Waimano Training School and Hospital, Pearl City, Hawaii

In November I had to go up Waimano Home Road for a job interview. This is the third time that I've been up there. The first time was for the Waimano Ridge hike a few years ago, and the second was last week for pre-employment stuff. When I first visited the area for the hike I was really curious about what was in the compound as there was an armed guard at the entrance. I never thought I'd get to go inside, but when I went last week I was amazed at all the abandoned buildings on the premises. It's like a mini-ghost-town.

This is a shot of the view halfway between where my car was parked and where I started exploring. It was difficult to see the view with all the weed overgrowth.

Here's the back gate with a utility road that goes out toward Waimano Ridge.

The gate shack at the back gate-

This is the first set of buildings I checked out. They're actually the last ones in the complex and are about 50 feet from the back gate.

Close up of right side-

And this is the left side-

You can see all the deterioration, the place is literally falling apart-

Stepping into the building-

Into the next room-

It's one large room with some partitions and lots of murals-

And then into a third room-

The door on the right went out onto a small lanai on which there was a dilapidated old piano that the roof had collapsed on-

This is the view from one of the doors on the left-

This is a view out of the door on the far left of the room. The building in the background is in partial use-

Another left side view; this portion isn't deteriorating as badly-

At this point I turned around to exit the way I came in. On the way out I found some sort of "padded room"-

This is the inside of the portion of the building on the right. I did not go in because the floor was badly deteriorated and there seemed to be a bee infestation-

This is the road I walked up from the parking lot. I am now walking back to my car.

Some sort of old shed in the overgrowth on the left-

Shed with the rear left corner of a car port-

Old machinery under the carport-

Abandoned vehicles parked under the car port-

Another old building, this one on the right side of the road, almost back to the car now. The front door was open enough to get in and there appeared to be some sort of machinery in there, but I was afraid I'd be seen if I entered-

The building on the left is at least in partial use. A building in front of the one on the right (not pictured) appears to be in use.

Through the weeds you can see the rear parking lot of the building that's in partial use. There are a several sheriff's department vehicles parked there-

Across from the lot with the cop cars is another unused building-

There's a tree growing out of the wall on the main building in partial use! This is the entrance to the lot where the cop cars are.

Now I'm back in the car and driving. This is a shot of the building (mentioned above) that I think is in use-

This is the front of the main, partially used building-

Continuing down the road, this is the first abandoned building on the right-

A little further down the road there are some abandoned houses-

On the right there's an abandoned playground on the left side. At this point my camera battery died and I had to use the camera on my phone.

The road on the left after the playground dead ends at a fairly well kept state laboratory facility of some sort-

On the way back to the main road I took this picture of an abandoned building that's right behind the playground-

Another empty building on the left.

Taking the next left there is a series of dilapidated, overgrown ruins-

The road had a lot of construction workers and vehicles on it. They may be prepping for some demolition work. I followed the road up to a side street I passed on the left where the DLNR facility is, and I turned around.

Another abandoned house-like structure behind the DLNR compound-

Back down the road I just traveled up-

Ruins just before all the construction vehicles and people-

Some more shots of the row of buildings I passed before as I drove back out-

I took a left turn between the site of the sheriff's department obstacle course and an old basketball court. This is the same row of buildings from down there-

The old basketball court-

From this area I took a shot of one of the buildings in the construction zone I passed coming back down to this area. You can see an old truck in the grass on the left. Directly to the right is another house-like building. The sun was shining right at me and there was so much over growth that I couldn't get a good shot of it-

Here's part of the obstacle course. You can see the low crawl tube, the wall, the balance beam, and the stairs-

That's pretty much it for the compound. I drove the rest of the way down the road and exited past the gate shack. Then I stopped to take a couple of additional pictures. Just before the gate shack entry/exit is the Pearly City Cultural Center and the trail head for the Waimano Ridge hike.

That's the gate shack in the background. The trail head is across the street from it, on the other side of the fence line-

Pearl City Cultural Center Facebook page
An article about the Waimano Ridge hike
Waimano Ridge Task Force
A 2004 editorial about the Waimano facility falling into disuse
Waimano Training School and Hospital info on hospitaldata.com

Against Me! -Pints of Guiness Make You Strong

Evelyn sits by the elevator doors
It's been 37 years since James died on St. Patrick's Day in 1964
But she could not hold it against him
There were times when there was nothing she could do
But lie in bed all day beside a picture of them together
A picture of better days

And just like James, I'll be drinking Irish tonight
and the memory of his last work week will be gone forever
Evelyn I'm not coming home tonight!
If we're never together
If I'm never back again
Well I swear to God that I'll love you forever
Evelyn I'm not coming home tonight!

In all the years that went by she said
She'd always love him
and from the day that he died
She never loved again

And in his wallet she kept in her nightstand
an a.a. card and a lock of red hair
she kept secrets of pride locked so tight in her heart
it killed a part of her before the rest was gone.

She said, "If I would have known just how things would have ended up
I just would have let myself die."

And just like James, I'll be drinking Irish tonight
and the memory of his last work week will be gone forever
Evelyn I'm not coming home tonight!
If we're never together
If I'm never back again
Well I swear to God that I'll love you forever
Evelyn I'm not coming home tonight!