George Lycurgus
George Lycurgus | |
---|---|
Born | 1858 Vasara, Kingdom of Greece |
Died | 6 August 1960 | (aged 101)
Nationality | Greek |
Occupation | Businessman |
Spouse | Athina Gerassimos |
Children | Antigoni, Leo, Nicholas |
George Lycurgus (
Early life
He was born in 1858 in
In 1892 he sent for his nephew Demosthenes Lycurgus, who would help him manage his Hawaiian enterprises. Along with other recent immigrants, he formed the Pearl City Fruit Company. Their competition was the Hawaiian Fruit and Packing Company, owned by established descendants of American missionaries such as Lorrin A. Thurston, who was also a powerful politician. Eventually he would sell his restaurant in San Francisco and move to the islands.[4]
Political miscalculation
Lycurgus leased the small guest house of Allen Herbert in 1893 on Waikīkī beach in Honolulu. He expanded it and renamed it the "Sans Souci" (French for "without care") for the Sanssouci Palace in Potsdam.[5] It became one of the first beach resorts and the area at coordinates 21°15′49″N 157°49′17″W / 21.26361°N 157.82139°W is still called "Sans Souci Beach".[6] Celebrities such as Robert Louis Stevenson stayed there on his second trip later that year, and it became a popular destination for tourists from the mainland.[7]
In 1894 Lycurgus made his first trip to the
A friendship had evolved between Lycurgus and the Hawaiian royal Kalākaua family, who were regulars at his resorts.[4] This earned him the nickname "Duke of Sparta", a title borne by the Crown Prince of Greece. Despite being a commoner, he felt more comfortable with monarchy than the Americans.
In 1893, after the death of Kalākaua, Thurston and other Americans led the
After the failed
By 1898, the Spanish–American War had increased American interest in the Pacific. He entertained press correspondents on their way to the Philippines at his Sans Souci hotel.[9] Hawaii was annexed as a territory of the United States that year and the practical Lycurgus applied for American citizenship.
He opened a restaurant called the Union Grill in Honolulu in 1901 and would hold "Jailbirds of 1895" nights which were not popular with the new government. He phased out of the politics of Honolulu over the next few years. Lycurgus invested in a logging venture in 1907, and bought the Hilo Hotel from John D. Spreckels in 1908.
In 1903, when he returned to Greece to visit his mother, he met and married Athina Gerassimos from Sparta, the second of nine children.[2] She was probably the first Greek woman in Hawaii.
Volcano House
In December 1904, George and Demosthenes Lycurgus became principal stockholders of the Volcano House Company and took over the management of the Volcano House hotel on the more remote Big Island of Hawaii. His nephew Demosthenes always introduced him as "Uncle George" to the guests, which earned him his new nickname.
Kīlauea had been inactive for almost a year, but Lycurgus had other enterprises to keep himself afloat. Two months after the Lycurguses acquired the business, the volcano erupted.
He eventually made peace with Lorrin Thurston, who worked with him for ten years, starting in 1906, to have the volcano area made into Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park. However, the Lycurgus family kept a shrine to deposed Queen Liliʻuokalani at the Volcano House and related the legends of Ancient Hawaii to the visitors.[4] Prayers were made to the fire goddess Pele, said to live in Kīlauea, to provide spectacular eruptions. They were better for business.
In January 1912, geologist Thomas Jaggar arrived to investigate the volcano. The Lycurgus family raised money to build a small building next to the hotel for scientific instruments. By February 1912 construction was begun on the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory. Jaggar resided there the next 28 years, often giving scientific talks to guests at the hotel.[10]
While visiting Greece in 1914, World War I prevented him from returning. In 1919, Demosthenes Lycurgus traveled to Athens to marry Maria Yatrakos, but died of
In 1921 George Lycurgus sold the Volcano House and moved to Hilo, Hawaii. The Inter-Island Steam Navigation Company bought the property and invested $150,000 into expanding it.[8]
In 1932 during the Great Depression the Inter-Island Steam Navigation Company was going bankrupt after expanding the Volcano House to 115 rooms. Lycurgus bought it back for $300 in a receivership sale, but very few guests showed up until an eruption in 1934. He started the tradition of tossing gin bottles into the volcano, a practice certainly not approved by park officials.[8]
In 1937 his wife Athena died of cancer in Hilo. A fire destroyed the hotel in 1940, ironically from a kitchen oil burner, not volcanic lava. Only a few artifacts, such as a
At the age of 81, he traveled to Washington, D.C., and convinced influential friends, many of whom (including
After another eruption in 1952, at the age of 93, he arranged a publicity stunt involving riding a horse to the rim of the erupting vent and tossing in his ceremonial bottle of gin. Despite the efforts of park officials, the event went off as planned, pleasing the spectators and the press.[8] The Volcano House was renovated and expanded again in 1953. He died on August 6, 1960, at the age of 101, reportedly the oldest man in Hawaii.[15]
Biography
Blickhahn, Harry Miller (1961). Uncle George of Kilauea: The Story of George Lycurgus.
References
- ISSN 2169-7639.
- ^ hdl:10524/561.
- ^ Blickhahn, Harry Miller (1961). Uncle George of Kilauea: The Story of George Lycurgus. Hawaii National Park, Hawaii, USA: Volcano House. pp. 12–16.
- ^ hdl:10524/422.
- ISBN 978-0-87022-433-1.
- ^ "Sans Souci Beach Park (Waikiki)". Official web site of City and County of Honolulu. Archived from the original on June 5, 2010. Retrieved November 27, 2010.
- hdl:10524/397.
- ^ a b c d "The Volcano House". Hawaii Nature Notes. 5 (2). National Park Service. 1953.
- hdl:10524/212.
- ^ "Jaggar, Dean of Pacific Volcanologists". Hawaii Nature Notes. 5 (2). National Park Service. 1953. Archived from the original on 2008-04-30.
- ^ Lynda Arakawa (July 2, 2006). "George Lycurgus". Honolulu Advertiser. Retrieved June 27, 2009.
- ^ "History". Volcano House Hotel official web site. Retrieved 2009-07-10.
- ^ "Buildings and Facilities". United States Geological Survey Hawaiian Volcano Observatory. Retrieved 2009-07-10.
- hdl:10524/210.
- ^ "Deaths: George Lycurgus". Defiance Crescent News. 8 August 1960. p. 3.