The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1901-03-30
The CLUBS
Of HONOL u j
An Old Member S
Interesting
Talk.
GOV. CLEGHORN'S
RECOLLECTIONS
Clubs an important Feature Of
Social Life Here Tor Nearly
Fifty Years.


in Honolulu, Governor A. S. Cleghorn
said:
Il have been a member of the club
l now belong to for forty-eight years,
and forty-eight years is d long time,
but the Pacific Club is even older than
that"
Governor Cleghorn is an authority on
club life in Honolulu, and has many IN
teresting tales to tell of earlier days.
when the clubs of the city served the
purpose of home and hosiery, and dis
tinguished guests from abroad were
constantly being entertained at the
club mess"
What is at present the Pacific
Club" said he, was organized In 1851
under the name of the British Club,
and there were only fourteen members,
not one of whom are now living, but
their names are still familiar TO the
public. There was William L. Greene,
who was president; Steven Spencer w.
A. Cooper, S. III. Cooper, Robert Moi
fit, DR.. Richard H. Smythe. James f.
Chapman, J. r. Dallison, William Web
ster, John Janison, Charles Gordon
Hopkins, III. Fosbrooke, James Gilman
and Thomas Harding.
They started up the club in an old
one-story wooden building behind old
Liberty Hall. which has long since dis
appeared. That was in 81. They We're
SIlli With JoiItu III put ii
year afterward we moved INTO build
ing on Alakea street, which is now old
and dilapidated, but still standing, OPP
posite the Christian Church. After
that we were constantly on the move
for awhile, until we got into our pres
ent quarters, in 1867. In SO We moved
out of the Alakea street building and
moved into Adams Lane, into n house
once occupied by the late Judge Robert
c. Wylie, and we We're there only a
short time before We had to move out
on account of a new building which
was to be put up on the site for Da-
vid L. Gregg, who was then United
States minister; that building is now
occupied by Mrs. Louise BrickWood,
and is known as the Hale Emma build
ing
1T was in the latter sos that we
moved into our present quarters on
Union street. though we only occupied
the property facing on Union street at
first; it was an old two-story building,
originally built for an American club,
and the property was owned by the
late William Wand We moved in
there under an arrangement or rental.
and we continued to rent the same
premises until 1867. when we purchased
the land and began to live under. our
own vine and fig tree. We afterward
occupied the property adjoining, and
our vine and fig tree spread over our
L
Alakea street.
There, at least, we were permanent
and comfortable, and there we have
stayed ever since. There were seven
teen members who subscribed to buy
the property, but we had a much larg-
er membership.
CLUB life in those days was very
different in Honolulu than it now Is.
Very few of the members had other
homes, and they made the club their
home. We often entertained distin-
guished visitors, and the club was al
Ways open to admiralS and officers of
warships, without regard to national
ity. AT that time, before San Francis
co became the popular port, Honolulu
was general rendezvous for the ships
OF all nations. There was hardly a
week without some man-of-war was
in port, and all the clubs entertained
lavishly. / am not so we'll informed
as to the other clubs, but they were
all similar in nature to the British
Club, which is now the Pacific Club
There We're several American clubs and
one or two German clubs, but none of
them We're lasting, and | think they
We're all dissolved and done away with
by the year 1875. The German clubs
We're very merry places; the German
method of good cheer being faithfully
pursued. The first German club was
on lane leading off Fort street, and
there was another one adjoining the
residence of James Campbell on Emma
street. My own residence was next
to it, and when the clubhouse burned
down we had lively time TO save our
own property. The clubhouse was
burned to the ground, but the mem
bers, / believe, reorganized and started
over again on the Peck property on the
lane leading off Emma street.
For several years there was big
American club on the spot where the
Hawaiian Hotel now stands. The last
prominent American club had it's head
quarters on the Coney property, oppo-
site the Palace grounds, where the
Haalelea Lawn boarding house now
stands. The president was, 1 believe,
Daniel Waterman. Both of the big
American clubs continued several
years, but later all the clubs of prom
inence were absorbed by the British
Club, the name of which was changed
to the Pacific Club by vote when our
members of other nationalities had
grown to outnumber the English in the
membership roll.
When there We're several prominent
clubs we frequently entertained each
other, and all the clubs of early days
frequently had as guests very distfn-
guiShed people.
''Kamehameha " and Kamehameha
V often visited the British Club, and
King Kalakaua and his brother. Prince
Leleihoku, We're both members. as were
also the various members of the diplo-
matte corps.
THE Duke of Edinburgh visited Ha-
wall in 1868, and while here was the
guest of the British Club. In 1869 the
flying squadron was here, and we en-
tertained the admiral and officers.
Those were lively times. The club
doors We're always open to visitors
from abroad during their residence
y. r,-1 ttynVJ llyr ltlfE
tanning.
The Pacific, or British, Club had one
doubtful period; that was for few
months in 1868. The membership roll
became very small, and the mess de-
partment had to be suspended. Mr..
Prendergast and myself kept the club
up. and later it picked up and got on
the road to prosperity again.
Among the other warships whose Off
GERS were entertained by the British