I think it’s important to take notice and congratulate the companies, schools and nonprofit organizations that have managed to stick around and continue to serve the community for 50 or more years.

The community has supported them through epidemics, tsunamis, hurricanes, wars, recessions and other calamities. Here are a few I know of that passed significant milestones in 2023.

135 years: Kauluwela School

This elementary school has been at the same location on School Street between Nuuanu Avenue and Liliha Street since 1888, the 14th year of King David Kalakaua’s reign.

Iolani Palace was less than 10 years old in 1888. The palace had Oahu’s first telephone, installed seven years earlier, and electric lighting just one year earlier. There were no automobiles, radios or televisions.

Kauluwela’s first 140 students were composed mainly of four ethnicities: Hawaiians, Portuguese, Germans and Norwegians. Kauluwela means “glowing” or “colorful.”

Shoo Tsin Tseu was 6 years old in 1902 when she started first grade at Kauluwela School. In 1916 she began teaching at Kauluwela. She was paid $60 a month (about $1,800 today).

“Most times we took our own lunches,” Tseu said. “Or we could buy lunch from vendors. They came around with poles on their shoulders and lard cans hanging from each end of the poles.

“For 5 cents you could buy chow fun in a homemade paper container or a small French loaf cut in half with butter and deviled ham, or a sandwich with big slabs of bread.”

School equipment did not include a water fountain, she said. Water ran into a wooden trough where students could dip water with their hands to drink or simply put their faces into the water.

125 years: St. Clement’s Episcopal church

This church in Makiki got off to a rocky start, Kathleen Norris told me. When the Episcopal Bishop in Hawaii, the Rev. Alfred Willis, was at an 1897 conference in London, the Rev. John Usborne served during his absence.

Usborne thought that the bishop had given him permission to start a new church to serve the growing population in Makiki and Manoa.

Former Queen Lili‘uokalani spoke out against it. She was concerned that the new church would draw people away from St. Andrew’s Cathedral, where she was a member of the congregation.

When Willis returned, he denied that he had given his approval and refused to recognize St. Clement’s as an Episcopal church. He even accused Usborne of heresy.

The church held services beginning in 1898, but it wasn’t accepted into the diocese until 1901, under the auspices of a new bishop, William Nichols.

100 years: Junior League of Honolulu

While I have heard of the Junior League many times, I really had no idea of its impact in the islands.

Past President Dawn Krause told me it founded Action Line, The Nature Center, Mothers Against Drunk driving in Hawaii and Hale Kipa.

“In 1966 the Junior League of Honolulu began a nearly three-year-long project to document Iolani Palace during the time it served as the official residence of the Hawaiian monarchy in preparation for the palace’s restoration,” Krause said.

“This undertaking involved thousands of hours of research by dozens of volunteers, primarily in the Hawaii State Archives. It focused on documenting both the exterior and interior of the building, detailing the palace’s construction, furnishings and uses during the monarchy.

“An enormous number of newspapers, photographs and other documents, in both Hawaiian and English, were examined and analyzed. The research was then compiled and indexed.

“The results of the meticulous work of the Junior League are now available for scholars and others interested in the history of Iolani Palace to advance their knowledge of this extraordinary building.

“This was, of course, in the 1960s, so all of this research was handwritten or typed on more than 4,000 index cards. It is now digitized and available to the public on the palace website.”

100 years: University of Hawaii Band

The University of Hawaii Band made its debut in 1923 as an 18-member drum and bugle corps.

Today more than 300 students entertain over 400,000 spectators annually at football, basketball and volleyball games, concerts and campus events — over 100 performances every year! This makes it the most visible student organization on campus.

100 years: Kaimuki Christian Church

Kaimuki resident Maud Foster began gathering neighborhood children to her home for a Sunday school class in 1909. Fourteen years later it became the Kaimuki Christian Mission, the forerunner of Kaimuki Christian Church.

65 years: Windward City Shopping Center

Around the time that the Pali and Likelike highway tunnels were being built, developers began opening Windward subdivisions and shopping centers.

Mayor Neal S. Blaisdell attended the grand opening of the Windward City Shopping Center in 1958. Tom Moffatt from radio station KPOA was the emcee. Musicians Robin Luke, Ronnie Diamond and the Tilton Sisters performed.

Former Windward City tenants included Kress, GEM, Sears, Windward Bowl, Wisteria II and the Jerry Lewis twin theaters. Two tikis stood outside Tiki Tops, a Spencecliff restaurant (does anyone know what became of the tikis?).

There was also a Flamingo restaurant, Musashiya store, and Lex Brodie’s first foray into the automotive business was managing the Chevron station there. Thank you, very much, Lex.

60 years: The Polynesian Cultural Center

The PCC grew out of a hukilau in Laie and a singing group called the Polynesian Panorama. The 1963 merger on a 15-acre site now draws more than 700,000 visitors a year, making it one of the largest attractions in the state.

60 years: Merrie Monarch Festival

The Big Island economy was badly hurt by the 1960 tsunami. To get it going again, the Chamber of Commerce organized a festival in Hilo in 1963. The theme was the royal court pageantry of King Kalakaua and the Gay Nineties.

The festival featured barbershop quartets, beard contests, beer drinking and hula. The festival was a flop. Only about 300 people attended.

In 1971, kumu hula Pauline Kekahuna and Louise Kaleiki suggested the festival focus on hula competition. The one-night event that year included modern hula. Kahiko, or ancient hula, was added in 1972.

50 years: Jose’s Mexican Cafe & Cantina

Their family had restaurants in California when Joe and Laura Martinez came to Hawaii for a vacation. There were few Mexican restaurants here, so they decided to open one, in 1966.

They called it La Paloma Mexican Restaurant. La Paloma means “the dove.” It was at 1216 Kapiolani Blvd. near Piikoi Street. They made their own tortillas daily, and they used recipes passed down from Laura’s mother.

In 1973, Joe’s siblings, Fred, Dick, Yolanda and Linda, opened Jose’s Mexican Cafe & Cantina at 1134 Koko Head Ave. in Kaimuki. It was named for their father, Jose. There was also a Jose’s in Kona and a La Paloma in Pearlridge.

Congratulations to all the organizations that have managed to surmount adversity and continue to serve their communities, decade after decade.

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Bob Sigall is the author of the five “The Companies We Keep” books. Contact him at Sigall@Yahoo.com or sign up for his free email newsletter at RearviewMirrorInsider.com.