IN 1890, HAWAIʻI IS a kingdom, and Duke Paoa Kahinu Mokoe Hulikohola Kahanamoku was born in Kalia, an area of Waikiki. He was the oldest of five brothers and three sisters, whose family was descended from a low-ranked aliʻi who served the higher class.
Duke attended Kamehameha Schools and McKinley High School, then became a Waikiki Beach boy to help his family.
The clean-cut Waikiki Beach boys were a historic symbol of Hawaiʻi. They were the island’s first cultural guides, who were mainly Hawaiians who lived off tips from teaching tourists wealthy enough to visit the islands the Hawaiian customs of surfing, fishing, playing the ukulele, and canoe paddling.
Duke cultivated his aquatic, or waterman, abilities and surfed his sixteen-foot, one-hundred-and-fourteen-pound, skegless koa-wood s
