Wahi Pana
n. Legendary Places. Wahi - is defined as a space or place; Pana - is defined as a pulse or heartbeat. Wahi Pana are living breathing spaces.
The Wahi Pana Page is made up of free downloadable posters created by Manoa Johansen and Kehau Kaula. The research and information about each wahi pana on this page is provided by Kuʻulei Kanahele.
Waiuli
WAIULI, just in front of the Richardson’s old home, means “dark waters.” Here was a very old surfing ground many years ago. Today it has been revived once again. The Richardsons came way after 1924 but the whole area of WAIULI and on over to the next area have old markers of people who lived on the land (Kuʻu Home o Keaukaha, 1989, p. 8).
The first white man that ever came down to live where we were past the homestead was Mr. Richardson (Kuʻu Home o Keaukaha, 1989, p. 12).
Lokowaka
LOKOAKA (is now known) as Kealoha Park or Four Miles. There was a Japanese family that lived just before this area. Another family … was the Ah Kui Aina. His mom still lived during the time he moved into Keaukaha. LOKOAKA is referred to as the “ponds on the inside.” To get to the end of the road, down to Leleiwi and Richardson there were no roads … (only trails). The trails stopped at LOKOAKA … and (people) had to cross the ponds by way of a stone wall that was in the pond (Kuʻu Home o Keaukaha, 1989, p. 7).
Peiwe
There is another little interesting place down at LOKOAKA, and it is a little island. You can see the little island … The rough seas, high seas, and tidal wave might have taken all of the landmarks (here away). In the old days we called it PEIWE. There was a lot of white sand … and lots of fish … all kinds of fish that people could get with a drag net … Where the first condominium - Mauna Loa Shores now stands, use to be the home of Kalei Aiona. (He) was a man that moved from Waiakea Homestead … to the coast for his health. He was a great composer of many songs and one of the songs … that is popular … is called “Kamalani o Keaukaha.” It was made popular by Lena Machado because she came to visit often (Kuʻu Home o Keaukaha, 1989, p. 7).
Keonekahakaha
KEONEKAHAKAHA, or more familiar Onekahakaha Beach, is a white sane beach reaching from one side of KOKOIKI and on over to the other side. It is a beautiful site. There was so much white sand and so much shells were found at this beach. It was a beautiful place to swim. People came here on weekends and really had a good time … A (family) that practically owned half of the land there … was known as Kahoilua … His home was always made available to people. ONEKAHAKAHA, “kahakaha” is referred to as the land near the coastline, the sea shore that was full of sand and beautiful (Kuʻu Home o Keaukaha, 1989, p. 7).
Auwili
This area was the home of a very good family who is very knowledgeable in the ways of fishing. There were several families that lived there … the Kealohapauole … grandfather of Eleanor Ahuna. They owned the portion of land that Doc Hill once lived and built his home on. Also Louise Kahoilua … with her Kiupe family. Today it is called Chock’s. “Au” refers to the current or the tide. “Wili” means the kind of current that turns and turns. So AUWILI is the “twisted current” (Kuʻu Home o Keaukaha, 1989, p 7).
Puhi
Luka Kanakaole. This is an interesting story, real story about Keaukaha. You know where the cold pond is now in Puhi Bay. Well right on that hill used to be a house that we used as a club house. Across of that where the hau trees are now, used to be a heiau, an old Hawaiian fishing heiau. Just north of the heiau there was a shark hole. Everytime we used to go swimming or spear fishing, we would go and check the hole to see if the shark was in or not. If the hole was empty, then we wouldnʻt go swimming cause that would mean the shark was out looking for food. Certain times the shark would come back to its hole to rest. If it stopped flapping and the sand was settled, that would mean that it just came back. If the sand was not settled and the shark was still moving, that would mean that it would be going out again. When we knew that the shark had just come back from eating, we would go in the water. That was in 1930 - 33 and I don’t know if the hole is still there or not. William Spalding used to be the one crazy enough to go down first to take a look at the hole (Kuʻu Home o Keaukaha, 1989, p. 55-56).
