The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1906-03-20

says
b. SCENIC RESERVATIONS.
In a city like Honolulu,-of its size,
with no large class of industrial oper-
atives requiring outdoor physical eXer'
else. and with views and natural seen
cry the great attraction of the city
one good sized park is enough to devtl-
op distinctly as a pleasureground. To
this purpose, as has been said, Kapio-
lani can be very properly devoted. But
the city's need of scenic servations,
that the great viewpoints may be Sc
cured for all the people, is more than
usually urgent. The case is one OF
large obligations involved by noble
gifts and opportunities; and as an in
dividual could do no lovelier public
work than to set aside a beautiful
viewpoint for perpetual public enjoy
ment it is to be hoped that some of
these advantageous sites will be thus
presented, as in other cities, to the com
munity. What is not given, the people
must secure for themselves through
their representatives.
Happily. a comparatively large acre
age can be set aside for this kind of
park. 1t needs little landscape work
for the feature is the view, from which
il is not desirable to distract attention;
the cost of maintenance is at a mini
mum, because the park is to be left so
largely in a natural state; the land
generally costs little, since the most adj
vantageous viewpoints are likely to be
hills too steep or too high to be valu-
able as building sites; and its reserva-
ton deducts little from assessment to-
tails Thus there is no other kind of
park that requires so little care and so
little outlay and on the whole gives
such satisfaction. The only embarrass-
ment in Honolulu is the multitude of
admirable sites. Following is my Sc
lection.
Beginning with the Pail, as the great
scenic attraction of the island and one
of the fine views of the world, there is
already constructed a road for approach
of which the county has reason to be
proud. At the summit of the pass and
for a considerable distance below, the
area is a public reservation, under eff
cient charge. There is here, then in
| fact, if not in name, a scenic park, and
there is need of only a few finishing
touches to make it what it ought to be.
! These include the provision of seats at
advantageous points along the Pail
road that walking thither may be en-
couraged and made easier, and that the
| beautiful views on the way up and
down may be suggested. Such points
would be, among others, at the pool;
at the turn after crossing the culvert,
in the horseshoe curve, when the city
and valley lie below; and at the ex-
treme western turn higher up, when a
noble view of the mountains is I'M
folded. Similarly, footpaths or trails
should be made to points off the main
road that offer exceptional Outlooks,
such as to the knoll near the new dam
and to the knobs and natural lodges
that are on either side of the road just
at the summit, and which disclose fine
new views. At the summit there should
be provided an appropriately designed
shelter from rain and wind, and be-
meath the abrupt bank on the right
there is a good site for a public con-
venience station At the lookout the
homogeneous and hid5ous wooden fence
should be removed to make way for a
rough wall of lava rock that would fit
into the scene, With these slight i'm
provements, requiring little of the
countErGl.he Pail would take the high
place in park lists to which it is en-
titled.
Proceeding Waikikiward, the next
great outlook on which I would urge a
public reservation is the so-called hotel
site on the summit of Pacific Heights.
Thence there is one of the most beauti-
full views to be had near Honolulu. One
looks down upon Punchbowl, and the
lovely Nuuanu valley is disclosed as
from no other point. Ii would be a
shame if the community suffered this
outlook, now going seemingly to waste,
to be fenced off in hotel grounds The
lcommonest criticism of the site as that
for park, or scenic reservation, is
based on it's inaccessibility. But an
easy carriage road affording charming
views leads to it i'm no more time from
Fort and Hotel streets than one needs
to go to Kapiolani Park, and because
one cheaply constructed and dangerous
electric road, that followed all the
twistings of the carriage drive, has
failed, there is no reason why a better
built road, following a shorter course
and with the added attraction of a
public park should not pay Such a
road would doubtless bring the suggest
ed site thirty to fifty per cent nearer
in time to the center of the city than
is Kapiolani Park. My opinion is that
here is one of the most beautiful and
available park sites of Honolulu which
is saying a great deal, and that the
reason has been so commonly over
looked is largely because the slopes OF
which it forms the crown are less at
tractive in contour than the striking
and precipitous sides of Punchbowl oil
than the beautiful rolling hills or thar
the higher mountains beyond with theil
covering of trees.
The less precipitou sides, however