Posted on: Friday, December 31, 2004

The history behind the calendars

By Lee Cataluna
Advertiser Columnist

Tomorrow, savvy locals will turn over the cover of perhaps the most coveted, least advertised calendar sold in Hawai'i.

Since 1984, the State Department of Land and Natural Resources' Historic Preservation Division has been producing calendars featuring photos of Hawai'i's historic places. The calendars are so beloved that people often call the state wanting to buy keepsakes from years past.

"We still have some of the really old ones for sale, but some are rare," says department spokesman Clifford Inn. "I get requests from teachers all the time. 'Oh, I want the 1993 fishponds calendar.' That's a popular one. It's really beautiful."

Other years featured themes such as ancient petroglyphs, historic gardens, even plantation-era cottages.

This year, the theme is 1950s architecture in Hawa'i. These are buildings you've seen a thousand times, yet the photo and text reveal design features you probably never noticed.

"Since these are structures built in the '50s, they're coming of age. Once they hit 50, they're eligible to be nominated for the National Register of Historic Places," Inn explains.

The project was the brainchild of former department director Don Hibbard, who is now retired, but still helps with the planning, research and writing. Hibbard wanted to create something both functional and beautiful, something that would reach a large audience and remind people of Hawai'i's historic places every day of the year.

The first run of 5,000 calendars relied on state funding. The department realized early on that to keep the project going, there would have to be another source of funding, so they approached sponsors — a few at first, but more over the years. Sponsorship money and a Coast Guard educational grant helped increase the run to the current 20,000 calendars.

The sponsors, all local businesses that place understated ads on the bottom of each page, bear the bulk of the cost of the calendars. "The project is self-supporting," Inn says.

There's no marketing of the calendars. They get placed in a few select stores and folks scoop them up.

Actually, only a portion of the calendars are sold.

In exchange for their financial support, the sponsors get bundles of calendars to give away. Calendars go to every public school and library in the state. The state boating division gives away calendars to people coming in to register their vessels.

The ones that are for sale go for around $10 and can be found at the Hawai'i Heritage center, Historic Hawai'i Foundation, Na Mea and at the State Parks office.

Several years back, a tide chart was added to the calendar design. That took it over the top. "People loved it. Some said it was the best part," Hibbard said. "We've gone with the tide chart ever since."

Lee Cataluna's column runs Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Reach her at 535-8172 or lcataluna@honoluluadvertiser.com.