I recall, when I was little, going on a tour of the WARD estate, a big 2 story house with a large swamp land around it, off of King Street. This area was filled in with coral and built up to what is called Ala Moana area. There were a lot of catfish in the swamp and tall overgrown grass. You couldn’t walk in that area, Ala Moana was all water and mud.
Back then people would shop at Downtown and it was very much like Ala Moana Center except it was all flat, 2 story wooden structures. Sears, Hackfeild’s(formerly Liberty House, now Macy’s) were the popular store to go to. Kress’s was the popular discount store, right across from what is now Long’s Dugs Downtown. The highest building back then was the Aloha Tower, which stands a midget in comparison to the very tall buildings in Downtown now.
The roads were often dirt and there were trolley cars attached to electrical wires above and ran on rails that transported people instead of buses.
Wherever the main stops were, Kaimuki, McCully, Moiliili, little towns sprung up with little stores(like ABC or 7-11), and good eating restaurants or okazuya’s.
Moiliili had Diamond Bakery, Kapahulu had Love’s Bakery and Leonard’s Bakery (home of the Malasadas), and McCully had King’s Bakery, Liliha has Liliha Bakery( still very popular for Coco Puffs).
Remembering these places, brings back many fun and enjoyable memories of good eats and shopping.