SS Manoa was an American freight and passenger steamship that sailed for the famous Matson line from San Francisco to Hawaii. On this voyage dated September 3, 1930, some 81 passengers were aboard.

Matson’s ships were instrumental in the development of tourism in Hawaii and the South Pacific, long before commercial air travel was a possibility. In 1927, the company opened the Royal Hawaiian Hotel, still going strong today as a five-star resort in Waikiki, on the south shore of Honolulu.

Passengers aboard the SS Manoa would have traveled in considerable luxury. However, the 1930s was the height of the Depression in the United States.

The surfing couple was the front cover of the passenger list and accompanying this illustration we found a menu for a ‘Hard Times Dinner.’ This was a humorous menu meant to bring light relief during what would have been a hard time for many Americans (though admittedly not for these passengers.)

It is unlikely this menu was served on board, but passengers could send it in postcard form to family and friends. Matson was also a pioneer in creating interesting and attractive menu covers as marketing material.

Matson artwork created by artists like Frank McIntosh, Eugene Savage, John Kelly and Louis Macouillard, as well as famous photographers of the era such as Edward Steinchen and Anton Bruehl, continue to be popular today and can be purchased from Matson’s own archives.

An important part of Polynesian culture, surfing as we know it today, with participants standing and surfing upright, is thought to have originated in Hawaii. When Mark Twain visited Hawaii in 1866, he talked about the ‘national past-time of surf-bathing.’  

Surfing as a sport in Southern California was first officially observed in the Santa Monica newspaper The Daily Outlook on July 22, 1907, when the writer noted that large crowds were gathering daily along Venice Beach to watch the sport.