George Paele Mossman

George Paele Mossman (March 28, 1891 – February 6, 1955) was a Honolulu businessman of Hawaiian ancestry, who became successful as a cultural entrepreneur, musician and ukulele maker.

[1] He opened Bell Tone Studio of Music in 1927, and hired "Hawaii's Songbird" Lena Machado as the store's Hawaiian dance and singing instructor.

The Honolulu Star-Bulletin described the production as ".. the dynamic enthusiasm of George Mossman for his favorite hobby – the preservation of the early culture of the Hawaiians in a living form.

"[7] George and his wife Emma Keliilalanikulani Lewis created the Mossman Foundation to continue the work of preserving the culture of the Hawaiian people.

What Mossman is most remembered for in Hawaii is the 1932 creation of Lalani Hawaiian Village, a living history tourist attraction adjacent to their family home, at the corner of Kalakaua and Paoakalani Avenues.

[9] Lalani Hawaiian Village lasted for two decades, and has been acknowledged as the forerunner of the Waikiki tourism boom that happened after the Hawaii Admission Act of 1959 made it the 50th state.