S. Hata Building

At the time it was built, almost all other structures in Hawai'i outside of Honolulu were built of wood. The building is about 109 feet (33 m) by 60 feet (18 m) of reinforced concrete. Such a large masonry building indicated the upward mobility of the Japanese population. The Hilo Masonic Lodge, Hilo Federal Building and Volcano Block Building are the others from that period that remain. The first floor has several store-fronts. A wooden staircase leads to a second floor of office space, with 14 arched windows. In 1913 he opened the Hilo Sake Brewing Company.[6] In 1919 two wood structures were added to the back, one commercial and one residential.[5]

After the attack on Pearl Harbor the Hata family was part of the Japanese American internment.[7] In September 1942 (during the Second World War) the Hata Building was seized and later auctioned by the U.S. government.[8][9] Hata's second daughter, Kagawa Kasujiro, purchased the building at that time.[5] Because it was so solidly built, it survived the tsunami caused by the April 1, 1946 Aleutian Islands earthquake that devastated much of Hilo. The train tracks of the Hawaii Consolidated Railway were destroyed in that tsunami, so the building now is on the commercial street nearest the ocean.[10] The path of the railroad was used for the new Hawaii Belt Road (state route 19), called the Waterfront Highway at this point.

The 18,650-square-foot (1,733 m²) building originally had a full basement, but it was filled in following another major tsunami from the 1960 Valdivia earthquake. Its condition deteriorated and by 1990 it was scheduled to be demolished. David Levenson bought the property from Hata's descendants, renovated the interior while restoring the exterior, and rented it to a number of local businesses.[11] The metal awning between the two stories was replaced, but the wrought iron brackets were restored. It is located at 308 Kamehameha Avenue, coordinates 19°43′25″N 155°5′5″W.

The Hilo Farmers Market was started on this block in 1988, held every Wednesday and Saturday at the end of Mamo Street.[12] The building was listed as state historic site 10-35-7420 on January 14, 1989[13] and added to the National Register of Historic Places listings on the island of Hawaii on August 27, 1991 as site 91001087.[1] The family formed the Sadanosuke Hata Charitable Foundation in 1999 which supports the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii in Honolulu.[14] In 2003 the building was sold to the Takeyama family.[15]

Yoichi Hata married Naeko Hirata in 1905, and they had 8 sons and 1 daughter.[2] These include Susumu (1917–2003), Yukiko (1918–2000), Minoru, Akira, Yoshimi, Frank J. and others.[16] He became a director of the newly formed Peoples Bank of Hilo on September 1, 1916.[17] The Y. Hata company was incorporated as a separate entity in 1922, and is still run by a descendant. Branches were opened in Osaka in 1936 and Honolulu in 1937. After the 1960 tsunami, the original wholesale building on Ponahawai Street was abandoned, and offices were moved to a new industrial area, 300 Kanoelehua Avenue in Hilo, and 285 Sand Island Road in Honolulu. In addition to food distribution to markets across the Hawaiian islands, restaurant supplies and chef services are now offered. They are also the major supplier to the U.S. military in Hawaii.[18] Yoichi's son Minoru was CEO from the 1960s until the late 90s and then Yoichi's son Frank was chairman until 2008, and Frank's son Russell Hata took over in May, 2008.[19]

An exhibit at the discovery center