Honolulu Stadium

Honolulu Stadium was a charming old wooden structure built in 1926 at the corner of King and Isenberg Streets in Honolulu, HI. It served many purposes besides baseball: football, rodeo, polo, track and field, religious revivals, and hula festivals, among others.

The Hawaii Islanders played at the "Termite Palace" - as it became known in later years - from their inception in 1961 through the 1975 season. The stadium was demolished in September/October 1976.

Trivia notes:

• Saimin, a popular Hawaiian noodle soup, got a big boost after it became the stadium's specialty fast food.
• A 1970 episode of the TV show Hawaii Five-O called "Run, Johnny, Run" features the stadium in several sequences. A young Christopher Walken was one of the guest stars, as was Al Michaels (then a broadcaster for the Islanders).
• In the final game of the 1962 state high school baseball championship tournament, John Matias hit four home runs.

Further Reading

• Tim Ryan: "Honolulu Stadium: Hawaii’s field of dreams", The Honolulu Star-Bulletin, November 25, 1996. [1]

Related Sites

• Honolulu Stadium at the SABR Bio Project
• Information on the book Honolulu Stadium: Where Hawaii Played, by Arthur Suehiro