Mānoa (, ) is a valley and a residential neighborhood of

Honolulu Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island ...

Hawaii 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 stat ...

. The neighborhood is approximately three miles (5 km) east and inland from

downtown Honolulu Downtown Honolulu is the current historic, economic, and governmental center of Honolulu, the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii. It is bounded by Nuuanu Stream to the west, Ward Avenue to the east, Vineyard Boulevard to the nor ...

and less than a mile (1600 m) from

Ala Moana Ala Moana (meaning ''path to the sea'' in Hawaiian) is a commercial, retail, and residential district of Honolulu, Hawaii. It is located between Waikiki and Moiliili to the east, and Kakaako and Honolulu Harbor to the west. King Street, to th ...

and

Waikiki Waikiki (; haw, Waikīkī; ; also known as Waikiki Beach) is a neighborhood of Honolulu on the south shore of the island of Oahu in the U.S. state of Hawaii. Waikiki is most famous for Waikiki Beach, which is one of six beaches in the district ...

at .

Neighborhood

Similar to many Honolulu neighborhoods, Mānoa consists of an entire valley, running from Mānoa Falls at the mauka (inland-most) end to King Street. The valley receives almost daily rain, even during the dry season, and is thus richly vegetated – though the valley walls are often dry. Seeing rainbows in the valley is a common occurrence, and is the source of the University of Hawaii at Mānoa sports team names, the Rainbow Warriors (for men's teams) and Rainbow Wahine (for the women, with the beach volleyball team more often using SandBows). The neighborhood is composed of private houses built before the 1960s and low-rise condominiums. Mānoa is home to the University of Hawaii at Mānoa, the flagship campus of the

University of Hawaii System A university () is an institution Institutions are humanly devised structures of rules and norms that shape and constrain individual behavior. All definitions of institutions generally entail that there is a level of persistence and continu ...

. The University has several faculty and student residence areas in Mānoa. Other educational institutions located in Mānoa include Mānoa Elementary School,

Noelani Elementary School Noelani is a Hawaiian female given name, meaning "heavenly mist". People with the given name Noelani include: *Noelani Arista, Hawaiian and American historian * Noelani Goodyear-Ka'opua, Kanaka Maoli scholar and educator *Noelani Pantastico Noel ...

Punahou School Punahou School (known as Oahu College until 1934) is a private, co-educational, college preparatory school in Honolulu, Hawaii. More than 3,700 students attend the school from kindergarten through twelfth grade, 12th grade. Protestant missionar ...

, Mid-Pacific Institute, Saint Francis School, and a handful of small, private pre-schools. The central shopping area of Mānoa is the Mānoa Marketplace which features a farmer's market several days of the week. More recent development has seen housing on steeper parts of the Diamond Head side valley wall.

Geography

Mānoa means ''thick'', ''solid'', ''vast'', ''depth'' or ''thickness'' in the

Hawaiian language Hawaiian (', ) is a Polynesian language of the Austronesian language family that takes its name from Hawaii, the largest island in the tropical North Pacific archipelago where it developed. Hawaiian, along with English, is an official language o ...

. There is another valley named Mānoa on the north shore of

Kauai Kauai, () anglicized as Kauai ( ), is geologically the second-oldest of the main Hawaiian Islands (after Niʻihau). With an area of 562.3 square miles (1,456.4 km2), it is the fourth-largest of these islands and the 21st largest island ...

. Mānoa stream begins at the base of Mānoa Falls and runs through the valley before joining Palolo stream to form the Manoa-Palolo drainage canal, which flows into the

Ala Wai Canal The Ala Wai Canal is an artificial waterway in Honolulu, Hawaii which serves as the northern boundary of the tourist district of Waikiki. It was created in 1928 to drain the rice paddies and swamps which would eventually become Waikiki. It also s ...

. Floods caused by high rainfall have plagued the residents living along Mānoa stream. Most recent was on October 30, 2004 when Mānoa stream overflowed causing millions of dollars in damages to residential homes and University of Hawaii at Mānoa buildings.

Climate

History

Mānoa is the site of the first

sugarcane Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of (often hybrid) tall, Perennial plant, perennial grass (in the genus ''Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar Sugar industry, production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with ...

and

coffee Coffee is a drink prepared from roasted coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulant, stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content. It is the most popular hot drink in the world. S ...

plantations in the

Hawaiian Islands The Hawaiian Islands ( haw, Nā Mokupuni o Hawai‘i) are an archipelago of eight major islands, several atolls, and numerous smaller islets in the North Pacific Ocean, extending some from the island of Hawaii in the south to northernmost Kur ...

. Hawaiian coffee was first introduced along Manoa Valley in 1813 by Don Francisco de Paula y Marytin as an ornamental plant. In 1825 Chief Boki, the Royal Governor of Oahu, followed up and brought coffee trees back from Brazil on the ship . Chief Boki also chose Manoa Valley as the historic birth site of the very first coffee plantation in Hawaii. With the aid of agriculture expert, John Wilkinson, the coffee trees were able to survive which allowed its descendants to be brought over to Kona and other islands many years later. Hawaii is the only state in the United States that produces coffee commercially. For more history see coffee production in Hawaii. There are many legends associated with Manoa, one very well known legend is the story of Kahalaopuna. Kahalaopuna was born to Kahaukani and Kauakuahine. Kahaukani is the wind of Manoa and Kauakuahine is the rain of Manoa. Kakaukani and Kauakuahine were brother and sister, both born to Akaaka (the projecting spur of the Manoa mountain range) and Nalehuaakaaka (the lehua on the brow of the Manoa ridge).Thrum, Thomas. ''Hawaiian Folk Tales: A Collection of Native Legends''. A. C. McClurg & Co., Chicago. 1907, pp. 118–119.

Education

Hawaii Department of Education The Hawaii State Department of Education (HIDOE) is a statewide public education system in the United States. The school district can be thought of as analogous to the school districts of other cities and communities in the United States, but i ...

operates public schools in Manoa, which is also home to the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. The private Saint Francis School was in Manoa until its 2019 closure.

Gallery

Image:ManoaValleyOahu.jpg, Manoa Valley facing

Image:UHVintageAerialPostCard.jpg, Vintage shot of University of Hawaii, Manoa, with the back of the valley in the background Image:Vintage Manoa Valley.jpg, Vintage photo of Manoa Valley

Points of interest

Lyon Arboretum The Harold L. Lyon Arboretum is a arboretum and botanical garden managed by the University of Hawaii at Manoa, University of Hawaii at Mānoa located at the upper end of Manoa, Mānoa Valley in Hawaii, Hawaii. Much of the Arboretum's botanical c ...

* Mānoa Falls * Manoa Falls Trail * Manoa Heritage Center * Salvation Army Waiʻoli Tea Room * University of Hawaii at Mānoa

References

External links

* {{Authority control Manoa