Honoka’a Town

Located midway on the Big Island of Hawaii, the small town of Honoka’a is an hour drive from Hilo on Highway 19 and about the same distance from the Kohala Coast resorts. It is conveniently close to the coastal highway and a must-see for visitors to majestic Waipi’o Valley, which is nearby.

Historic Downtown

Honoka’a's main street, Mamane Street, runs parallel to the Pacific Ocean. All along Mamane Street, contemporary shops catering to residents and tourists have moved into former general merchandise or dry goods outlets. Honoka’a's old false-front wooden buildings are examples of vernacular architecture–architecture of a key historical period created by people without the help of a professional architect.

Many Mamane Street buildings were constructed in the 1920′s or 1930′s by Chinese and Japanese workers who left the sugar plantations and went into business. At one time, at the height of the plantation era, Honoka’a was the second largest town on this island.

Andrade Building on Mamane Street

Honokaa People's Theater

Honoka’a Hotel Club

Heritage Murals

Honoka’a was home to the Hamakua Sugar Company from 1873 to 1994, and is proud of it’s plantation heritage. A number of murals were painted to show different aspects of plantation life.

The Cane Cutters

Midtown at the Hotel Honoka’a Club (built in 1926), this large mural is easily seen from the street. The mural portrays immigrant laborers working in Hamakua sugarcane fields before World War II, when cane cutting was done by hand with a “cut-cane knife.” The workers painted here are probably Japanese immigrants, both men and women. In those days plantation life was hard and they labored under three-year contracts. 45-3480 Mamane Street.

Hawaiian Paniolo

Several doors to the west, next to the historic Botelho Building (1927), this mural portrays a Hawaiian cowboy and Hawaiian woman in her traditional mu’umu’u (long dress) against the backdrop of pasture land. Ranching is still an important part of life here. Honoka’a holds an annual Western Week festival and a variety of rodeos and roping contests. 45-3490 Mamane Street.

Hawaiian Heritage

Located several buildings west of the Honoka’a Post Office, just outside of town, is a vibrantly colored portrayal of a Hawaiian family seated together in the foreground of Waipi’o Valley. The large gourd on the right is an ipu, used to set the rhythm in hula. Another hula instrument, a drum of pahu, is nearby. 45-3684 Mamane Street.

Kukuihaele Landing and Waipi’o Cliffs

These two murals are found slightly inland at the North Hawai’i Education & Research Center, part of the University of Hawai’i at Hilo.

At the entrance, a mural portrays the extraordinary way bags of Pacific Mill sugar were transferred to a ship offshore, despite the high cliffs of the coast at Kukuihaele Landing. Pacific Sugar Mill was one of five plantations near Honoka’a. On this coast the sugar industry lasted more than 100 years, beginning in 1879 and dominating all aspects of life.

Downstairs is a 15-foot-long vision of the beautiful cliffs of Waipi’o Valley as seen from the ocean. 45-539 Plumeria Street.

The Katsu Goto Memorial

This graceful and unique memorial, with its Japanese blue tile roof, commemorates Katsu Goto, an immigrant worker who met a tragic fate at this site in 1889. A large bronze plaque engraved in both English and Japanese, tells Katsu Goto’s story in brief. He is considered a forerunner of the labor movement. 45-3380 Mamane St.