It’s hard for many of my friends to believe it’s already 2025. Some tell me they long for the “good old days.” Were things better then? Through the magic of this column, let’s jump into my Way Back machine and travel to 1925. What was Hawaii like 100 years ago? Let’s see.

I’ll press the power button, and we should arrive in less than a minute. A few reminders: Hawaii was a territory in 1925. Queen Lili‘uokalani had died in 1917, and many residents had met or seen her.

In 1925 we had no cellphones, televisions or computers. There was no internet, email or Google. The only screens were in movie theaters, and they showed silent films.

People read newspapers and books. The latest technology was radio. KGU had gone on the air in 1922, and many families listened to their receivers in the evening.

There were telephones 100 years ago, but they were attached to the wall in most places and might have had only a short cord.

By 1925 many people were buying automobiles, but many walked, jumped on a streetcar (trolley) or owned a horse and carriage.

Kapiolani Boulevard didn’t exist. Its first stage opened in 1928, and its original proposed name was Missionary Boulevard. Bishop Street went as far mauka as Hotel Street. There were no freeways and no tunnels through the Koolau.

Fort Street

We’ve arrived at the bottom of Fort Street. What do you see? Or maybe I should say, don’t see?

There was no Aloha Tower in 1925. It opened two years later. Proposed names included Fort Street Tower, Kamehameha Tower, Bigelow Tower (he was the harbor commissioner), Missionary Tower, John Rodgers Tower, and on the list was the name that would be used when the lighthouse opened in 1927, Aloha Tower.

The Liberty House is our next stop. In 1925 it was celebrating its 75th anniversary. You could also shop at City Mill, McInerny, C.S. Wo, Arakawas, Watumull’s and Musashiya.

On Maui, Ah Fook Supermarket, Maalaea General Store and Hasegawa General Store were open for business.

Most Honolulu residents shopped downtown. Ala Moana Center would not open for another 34 years. The first Oahu shopping centers did not open until 1948. Ala Moana Regional Park didn’t exist then either.

Honolulu Stadium had just opened at King and Isenberg streets. It would be the place to go for sporting events and concerts for the next 50 years.

Hawaii Kai, Aina Haina, Niu, Waialae and much of Kalihi were filled with farms.

Developers made it easy to buy homes. Often, a lot could be purchased for $350, or $50 down and $10 a month.

Tourism

About 25,000 tourists came to Hawaii in 1925, all by boat. It took five or six days from the West Coast. They would stay at the Moana, Halekulani, Volcano House, Alexander Young downtown or smaller hotels.

In Waikiki, The Royal Hawaiian Hotel was under construction but had not yet opened. The Ala Wai Canal was just completed, and the swamps in Waikiki were drying out. Many subdivisions would follow.

Sugar plantations dominated the economy, and James Dole had just purchased the island of Lanai to consolidate his pineapple field operations.

UH football

The UH football team was undefeated in 1924 and ’25. Coach Otto Klum’s “Wonder Teams” won all 18 games in those two seasons and outscored opponents 606-29.

The football team nickname was the “Fighting Deans.” In 1925 the Honolulu Star-Bulletin asked for reader input on a new nickname. Some suggestions: Mongoose, Mynahs, Warriors, Tigers, Chiefs, Giants, Wolves, Bears, “but none of them were suitable,” the article said.

Advertiser sports reporter Ezra Crane began calling them the “Roaring Rainbows” in 1925. Often UH was playing at Honolulu Stadium and losing. Then a rainbow would appear over Manoa and we’d score a touchdown.

The first aloha shirts might have been seen in 1925. Sports writer Red McQueen said the UH football team wore something akin to aloha shirts on a mainland trip that year.

Schools

In 1925, Kamehameha Schools initiated a new program for senior girls. A baby was lent to the school each year for them to learn child- rearing skills, in a practice cottage on Kalihi Street, where Kalakaua Intermediate is today. This remarkable program, totally unthinkable today, continued until the early 1960s.

McKinley High School had just moved to its current site on King Street in 1923. The school, which began in the basement of the Fort Street Church (now called Central Union Church) in 1865, had four previous locations and three names.

Saint Louis School was still on College Walk near Aala Park. It moved to its Kaimuki campus in 1928.

Aviation

No one had flown from the mainland to Hawaii, but in 1925, Cmdr. John Rodgers and four Navy men tried to be the first to do so. It was estimated to take 28 hours but ended up taking over a week. The seaplane ran out of fuel several hundred miles east of the islands.

Supply ships were ready to help, but the radio did not work when the propellers weren’t spinning. The crew took fabric off the wings, hung it between the two engines and sailed the rest of the way to Hawaii, which took nine days.

Rodgers died in a plane crash in 1926, and the airport, which opened in 1927, was named for him. It was renamed Honolulu International Airport in 1947.

Hawaii was preparing for travel by airships, or dirigibles. A 160-foot steel mast was erected in Ewa by the Navy in 1925. It would be able to furnish electricity, fuel, water and helium. Unfortunately, several airships crashed on the mainland, and the program was abandoned.

Charlie Chan

Earl Biggers published his first Charlie Chan book — “House Without a Key” — in 1925. It was loosely based on real-life Honolulu police Detective Chang Apana. He spoke English, Chinese and Hawaiian, and was comfortable with all ethnic groups. A year later the Halekulani began calling its restaurant House Without a Key.

The only older dining establishments currently on Oahu are Natsunoya Tea House (1921) and Waioli Tea Room (1922). On the neighbor islands, the Tip Top Cafe had opened in Lihue in 1916, the Manago hotel’s restaurant in Kona opened in 1916 and the Seaside Restaurant in Hilo dates to 1921.

Indecency

Beach activities were popular, but swimmers and sunbathers could be arrested for indecency if they weren’t sufficiently covered while walking to or from the beach.

A 1921 law required those over 14 to be covered with an outer garment reaching at least to the knees. The 1921 Desha Law, named for the pastor at Kawaiaha‘o Church, was repealed in 1949.

OK, our visit to 1925 is pau. Let’s get back into the Way Back machine and return to the present. Which did you like better: Hawaii then or now?

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.