The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1909-06-13
H|LO IMPROVEMENTS
ARE ON THE MOVE
Especial Correspondence

Especial Correspondence
Hilo, the city that had wonderful
possibilities confronting it. Hilo, the
city that has been handed over to the
japanese by nonresident landlords
whose civic pride was nil and whose
thirst for gelt was enough for them
| to lease to Orientals, stretch of two
miles of the prettiest beach in the Ter,
| ritory.
The dividing line of nationalities
| seems to be marked by a liquor saloon,
| owned by a Portuguese, and street
sign bearing the name 'tChurch - In
harmonious. in so far as it is not usual
for church and saloon to mingle togeth-
er in harmony. The Mauna Kea docks
at Waiakea and the only artery lead
| ing to the restaurant where [ obtained
rooms, also meals, is fanked by an al
most solid wall of japanese for the
| full distance-two miles. From the
! front doors of these places is obtained
magnificent view of bay that would
| be considered beautiful even by the
Neapolitans and beside the seascape
there is ever before you along this
| stretch view of snow capped Mauna
Kea. I am informed that for about
seven months in the year snow may
be seen on the mountain though it is
upwards of a hundred miles distant.
1t speaks in stentorian tones the praises
of the climate of this island and L
am constrained to believe that it has,
in clearness, at all events, Colorado on
the run. Another view from the beach
is the much neglected Cocoanut Island.
a bit of land, topped by cocoanut and
lauhala trees, view that is reproduced
in every shop window where postaIs
are exposed for sale.
If this stretch of beach were covered
with bungalows, if it were the site of
a hundred or more lightly built houses
of the tropical style, I would not har.
Dor the thought that the owners of the
land should hide their heads with shame
for the evidence of their avariciousness
which sticks in front of every tourist
who visits the place. But it is a sec
ton where the Japanese shack, the
blotch in every community in the is
lands, abounds. Pah. And pah twice
more. Hilo needs as much as any place
[ ever visited, an improvement club
that will improve.
Coming further up town / found
better condition of affairs and it may
be said to almost begin at the afore-
mentioned saloon at the corner of
Church street. A step before reaching
there one butts into a motion picture
theater which, while conducted by a
white man, has for its clientele mostly
japanese. From that point on toward
the postofice, new Hilo, or Hilo that
is not strictly Oriental, is found. One
business house of generous proportions
is next to the Gayety, the newest mo,
ton picture house, decent looking
place conducted by the man who has
the Art theater in Honolulu. He seems
not to realize that the japanese and
Chinese are the steady patrons of the
motion picture shows or, if realizing,
does not heed the call The patrons
of the Gayety are mostly white people
and the business is less in consequence.
Lash of the Empire believes, evidently,
that when in Japanned Hilo he must
advertise in japanese.
Hardly more than dozen years ago
the government put up for sale certain
lots near the postoffice The conditions
were not more peculiar than are often
heard of today. At any rate one of the
lots, a good one in size and location,
for it is near the water and so close
to the railway that came later that
they need no delivery teams to get
their goods from the ears. Hand de-
livery is satisfactory unless it is the
wish of the firm to cart the stuff over
on a barrow. On this lot Hackfeld &
Co. built a store, having two stories,
and a warehouse of one. 1t extended
a full block one way and fifty or more
feet another A few years later. ac-
cording to the law, the lot was put
up for sale at the request of the firm
and was sold for fifteen thousand dol