Obama's Hawaii boyhood homes drawing gawkers

[dkf]

http://cmsimg.honoluluadvertiser.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=M1&Date=20081109&Category=NEWS01&ArtNo=811090361&Ref=V2&Profile=1001&MaxW=298&Q=90&NoBorder

The cottage behind the house at 6085 Kalaniana'ole Highway may have been Obama's parents' rooms when they lived with the Dunhams.



by Will Hoover
Advertiser Staff Writer

Birthplaces and boyhood homes of U.S. presidents have been duly noted and honored for nearly as long as America has been a nation. In the case of such towering figures as Thomas Jefferson, Abe Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt, those early locations have been deemed national treasures and historic sites, visited annually by the multitudes.

The discovery and identification this year of George Washington's boyhood home in Virginia has been hailed as the "best available window into the setting that nurtured the father of our country."

In the case of the historic election of Barack Obama on Tuesday as the next president, there's more than one boyhood home in Honolulu to celebrate and enshrine.

Stories surrounding Obama's youth tend to focus on his birth in Hawai'i, his time in Indonesia, his time living with his grandparents on Beretania Street in lower Makiki and his high school years at Punahou School.

However, a view of the various homes where Obama dwelled in Honolulu reveals a broader, diversified beginning. Other than his four years in Indonesia between 1967 and 1971, Obama spent his time from birth to high school graduation in half a dozen Honolulu residences with one or more of his relatives. A look at those homes also shows that Obama's grandparents probably played a larger role in his infancy and early years than is usually reported

http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/20081109/NEWS01/811090361/1001

[mahina]

1. Not really actually.

For a day or two maybe. It's on my way to and from work. Looks like every other day.

[dkf]

3. I bet there will be a lot more now that this article popped up.

:)

Heck we need all the tourist attractions we can drum up.

[rug]

2. He may be the first President to have been raised in an apartment building.

[CatholicEdHead]

4. More feel of that era would be a rewatching of Hawaii-Five-O on DVD

As it shows Hawaii from the late 60's through the 70's. (1980 season does not count).

[cynannmarie]

5. I have a sentimental tie to this area of Honolulu

My son was born (1989) in the same hospital as Obama (Kapiolani Medical Center for Women and Children) when I lived for a short time in Honolulu while doing an architecture project there. I am going back to visit in a few weeks and he wants me to investigate and see if there is a way to find out if he was born in the same delivery room. He thinks it's amusing that he shares this connection with Obama!

[TheDonkey]

6. I'll be happy to visit Hawaii and now be able to geek out on politics as well

by visiting President Obama's stomping grounds.