At the entrance of Lodge 616 are ten Royal Palms. Most members and guests walk past the palms’ trunks without looking up - or looking back in time. Their height testifies to their great age. In fact, these palms were part of the original landscaping on the grounds of the Castle residence which served as Lodge 616’s home before being demolished in 1959. With construction of the new lodge, there were necessary landscaping changes. Trees were sold to landscapers and moved.
Incorporated into the new plan were some of the stately Royal Palms (Roystonea elata) and the large and shade giving, gracious Monkey pod trees (Samanea saman).
For Elks and the public, the palms were strongly associated with the Castle home and later the Lodge. For decades, the visitor guide book Tropical Trees of Hawaii directed readers to the Elks Club to see an example of the species. Originally, the landscapers working on the replanting planned to save 10 of the distinctive palms to flank the entrance and front the building. BPOE officers requested that 11 trees be saved. The eleventh tree would symbolize the Elks’ 11 o’clock toast in memory of our departed members. Four nail holes in the palm’s trunk shadow a missing plaque naming this “the 11 o’clock palm.”
Sometime between 1959 and present, the Royal Palm just to the left of the breezeway entrance was removed, leaving ten palms. Do you know when and how this happened? Help us finish this story by sharing your knowledge of 100+ years of Elks in Hawai’i. Contact elks616@hawaiiantel.net
Anita Manning, Lodge Historian
References:
Robert E. Paine (PGE and PER), Interview Sept 2000
Hargreaves, D. & B. Tropical Trees of Hawaii, 1964, pg. 51.
Honolulu Advertiser 4 May 1959, A1
Honolulu Star-Bulletin 5 May 1959, 26
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