View of Kakaʻako from the Kakaʻako Waterfront Park

Walter Murray Gibson with the Sisters of St. Francis and daughters of Hansen’s disease patients, at the Kakaʻako Branch Hospital

Kakaʻako is the name of a commercial and retail district of Honolulu, Hawaiʻi between Ala Moana near Waikīkī to the east, downtown Honolulu and Honolulu Harbor to the west. Kakaʻako is situated along the southern shores of the island of Oʻahu.

History[edit source | edit]

Kakaʻako was once a thriving Native Hawaiian community with agricultural terraces and places where Hawaiian Royalty once lived. The shoreline of Kakaʻako was esspecially active with fishing and boating. Through recent development projects many locations have unearthed ancient Hawaiian burials thought to be scattered throughout the district. One area in particular, the Honuakaha Smallpox Cemetery, has more than a thousand Iwi, or native Hawaiian burials.^[1]

Modern day[edit source | edit]

The civic centers of Kakaʻako are Victoria Ward Centers and the Neal S. Blaisdell Center. On the ocean side of the neighborhood is the campus of the John A. Burns School of Medicine. The main roads through Kakaʻako are Ala Moana Boulevard and Kapiʻolani Boulevard. In recent years, the area has been diversifying by adding more residential development.^[2]

References[edit source | edit]