HAWAIIAN STYLE
Lanikai man succeeds in monumental task

By Wade Kilohana Shirkey

Rock-wall entrance signs to Nu'uanu: $576,000.

Don Secor spearheaded the effort to restore the Lanikai Community Monument, which had become an eyesore after falling into disrepair over the years. Gregory Yamamoto • The Honolulu Advertiser

Community restoration of the historic "lighthouse" monument at the entrance to Lanikai: Priceless.

This story of "The Little Monument That Could" began a couple of years ago when retired advertising salesman Don Secor looked up at the welcoming monument to the picturesque, seaswept enclave that he and his wife call home.

Poor, sad little structure, he thought, seeing the gaping holes in the 25-foot-tall, aging hunk of rock and mortar built to suggest a lighthouse on the rocky perch above 'A'ala Point at Kailua Bay. The bronze plaque proclaiming the community's name was corroded and falling off. Scrubby, unkempt briars underneath further punctuated the once-proud symbol's dowdy demise.

Most of all, thought Secor, rusted remnants of nautical chain at its base further added to the ignominy: Kids were using the monument's chains to jump rope. The proud monument had become a community eyesore.

Secor knew Lanikai is unique in Island history. With the widening and paving of Old Pali Road in 1921, Mainland transplants, unfazed by the 14-mile trek over the mountain, began an influx to a place once populated by Hawaiians but now sold by the houselot by developer Charles R. Frazier in 1924. "With newcomers from the Mainland used to long commutes," noted testimony prepared this August for the Hawai'i Historic Places Review Board, "the infamous suburban daily commute (in Hawai'i) had begun."

Built as vacation or "country homes" for the wealthy, Frazier changed the name from Ka'ohao to Lanikai, an awkward, "linguistically backward" Hawaiian construction, loosely translated by the haole developer as "sea of heaven."

At the entrance to this bold real estate adventure, Frazier built his monument, designed to suggest a lighthouse. It was designed by local architect Hart Wood, whose collaboration with Charles Dickey on such notable Island architecture as the Alexander and Baldwin Building and Honolulu Hale established the Hawaiian double-hipped roof genre that became known as "Hawaiian architecture." His use of rough concrete and stone in the Lanikai Monument can be seen in other works, such as the Christian Science church in Makiki.

Over the years, the community prospered — and the monument aged. Secor, with the backing of the Lanikai Association, approached the state to have the once-proud edifice restored and the droopy chain replaced. Not our kuleana, the state said. Not ours, either, said the city.

"That got me right here," Secor said, touching his heart.

The persistent Secor cornered Mayor Jeremy Harris at an "I Love Kailua Day" celebration, gently suggesting that the city would bear liability for any injuries caused by the deteriorating monument. He followed up with a letter.

Within days, said Secor, the city sent work crews to begin restoration of the monument.

"Hi! I'm the bad guy!" Secor joked as he greeted them.

"So what?" they kidded back. "Betcha got to the mayor!"

In August Secor applied for, and received, a state historic designation for the monument. The designation not only helped ensure the beloved monument's place in history — it also placed future maintenance in the hands of the city.

Now all that is left, said Secor, is securing a donation of chain to replace the droopy one that began this cause celebre. Then he's pau.

The Advertiser's Wade Kilohana Shirkey is kumu of Na Hoaloha No'eau o Ka Roselani hula halau at Kawaiaha'o Church. He writes on Island life.