HONOLULU (KHON2) – In the ahupuaʻa of Waikīkī, which lies in the moku of Kona on Oʻahu, stands a street named after a home for a queen.
We are speaking of Paoakalani Ave.
Translated as “the royal perfume,” Paoakalani is the name given to a personal home of Queen Liliʻuokalani in Waikīkī.
Located in an area traditionally named Hamohamo, which refers to the sand rubbing within your thighs, Paoakalani has been replaced today with an apartment complex named Liliʻuokalani Gardens fronting the Ala Wai Canal.
Paoakalani included a favorite garden of the queen where she would love to tend to and take care of.
This garden would later become one of significance when Queen Liliʻuokalani was placed on house arrest within her own palace for eight months.
For a period of that time, Queen Liliʻuokalani would receive bouquets of flowers from another one of her gardens, at Uluhaimalama.
Wrapped in the current newspaper of the time, the queen was able to stay informed with the news outside of her guarded walls.
But on March 20, 1895, the Queen recognized a special flower inserted within her normal bouquet that she knew came from Paoakalani.
A little boy named Johnny Wilson, who would later serve as Mayor of Honolulu three times, was the one who delivered the flowers.
It was Wilson who is responsible for the establishment of both the Likelike and Pali Highways connecting east Oʻahu to Honolulu.
Because of this special gift to the Queen from little Johnny, Her Royal Highness had composed a song for her young friend while imprisoned.
Named “Kuʻu Pua I Paoakalani,” Queen Liliʻuokalani asks the listener to guess the flower she describes and answer in the form of a riddle.
Did you know? Now you do!