The Historic Hawai‘i Foundation Celebrates 50 Years
A look at the local advocacy group’s historic preservation efforts then and now.
The impetus for the Historic Hawai‘i Foundation began in the Monarch Room of the Royal Hawaiian Hotel. Photo: Aaron K. Yoshino
For something to be considered officially historic, it must be at least 50 years old. The Historic Hawai‘i Foundation, a local preservation advocacy group, hits that milestone on June 12.
Working with the state Historic Preservation Division, county preservation commissions (which the group helped create), property owners and others in the community, HHF’s role has been to educate, advocate, assist and protect. One of its earliest success stories arose from a lawsuit by the former owner of the Royal Hawaiian Hotel, where the group got its start.
“If there’s a historic property that means something to you, that you live, work, worship, play, learn, find inspiration from, if a place like that exists, it’s because somebody cared enough to save it.”
— Kiersten Faulkner, HHF’s executive director
HHF had rallied to get hundreds of properties officially listed as historic. The Royal Hawaiian owner then sued the state because the hotel’s historic designation stopped demolition plans. The Hawai‘i Supreme Court agreed that historic preservation was a legitimate public benefit, though there needed to be due process, so all the properties were delisted. By that time, the hotel lost interest in redevelopment—and now the iconic landmark is almost a century old. HHF will hold its annual fundraising gala there on June 8.
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“If there’s a historic property that means something to you, that you live, work, worship, play, learn, find inspiration from, if a place like that exists, it’s because somebody cared enough to save it,” says Kiersten Faulkner, HHF’s executive director. “Whether or not the Historic Hawai‘i Foundation did it directly, whether we did it through partnership, whether we did it just by helping to promote an awareness and an ethic of community support, or whether we had nothing to do with it but somebody did it on their own, it’s important.”
Some of the foundation’s latest projects include supporting Lahaina recovery efforts, creating story maps of historic districts viewable online, and partnering with the National Trust for Historic Preservation for a Google Arts & Culture project on Chinatowns across the country.
historichawaii.org, @historichawaiifoundation
