The city of Aiea covers almost 11,000 acres, from
Pearl Harbor northward to the Ewa Forest Reserve. This community of
32,000 started out as a sugar plantation town centered on the Aiea Sugar
Mill. In 1998, the sugar mill was demolished, and the people
constructed a new Town Center.
Within both the city limits of Aiea and Pearl City are all of the
amenities one would want in a home town. The comfortable and attractive
homes are generally in the moderate price range. The schools and
churches are sources of community pride. The area offers public
libraries, recreation centers, lovely parks, ball fields, medical
centers and dental services, and, if anything, an overabundance of
places to shop.
Pearlridge Center, which lies between Kamehameha Highway and Moanalua
Road, is a mammoth air-conditioned shopping complex built in two
sections and linked by a monorail.
Pearl City was settled by independent farmers and
fishers. Pearl Peninsula, which jutted out into Pearl Harbor’s Middle
and East Lochs, was where wealthy people built elaborate mansions. After
the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941, Pearl Peninsula and its
surroundings became the property of the military.