the old buildings, and the excavating. “The idea was for the new Club to look like it had been here for many years. We didn’t want it to look like a brand new club, which meant that the trees that came in could not be of the young variety,” said Cline Mann, in his oral history. Therefore, instead of planting coconut trees that were two or three feet and watching it grow over the next 25 years, they found and planted mature trees throughout the property. “We wanted the coconuts placed in such a way that it would look like we had plant- ed a new building amongst an existing coconut grove.” Thanks to many dedicated members, construction ended December 23,1963—just in time for the annual Christmas party. After the new facility o±cially opened on January 4, 1964, hundreds of members gathered in a heartwarming ceremony on January 11 to bid aloha to the old site, and bless the new one. The ceremony was led by then-President J. Ward Russell and Kahu Abraham Akaka, and included a more than 10-canoe flotilla from Waikīkī toward OCC’s new home. More than 500 mem- bers were at the Diamond Head site to welcome them. This Club is a result of many dedicated peoples’ eorts, namely Ossipo for visually transforming the space into a tropical modern haven. Looking beyond the Club’s facade and premier beachfront location, it’s all of OCC’s past and present members who have created a community where good fellowship and aloha prevail, and where the sports of old Hawai‘i always have a home. “And so the Outrigger Canoe Club embarked on a new era in its history, disproving the doubts and misgiv- ings of the skeptics that thought it couldn’t survive. In its new and gracious surrounding, away from the hustle and bustle, glitz and glamour of Waikīkī, the members settled down in their new surroundings and before long, things were back to normal and it seemed as though this was where they had always been,” wrote Del Piano, back in 2000. This sentiment still rings true, even 60 years after completion. ■ Barbara J. Del Piano is a life member of the Outrig- ger Canoe Club who authored the Club’s history book, “Outrigger Canoe Club 1908-2008” to celebrate the Club’s Centennial. A past-chair of both the Historical Commiee and the Public Rela ons Commiee, she was also the author of several books on Hawaiian history. Special thanks to Kimbal Thompson —Architec¤ral Review Commiee. For more of Fred Hemmings’ and John Cline Mann’s oral histories, visit outriggercanoeclubsports.com.
Late 1961 and early 1962 was an extremely criti- cal period because the membership had to determine what kind of Club it wanted to build and how to finance it. At the new site, the Planning Committee continued investigating the possibility of high-rise development. In 1961, Ossipo, at the direction of the Board of Directors, proposed a new building plan for a 20-story high rise with 100 apartments and the Club on the lower levels, which was actually quite attractive to some members. But due to a combination of a real estate and/or econom- ic slump, lease, aordability concerns, and membership member reaction, this high-rise concept was abandoned. For these reasons, in May of 1962, the Board decided to build a Club-only facility at the new site. Arrangements were made to extend the lease of the old site from October 31 until the last day of 1962, but there was still very little time to get to completion. The Site Building Committee had at least one meeting scheduled on site every week to go over with the archi- tect and with the contractor any problems they might have encountered in the construction of the building. The Board and Committee members did an ex- traordinary job in the short time they had. Their work resulted in the plans going out to bid in March of 1963 and the contract was signed with Pacific Construction on April 1, 1963. Construction started shortly thereaf- ter in April, leaving little more than seven months for completion. A substantial portion of the budget was for new landscaping. “We had a budget of about $20,000 to $22,000, which couldn’t take you very far in 1982, but in 1963 we got a lot for our money,” remembered Cline Mann. Nearly every single tree, vine and shrub on the premises were taken out. The second phase of the beach development involved the building of the beauti- ful groin on the ‘Ewa side of Colony Surf, the enlarging of the dredging area, the demolition and clearing of all
18 AMA | january / february 2024
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