From the outrigger canoes of Waikiki to the tall ships of Honolulu Harbor, from the Kingdom of Hawaii to statehood, the history of Honolulu through good times and bad has always played out against a backdrop of uncommon natural beauty. Home to the only royal residence on American soil, Honolulu witnessed in less than a century’s time the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy, the rise of the powerful sugar barons, an outbreak of bubonic plague, and the devastating attack on Pearl Harbor. Yet always this unique port city has offered an easygoing, welcoming spirit, along with the warm trade winds and soft ocean swells for which Honolulu is world famous.

With a selection of fine historic images from his best-selling book, Historic Photos of Honolulu, Clifford Kapono provides a valuable and revealing historical retrospective on the growth and development of Honolulu. Remembering Honolulu presents more than 100 images from the later years of the Hawaiian kingdom to the early years of the fiftieth state. Reproduced in vivid black-and-white, the photos in this volume show the city’s evolution and change, yet with a sense of its uncommon beauty ever present.