Hawaii Goes to War: Life in Hawaii from Pearl Harbor to Peace

Here is the enthralling story of Hawaii during World War II as shown through a fascinating text and hundreds of rare and historic photographs. World War II s disruptions were felt throughout the United States, but nowhere more strongly than in Hawaii. Beginning with the Pearl Harbor attack in 1941, the years of change and the restrictions that in 1945 caused the islands to undergo an experience unlike anywhere else in the country. Everyone had to live with mail censorship and special U.S. currency under a fully entrenched military government. Residents of all ages toted gas masks, huddled in backyard air raid shelters, and spent nights under curfew in blacked out homes. The flood of military personnel and mainland war workers lived in tent cities and sought fun and companionship on Honolulu s notorious Hotel Street.

History

DeSoto Brown

Americas

Editions Ltd

Historian DeSoto Brown and graphic artist Anne Ellett have combed the archives to bring back to the light nostalgic images of the Hawaiian Islands between 1910 and 1950. These illustrations depict Hawaii s commercial graphic arts at its most glorious. Before the days of color photography, Hawaii called with romantic images of Diamond Head and Waikiki Beach, hula girls and beach boys, ukuleles, flowers and fish, in an evocative richness rarely equaled in the history of regional graphic art. It s a fantasy of Hawaii that was developed over a period of about 40 years by people who were promoting the islands. During this time an imaginary version of Hawaii was fabricated by the businesses that really needed to make the rest of the country and the world aware of the islands: the steamship companies and airlines, the tour guide and car rental firms, and even the pineapple growers and aloha wear manufacturers. They (and the Territory of Hawaii itself) all came to increasingly depend on tourism for their economic well being, and everyone knew that creating a good reputation and keeping it strong were essential for success. They were selling romance, not just repeating facts, in the torrent of printed matter on the subject; from hand-tinted postcards to small brochures to large colorful booklets, all extolling Hawaii and its products. Like all recollections, this tropical island heaven where hula girls strum their ukuleles under the moonlit palms, and care and worry are taboo was never real. This then, is the Hawai'i version of the good old days .

Hawaii Recalls: Selling Romance to America - Nostalgic Images of the Hawaiian Islands, 1910-1950

Queen's Surf. The Palace Theatre. Stewart's Pharmacy. Kau Kau Korner. They are names and places of an era long past, a time when Hawaii's modern culture was coming of age. Islanders dined on Swanky Burgers or danced at La Hula Rhumba, while vacationers arrived by luxury liner, lured by romantic images of lovely hula maidens and a low-rise Waikiki. This golden era is captured in some 300 images — menus and matchbooks, postcards and magazine ads, posters and coasters — from the extensive personal collection of Bishop Museum archivist DeSoto Brown. Here is leisure-time Hawaii — from the Territorial years through early Statehood — seen through the eyes of those who marketed the magic of the Islands.

Hawaii at Play

Crafts, Hobbies & Home

Antiques & Collectibles

Watermark Publishing

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