Walking Tours

The President Lived Here, and Here, and Here..

President Barack Obama was born and raised on the island of Oahu. Several visitors have expressed interest in tracing the roots of our 44th president. His family moved several times during his childhood, but generally stayed within the Makiki-Manoa neighborhoods, a lush residential area, nestled between the blue waves of Waikiki Beach and the verdant green vegetation of Mount Tantalus.

The story really starts at the University of Hawaii at Manoa in 1960, where the president's father, Barack Obama Sr., a student from Kenya and the school's first African student, met his mother, Stanley Ann Dunham, during a Russian-language class. The couple got married on the island of Maui on February 2, 1961. On August 4, 1961, Ann gave birth to Barack Jr. at the Kapiolani Hospital for Women and Children.

The future president's first home was about 5 miles from the Makiki neighborhood in the very swank address of Hawaii Kai (6085 Kalaniana'ole Highway) in a small bungalow behind the main house.

In 1962, Obama's parents separated when his father went to Harvard on a scholarship. The next year, his mother, still a college student at the University of Hawaii, moved to 2277 Kamehamaha Ave., a few blocks from the university (unfortunately the building has been torn down and replaced with a new structure). During this time, Barack and his mother frequently visited her parents, Stanley and Madelyn Dunham, who lived in the Makiki area in a two-bedroom apartment (no. 110) at 1427 Alexander Street.

In 1964, the Dunhams, along with their daughter and now-famous grandson, moved to a prestigious address in Manoa Valley, at 2234 University Ave., into a four-bedroom, single-story house (built in 1947) with wide lanais and a spacious lawn. A desired address of university professors, Manoa Valley offered an older, mature neighborhood of swaying eucalyptus trees and fragrant flowers. The home also was walking distance to the future president's first school, Noelani Elementary School ("Heavenly Mist"), which is still considered one of the best elementary schools on Oahu.

In 1967, Ann Dunham married another UH student, Lolo Soetoro. The 6-year-old Barack, his mother, and new stepfather moved to Jakarta, Indonesia.

When he was 10 years old, Barack returned to Hawaii and lived with his grandparents, the Dunhams, who had moved back to Makiki to an apartment building, called Punahou Circle, located at 1617 S. Bertania St. They lived in apartment no. 1206, and in 1973, moved into unit no. 1008. Barack's grandmother, Madelyn Dunham (whom he called "Toot," short for tutu, the Hawaiian word for grandmother) lived here until her death on November 3, 2008. The 96-unit building is still standing today.

A couple of years later, the president's mother, now known as Ann Dunham Sutoro (a modern spelling of her former husband's last name), returned to Hawaii with Barack's new 3-year-old sister, Maya. His mother had separated from her second husband and came back to Hawaii to study anthropology at the University of Hawaii. The family moved about 6 blocks from her parents into a small apartment building at 1839 Poki St.

The future 44th president attended Hawaii's most prestigious private school, Punahou, from the fifth grade until his graduation in 1979. Founded in 1841, Punahou (which translates as "New Spring") is where the movers and shakers in Hawaii send their children. The 76-acre complex resembles a college campus, where some 3,750 students in grades kindergarten to 12 wander the manicured grounds between the historic and architecturally-designed buildings. In fact, Sports Illustrated recently ranked the Punahou sports program the best out of some 38,000 high schools in the United States.

Obama, who was called "Barry" in high school, was nicknamed "Obomber" for his antics on the high school basketball team. The future president also worked during high school, scooping ice cream at the local Baskin Robbins, 1618 S. King St., near Punahou Street, within walking distance of his school and home.

Since becoming the 44th president, Barack Obama has returned to the 50th state a few times: playing at Olomana Golf Links, Luana Hills Country Club, and Mid-Pacific Country Club; visiting the Valley of the Temples Memorial Park; paying homage at the Punchbowl Cemetery; stopping at the Pali Lookout; spending time at the USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor; having a picnic lunch at Ala Moana Beach Park; and taking the kids to the Honolulu Zoo.