End of an Era - the Jagger Museum & Observatory is no more

[ironyak]

https://bigislandnow.com/2024/07/26/staf...ompletion/

"This morning was the last time the sun will ever rise over the former Hawaiian Volcano Observatory Tower as it looked out on the hardened lava field inside Kaluapele, the caldera of Kīlauea, from the edge of the crater.

Crews began demolishing the structure at 9 a.m. today, bringing an end to an era on Uēkahuna Bluff at the Big Island volcano’s summit inside Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park.

“Workers took less than an hour Friday morning to drop and dismantle the … Hawaiian Volcano Observatory … Observation Tower,” wrote Jessica Ferracane, the national park’s spokeswoman, in a Facebook post for the park Friday with photos of the tower being dismantled.

The tower was the last remnant of the observatory’s former facilities, which — along with the adjacent former Jaggar Museum — were severely damaged beyond repair by thousands of earthquakes that accompanied the 2018 Kīlauea eruption, lava flow and summit collapse." (article has much more at link)

Any memorable experiences to share? Watching Travis get chased down and tased for operating a drone at the overlook was something else, but I'm guessing others might have more meaningful memories.

[MyManao]

After When Time Ran Out… 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/When_Time_Ran_Out

Came out in 1980 and dazzled us with visions of a tower cantilevered over Halemaumau from which scientists could do fantastical research, and ultimately incur the wrath of god, or some such (and got the island, and more specifically the Kona Surf destroyed), having what was at the time the ‘new’ observatory come with an observation tower was like another mythical dream come true. I had been working at HVO for four or five years already when that tower was built. Until then HVO was in a much smaller building, which afterwords was remodeled into what was later named the Jaggar Museum. When we moved into the new building that tower was an attraction to everyone. And when we got it it was just an empty room. The internet had yet to come up the mountain, and everyone’s offices were an isolated work station of sorts, without all the interactivity we have today.  Sheesh, when ethernet was first adopted it was installed with wires running along the outside of walls.. there was no provision to wire the offices together.

So, that tower had our attention, but what to do with it? It was decided to make it a map room of sorts, big tables with maps under plexiglass so an observer could look out over the landscape and have topo maps readily available to further quantify what we looked at. It was a cool plan, and I was contracted to do the construction. Other instrumentation was all wire up there. I think Bob K put a multi channel develocorder up there for a while. And it was cool when we’d have an eruption down at Puu Oo, which we could see from there and watch the seismic data steaming in in 'real time.'

But that tower got way too much sun. And anything left up there for a while faded.. was bleached out, regardless. We tried different shade films over the glass, but it was impractical to think we could do anything with that space, other than run up there to look for any new changes in the volcano. Although it was a great place to have small parties. When George Ulrich retired we had a great beer tasting party up there. That was before we had boutique/designer beers all over the place. Then I went down to Safeway (it was on Kilauea Ave - where Ben Franklin is now - back then) and just bought a six pack of every kind of beer they had. We had a blind tasting, and I think Samual Adams won.. lol!

Anyways, yeah, the tower, the whole building, which was dedicated to the memory of Reggie Okamura, was a good part of my life. And although being crammed into the older observatory, where the library was the gathering place, and only a few had defined enclosed offices, was as if to have been a part of history, a part of that earlier real physical geologic pursuit of knowledge, the newer observatory, which herald in the digital age, was cool too. I’ll miss it, and all that happened there..

[ironyak]

During one of the more recent anniversary events they opened up the Observatory side of the complex and gave 5-10 minute lessons on the science being done in each of the labs. While we didn't get to go up in the tower, the kids got a kick out of getting to sit at a lab bench and see the samples taken from the field and better understand the nuts and bolts of being a HVO scientist. Hopefully they can continue this community outreach either at their new field office or through events in conjunction with HVNP, as it provides a valuable window for the public to appreciate the work being done.

It'll be strange to stand by the rock wall at the overlook and not have either the museum or the tower at one's back. Nothing constant but change, and all that, I guess.

Regardless, thanks for the slice of insider knowledge and history and for the movie reference! (a disaster film I missed, with Cool Hand Luke and Mr. Miyagi, filmed on the Big Island - sign me up, regardless of the reviews or Newman's regrets :)

[MyManao]

sign me up, regardless of the reviews or Newman's regrets

Hey, thanks for the link to the full movie! What a hoot.

You know, that film doesn’t even show up in most lists of films made in Hawaii, it’s that embarrassing. But for me it’s baked in. When that came out I was living in Waipio Valley and the movie’s producers made a big deal of unveiling it locally, and there was an early screening at the Honokaa People’s Theatre. So we all came out of the valley excited to see and all that.. and it was the biggest bomb. The biggest flop. We had so much fun laughing, and then the last scene.. after the volcano rumbled and destroyed and the people ran..  and ended up at the look out, and panned to that view of the valley as if it was a sanctuary..

Another obscure movie made soon thereafter was Black Widow. They actually filmed, live, out in the lava fields during phase 47 of the high fountains out at Puu Oo…

From... http://www.brianrxm.com/comdir/cnsmovie_blackwidow.htm

[ironyak]

MyManao - What a hoot.
Yeah, that movie is a trip - has at least three subplots too many (did Borgnine really have nothing better to do?), and the visual whiplash jumping from Kona, to California, to Kilauea, to Hamakua, to a sound stage with background matte paintings of Maui (?), all portrayed as being adjacent locations, is mind boggling. If the cantilevered observation platform was an inspiration, at least HVO headed the movie's warning and skipped the glass-bottomed, cable-stayed Wonkavator for doing up close observations of the caldera!

I'll have to give Black Widow (1987) a go at some point - at least that volcano is erupting lava instead of flames and sniper-accurate fireballs.

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

I'll have to give Black Widow (1987) a go at some point

It’s worth a watch.  Some great scenes of downtown Hilo, and can’t beat a live volcanic eruption!