Hawaii in the 1980’s

RememberWhen…

From the sugar plantations to popular culture, the 1980’s in Hawaii were seemingly a decade of good-byes and tumultuous times, not only for our islands but also for the world at large. Outside of Hawaii, people everywhere mourned the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger in 1986 and the death of Hawaii’s own Ellison Onizuka. This same year, Chernobyl’s nuclear disaster in the then Soviet Union made international headlines.

In Hawaii, the 1980’s signaled the near end of the sugar plantation era in Hawaii. In 1982, C. Brewer company began converting 8,000 previous sugar acres to macadamia nuts. This same year Alexander & Baldwin and Amfac together shut down approximately half of the sugar industry by closing six sugar plantations, among them Puna Sugar Company which would close it’s doors over a 2 year period, ending in 1984.

Hawaii also said good-bye to a beloved slack key guitarist and entertainer when Gabby Pahinui died in 1980. This same decade, two beloved television series would also end; Hawaii Five-O in 1980 and Magnum PI in 1988.

In the midst of these happenings, the aloha spirit was still evident. Even during Hurricane Iwa, which hit Kauai in 1982, neighbor helped neighbor. The Hokule’a launched its  “Voyage of Rediscovery” in 1985 and celebrated it’s completion in 1987. In 1986, Hawaii would elect John Waihee its first governor of Hawaiian ancestry since Sam King in 1952. Then in 1987, Hawaii would celebrate as one of our own, Nanakuli’s Salevaa Atisanoe—known as Konishiki —became the first foreigner to reach the status of ozeki in Japan, sumo’s second highest level.

With it’s mix of tragedy and hope, the 1980’s was indeed a challenging yet memorable decade worldwide.

How were the 1980’s significant to you? What were you doing during this decade?

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