"Tatianna's Travels," Ep. 2: Why Were the Gulf Islands Once Nicknamed "Little Hawaii"?

In "Tatianna's Travels," Life on Gabriola, 12 year old TV correspondent Tatianna Mallory visits islands around the world and compares and contrasts them to our own. In Episode 2, she visits Waikiki on the Hawaiian island of Oahu, and discovers, despite some distinct cultural differences, a little-known historical link back to BC's Gulf Islands generally.

"Have you ever felt like there were a million tourists at the village on a Saturday in August?" she asks her Gabriola viewers. "Here in Waikiki, there are literally millions of tourists, with over four million coming every single year."

"Try getting a parking spot at Twin Beaches with those numbers," she says, referencing a popular spot for both tourists and islanders on Gabriola.

And that's not the only big difference. First settled by Polynesians around 1000 AD, Hawaiians have forged a highly unique culture, in large part because of the 400 years of isolation that ensued when ties with Polynesia ended. However, when Hawaii was annexed by the U.S. in 1898, after the overthrow of its monarchy by resident American and European businessmen and landholders, a significant number of Hawaiians left for the Pacific west coast. Citing the book "Leaving Paradise: Indigenous Hawaiians in the Pacific Northwest,1787-1898" by Jean Barman and Bruce McIntyre Watson, Tatianna notes that many settled on the Gulf Islands, of which Gabriola is one. Thus the area earned the nickname, "Little Hawaii."

Their descendants are most likely to be found among the west coast's Indigenous population, with whom the Hawaiians often intermarried. Perhaps counter-intuitively, many ended up working in the fur trade.

Not so counter-intuitively, but certainly candidly, an employee at the Waikiki Welcome Centre tells Tatianna that "to really experience Hawaii, I think you have to go outside of Waikiki." But Tatianna concludes that "it's a lively place to start."

Tatianna Mallory is a travel and language enthusiast. She speaks French, Italian, Ukrainian, and Russian and is working on her Spanish. She has a strong connection to Gabriola as her grandparents have lived on the island since 1980. You can find her fun and informative French language learning channel, Backyard French, at https://m.youtube.com/@backyardfrench.

Life on Gabriola TV is generously sponsored by:

The Gabriola Arts Council

The Haven, Gabriola Island