ByDenniS Oda, Star-Bulletin
Community center stands up to varied threats.

A community center
bunkers down

Millions of servicemen became familiar with the Oahu Railway and Land train terminal across from Aala Park during World War II, and the rest of us think of it as the Kalihi-Palama Multi-Service Community Center. But there's a smaller building tucked behind it that's just as intriguing.

Roundabouts 1914, the two-story structure was built as an office and document storage structure for OR&L, and accordingly is functional and sturdy, with thick walls, smallish windows and imposing pediments. A second-floor door was useful for winching up heavy files.

But when the trains stopped running in the late '40s, Dillingham used it for storage, and in the 1970s it was rehabbed for the Kalihi-Palama organization. They still occupy the top floor, and the bottom floor is used by the King Kamehameha Celebration Commission.

"It's very firmly built and rather plain," said KKCC program specialist Keahi Allen. "I think they used to store tax-key maps in here. If there's a hurricane, this is where I'm going!"

The KKCC will remain at the building for a while longer, despite having all state funding evaporate under the Governor's plan to eliminate education and culture. The organization is seeking private funding to keep the commemoration alive, and has succeeded at least in finding an Indiana underwriter for the Oahu parade.

Being allowed to continue using the building space "means we don't have to seek private space, which would have just killed us, financially," said Allen. "We're very grateful for this compromise."

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By Burl Burlingame, Star-Bulletin