Starr 060228-8947 Aerial photograph of Hawaii

Coconut Island, or Moku o Loe, is a 28-

acre The acre is a unit of land area used in the imperial Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor, or imperialism. Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to: Places United States * Imperial, California * Imperial, Missouri * Imp ...

(113,000 m²) island in

Kāneʻohe Bay Kāneohe Bay, at , is the largest sheltered body of water in the main Hawaiian Islands. This reef-dominated embayment constitutes a significant scenic and recreational feature along the northeast coast of the Island of Oahu. The largest populatio ...

off the island of

Oʻahu Oahu () ( Hawaiian: ''Oʻahu'' ()), also known as "The Gathering Place", is the third-largest of the Hawaiian Islands. It is home to roughly one million people—over two-thirds of the population of the U.S. state of Hawaii. The island of O’ ...

in the

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

Hawaiʻi Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only state ...

, United States. It is a marine research facility of the

Hawaiʻi Institute of Marine Biology The Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology (HIMB) is a marine biology laboratory located on the state-owned Coconut Island in Kāneohe Bay. History The institute was established in 1912. It began as a wooden structure on the shores of Waikiki and o ...

(HIMB) of the

University of Hawaiʻi The University of Hawaiʻi System, formally the University of Hawaiʻi and popularly known as UH, is a public college and university system that confers associate, bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees through three universities, seven com ...

History

In 1934–1936, Chris Holmes II, an heir to the

Fleischmann Fleischman or Fleischmann may refer to: * Fleischmann (surname), including a list of people with the name * Fleischmann (model railroads), a German company that produces model railroad models and equipment * Fleischmann (band), was a band from Ge ...

yeast fortune, doubled the original island with coral rubble, sand, and earthen landfill. He established a residence with aquaria, kennels, and aviaries for his many pets. The island was converted to a rest and relaxation station for

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

flyers during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. In 1946 a group of five

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

businessmen, including

Edwin W. Pauley Edwin Wendell Pauley Sr. (January 7, 1903 – July 28, 1981) was an American businessman and political leader. Early life Born in Indianapolis, Indiana, to Elbert L. Pauley and the former Ellen Van Petten, he attended Occidental College, in nor ...

, bought the island from the estate of Chris Holmes II with the idea of converting it to the exclusive Coconut Island Club International, 1946-7, and hired architects Paul Williams, A. Quincy Jones, and C.W. Lemmon of Belt Lemmon and Lo, Architects of Honolulu to design a community of cottages, tennis courts, a yacht club and other recreational facilities including remodeling the Holmes mansion and barracks. The Pauley group wanted to develop the island into a private, membership only resort. In 1949 this idea was dropped and a scaled-back Coconut Island Hotel with accommodation for 32 guests opened in February 1950. In 1948, Pauley donated a portion of the island to the University of Hawaii to be used as a marine research facility. From the 1950s to the 1980s, the Pauley family used the island for summer get-aways and hosted many notable guests. From the mid-80s to mid-90s Japanese real estate investor Katsuhiro Kawaguchi owned the island and permitted the University of Hawaii to use some of its areas for research. In 1995, the Edwin Pauley Foundation granted a gift of $9.6 million to the University of Hawaii Foundation to purchase the private half of the island and build new laboratories on it. The island is now completely owned by the state and is the facility for the

, part of the

. It is the only U.S.

laboratory A laboratory (; ; colloquially lab) is a facility that provides controlled conditions in which scientific or technological research, experiments, and measurement may be performed. Laboratory services are provided in a variety of settings: physicia ...

built on a

coral reef A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. Reefs are formed of colonies of coral polyps held together by calcium carbonate. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, whose polyps cluster in groups. Co ...

. (Heron Island, Lizard Island and a number of labs in the South Pacific are located outside of the U.S.) Coconut Island was used for the opening sequence of the

television program Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, e ...

Gilligan's Island ''Gilligan's Island'' is an American sitcom created and produced by Sherwood Schwartz. The show's ensemble cast features Bob Denver, Alan Hale Jr., Jim Backus, Natalie Schafer, Tina Louise, Russell Johnson and Dawn Wells. It aired for thr ...

'' Coconut island original name is Moku ‘o Lo’e which means island of Lo’e who was a lady that resided there in ancient times.

References

External links

2008 Institute bondsField StudyDecomposition patterns in terrestrial and intertidal habitats on Oahu Island and Coconut Island, HawaiiMonthly Tide Calendar for Coconut Island
{{authority control Islands of Hawaii Biological research institutes in the United States Landforms of Oahu

History

See also

Further reading

References

External links