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Are there any "old timers" out there who remember what it was like to drive between Pahoa (or further out) and Hilo before Route 130 was created? Was it clear and straightforward? Lots of detours? How was the traffic? Were all the speed limits "residential" (i.e. 25 or 35 mph)? How long did it take?
With all the debate about the parlous state of the road today and the need for urgent improvements, I was wondering how much of a difference the existing Route 130 made "back then".
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I have neighbors in their 80's and 90's who have lived here all their lives. You won't find them on the internet. When I have asked about the road to Hilo in the old days I was told that generally no one took it. Too bumpy and slow. They all road the sugar cane train back and forth to Hilo.
Here in 2008 light rail is an expensive dream. In 1948 it was what was happening.
Assume the best and ask questions.
Punaweb moderator
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Hahaha! :-) You almost had me there Damon!
If only it were life-sized... and island-wide... a girl can dream can't she? ;-)
aloha, Liz
"The best things in life aren't things."
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i dont think i qualify as an "old timer" but i can say when i first came in the late 70's this was one quiet island. i used to walk from oshiro road to the mountain view postoffice about 3 miles i think and not see a single car... sometimes it would be spooky with the wind whistling in the trees. sometimes i could drive all the way to keaau and not pass another car. once my dad and i drove down by HPP we started to go in but decided it was too spooky and unsafe and full of "jungle-bunnies" as my dad called the people who squatted on the land out there. my fondest memory of hilo town was this old black witch that would put a hex on you if you didnt give her money.. she hung out at the old liberty store which is now down to county offices. she was quite the character. and kalapana if you drove all that way which you didnt do very often, well you could buy ocean front acreage for about 5 thousand dollars. of course that is all gone now. i loved it when 45 mph speed limit was island wide, people drove with aloha and no one was in a hurry... of course there were no jobs to hurry off too.....[
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quote:
my fondest memory of hilo town was this old black witch that would put a hex on you if you didnt give her money
Amazing! How many old black witches could there have been in Hawaii in the 70s. I lived in the same rooming house with one in Lahaina in 72 (Fred Kobatake's Rooms and Apts., behind the sugar mill). It appears she moved to the BI.
Pua`a
S. FL
Big Islander to be.
Pua`a
S. FL
Big Islander to be.
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Oink i bet it was her! very loud, long braided hair, always in very colorful clothes, multilayered.. she was quite a fixture in old hilo town, wonder what that starbucks would have thought of her!!! it is right in her former cruising area! maui must have gotten too expensive for her... wasnt it around 74 when the canadian money started flowing into maui? we are sure getting maui transplants now, i would say 1 out of 3 new neighbors around me are from maui!
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A different area .. but I was told by old timers when I lived out in Honomu ...
that there was an opium den below the old theater and there was +5 bars in town, and they had to station a cop out there because it was like "little Chicago"... this was from a person who is now probably close to 88 ish... the population out there was closer to 5000 than the 700+ now.
Honomu?? Our sleepy little village???? ha ha
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Yes, that had to be her. I believe she was on disability from the state for mental reasons (go figure). There were chickens that used to run loose there including inside the building which I believe was an old barracks. Whenever a chicken would cackle she would be scrambling to make sure she got the egg. She was quite the character and not real friendly. That particular group of Apts was pretty strange for several reasons. Old Fred the owner was a strange duck himself.
Pua`a
S. FL
Big Islander to be.
Pua`a
S. FL
Big Islander to be.
