Aiea, Hawaii

Aiea is a town located in Honolulu County, Hawaii. As of the 2000 Census, Aiea had a total population of 9,019.

The people of Aiea pronounce it "I-ay-uh." Some residents of Aiea claim that their town is the only town in the world spelled with only vowels.

Most residents, when describing "Aiea," are referring to most of the northern shore of East Loch of Pearl Harbor to Aiea Bay, including the associated uplands rising to the north into the Ko-olau Mountains.

Kamehameha Highway (State Rte. 90) divides most of Aiea from the shore of Pearl Harbor (mostly US government property), and the parallel major thoroughfare, interstate freeway H-1, further cuts the town's commercial district into two distinct areas. These east-west routes (and other streets) connect Aiea to Pearl City immediately adjacent on the west and the Halawa adjacent on the east. The residential area known as Aiea Heights extends up the ridgeline above the town.

As Aiea has several miles of shoreline on Pearl Harbor, the focus of the December 7, 1941 attack by the Japanese on military installations there greatly impacted the town. For example, one damaged ship, the USS Vestal, beached at Aiea Bay to prevent sinking. Many photographers photographed the battle from the hills in Aiea.

After World War II developers started extending the town into the surrounding former sugar cane fields. In the years since then, Aiea has grown into an important suburb of Honolulu. The town's sugar history came to a close in 1996, when C&H Sugar closed the refinery. Then in 1998, the 99-year old sugar mill was torn down by the owners, amid protests from town residents and the County government.