The Tao Building

Building 1

Built by Mrs. Toyo Nii around 1920, the original building on this site was first used as an ice cream parlor by the Shinagawas. The Ichizo Tao family then ran it as a general store and ice cream parlor and the building was named after them. The store also sold rice grown along the Huleʻia River. The Tao store served the Kōloa plantation workers from all the camps around the district.


Built by Mrs. Toyo Nii around 1920, the original building on this site was first used as an ice cream parlor by the Shinagawas. The Ichizo Tao family then ran it as a general store and ice cream parlor and the building was named after them. The store also sold rice grown along the Huleʻia River. The Tao store served the Kōloa plantation workers from all the camps around the district.

Ichizo and Yuka Tao were born in Japan and were left with relatives until their parents in Hawaiʻi could afford to bring them over at an early age. They met in Kōloa and started their own family. On holidays like the Fourth of July, they often took ice cream and shave ice to the beaches where they knew people would buy their treats and they could make a little extra profit.

After World War II, the building also housed a Union Hall, a dress shop and a barber shop run by Mr. Daos. The site has come full circle and is once again home to an ice cream parlor – Kōloa Mill Ice Cream & Coffee.

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