S., so the huge complex is pretty much a white elephant with only local teams seeming to use it.

By the way, I did Google the name Waipahu to see if maybe there was an interesting legend to the Water Drum name. However, to my surprised it said that Waipahu actually meant “Exploding or Bursting Water” possibly referring to the many gushing springs which they said the area has an abundance of. I also checked into the Hawaiian Dictionary, which also supported this claim. So I guess I’ll leave it up to the reader to decide which name they wish to believe it means.

As mentioned earlier, most of the sugar cane fields and pineapple fields are now multitudes of subdivisions of middle class homes inhabited mostly by generation X’ers, who commute to Honolulu to work.. Without traffic, the commute can be done in less than ½ an hour, but during rush hours the commute can sometimes take as long as 2 hours. This has been the trade off being able to buy a pretty affordable nice single family dwelling.

Just this past week after many months of controversy, the Council approved a raised mass transit system to be built from Ewa-Waipahu to Honolulu, by a vote of 7 to 2. Some of the reasons for the resistance by many Islanders is that everyone’s taxes will be raised to support it, the aesthetics’ of our environment will be severely impacted and of course the construction of it will cause much disruption in the already severe traffic problems presently facing the commuters.

Many opponents also prophesize that many commuters will not readily give up their vehicles to use this subway and so it will be severely underused. Other problems may be the obtaining of Right-of-ways and running into underground facilities that may need to be relocated. adding to the already high price tag. Of course if it does solve the terrible traffic nightmare for the commuters it would be a great victory and also provide many jobs for the construction industry.

The photos here are of Waipahu including the Hawaii Plantation Village Museum, nearby Ewa Village and Waikele new subdivision and Shopping Complex, the Pearl Ridge Shopping Mall and of a Youth Dance Group performing at Ala Moana SC.

Happy and Prosperous New Year to All.

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