In 1906, Ching Young and his brother, immigrants from Chung San (Zhongshan), China, built this store and the rice mill next to it. In 1933 Mr. Ching died, leaving his widow, Dang Ha Ching from Hanapepe, to run the operations and raise their eight children through the worst of the depression. To support her family, Mrs. Ching had to sell her jewelry.
During World War Two, the rice market boomed, demand and prices spiked, and Mrs. Ching provided for and educated her children. However, by the '70s, taro had replaced rice, the sugar and pineapple plantations were going broke, and the North Shore population was shrinking. Unemployment forced many locals to leave the community—searching for work far from home. To generate income and traffic, Ching Young Store added the post office and rented the rice mill to a group of Taylor Camp hippies for an organic restaurant. In those days rent was cheap. The Ching Young Store started stocking granola.
On the mainland, the murder of Kennedy and King, Vietnam war protests, campus riots, and burning ghettos drove many disillusioned and disgusted youth to look for someplace better. Kauai's dying towns, abandoned plantation labor camps, cheap rent, and fruit for the picking, along with perfect surf and one of the most benign climate on Earth, made the North Shore a haven for surf nomads and hippie refugees—the unwitting shock troops of Kauai's coming economic and cultural invasion.
PHOTO PRINTS
Prints are on Hahnemuhle heavyweight (315 gsm) 100% archival cotton “Photo Rag Baryta” paper, using archival inks and archival spray coating. They have a 200-year life expectancy before any deterioration of the print will be observed when stored, handled, and displayed under archival conditions.
CANVAS PRINTS
What is often called “Gallery Wrap Canvas” is a fine art inkjet (Giclee) print on canvas, with printed edges to wrap around a wooden stretcher frame, like a painting. With canvas prints, your print image is still the same size, but given a "wrap effect" around the edges to account for the thickness of the stretcher. Canvas can be rolled and shipped with no effect to the print. Your local framing shop should be able to mount the canvas to stretchers at a fraction of the cost of traditional framing, making for an overall more economical way to get fine art on your wall. The canvas is printed to wrap around a 1-inch stretcher (1.5 inches on larger sizes). Specifications will be provided with your order. Feel free to contact us if you need guidance with your canvas order.
John prints, titles, dates, and signs all of his photos.
CUSTOM ORDERS: For custom orders of prints shipped flat, framed, or as stretched canvas, contact sales@wehrheim-productions.com