Banyan Drive

Banyan Drive is a street in Hilo, Hawaii. The street is lined with dozens of banyan trees along the shoreline. It is also called the Hilo Walk of Fame because the trees were planted by celebrities. The trees have managed to stand against several tsunamis, which devastated the Big Island of Hawaii.

Banyan Drive circles Waiakea Peninsula close to Hilo International Airport. In 1933, park commissioners came up with the idea to have celebrities plant trees along the peninsula. A year later, President Franklin Roosevelt was in Hilo. It was at this time a road was constructed along the edge of the Banyan trees. Cecil B. Demile and at least eight other film industry patrons decided to plant trees in the first year. Babe Ruth also planted a tree. Dozens of trees were planted in that first decade, but it slowed down in subsequent years. One of the last trees to be planted was by Polly Mooney who replanted a tree lost during a Tsunami. It was also an honorary planting for Courtney Shropshire.

Edna Best, Herbert Marshal's Wife, Leo Carillo, and Mary Boland were some of the movie stars to plant Banyan trees. Amelia Earhart also planted a tree.