OpenTube

The Heart of Honokaʻa | Home is Here

PBS Hawaiʻi

31,376 views

On the northeast side of the Big Island, Honokaʻa’s economy and lifestyle was once centered around a sugar plantation. Its multicultural community formed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries when migrant workers from across the globe arrived in the islands. Sugar ended in 1994. Now the town’s history preserves its charm and is the driver behind a tourism existence.

This content is made possible by viewers like you. Support PBS Hawaiʻi: https://www.pbshawaii.org/donate

Subscribe to the PBS Hawaiʻi channel for more clips: @pbshawaii

Follow PBS Hawaiʻi:
Instagram: Instagram: pbshawaii
Facebook: Facebook: pbshawaii
TikTok: TikTok: pbshawaii
LinkedIn: LinkedIn: pbs-hawaii

#hawaii #homeishere #honokaa

Home is Here is a local series that takes you deep into neighborhoods across Hawai‘i, providing an inside peek at how we live, work and play.

20 Comments

@darealtundah 11 months ago

Honokaa ,kukuihale waipio is where it all started for my Ohana.

@ALLLove-cq2fe 11 months ago

I love this!! Makes me so happy and proud to be a Honoka’a girl💚💛

@Mat_Da_Hat 11 months ago

PBS Hawaii well done. My Grandpa Sam Hatakeyama worked Hamakua Sugar Co and helped build the swimming pool. Thank you for your work. Mahalo to Honoka’a for helping raise me and my Ohana. Much love.

@affin4u2 7 months ago (edited)

My grandfather saw my grandmother from across the street in this town. My mom was born here 1930. Moved away in high school, made a great life in Honolulu and passed away 1996 Helen La Torre.

I’m from Honolulu.. sadly found first time how beautiful this town in 2012 is. Much love to this thriving community. I’m looking forward to seeing you again soon. Thank you PBS for this YouTube!

My grandfather a tailor was Eusebio La Torre died age 40yo by accident. My grandmother was Emma Samson remarried and lived to 92yo.

PS met a California friend at USC. So cool both of our moms were born in Honoka’a!!

@redbecca1327 10 months ago

Visited Hawaii for the first time in February and our favorite town on the Big Island was Honoka’a. We really enjoyed our time at the museum. Such a special town.

@joycemarvel-benoist3001 10 months ago

What a beautiful tribute to Honoka'a and her people. So close to my heart. We lived in Kapulena Honoka'a for many years, raising our beautiful girls in a wonderful community. I miss Honoka'a. Listening to Auntie Bernie speak was especially heartwarming ~ and Darde, who carries such Mana.

@hawaiiancane1 11 months ago

This is so heart warming. Everyone knows each other and helps each other. I was born in Pahala and I remember seeing the sugar mill from my paternal grandparents house. She lived in a plantation home and when I stepped out onto the road fronting her house I could see the sugar cane trucks pulling into the mill. Thank you for the memories. My dad worked as a mechanic at the sugar mill. We left Hawaii Island in 1957. Sometimes my family would visit Pahala and Volcano, which is my Mom's birthplace. My dad would take us to different parts of the Big Island when we visited. The big island is unique in that every area you visit is so different.

@geraldinecsevigny7722 11 months ago

Thank you for this wonderful documentary. I was born and raised in Kilauea, Kauai. It brought back to me memories of my childhood days on Kauai.

@jeffmeyer3195 7 months ago

love this and Honokaa is one of my favorite places to visit!!!!

@DAiriesojahs96786 11 months ago

Aunty Marlene’s sweet n sour spareribs are ONO!!!! Her 3bean salad is winnahs as well

@DaveKato-b7g 11 months ago

Loved this! Mahalo for sharing.

@mikethompson3534 9 months ago

I grew up in Hilo and graduated in 1976 Hilo High School and would often visit Honokaa town and have sort of a distant relative living there who has or had a family owned I believe a hardware store they were actually my first cousin I guess in-laws but I am talking back in the 1970’s so I can’t exactly remember , I moved to Honolulu after high school as their was really no jobs in Hilo Hawaii and then moved to Chicago in the early 2000’s and now moved back here to Honolulu and ready to retire at age 67 I have fond memories of Tex Drive In who had the best malasadas I have ever tasted one day I definitely will go back to visit Honokaa and hopefully Tex Drive In is still around

@boboda7 10 months ago

This place brings back memories, honoka’a town along with the other hamakua towns helped my grandparents start their hauling company Yamada Transfer when I was young almost every week my dad would take me riding out there and when Yamada and Sons were doing jobs out there we would stop at Tex’s Drive Inn and by malasadas , life was good back then I wish I could go back to those days

@MintyBuck 10 months ago

Dragons 4 Lyfe !! 🤙🏽🤙🏽

@HawaiiSustainable 11 months ago

Great documentary so many familiar names. Whole state was all pretty much plantation towns. Sad at least the big 5 was local based now Black Rock, State Street, PSP, Vanguard etc own everything. HC&S last holdout closed around a decade already. Time flies and not always in the right direction for society with the consolidation of wealth and power getting even worse over the past centuries.

@GeraldineMcGuire-d9x 3 months ago

Also remember walking down the mainstreet with my Black portuguese dog and men saying 'Nice black dog' because some found black dogs as a culinary delight.😮

@darealtundah 11 months ago

My aunty Fanny worked in the hotel

@darealtundah 11 months ago

Was married to a decosta who’s dad was a bulldozer oparator for hamakua sugar

@GeraldineMcGuire-d9x 3 months ago

What I think of in Hamakua is the men sitting outside the shops all "talking story ".

@WaikikiIoKea-t3s 10 months ago (edited)

John Tamatoa Baker, Last Govonor of Hawaii island, rancher, member of the Kingdoms legislature, Sheriff of Hawaii island, close confidant of King David Kalakaua and model for the statue of King Kamehameha the Great as well as my great great Grandfather will be made pono from the theft of his estate by Parker ranch and a number of nefarious creatures...Christopher March Waikiki Io Kea Kamakahele Baker Raymond...