Posted on: Friday, June 21, 2002
Richards Street YWCA at 75-year milestone
By Kapono Dowson
Advertiser Staff Writer
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| Trainer Nancy Hamilton, right, instructs Christina Meller at the newly renovated YWCA fitness center.
Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser |
Wiping perspiration off their brows, women in black bike shorts and sports bras walked briskly on treadmills. Others lifted weights or swam laps. Just another day at the Richards Street YWCA — but a far cry from when the facility opened 75 years ago.
The YWCA-O'ahu Chapter will celebrate the diamond anniversary of its downtown facility today through Sunday with an open house. Music, food, entertainment and tours will be offered. The Laniakea Fitness Center, which recently underwent a $1.5 million refurbishment, will be showcased.
Hidden under the mauka wing of the YWCA's historic Laniakea Building, the new health and fitness center occupies two floors and 5,153 square feet of floor space. Showers and locker rooms have been refurbished and new weightlifting and cardiovascular exercise equipment added.
YWCA O'ahu first opened the doors of its Richards Street facility in 1927. Designed by Julia Morgan, who also designed Hearst Castle in California, the building has eaves, large windows, open ventilation and ceramic tile floors. Architect Karyn Lee of Ferraro Choi and Associates Ltd., which was hired for the renovation, said Morgan paid special attention to materials and their colors. Neutral colors such as Navajo white for the walls and sand gray for the floors were picked for the renovation. Cobalt blue tiles covered the shower area, and the green wrought-iron balconies were refreshed.
Today Tomorrow and Sunday "What's really changed is what's going on in the classroom. They weren't doing yoga or martial arts back then," said YWCA-O'ahu Chapter president and CEO Cheryl Ka'uhane as she showed archival photos from the 1920s of YWCA members. Wearing black pantaloons to below the knees and white sailor shirts with black ties, the women in the photos were struggling to touch their toes.
The YWCA O'ahu chapter was organized in 1900 at a private residence. Then women were thought to be fragile and most stayed at home, Ka'uhane said. The women who created the local chapter wanted a place to meet and mentor each other, and the first classes dealt with cooking, knitting and some mild exercise.
By 1927 the YWCA's goal was that every girl and woman in Hawai'i would be physically fit with fitness programs emphasizing swimming, Ka'uhane said.
"That hasn't changed today. In fact, women in Hawai'i have the highest probability of engaging in physical activity in the nation," she said.
Besides physical fitness programs, the downtown YWCA is known for its affordable childcare programs and its financial workshops. The facility serves 3,000 members, with 70 percent of them female, said Ka'uhane.
Reach Kapono Dowson at kdowson@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-8103.
Events marking YWCA's 75th anniversary
11 a.m.-7 p.m. : Open house
Jamaican lunch menu at Cafe Laniakea
Music by steel drum musician Greg MacDonald and reggae band THC
3-6 p.m.: Free pupu
6-7 p.m.: Pool performance by Mermaids Hawai'i, a synchronized swimming group
8 a.m.-4 p.m.: Free fitness assessment
9-11 a.m.: Free aerobics classes including step, cardio kickboxing and fitball
2-4 p.m.: Free swim coaching (participants must know how to swim)
