The Salt Lake community was developed in the 1960s during a construction boom, providing residents with an expansive view of downtown Honolulu and the sugarcane plantations of the central plain of O‘ahu.

It is a community of high-rise condominiums, mid-rise town-dwellings, and houses snaking around the remnants of a now freshwater lake.

The Salt Lake community is built in the larger and easternmost of three overlapping, low profile, tuff cones or volcanic craters: Makalapa, Āliamanu and Āliapa‘akai.

A lake, at one time 1.5 km across (20 ha) but very shallow, formed in the bowl of Āliapa‘akai fed by freshwater springs or possibly seawater seepages (Alexander, 1926 in Maciolek, 1982).

In that year, an artesian well was dug to bring the water level higher (and salt content lower) for use as a mullet fish pond; a tunnel, dug through the southeast rim of the crater, controlled the water level and provided an outlet (Macdonald, Abbott, and Peterson.

Damon later became one of the first trustees of the Kamehameha Schools with his business partner philanthropist Charles Reed Bishop.

[1] Salt Lake's growth was mainly attributed to the ease (in those days) with which residents could travel to and from downtown Honolulu and Waikīkī, where many worked.

Salt Lake's main street is Salt Lake Boulevard, running the length of the community, from Moanalua High School to Aloha Stadium, connecting Puuloa Road (Hawaii Route 66) and Kamehameha Highway (Hawaii Route 99).

[citation needed] Coast Artillery Battery Tiernon, which mounted 2 X 3" guns, was located at Salt Lake for the protection of Pearl Harbor.

The neighborhood community is home to the families of officers and enlisted servicemen from the Air Force, Army, Coast Guard and Navy.

[citation needed] According to the 2000 report of the United States Census Bureau, Salt Lake ranked eighth of all the neighborhood communities in Hawai‘i in terms of median annual household income.

Salt Lake is considered a green neighborhood community, endowed with large stretches of park lands.

Salt Lake District Park has playing fields, basketball and tennis courts, multipurpose buildings and a gymnasium operated by the City & County of Honolulu.