A GLIMPSE OF ISLAND DOWN TIME IN THE WORLD WAR II YEARS By Scott Pawlowski, Curator, Pearl Harbor National Memorial The Black Cat Café, a favorite of the military viewed from the Army/Navy YMCA on Hotel and Richards Street, Honolulu T.H.
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ith war on the horizon, the United States began shoring up its defenses across the Pacific. Major construction began in Hawaii during the late 1930s. The population began to swell, creating a housing crunch from all the new war workers and additional military personnel in Hawaii. For comparison, the ten years from 1930 to 1940 saw Hawaii’s population increase approximately 14.9%. The rest of the United States grew at a rate of roughly 7.3% in the same decade. Then 1941 rolled around, and the City and County of Honolulu grew another 19.02%! No wonder housing was in such short supplies with military men and civilian war workers living in tent encampments or double-bunked around the island. As the population increased on Oahu, the need for recreation and respite increased as well. Where could these hard-working individuals find solace, rest, and recharge? Oahu is an island after all, and its size limits recreational places. What would these workers be doing in their limited free time? Dancing and watching movies were favorites, along with sports, live music, and talent performances. Traveling around the island and exploring its beauty in trams, cars, trains, and buses took up many soldiers’ free time. A variety of sports also were popular like baseball, football, and boxing. After a long day of work or time off, people on Oahu enjoyed an alcoholic drink, beer, or Sake.
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At the beginning of the war, there were at least a few Sake breweries, beer breweries, a distillery, and a couple of illegal stills. Honolulu Brewing & Malting Company, Fuji Sake Brewing, Honolulu Sake Brewery and Ice Company, and American Brewing Company were producing beer and Sake. Hawaiian Okolehao Distilleries refined Okolehao, a product made from fermented Ti plants. Hawaiian Distilleries made a traditional gin, rum, and brandy. While the quality may not have matched the imports, Oahu could produce its own alcohol. Islanders consumed wine as well, but none was vinted on island. While a few of these island companies declared bankruptcy, others just closed their doors during the war years. The ones that stuck around through the war emerged in a better business position. One of the initial actions taken under martial law was to ban the sale of alcohol. The resumption of sales began less than three months later, on 23 February 1942. One of the arguments for reinstating alcohol outlined in a newspaper was that the entire population was working so hard that they needed a cold beer or drink to help relax after a long day. The only bar that existed in the war years and remains is Smith’s Union Bar in downtown Honolulu. It opened in 1934 and now stands as the oldest existing bar on Oahu.
