"We are all here to try to make this a thriving community again," said Darryl Wong, head of Old Town Mo'ili'ili Business Association. "We are more of a local market, not a visitor market. Most of our businesses are geared toward the university or the local population. The key is: How can we help create a way to keep the university students here? That means affordable housing for students — dormitories with small eateries."

University future

Kem Lowry, chairman of the University of Hawai'i urban and regional planning department, said the idea of creating a "college town," proposed by former UH President Evan Dobelle three years ago to intertwine the lives of students with Mo'ili'ili residents, is still valid today and could help both communities.

"Everybody who wants to see UH-Manoa prosper recognizes that it will really thrive if there is more student housing, more of a residential campus," Lowry said. "I think that would help revitalize Mo'ili'ili as well. It would mean more services, more restaurants and the like to serve residents."

Local developer Peter Savio said providing more private dormitory-style housing for students is the best way to integrate the two groups.

"Right now, Mo'ili'ili is where kids tend to gather in the evenings," Savio said. "They go down to eat, have a beer, but it is not a college town yet. It has a long way to go to get there. Part of it is housing for the kids and the activities they want. They want gift shops, cafes, clothing stores."

Savio's company has bought a dormitory building on Kalo Place and expects to develop residential projects in the near future. In the next decade, he expects 4,000 to 5,000 new dorm rooms to open in Mo'ili'ili.

"We have offers out right now on one or two properties that we think would be excellent locations for dorms to be built," he said. "The university concept is going to happen. It is just a question of time."

Brian Yamamoto, manager of Yama's Fish Market on Young Street at Mo'ili'ili Field, supports the idea of more students to revive the area.

"The students wouldn't have to travel so far, and it would ease highway congestion at the same time," Yamamoto said. "It would bring us more customers."

Childhood memories

"Mo'ili'ili was a strong Japanese community and closely united," said Takamura, now a trustee for the Mo'ili'ili Community Center. "The Japanese language school was the main assembling place for the Japanese community before the war. There were open-air movies and staged plays.

"We all went to Japanese school. When I think about it today, it was like baby-sitting. There was very little juvenile delinquency. We had no time to get into trouble. They taught us respect and set the moral guidelines."

Early history

Mo'ili'ili, which means "pebble lizard" in Hawaiian, was a thriving Hawaiian community until it was decimated by smallpox in the mid-19th century.

Chinese immigrants arrived in the 1870s, followed by Japanese laborers who worked the taro patches and rice paddies and in the rock quarry where Cooke Field is today. Rock for 'Iolani Palace and Central Union Church was cut there.

The business community prospered, and by the 1920s, housing tracts began to appear, eventually pushing the farms out of the Mo'ili'ili area.

New groups of immigrants, including Micronesians, Koreans, Laotians and Vietnamese have moved into the aging low-rent homes and walk-up apartments.

"Mo'ili'ili is really exciting now because of the diversity," said Evelyn Aczon Hao, principal of Kuhio Elementary School. "My immigrant families are very serious about educating their children. I can depend on them to have their kids come to school on time, dressed clean and neat, and ready to learn. My thought is that immigrants haven't changed. They still want a better life for their kids."

Peaked in the '30s

Mo'ili'ili was at its peak in the 1930s and 1940s, when the city trolley ran down King Street past dozens of small retail shops including meat markets, bakeries and dressmakers.

Most people remember the area as the site of the old Honolulu Stadium at King and Isenberg streets. The stadium opened in 1926 and was the premier sports center on O'ahu until, termite-ridden and eclipsed by Aloha Stadium, it was torn down in 1976. Today, Honolulu Stadium Park occupies the site.

Twice a week, Kumi Go leads a tai chi class for senior citizens in the park.

Go sets up her portable disc player, and a group of about 20 women follow the choreographed exercise movements to keep themselves limber, balanced and strong.

"This is a good use for the old stadium," Go said. "The preschools come here, and a lot of seniors use the park."

Urban problems

Groups of homeless people have taken up residence in the area's parks, and some people live in vehicles parked on Isenberg Street. While some business are concerned about increased crime in the area, police say it is not illegal to be homeless, and homeless people are free to use the parks.

"We get a million and one thousand complaints about parking," said police Capt. Marie McCauley. "It's not a huge crime area. Just quality-of-life issues."

Reach James Gonser at jgonser@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2431.