The Pier

No one who was a kid in the 1960s and 1970s in Hawaii Kai, especially if they lived on Portlock Road, could forget the pier. Of course even then, some parents were very protective of their kids and probably would not let them play on something so dangerous.

As an example, Kam Fong lived across the street. He played Chinn Ho on Hawaii Five-0. Their son, the name of whom I forget sadly, had a lot of Hot Wheels cars and we'd play with those but he was not allowed to climb the trees in their back yard, or do much of anything "rough". I got pretty good at making stuff out of wood, and had made a big wooden pirate sword. I went across the street to the Fong's place and asked the kid's mom if he could come out and play - she took one look at this huge wooden sword I had by my side, tucked in my belt, and No, little whatshisname could not come out and play. What did she think I was going to do? Hit him with it? It was built specifically for knocking the top off of the occasional milkweed, and pointing dramatically while saying "Aargh!".

So I hardly remember seeing other kids out on the pier. The pier had been built "for WWII" or so some grown-up told me, and went out past the reefs to where the water got deep. Surfers used to use it to get out to the waves, people fished off of it, and kids like me used to just walk along, and if it was windy, look at the whitecaps and wonder if one might just decide to break into a real wave. The wood the pier was made of was all silvery and shaggy on the outside, and it seemed like it would be out there forever.

One time we took Dad's "good fiberglass" fishing pole out there. "Don't lose it!", Dad said. The predictable happened. Since the end of the pier was where the water got deep, no one was going to dive for it, not even Dad. Then we were "in trouble" again. This I don't get. You know a kid's got a 50/50 chance of losing the fishing pole, why not give 'em their own, cheapo, pole?

The reef around the pier was a wonder. At low tide I could walk out on it, and find crabs and bristle worms, live cone shells, everything the northern edge of the Indo-Pacific offerss. I turned over rocks; far too many rocks. What's worse is, I didn't know to put them back after I was done looking under them. As an adult I'd not disrespect reef life that way. This is yet another reason I'm glad there's more education on Hawaiian culture for kids these days, because it teaches respect and care for the land and the sea.

Over time, the pier got a bit careworn. Boards started missing. The walkway was three boards across. But you might have a part with two boards only, or only one. Parents in the neighborhood got worried about it being unsafe. So it was torn down. I didn't go down to the beach while that was happening. Mom forbade it or maybe I just didn't feel like it or. When I went down there again, when the debris was cleared away, the reef had been killed by the silt. I was so sad I cried. We were learning about "ecology" on TV and here it was: damage to the ecology. It took years to recover mostly, but even now the areas right by the shore are still dead, from silt and runoff from all the new houses being put in, and all the chemicals it takes to make the lawns look nice, just like the mainland.

That noble, silvery pier wood table stayed with us through several moves.