Hawaii’s Poynesian Cultural center was opened in 1963 as a way to provide employment and scholarships for students at BYU-Hawai and also to preserve the cultures of Polynesia. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s hukilau and luau beach gatherings to earn money to rebuild a local chapel belonging to the LDS Church, which had been destroyed in a fire. “The Hukilau Song,” made famous by Alfred Apaka, was written following the composer and song’s original singer, Jack Owens’s visit to Lāʻie’s hukilau.
