Our Honolulu
History lives under the palace
By Bob Krauss
Advertiser Staff Writer
The best part of 'Iolani Palace, the basement, is ready for company. That's where the most interesting things happened.
Sure, Kalakaua held state dinners upstairs in the dining room. But what the guests ate got cooked downstairs in the kitchen where delivery carts unloaded the groceries.
Most pictures show the king in full dress uniform. The basement is where he schlepped around in his laboratory inventing torpedoes, studying medicine and reading Scientific American.
If you wanted an audience with him, you certainly wouldn't go to the throne room upstairs.
You'd head for the basement, where the chamberlain had his office, running the kingdom. If you looked promising, he'd crank the telephone on the wall and call the king upstairs.
I hardly recognized the basement on my recent visit. It has changed from its days as the press room, when 'Iolani Palace served as the state's capitol.
During legislative sessions, the basement once swarmed with lobbyists; Jack Hall going in one door, Art Rutledge coming out the next. The basement was a shabby, littered beehive where the deals got made.
But not anymore. 'Iolani Palace is now spick-and-span from top to bottom, prepared to receive visitors.
One reason this evolution of palace restoration stays exciting over the years is because original furnishings keep popping up from all over the world.
Curator Corinne Chun, who took the basement on as her baby, said it's amazing how many place settings of china, paintings and pieces of furniture have have been returned, often anonymously.
Kalakaua's laboratory downstairs has been turned into a treasure house of relics too valuable to leave upstairs. They include the jeweled crowns of the king and queen.
I spent more time admiring what may be the oldest musical instrument in Hawai'i, an enormous old pahu, or temple drum, from the Kalakaua collection. The drum came from Papa'ena'ena, a luakini heiau of human sacrifice.
Legend says it was brought to Hawai'i from Kahiki. It could be 1,500 years old.
Nearby is the feather cloak worn by high chief Kewala'o in the 1782 battle of Moku'ohai. Kewala'o went up against young Kamehameha, who was starting his rise to power.
I recently read Stephen Desha's account of the battle, noting that Kewala'o was killed wearing the cloak.
As a commoner, I came in through the mauka gate called Hakaleleponi. The King Street gate, Kauikeaouli, was used only for state functions. Delivery men used the 'ewa gate.
The royal family came in by the waikiki-side gate, Likelike, and into the palace through the basement for privacy.
You don't need an appointment to view the basement, and if you're lucky, you can probably get on an upstairs tour without a reservation, too. Call 522-0832 for information.
