 This is Think Tech Hawai'i, the community matters here. Hello everyone and welcome to Think Tech Hawai'i. I am the host of today's program, DeSoto Brown, and instead of our normal human-humane architecture, this week we are on an alternate schedule, and we're hosting people from the Doko Momo Group. And the Doko Momo Group is a group of people who support and want to preserve mid-century architecture. That is mid-twentieth century architecture. And our host today is Don Hibbard. Well, our guest today is Don Hibbard. And we've got a very interesting subject to talk about, something which is all over the place, something which most people don't even give a thought to, was very common at one time, but not so common now. It's the jealousy window. We're going to be talking about what the heck the jealousy window is, and you can see in the photograph behind us, underneath the plate-class windows of that suburban house, those are wooden jealousy windows. Tell us what the history is. Let's get started with the history of what the jealousy window is. Don, take it away. I guess I'll start with the name. That's fine. And the name actually comes from the French, and there were louvered windows back as far as the 1600s, and the French called them jaloux. And if we have another slide, I'll show you why. Oh, okay. All right. Well, let's go to our first slide. There we are. And this is actually interior shutters, which is very well. The jaloux, you can open and shut, and they're slanted in, and if you're on the outside, you cannot see in. Right. But when you're on the inside, you can see out, and the French felt this caused a jealousy situation. And there we are. The world is full of jealous people. Right. And so it was called jaloux. All right. And when the man invented the window, the term jaloux was very popular in New Orleans, and so he just picked it up and used it. Jealousy is what it's going to end up being called. Yes. That's right. That's right. So that's where I thought would start. Okay, excellent. Now, what's next? Well, let's do you want to go to our next slide? Yes. I just wanted to show you more. This is an eolani palace. Correct. And again, internal shutters. Right. And if you take the next slide, you can see it operates on a center bar. That you can give it up and down. Right, exactly. And this man, Van Ellis Huff, who was an engineer, got his degree from the University of Florida. He liked to sail. And there's a very little island chain out directly east of Miami called Benimi. Yes. And he went out to those islands and he saw these shutters everywhere. And then he said, I can do this better. Okay. Well, let me just show everybody right in front of me, if we can go to a shot of me here. This is his book. Yes. And his book, which you bought online. Yes. And it's called From Mountains to Miami, A Search for Greener Pastures. It's actually this man's life story, but he talks about, as you said, inventing the jealousy window. Right, no whole development. There we are. Where it came from. All right. And so he had a very interesting life. At the time, when he invented the window, it was during the Depression. It was 1937. He applied for the patent and he got it in 1939. But engineering wasn't in demand during the Depression. So he went and he had a carpenter shop. Okay. And so he was essentially building these jealousy windows out of his home. By hand. Yes. And originally they were all, no glass. He didn't decide to use glass until during World War II. He figured out you can put glass panes in instead of just wood slabs. Correct. And so he was making them there. Right. And what we can say is that the basic shutter concept is the same. Right. However, the jealousy window uses considerably larger slats rather than the small ones that we see in these old fashioned ones. And this is a technology that goes back centuries, as you said, the movable slats. Right. So in one way, it's not totally new, but the application of it and the size of it is new. Right. And essentially the mechanism for operating it is different. Correct. It makes it more efficient rather than having to just fiddle with that middle stick. Right. Okay. What's next? Oh, so he's doing this. There we go. Some architects in Florida are starting to pick up and using it. Yeah. Then the Navy hires him in 1940 to put jealousies in all of their housing down at Guantanamo Bay. In Cuba. Yes. And this is a picture of it. And that's the picture of that development. And on the next picture. Right. We'll show. There it is in the 1950s. Right. And essentially at this point he had to take his operations out of the garage. Right. Because it was a giant correction. Correct. So he then opened up a factory which had, I thought, the very interesting name of Protect You Jealousy Company. I don't know how much protection those gave you, but that's a clever word. Well, one other thing, and then you just said too that when we were discussing beforehand, if we go to the next slide, one of the things that he did in later years was to further install more of his windows in other Navy facilities in the Pacific. Correct. So number two, he went to California and the Navy gave him another giant contract to put them in Philippines and Guam, Johnson Island, in Hawaii. Right. In their facilities. Right. So this is a picture of Bachelor Officers Quarters for the Navy on Guam in 1957. So it's later than what we were talking about just before this. But if we go to the next picture, we'll see that this is an unusual application in that these are metal shutters. Correct. And this is the only picture I've found of but again, it's the same, it's the same format, same thing as what we were just talking about. Right. And then we'll go on from there. So our next picture. Ah, yes. This is, during the 50s, right after the war, not only was it in Hawaii in the Pacific, but also Florida started having it and also, well, we'll go, California also started to use Jalices. Right. And this is a designed by a man, Paul Rudolph, who was an architect who worked in Florida in the late 40s and 50s. And if we go to the next picture, that's, of course, an architectural rendering. This is a picture of the actual construction of that building, the cocoon house, it was called. And we agreed that our friend, Martin Despeng, would love this. It's totally easy breezy because it's got the Jalices on one wall but the other wall appears to just be screened. It doesn't even look like there's anything there. No, it doesn't. But I presume it's screened but that's pretty much the original Jalices. Exactly. So our next picture takes us to another use. What's this? Yes, very much in the 50s, mobile homes picked up on them and started using them. And this is a 1955 mobile home, very much a vintage classic now but it still has its original Jalices windows. And it's turquoise and pink if that's about as 50s a color combination as you can get. Okay, let's go next. And there we go. Yes. When he was in Hawaii working for the Navy here, other people became interested in a man named T. Hao Hou who was the proprietor of Surf Rider Sportsware was very much enchanted by this and thought that this would be a good market and he opens up a business in Hawaii selling it's called Pacific Jalicy Company. And this is the 1949, 40th, 49th State Fair. Yes. And they had a display in the fair and this was appeared in Paradise of the Pacific magazine and they mentioned that this is a new development in ventilation. Right. So this is at that time. This is a new concept. Yes. 1949. Right. It's just coming to Hawaii and so and it's just going to be put on the market and Hao will put them in his house in Kaneo'i which unfortunately I've yet to find. I don't know if it still exists but that would be the use of the Jalicy in the house residential use which then became all over the place. Absolutely. That's what we're talking about. Proliferated. Absolutely. And also much to Mr. Huff's disappointment. Correct. The Jalicy was very, very easy to make and copy. Right. And therefore people infringed on his patent right and left. Right. And he did not have money to fight them. Yes, exactly. And so essentially in 1955 or 6 he just quit. He didn't make any more. Right. And at that point probably there were innumerable other manufacturers. Yes. And what he was very bemoaned quite a bit was that most of them made them cheaper than him because he used all crank handles and his crank handle mechanisms all were made of brass. And that's something that is we just were just discussing let's go to the next picture because we're going to be discussing the different formats. Now this is a very basic concept but once you look around there are many different types. Exactly. And you said this is what? 1954. 1954 and why like a Hala? And I think this could be one of his because this was a handle that can come in and out exactly. Into a little hole and I right. And this well it's the whole house still has these and they're all operate perfectly. So I suspect that these are brass fixtures. Correct. And so I suspect this might be one of the earlier uses of his windows. Exactly. Right. So and that's we'll also point out too that there are different types of glass. Right. We'll be seeing other types of glass but this is a very clear example of the fluted glass. Correct. That's got these horizontal stripes. And so it was more for privacy when you closed it. Correct. Okay. Next. So what what you were just saying and what we're about to see is that there are these different mechanisms of different manufacturers which eventually wear out. Right. At the time nobody gave a great deal of thought but 50 or 60 years later which is where we are now when those gradually fall apart that can be a problem to get them fixed or replaced whatever. Yes. You got this one is in Manoa. This is a Salvation Army. Right. We said 1955. Yes. Right. And so that's a crank. Yeah. That's a different but it's a different style. That's a different style. Yes. But let's keep going. Okay. And here's another one and this is from the 1960s early 60s and again this is not as good quality and and it's different style but you'll also notice too that it's in a concrete block wall right only on floor this is very typical of the time period and that's something that I think people also need to keep in mind that it's very difficult during that time it enabled a lot of people to buy a home but the maintenance of it can be difficult and the other thing that's very different which we'll get to in a minute is the expectations people have now versus the expectations of what people had then in terms of the quality of their home and the ventilation in particular. Precisely. Yes. A new one. That's and you were saying that there are modern ones being made today that are plastic right and we were talking about primarily lever ones right lever ones but again once that breaks yes forget it yes right okay next so and here's an interesting one this is this is actually in public housing for senior citizens Makua Ali on Clark Hall Avenue I was going to say yes yeah 70s early 80s I was 60s Oh is that it's different than I'm thinking of and yeah yeah they rebuilt the part of it which had been Kalakawa homes right right exactly what I was thinking of and this but this again it's a rather interesting handle which I hadn't seen anywhere else before yeah those are kind of a pain to use particularly if you're an old person trying to crank that thing okay next and this is the other type of type of movement that you can do instead of turning something by hand you just simply move the lever up and down which is an easier way to do it correct but it doesn't hold in place as well so you can't keep them sort of partly open and that's a potential problem and I think this is a fairly early lever style yeah next and that's my house and my house was built in the 1930s but the previous owner in the 1960s installed jealousy windows some of which I took out but these I kept and this also works with a lever and unfortunately as I was just saying as these things get older they're made of aluminum or they're made of pot metal they don't last that well so I have to do this I treat these gently because if they break I don't think and this one too you may notice this type of glass is called opalescent opalescent excuse me obscure glass obscure glass and that's another this is in the bathroom so they put it in that in the bathroom for that reason it's got a pebble texture right exactly instead of clear glass okay next and this is another senior citizen housing and this I found this lever to be a very interesting style of leather do you just push it up and pull it down exactly yes okay because that wasn't quite clear yeah no it's quite interesting I haven't seen that anywhere else either no that's why I wasn't even sure what it was right right okay next and here's a different type yes here's another bathroom and this this is the most common bound lever I think the next picture will show it yeah next picture yeah there we are you just see it's the handle that's most typically found now and I think this well this house is from 1956 okay they had it early but I don't know if these have been replaced from the originals right but more I find this a lot with late 60s 70s houses yeah I would think so next so one of the things okay and here we see the two types of glass in use yeah now one of the things that's very important to note about this which we discussed the security people learned quite quickly that you can remove the glass from the clamps of it and you can break into a house and this was something that became a big problem for all the many many homes and apartments that had jealousy windows the other thing of course is that they break and that can be a problem but I think the major problem or the major thing that we deal with now is that as we were just discussing before the show people have the expectation of a lot more luxury now in the time period people now buying new homes expect air conditioning and even central air conditioning people are not happy with the idea of having to just let the air blow in and the problem is that that uses fossil fuel that's more expensive it means that we have to bring that fuel in we have to run electricity to do it etc so I've learned from Martin that the more natural ventilation the more fuel free ventilation and it would be who of us to be more conscious of that attribute today and at the time when it was most popular in the 50s 60s 70s this was this was the most efficient way to ventilate your house oh absolutely and so it was actually considered oh this is new technology this is actually advanced living that's right exactly no and that's the point this was a technological advance and the other thing about jealousies is the reason they would have been used in mobile homes is they don't take any space you don't have to have space for a window to be pushed to the side you don't have to have a space for a full fixed pane window to pivot out to pivot upward or down it's just contained within the wall right as part of the unit of the window correct weight too because the metal is lightweight so particularly for a mobile home that's a positive attribute and for builders etc these also are useful it's just that again as we said we have the expectation of a more luxurious lifestyle now in which these don't fit that well unfortunately unfortunately let's go to our next slide and here's a different use yes this is a variation this is on a house in Lanakai the house was in the 1920s but they enclosed the Lanakai in the 50s and this instead of regular horizontal jealousies they mounted them vertically and this is actually run on a chain and so the chain opens and closes it okay I know what you mean like a metal chain and it goes over a little wheel right and that opening that operates the window and so these are wood and the interesting thing there is that wood very private but it also cuts out all the light exactly you don't get the view unless it's open unless it's open so there are positive attributes to wood jealousies but not 100% like glass and I noticed that the Department of Education they'll use jealousies in almost all their classrooms but they're using wood as well and I think that's to discourage the children from looking out looking outside and being distracted doing my problem back in the day I can remember yeah okay well in the next picture we see a similar usage of the vertical wooden louvers of the vertical wooden jealousies this however is at the Cocoa Palms Hotel in the King's Cottages now the King's Cottages were separate freestanding structures and they were the most expensive rooms at the Cocoa Palms Hotel this is called the Blue Hawaii Suite or perhaps that might even require Blue Hawaii building and the reason it's called that is because Elvis Presley filmed a good section of his film 1961's Blue Hawaii at the Cocoa Palms now the thing that I think is interesting is that if you look on the left there are those that's the original use of the slats the wooden slats in what obviously was an accordion fold door so probably not a lot I don't know how easily how easy it was to move those vertical wooden louverts if you couldn't then you would have closed that accordion door with those old fashioned slats for more privacy so it seems kind of like a complicated way to do it but as long as the customers like it who cares and you'll notice those blue touches in the pillows and the lampshade and the blue carpet the blue shag carpet on the floor it's very, very beautiful okay, next picture this okay, here we are back to the wooden slats yes, and this is in your haunt this is in my haunt at Bishop Museum where I work this is the Pawahi building the Pawahi building is a collection building it was built in 1964 and actually originally all the windows in the building were jealousies now these are in the bathroom so they have solid wooden slats for privacy and there you can see also the handle made sure to take a picture of the handle because we were going to include that in the show but the rest of the building has glass jealousies they are shielded on the outside by a decorative concrete grill right but the problem for Pawahi hall is that just as we were saying originally that was all natural ventilation well that's nice for keeping things cool but for collections in a museum you do want to be able to shut the world out and to keep bugs out so it's been necessary to add central air conditioning to this building and to close all the jealousies pretty much permanently well next picture and we've got okay this is okay this is something that I think is particularly interesting here are tract houses and this is on Kalani Ikhi street in about 1961 so this is right by Kalani high school and if you'll notice this is the type of thing which many many tract houses used in Hawaii at this time period there are fixed plate glass windows but along the bottom we've got a row of wooden jealousy windows and that is the again this is what people were happy with at the time this is what people expected for ventilation people didn't have air conditioners few people had room air conditioners nobody had central air conditioning we relied on natural ventilation through opening and closing windows correct and after World War II the picture window became very popular absolutely yes and so this was a way of accommodating the picture window right and still maintaining ventilation exactly and you can see on the left-hand house that you know the side walls had jealousies yes so you will get your cross ventilation coming in from the bottom to the top another small interesting feature on these houses in the 60s these are all single wall buildings but they started to put the gert which keeps the building from bowing the walls from bowing they used to be in plantation days always on the outside of the building yeah right exactly so you've got an exterior framework right but in the 60s they were thinking more streamlined modern and they hide the gert by putting it that's right that's exactly right and for me in my childhood which is when this picture was taken you know so many of my friends lived in houses like this and this is what everybody's expectation was to our look to our view today they look very inexpensive maybe too cheap we expect double wall construction we expect more at the same time this is what enabled a lot of people to be able to buy their own homes and I think you and I are probably going to be doing some more shows about the entire phenomenon of suburban life suburban development tracked homes et cetera here in the Hawaiian islands exactly yeah so that's something that we'll be doing in the future I think it's just about time for us to wrap this show up I think we covered the field well I think we covered the field well and Don thank you so much for coming in and talking about this again this is something that seems incredibly prosaic in every day but as time passes these things go away we begin to appreciate them and be interested in them and one of the whole purposes of Doko Momo is the preservation so we want to preserve houses that have these exactly very much and interested in anybody that has a different kind of jealousy let us know let us know we'll find out yet another strange world of the jealousy window the fascinating and exciting world of the jealousy window well thank you all for being with us today and watching this particular program we'll be back next week with one of our regular human-humane architecture programs Martin Desbang will be joining us all the way from Germany and we're going to be talking about the West Oahu College campus that time so we want you to keep we want you to keep watching Think Tech we want you to keep watching the various shows and I will be seeing you in the future and Don will be back as well so until then thank you everybody for watching see you next time yes