I often find myself often dreaming of simple times. When days were long and sunny. When time would seem to stand still. When one could find pleasure in simple things. Those were the days of our youth. Right now it seems so long ago.

Not sure where the name Hau Bush came from however that is the name that I am familiar with as a child. Can never remember seeing any Hau growing there though. Just Kiawe trees and foreign brush and weeds. These were the early 60s. It all started with making homemade “paipo boards”. Not sure how it is spelled however I guess this is close enough. Small pieces of wood with sometimes even a skeg. Today they make them out of a foam rubber material and call them “boogie boards”. It would be large enough to get your body onto when you caught a wave. Like many teenagers during those years we discovered the joy and freedom that surfing brought. I never considered myself a good surfer. I always looked up to my younger brothers, Hanz and Langsdorff. They were the real surfers. The surf had to always be mediocre for me before I ventured out into the waves. We spent the summers at Waikiki, Ala Moana and Sand Island and winter months on the North Shore when we got our driver’s license.

Before the days of our driver’s license we used to ride our bicycles from our home in Waipio Acres, close to what is now Mililani, to the North Shore. Never gave any thought to the distance we peddled our bikes. We either strapped the surfboard to our bikes or towed it behind the bike attached to training wheels. I think we were the first to do this. Years later someone decided to make them and sell them. It was during these years that we first became aware of this place called Hau Bush. We rode our bikes from Waipio Acres to Hau Bush. We would take short cuts through the sugar cane fields and stop occasionally at a reservoir to check out the crayfish that were plentiful. Some even had what we thought were carp. Never saw any colorful ones just plain black or gray. I am certain they were carp. This was before we heard of tilapia. There was no H-1 or H-2 to cross. We cut through the sugar cane fields of Ewa and came out onto Papipi Road. I recall us riding our bikes along a bumpy beach road. It was a nice place simply because we never saw a lot of people surfing. I recall paddling out only once. As young boys looking for surf we were somewhat disappointed. The waves were ok however we had to step over piles of seaweed just lying along the shoreline. There were piles of seaweed all over. As we paddled out it was so thick it was brushing up against us and onto our boards. I never liked things brushing up against my legs and feet while in the water. Never saw so much seaweed and so many different varieties. We actually saw more people going through the piles of seaweed on the shore than surfers in the water. This is what I remember most of Hau Bush. Those were great years though. I miss them…………………. Three brothers exploring the world.

This story however is not about my brothers and me but about this special place we now know as One’ula. I no longer call it Hau Bush. I have heard several interpretations of this place name. I generally refer to a Hawaiian dictionary when trying to understand a Hawaiian place name but try to rely on my recollections as a child of how I have heard these places referred to by Kupuna who I had met and spoke to over the years. I once told someone I can remember events when I was only 2 years old. I don’t think they believed me. But I really do. I have spoken to many who have shared much. More recently were Aunty Thelma Parish and Aunty Arlene Eaton. Aunty Thelma belonged to the Kapolei Hawaiian Civic Club when it was first chartered. I first heard of this place referred to by Aunty Arlene Eaton as Keone’ula and not One’ula. The literal translation is “red sand beach”. Although I have never seen red sand at One’ula I have seen a red limu along the shoreline in the piles during those early years. I also recall the water looking reddish brown but I also think it was the limu that gave it that color. There are others who said that it turned red after a storm but I have never been there after it rained. There was a lot of limu floating on the surface and just below the surface. I remember these things. Today when I think of One’ula I think of limu. It is that aspect of One’ula that weighs heavy on my mind. More so than any other beach I have been to in my life.

I do not consider myself an expert on limu however I do know Limu Lipoa is a kind of limu that needs fresh water to survive. During the 1800s and early 1900s it was said that the finest Oio came from a place called Keahi which is part of Pu’uloa. It was close to the channel entrance to Pearl Harbor. However that could be said of all of Pu’uloa including One’ula. It was said that the best Oio came from this area because it had the fragrance of Limu Lipoa and thus brought the best market prices.

There is very little Limu today. I have not seen any Limu Lipoa in the area from Keahi to One’ula in a long time. We also know that there is very little fresh water where it once was plentiful. All of Ewa is unique in the sense that water travels in the porous coral and not on the surface. The fresh water made its presence known along the shoreline where it anciently fed the Limu Lipoa. Today there is no limu Lipoa and no fresh water.

Henry Chang Wo is another Kupuna who is on the trail of a real human being. I met Henry many years ago and have like many come to have an enormous amount of respect for him. He in my mind is the limu expert. He has given of himself tirelessly to anyone who wishes to learn about limu. Henry’s name is synonymous with One’ula. If you are lucky you will see him one weekend with a group of people at One’ula.

I have also heard One’ula referred to by Kupuna as Ali’i Beach making reference to the “red sand”. I was aware of this reference to One’ula many years ago. Interesting though I have spoken to a number of Kupuna over the years who make this similar reference to all of Pu’uloa as a chiefly place. I recall perhaps about 8 years ago when an archaeologist informed me of the discovery of human bones on the beach in the location of the proposed entrance to the now “Ocean Point Marina”. It was his opinion that the remains could be that of an Ali’i Chiefess. Amongst her bones were seashell leis and clasped in each of her hands were 2 niho palaoa or whale bone pendants. These were typically the possessions of an Ali’i. This discovery further expands the reference to One’ula, “red sand” as Ali’i Beach. Pu’uloa which One’ula is part of has always been a place of chiefly residence.

Photo from the location where the Ewa Marina will eventually be opened to the sea and change this shoreline forever. Copyright seals retained at discretion of author and photographer. All photos posted with permission of photographer Jan Becket.

The years following my time with my brothers at One’ula were filled with the unlikely news of bodies being found in shallow graves who were victims of being shot or stabbed. Over the years it developed a bad reputation. It became the home for many homeless peopIe. Drugs became readily available at Hau Bush. I never went back for many years.

It wasn’t until the 1990s that I returned. A friend of mine by the name of Jan Becket spoke of finding many ancient Hawaiian cultural sites made of coral. It was during these years that I had already developed an interest in preservation of our Hawaiian cultural resources and cultural landscapes. I found it interesting as my brothers and I had wandered through this area as kids. I was already aware of the cultural landscape mauka and the cultural landscape of the former Naval Air Station at Barbers Point now Kalaeloa. I had heard of a pre-contact ancient Hawaiian community at One’ula adjacent to Kanehili. These people were fishermen and gatherers of limu.

According to previous archaeological and archival records this was supported by the discovery of numerous permanent and temporary habitation structures. It was a series of pre-contact shoreline communities from Keahi Point to Kualaka’i. I went with Jan Becket to see for myself. It was much the same as what I was familiar with in Kalaeloa. Numerous habitation structures, walls, ahu (altars – serve a religious purpose) and upright stones. Jan convinced me from our observations made at One’ula, Kalaeloa, Ko Olina and Ewa Beach that it was one community that extended anciently all along the coast from Pearl Harbor to Waianae.

Destroyed Ahu, or “altar,” as captured by Jan Backet.

The story of this cultural landscape is the same as many others where the pressures of an ever expanding urban area takes precedence over preservation concerns. I recall the efforts during those years of struggle to save this unique cultural landscape by such respected people as the Reverend Kaleo Patterson, who at that time was the Director of the Hawai’i Ecumenical Coalition. Reverend Patterson questioned the “culturally insensitive historic review process that seemed designed to carefully filter Hawaiian input.” It seemed at that time by those involved in the saving of this unique cultural landscape that the State Historic Preservation Office and the City’s Department of Planning and Permitting allowed the development of Haseko’s Ewa Marina Development without regard to the concerns of preservationist and conservationist.

Jan Becket photo of a heiau that that was saved and integrated into the marina project.

Respected Cultural Anthropologist and Historian Marion Kelley who had worked at the Bishop Museum with Mary Kawena Pukui, Catherine Summers and Kenneth Emory who are considered the founders of modern Hawaiian archaeology commented, “I have been to many, many places over the decades, but have never seen such a dense concentration of shrines as exists at One’ula. Each one appears slightly different. Some uprights may have been selected to represent the god of fishermen, Ku’ula, some may have served as Pohaku ‘O Kane, or family shrines, some may have been to encourage gourd or sweet potato cultivation, and others may have been for experts in the various crafts or professionals who appealed for guidance.”

Two large unrecorded Ku’ula Stones, or fishing shrines, as photographed by Jan Becket. Both were destroyed by bulldozers.

Following is an excerpt from an ethnographic interview of a Mr. Raymond Kauhola. I felt it interesting with respect to Marion Kelley’s comment on fishing shrines of Oneula:

“Raymond Kauhola, now a resident of ‘Åina Haina, remembers visiting One‘ula as a child of eight or nine with his grandfather and uncles, to fish with nets for kala, ’åweoweo, manini and ‘u‘u. His grandfather lived in the Nånåkuli Hawaiian Homestead and used to drive to One‘ula on a long dirt road that came from the Barbers Point side of the beach. “My grandpa knew the right time of year and of the month to go,” says Kauhola, who now lives in ‘Åina Haina. “While we were getting ready to lay the net, he used to go into the shrines in the bushes to pule (pray) and give ho‘okupu (offerings). After that we would go and lay the net. Of course, we would catch fish, and then my grandpa would take a fish, wrap it in ti and take it into the bushes to pule again. It is really too bad that they have to go and develop that place, and destroy everything that I remember.” [from a telephone interview, Thursday, May 14, 1998]”

Ku’ula Stone, another fishing shrine.

Sadly, hundreds of cultural structures that once defined One’ula are now gone. Having made way for the Ewa Marina and Ocean Pointe Subdivision. Malden’s Map of 1825 identified a large enclosure that could be seen a long distance from shore. Lt Malden was a cartographer on board English Captain George Vancouver’s ship during the explorations of the late 1700s and early 1800s. This structure had to have been substantial to have been seen at a distance. His map also identifies a trail that was large enough for him to describe it as a road that led from this structure at One’ula to the village at Honouliuli.

Malden’s Map of 1825 identifies a trail which connects One’ula to the village at Honouliuli. Click to enlarge.

We all want beautiful homes and meaningful employment. However it is sad that the cost was a history lost. It is a history that defines us. It is therefore a piece of ourselves that we have sacrificed. Perhaps one day we too will be erased never having existed. Perhaps these things do not matter.

Modern people are left with just having to believe that a community of people once lived and fished and gathered limu at One’ula. It is important to understand that it is the cultural resources that provide the foundation of a history. Take apart that foundation……….and all you have is a story. This is all that is left of an ancient place once known ………………as One’ula.

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