#Chinatown #HistoricHawaii #HPR

This post is a transcript of the interview, "Leading Preservation Architect Takes Us on a Historical Tour of Chinatown" by journalist Noe Tanigawa which aired on Hawaii Public Radio's The Aloha Friday Conversation on January, 28, 2022.  The transcript is printed with her permission. Noe Tanigawa: Glenn Mason is the principal at MASON Architects in Honolulu. They've got offices on Merchant Street and specialize in historic preservation. Mason is also an American Institute of Architects Fellow and has worked on many of Hawaiʻi's most important historic sites such as ʻIolani Palace and Kawaiahaʻo Church. He agreed to take us on a tour of Chinatown to open our eyes to some of its charms. Glenn Mason: We moved into Chinatown in 1982. When we moved there, (chuckles) I’m not sure it was at its nadir, but it was pretty low-down. About a year after we moved into Chinatown the last restaurant that was open in all of downtown Honolulu closed. And for one year there was not a single restaurant open in Chinatown or downtown at night. NT: Are you kidding?! Local architect Glenn Mason in front of Murphy's Bar & Grill © Noe Tanigawa, HPR GM: It’s hard to believe. This was probably ’83, maybe ’84. There were no restaurants open at night. None. Chinatown developed primarily because of the harbor. It was very harbor-oriented at the time it was developed. So, we are right…when you get to where Murphy’s is, that’s in Chinatown. NT: Ah ha. GM: So now we’ve just walked into Chinatown. (NT giggles) GM: Murphy’s has this--they’ve got all these Chinese pavers. They’re granite, they’re probably about four inches thick, set as pavement. These came over as ballast in ships [...]