There was a time when Hawai'i Kai wasn't hip condos and weedy Kawamoto houses. Families lived in converted Quonset huts, Lunalilo Home Road was unpaved dirt and the "Okole Maluna" bar was the hot spot around the chicken farms.

There was a time before that when Portlock wasn't called Portlock, when heiau rose up on the hillsides and fishponds provided for the community.

Suburbs aren't usually associated with rich and colorful history, but East O'ahu is a place with great stories.

Ann Marie Kirk, a lifelong East Honolulu resident and producer/director of educational programming, has long been involved in community projects. She realized much historical and cultural information about East O'ahu isn't published or otherwise available, so she got it in her head to collect stories on a Web site.

"It started as a hobby and now it's totally out of control," Kirk said. The home page for Maunalua.net, named for Hawai'i Kai's wide bay, shows an aerial view of the land from 'Aina Haina to Waimanalo. When you click on a place name, an information page comes up with historical notes, pictures and video interviews of elders.

"When you hear Uncle Fishy talk about the fishpond in Kuapa or Auntie May speak about swimming with the sharks at Manana, it's awesome!" Kirk said.

The site is a gift to the community, a resource Kirk hopes will help students and educators as well as planners and developers. "It's easy to allow development over areas when we don't have its history and we've lost sight of the land's connection to the people of the past and present who live there."

One of the treasures on the site is a film shot in 1959 by Lehman "Bud" Henry of Maunalua for his master's thesis at the University of Hawai'i. It shows Hawai'i Kai when it was a farming community, with barefoot children coming home from school to their Quonset huts and Mariner's Ridge before there were houses.

Kirk had to convince camera-shy kupuna into on-camera interviews. One group of ladies in Kuli'ou'ou agreed to be interviewed, but said she had to join their weekly prayer session first.

The site will be unveiled tomorrow and publicly published on Sunday.

The launch is sponsored by Aloha Aina O Kamilonui, Livable Hawaii Kai Hui and the Maunalua Fishpond Heritage Center.

Lee Cataluna's column runs Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Reach her at 535-8172 or lcataluna@honoluluadvertiser.com.