The following is a continuation of an August 1978 article
by Mr. Rick Edwards on the history of Hawaiian Paradise Park.
I was trying to rack my brain when you first provided the questions, about the first ten residents in the sub-division. A man and his wife by the name of Piper were the first residents and they lived in a tent while they were building the house, which is on Lot 226 in Block 8. Mr. Piper didn't finish the house. He had used some ohia logs, etc. and hadn't used the proper kind of supports, so when they left (they had been getting assistance from Mr. Watumull) Mr. Watumull then had to make arrangments with a contractor to come in and finish the painting and construction properly. This was in 1960 about the time I came along. No one else lived in the immediate area.
The first ten residents in the sub-division were; the Edwards,
Coombs, St. Croix's, Tiptons, Knolls, Fullertons, Siemans, Randas,
Mathews' and Remniffs'. Of these, I think it's kind of interesting
to note that seven of them are no longer here; they have either
moved or passed away. So there are only three still here, the
Edwards, Mathews' and Siemans'.
I also think it is significant to note in 1960 there was only
one house in the sub-division. It took five years from 1960 to
1965 to go from one to ten houses, a thousand percentage increase,
it's not very much numerically but its quite a percentage increase.
Oddly enough between 1965 and 1970 it increased another thousand
percent. It went from ten houses to one hundred houses. It took
ten years to get the first one hundred houses in Paradise Park,
and now I understand there is a little over four hundred houses
in our subdivision. There will probably be one thousand in the
next two or three years if the present rate of construction continues.
More and more you can see evidence of cleared lots within the
sub-division, whereas before it was largely undeveloped.
Earlier I mentioned that this land had been used for cattle grazing. Mr. Shipman told me at one time that his brother was responsible for frequently setting fires in this area to prevent trees from growing. The old grass would be burned out so new green grass could grow up for the cattle. It also made it easier for the cowhands to see the surface of the ground-you know how irregular and full of cracks it is. It was easier for them to ride and see without vegetation.
I recall in my first year I was frankly told by several locals that people who had come here didn't last very long. They gave me six weeks, six months at the most, and I would be gone too. I remember Sonny Kamahele, who lives down by the ocean near Makuu saying, "in the old days even if they tried to give us this kind of land we wouldn't take it - this is junk land that won't grow anything". I was kind of discouraged in the beginning. So anything I could get I would stick in the ground and was thoroughly delighted when it started to grow. A lot of you have had a chance to be here for a time and see that things do grow. It is a good thing sometimes when you don't listen to people, because you go right ahead when you don't know any better, and do the impossible. I took a terrible ribbing the first few years l lived here.
There were no telephones. I have an interesting story to relate
concerning the telephone. Originally the telephone followed the
railroad. When I was clearing the brush around my house on Lot
228, I attempted to burn some material. Like so many who don't
believe that this wind can pick up and dry out the grass, the
fire got away from me. I was really concerned about my house.
I caught someone on the highway (in those days there was hardly
any traffic) and, while I went back to fight the fire, they notified
the fire department. After this episode I knew something had to
be done, so I had a phone installed on a telephone pole at the
intersection of Railroad and Paradise Drive. For quite some time
I left the telephone there, because in the old days people liked
to come out and go fishing and, in case of an emergency, I thought
it would be good if the phone was there. Of course the inevitable
happened, and one month my bill came in with quite a few long
distance phone calls on it. From then on I had to put a padlock
on the box and keep it locked so that people wouldn't take advantage
of it. It wasn't too much longer after that until they put the
new telephone iine in along Highway 13 as it exists today. They
then took out the line along the old railroad that had existed
since the old days. In the old days the phone line followed the
old railroad into Pahoa.