History of Ala Moana Park
1912
Walter Dillingham of Hawaiian Dredging bought 50 acres of swampy Honolulu land for $25,000 because he needed a place to dump the dirt and coral from his dredging projects.
1920s
A channel was dredged through a coral reef in order to connect the Ala Wai Boat Harbor and the Kewalo Basin so boats could travel between the two. When Ala Moana became a very popular swimming beach, the channel was closed to boat traffic.
1931
The City and County of Honolulu started cleaning up the Ala Moana area. They planned to use funds provided by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal Project to create a city park in the Ala Moana area. Originally the park was supposed to include a pier, Chinese, Hawaiian, and Japanese cultural areas, and a large outdoor amphitheater.
President Roosevelt himself dedicated the new 76 acre park as "Moana Park".
1934
The name of the park was changed from Moana Park to Ala Moana Park.
1947
Walter Dillingham's son Lowell Dillingham announced his plan to build a large shopping complex across the street from Ala Moana Park.
1948
1955
The west end of the channel in front of the park was physically closed by a landfill project that was part of the Kewalo Basin State Park project. Sand was brought in from the west coast of Oahu to create a beach area in Ala Moana Park.
1959
Ala Moana Shopping Center opened across the street from Ala Moana Park with 87 stores filling 680,000 square feet on two levels. Today Ala Moana Center is more the 2 million square feet in size.
The east end of of the channel in front of Ala Moana Park was closed in the early 1960's and a landfill project added a 30 acre peninsula to Ala Moana Beach Park. That peninsula was called "Magic Island" and it was supposed to be the home of a new resort area that would have included two additional "islands".that project never got off the around and eventually the area became a public park.
1962-1964
1972
The name of Magic Island was officially changed to Aina Moana Park, which means "land from the sea", but many locals still call it Magic Island.
In March of 2006 the City and County of Honolulu issued a temporary order to close Ala Moana Park from 10:00 pm to 4:00 am every day. The purpose of the closure was to discourage people from camping (or living) inside the park. The nightly closure became permanent in July of 2006. The only exception is on the 3rd of July, when the city allows residents to arrive during the night to reserve a spot 4th of July Independence Day picnics and fireworks.