Haunted History of Hilton Hawaiian Village
By: Lopaka Kapunui and Tanya Kapanui for Aloha State Daily

At the ‘Ewa end of Waikīkī lies a 22-acre resort with more than 2,800 guest rooms and its own 5-acre lagoon. But before the Hilton Hawaiian Village and surrounding resorts were built, the place was called Kālia.

Streams from Mānoa and Palolo Valleys ran down toward the ocean and joined to create the Pi‘inaio Stream. This stream flowed beneath and through the Waikīkī marshlands, entering the sea at Kālia. This estuary, where freshwater mixed with the salty ocean, created a unique environment that supported a diverse array of life.

The Kālia shore was abundant with marine life and limu of all varieties. Kūpuna have described the once-common practice of walking across the reef to choose lobster, crab, shrimp, or octopus for a quick meal. One could pick ‘oama (young goatfish) by hand from the shallows because the schools of the young fish were so plentiful. As the ‘ama‘ama (striped mullet) made their annual runs across the south shore of O‘ahu, the men of Kālia would swim out in a row, surround the fish, and drive them into a bag net by slapping the water and kicking their feet over the shallow reef.

On the mauka portion of Kālia, there were many loko i‘a (fishponds) and loko i‘a kalo (taro fields used to raise small fish). A complex system of gates unique to Kālia helped manage the many interconnected ponds.

After Western contact and throughout the 1800s, epidemics of smallpox, typhoid, mumps, whooping cough, and influenza devastated the Hawaiian population. In the aftermath, Waikīkī’s once-thriving agricultural system began to change forever.

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