A Look Back at 1970, a Year of Firsts and Growing Trends

In 1970, the price of paradise was already too high.

As reported in the February issue of Hawaii Business Magazine that year, the U.S. Labor Department said a family of four in Honolulu needed to earn $8,168 a year for a “minimum” standard of living. A moderate lifestyle would cost $12,064 and the family would need to make $17,823 for an upper income way of life.

If you think $8,168 a year in family income is no big deal, consider that in 1970, the per capita income in Hawai‘i was just $4,599.

Rising gas prices were one big squeeze on residents’ budgets and would get worse: The price of a gallon of regular gasoline increased fourfold from 1968 to 1981, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Those rising gas prices were one factor behind a big story on changing car buying habits in the January 1970 issue of Hawaii Business. Here are some extracts from 1970, when the statewide population hit 768,561.

January | “Japanese automakers lead in foreign car sales”

In 1969, Toyota and Datsun overtook Volkswagen in sales in the Islands; Hondas appeared on the local market and Mazdas would arrive in March 1970.

People in Hawai‘i, beleaguered by increasingly crowded highways and high gasoline prices, liked the economical and fuel-efficient Japanese cars, Hawaii Business reported. The magazine skewered the then-conventional wisdom: “Contrary to popular notion, the success of the Japanese automakers in Hawaii is not traceable to the large segment of Hawaii’s population that is of Japanese extraction.

“The dealers report that sales have been broadly based across all ethnic lines. Hawaii if anything has avoided a Japanese orientation. Advertising has stressed American styling, cost, safety and economy, and Caucasian models have been used in all commercials.”

Nonetheless, Ford and Chevrolet were still Nos. 1 and 2 in the local market, with Toyota third and Dodge fourth.

Interesting Items from the January, February and March Issues

• Conventions in 1969 attracted 90,000 delegates, up 25% from 1968’s record 72,000.

• Hawaiian Airlines added three bilingual people to its staff to help with a growing number of Japanese customers.

• The National Register of Historic Places has designated 22 sites in Hawai‘i as places of historic interest. (There are now 375.)

• Kilauea Sugar Co. on Kaua‘i, owned by C. Brewer, said it would close in January 1971 after 94 years because it had become unprofitable. C. Brewer planned to plant some 2,500 acres of macadamia nut trees instead.

• Hutchinson Sugar in Ka‘ū on the Big Island curtailed its dumping of factory waste materials into the ocean to meet state water standards. Instead, the materials would be used as landfill.

• Resort developers and others in construction work brought in archaeologists for the first time to protect and restore Hawaiian artifacts, heiau and village sites. At Mākaha, developers rerouted golf courses around the sites and planned to include them as tourist attractions. Some at the state Legislature wanted to make such archaeological surveys a requirement before land could be developed.

• Maui was to get a 500-room hotel: The Maui Surf was to be built at the southern point of Ka‘anapali. Meanwhile, ground was broken on the 350-room Hilo Hawaiian hotel, and the 360-room Pacific Beach Hotel in Waikīkī was formally opened as Japanese tourism continued to increase.

• A Louisiana firm bought 3,000 acres of Bishop Estate land in Ka‘ū. The company planned to develop a resort on oceanfront land along Ka‘alu‘alu Bay. (However, no resort was ever built.)

MARCH | “The Changing Character of Downtown Honolulu”

The pace of construction was starting to soften in 1970, but projects moving ahead included the 20-story first tower of the Amfac Center at the foot of Bishop Street (now one of two towers of the Topa Financial Center), Hawaiian Telephone’s 17-story building at the other end of the street, and the 14-story Bishop Trust Building at Bishop and King streets (now the Cades Schutte Building). Two more buildings, the Davies Pacific Center and Amfac’s second tower, were being planned.

“Honolulu Greets the Jumbo Jet”

Honolulu International Airport welcomed its first regularly schedule jumbo jet flight on March 3, at the new Diamond Head Gull Wing Terminal. At the time, Hawaii Business reported, it was the first facility in the world designed specifically for jumbo jets and ready for action.

Credit went to a task force set up by Gov. John Burns three years earlier. The task force set the guidelines for construction and a consultant, Ralph M. Parsons Co., was largely credited for getting the job done in a tight time frame.

Hawai‘i Pavilion at Expo ’70

Hawai‘i had a pavilion at the first World Expo in the Asia-Pacific region, held in Osaka. It was shaped like a volcano, and the theme centered on Hawai‘i as the hub of the Pacific. The state allocated $800,000 for the exhibit.

But a follow-up story in the June issue reported that mounting criticism led organizers to revise the pavilion to emphasize its most successful feature: the entertainers. The original idea – to show Hawai‘i as a meeting place in the Pacific – failed to resonate with visitors.

Hotels Under Construction

The Kuilima Resort Hotel in Kahuku (now the Turtle Bay Resort) and its 18-hole golf course, under construction in 1970, eventually opened in May 1972. And with Hawai‘i Island headed for another record year in construction, work would begin on the $14 million, 31,000-acre Waikoloa resort. A resort was also being planned for Moloka‘i at Pūko‘o.

“Honolulu’s Fastest Growing Business”

Movie houses along Hotel Street that featured sex films were multiplying while the issue of whether the films were pornography was being debated in the courts. In 1970, there were 10 adult film houses on Hotel Street or close by. Another was planned for River Street and one more on Nu‘uanu Avenue.

“Military population highest since 1965”

As of April 1, 1970, 117,943 military members and their dependents were in Hawai‘i. (By 2022, that had shrunk to 100,000, according to the state’s Hawaii Defense Economy website.)

Meanwhile, plans for rebuilding the Army’s resort center at Fort DeRussy called for a modern high-rise complex – the Hale Koa Hotel – on the last remaining property on Waikīkī Beach without a high-rise. The complex eventually opened in 1975.

This and That

• The Hawaiian Mission Houses museum got $275,000 to remodel; its goal was to become a popular visitor attraction.

• C&H made the first delivery of its liquid sugar to be used by bakeries and soft-drink makers.

• For years, the Maui Lu was the only hotel in Kīhei. In 1970, two resort condominiums were being built there and Alexander & Baldwin was working toward developing its resort at nearby Wailea.

• Hawaiian Electric Co. made a $13,000 research grant to UH to determine the feasibility of electric cars in the state. An important phase of the study was to find ways to extend the 100-mile range of such cars.

September | “E.A. Attebury: The Man Who’s Making Fashion Profitable at Amfac”

Under E.A. Attebury’s leadership, Amfac’s Liberty House had become one of the nation’s most profitable department store chains. The company acquired Rhodes stores and was establishing Liberty House as a major fashion retailer in the San Francisco Bay area. The Ala Moana location had the strongest retail sales and was a huge success.

“Lanai Makes a Bid for Tourists”

The new operators of the Lanai Lodge (later named the Hotel Lanai) hoped to attract visitors looking for an escape to a quieter place. To that end, it featured outdoor activities; for example, visitors could now take four-wheel-drive vehicles up Lāna‘ihale or down to Shipwreck Beach. Back in 1970, Lāna‘i was chiefly thought of as the Dole Co.’s private plantation island and had no other hotels.

The lodge’s new owners, Webb Beggs of Maui and Lāna‘i’s Dr. Edwin Willett, the community’s only physician for many years, hoped to attract visitors and pay off their investment. The lodge had been remodeled and a bar and regular meals added, and vehicles were made available to guests.

November | “Dr. Fujio ‘Fudge’ Matsuda, Prime Mover in the Transportation Department”

A professor turned administrator, Fujio Matsuda ran the state department with the largest budget — Transportation. The department would spend nearly $182 million in fiscal year 1971 for airports, highways and harbors. The budget was larger than those of all but the four biggest companies in the state.

Hawaii Business Magazine reported that Hawai‘i had become a national leader in the development of its own international airport. The state highway system was also moving forward after lagging other states. Matsuda unified the Transportation Department by getting employees to see all modes of transportation – surface, air and water – as part of one big system.

When he accepted the job, Matsuda took a two-year leave of absence from UH, but he ended up staying eight years.

December | “An Identity of its Own for UH at Hilo”

The people of the Big Island got what they wanted in 1969: a four-year university. In September 1970, the Hilo Technical School was transferred to UH and became Hawai‘i Community College.