Upcoming Classes and Events February 19, 2009

City of Torrance Spring Schedules (includes Polynesian Dance classes in 3 levels)

Kalani Islander Reunion Practice: Every 3rd Saturday of Each Month at Kaulana Ka Hale Kula ‘O Na Pua ‘O Ka ‘Aina Halau.  The Kalani Islanders were formed in the 1970s in Carson, CA, under the direction of Moana Chang.  They are currently planning a reunion set for sometime in July and are looking for past members.  Contact phone: 310-294-381

Herb Ohta Jr. – Private Ukulele Lessons For more information and appointments, call: 310.339.7205

• Torrance: March 18 – 20, 2009 @ Island Legends
  • Private Lessons
  • $65/45 minutes
• Carson: March 21, 2009 @ Hula Halau o Lilinoe
  • Ukulele for Beginners: 1pm-2:30pm
  • Learn How to Play a Song: 3pm-4:30pm
  • $25 Before 03/15/09 ($30 After)

Welina O’ahu: Kaulana Ka Hale Kula ‘O Na Pua ‘O Ka ‘Aina annual Ho’ike

• April 11, 2009
• Pre-Sale Tickets: $18, $20 at the door
• Marsee Auditorium, El Camino College
• For Tickets, contact the halau at 310.628.1547 or visit Styles of Hawai’i in Torrance

For anyone in Nor Cal:

O’ahu: Confessions of an Island by Na Lei Hulu I Ka Wekiu

• March 28, 2009 @ 2pm and 8pm
• Tickets are $20/$26/$32
• Zellerbach Hall
• For tickets and more information, call 510.642.9988

if anyone goes to this, I’d like to hear how it was since I was so interested in the halau from watching American Aloha.

Library Holdings October 21, 2008

Below are charts gathered from a search of the library catalogs of Torrance Public Library and the County of Los Angeles Public Library.  The Torrance Public Library search was not broken down by branches, since they were all contained within the city limits of my study.  The County of Los Angeles Public Library was broken up in a few different ways.  First, the catalog was analyzed by library within the city limits of the case study.  What this means is I essentially looked at the four libraries contained within the city limits of Gardena and Carson: Mayme Dear Gardena Library, Masao W. Satow Library (Gardena), Carson Library, and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library (Carson Library and formerly the Victoria Park Library).  I also included the collection from the County’s Asian Pacific Resource Center as I figured they would have the most information available as well as taking a survey of the County as a whole.  It was important to differentiate between branch and the County system as a whole, due to the ready availability of inter-branch requests, which essentially make the whole County collection available to the patron.  However, to fulfill immediate needs, the patron would only have those materials available within the library’s walls at hand.  I also chose not to do pie chart representations of the individual collections for MLK, Jr. and Satow because these library’s holdings were very small and held under 50 books combined.

The search conducted was a fairly simple one in order to maximize results and was the same procedure for both catalogs.  The search was for: subject, hawaii and NOT subject, fiction.  I chose this because it maximized the amount of literature available by including everything and anything regarding the state of Hawaii, the ancestral homeland of Native Hawaiians, which I would assume would be a required subject heading for anything dealing with Hawaii, Hawaiians, or Hawaiian culture.  I chose not to include fiction, as there are so many novels, adult and juvenile, which may take place in Hawai’i but have nothing to do with Native Hawaiians or Native Hawaiian culture that it would be difficult to determine what aids in the preservation and dissemination of cultural heritage and what does not.

The Hawaiian culture section of the pie chart is a combination of various topics which will be available in the appendix of my thesis and include the following subjects: Arts & Crafts (i.e. Lei Making, Quilt Making), Folktales/Myths/Legends, Food, Language, Literature/Poetry (Non-Fic), Medicine, Music and dance, Religion, Surfing.  Although I feel like these are all distinct parts of the Hawaiian culture and cultural heritage is not limited to these topics, it was more visually appealing in graph form to combine them.  In my analysis of the library collection, I would also take into account the collection of Hawaiian history and politics, as these greatly influence modern Hawaiian cultural heritage and some scholars claim that a tie that binds off-island hawaiians to on-island hawaiians is this shared collective memory of annexation and overthrow.

‘Ahahui o Liliuokalani Civic Club of Southern California October 7, 2008

The ‘Ahahui is one of the oldest clubs on the mainland.  In fact, my grandparents were part of the founding members and were at one time on the board.  Currently, my grandparents help out at fundraising functions, like Ho’olaule’a at Alondra Park and help sell Lau Lau.  The ‘Ahahui also gave me a scholarship for UCLA and I believe just gave one to my brother as he begins Culinary School at the Art Institute of California.  The most updated information I could find regarding the club’s activities and achievements is from 2006.  I am waiting for an e-mail from Uncle John regarding recent Activities and Achievements.

Although the contact information for ‘Ahahui is Uncle John’s personal address which is in Cerritos, the club holds most of their events and participates in events primarily in the Gardena area.  They used to hold meetings at the VFW Hall in Gardena on Western and Gardena Blvd.

‘Ahahui o Liliuokalani Hawaiian Civic Club of Southern California

• Chartered on Feb. 4, 1977
• Second Hawaiian Civic Club formed on the Mainland
• Motto: ‘Onipa’a
• Song: Makalapua
• “The ‘Ahahui, along with it’s other Mainland Clubs, pursue to maintain an active interest in the Hawaiian language, customs, mele, and crafts, and strive to preserve the customs and culture of the Hawaiian people.”
• Mission Statement:
  • To promote charitable, educational and cultural pursuits beneficial to all races with primary emphasis on persons born of Hawaiian ancestry or born in Hawai’i, and to actively encourage attainment of vocabulary and educational goals through the aid of, among other things, scholarship.
  • To unite the membership into working harmoniously for the benefit of all who are Hawaiian and Hawaiian-at-heart.
  • To instill in our youth of the Hawaiian community a sense of pride in their Hawaiian and American heritage, and to promote and practice the principle of good government and citizenship.
  • To contribute to the civic, economic, social health and moral welfare of our community.
  • To provide forums for free discussion of matters of public interest.
  • To actively participate in the promotion and perpetuation of cultural traditions na mele (songs) and ‘Olelo Hawai’i (Hawaiian language), consistently encouraging the learning and use thereof.
• Contact: Keoni Jensen (Pelekikena) boyjensen50@aol.com
• 2006 Club Activites and Achievements
  • ‘Ahahui Delegates attended and participated in the 46th Annual AHCC Convention in Kohala, Hawaii.The ‘Ahahui started the year 2006 with a New Year Celebration in January. Members were asked to bring their birth certificates so that they could participate in the Kau Inoa registration. A pot-luck luncheon followed.

    In February Aunty Luka Kanehilua passed away. Aunty Luka was very interested in helping the na keiki of the ‘Ahahui. She planned fund-raising activities to provide scholarships especially for the na keiki.

    In March the ‘Ahahui celebrated its 1st annual Kuhio Day. The day was spent in story telling and sharing information about Prince Kuhio. A Hawaiian pot-luck was enjoyed by the participants.

    The ‘Ahahui held a laulau sale fund-raiser. Al Pelayo was the chairperson for the event.

    In July the ‘Ahahui participated in the annual Alondra Park Ho’olaule’a. A Hawaiian food menu of, kalua pork, laulau, poi, lomi salmon, and rice, was served in the ‘Ahahui food booth.

    The ‘Ahahui is planning a Queen’s day celebration in September. Workshops in hula, ipu hokiokio, lei hulu, and storytelling are planned. Following a luncheon a presentation of “Ka Lei Maile Ali’i” (The Queen’s Women) will be put on by the members of the ‘Ahahui and members of the Hawaiian community.

    The ‘Ahahui has a scholarship program. This year the ‘Ahahui gave out three scholarships to deserving na keiki.

More Media – Newsletter October 2, 2008

The Borders in Torrance used to carry out of state newspapers, including the local Maui paper.  Unfortunantly, around the time I quit working there the first time, they stopped carrying them.

An endogenous paper has come out though, called Ka Hoku Newsletter: Hawaiian Living in Southern California.  The newsletter is bi-monthly and began in June/July 2008.  Subscriptions are $25/year for paper or electronic.  Each edition features a “Hawaiians in Highlight”, interviewing diasporic Hawaiians living on the mainland who are active within the Hawaiian community.  They also feature a local Hawaiian Business Owner, giving their personal history, history of the company, and goals of the company and how they plan to help perpetuate Hawaiian culture.  Other contributions include recipes, events calendar, hawaiian heritage, learning opportunities, and an ʻolelo section.  They also feature a different keiki in each newsletter and have a learning section dedicated to keiki.  The June/July edition features colors in hawaiian.

On the website, a list of available Free editions are provided, which all can be found at local Hawaiian restaurants:

Torrance: The Local Place, Hong Kong Bakery and Deli, Island Grinds, Kingʻs Hawaiian Restaurant, the Loft, Teriʻs Place, TNT Aloha Cafe, Rascalʻs

Gardena: L&Ls, Bobʻs Hawaiian Style Okazu-ya, Bruddahʻs, Happa Restaurant, Harryʻs Cafe

Carson: Back Home in Lahaina, L&Ls.

The editor welcomes ideas and submissions, and hopes to get a classified section going.

commentary: the overall impact of the newsletter is difficult to determine since it is a fledgling publication.  The heart and intent appears to be in the right place, and the events calendar is pretty complete, including small events that normally donʻt get a lot of advertisement.  My main concern for the success of the newsletter is the substance portion – it seems a little scant at times, and I wonder how they select those people they feature and how they determine the articles they write, such as the start of “Aloha Friday”.  Although this is interesting, I can think of many other Hawaiian traditions I would be more concerned about than a tradition which began in the U.S. Senate – but then, that may be my own personal feelings on the relationship between Native Hawaiians and the U.S. Government speaking out.  I think though, that they highlight important issues, such as Kau Inoa sponsored coffee hours and the Hawaiian Caucus held in Irvine at the Asian/Pacific Islander American Presidential Town Hall in May.  i also like the census statistics they provide, particularly because they create awareness to issues many Hawaiians may not think about.  Although these are more political issues than cultural issues, they are very important to Native Hawaiian issues.  As far as cultural heritage is concerned, Na Hoku promotes primarily thorugh the ʻolelo section and the hawaiian heritage/hawaiian at home.

Terminology October 2, 2008

I realized that Iʻm throwing around two terms which I donʻt explain my use of in these posts and in my tags which are actually essential to my research.

Endogenous: By endogenous, I am referring to those elements which are provided by the Native Hawaiian community itself.  These typically include examples such as halaus and Hawaiian Civic Clubs.

Exogenous: By exogenous, I am referring to those elements which are provided by the larger society, such as the City or State.  These typically include examples such as classes offered through Parks & Rec and Public Library collections.

Part of my research will be to determine how much of Native Hawaiian preservation and dissemination will be occurring from within the endogenous community versus the exogenous community.  Another part will be to determine how much from within the endogenous community conforms to exogenous forms (such as hawaiian civic clubs – which tend to follow a typical western style club with a pelekikena and alakaʻis and other officer positions).  I want to determine what it means and the implications if most of the support for Native Hawaiian cultural heritage has to come from within the endogenous community rather than being supported by larger society.

Halau Carson October 2, 2008

There are two main Halaus in Carson which show up on AlohaWorld as well as Hawaiian Music Island.

One is Echoes of the Islands, which is under the direction of Kita Austin but has no website.  I have tried contacting Kumu Kita and am awaiting a reply.  If anyone has any information on this halau or dance troupe, please give me a lead!

The other halau is Hula Halau ‘O Lilinoe which is under the direction of Kumu Sissy Kaio.  Recently, the halau competed in E Hula Mau in Long Beach and won many awards.  According to their entry on the HICCSC website,

“Besides teaching our haumana hula we have also given them the opportunity to learn from masters from Hawai’i.  Our haumana have had workshops with the masters in the areas language, arts & crafts, hula implement making, lei making, lauhala weaving, kapa beating and dying and of course hula.  What we strive to teach our haumana is that hula is a way of life.  It was a way that our ancestors communicated not only with each other but also with their gods and aumakua.  We have had the honor of sharing our hula & culture with different world dignitaries, celebrities, athletes, as well as our own community.”

Halau ‘o Lilinoe has also recently created a website, which they hope will “host a myriad of contents, such as: Literature, audio, class schedules, event schedules, a gallery and much more”.  Currently, the site lists class schedules, event schedules, a picture gallery, and halau rules as well as other miscellaneous information.

Commentary: What I appreciate about Hula Halau ‘o Lilinoe is their dedication to the preservation of the art.  Their website has an ‘Olelo No’eau on every page with translation, promoting use of the Hawaiian language.  Additionally, the Halau rules and regulations are fairly strict, forcing haumana to take the art of Hula seriously, forcing them to become dedicated.  Many say that Hula is a way of life, and thanks to halaus like this one, it really is.  As mentioned in the previous post regarding practice attire, Aunty Sissy requires all of her haumana to wear a pa’u and matching t-shirts.  Another portion of the site I really like is entitled, “So You Want To Study Hula?” and allows an individual interested in hula to seriously consider the type of halau they will be joining and the level of commitment necessary.  The topics discussed in this portion are:

1. The hula is a way of life to which many students and teachers dedicate their lives
2. Prospective students should consider what level of commitment they wish to make
3. Hula Halau function as a family
4. Not all knowledge is contained in only one school.
5. Not all teachers of hula have achieved comparable mastery of hula
6. A kumu hula is a foundation for hula