KAILUA — Before urbanization and tract homes, and before the population moved closer to the beach, Kailua's center was at the entrance to Maunawili Valley, where stores prospered and farmers worked.

The Kailua Historical Society wants to bring back a bit of that history in its second of a series called Barefoot Days of Kailua by highlighting the stores at the beginning of the 20th century, when life was simpler in Kailua.

Minding the Store will include a panel of early residents who will share their memories at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Trinity Presbyterian Church, 875 Auloa Road.

Beginning in the 1900s, all Kailua stores were nearer to where Maunawili Stream entered Kawai Nui Marsh, said Paul Brennan, an anthropologist. Early immigrants were moving in to farm and blending with the Hawaiian families already there, said Brennan, who will moderate the evening.

The stores carried the name of their owners like Wong, Lee, Akam, Matsuda and Kodama. They provided basic needs and sometimes were the gathering places where people shared their stories and gossiped. One had a gas station, another a barber shop and still another a pool table, although they were not around at the same time except for the Kodama and Matsuda stores, which outlasted the others.

"Those stores originated early in 1900, and they were mostly catering to the Chinese community who were all employees of the rice mills," Brennan said, adding that the stores were associated with the urbanization of Kailua.

Brennan has a panel of long-time Kailua and Waimanalo residents who will discuss their past and recall the lifestyle of that period. With any luck, the discussion will include the audience, who will bring their own stories to share, he said. The event will be recorded.

Norman Kawauchi, 83, a founding member of Ko'olau Farmers who grew up in Kailua in the 1930s, will be a panel member.

Kailua was his playground and was the best part of his life, until he moved to Waimanalo as an adult to farm.

"We enjoyed the whole atmosphere," Kawauchi said. "We had Kailua Beach all to ourselves, and it was one of the most beautiful places."

With a population of about 3,000 then, Kailua was mostly made up of Japanese people, but there were camps where Filipino day laborers lived in Maunawili Valley, and millionaires lived on the beach, he said.

His parents grew bananas and papayas, and the children set up one of the first fruit stands on the road to Kailua while playing house about 1934, he said.

"We had the first customer, a tourist from Australia," Kawauchi said. "We made about 35 cents."

After that, others did the same, and there were 15 stands lining the road to Kailua until 1952 or 1953 from about Le Jardin to the Methodist church, he said.

Brennan said more modern stores will be mentioned, including Kalapawai Market, that first opened in Maunawili, and another store that sold Kailua poi, crack seed and bread closer to the beach.

But the focus will be on the stores from the turn of the century and their impact on the development of the Kailua of today.