History of Metronome Music

Metronome Music was owned by the late John Lai. Before he started Metronome Music, in the 1920’s he taught music at various plantations on the island of Oahu. He and his friends would drive to the plantations in the evening and teach the plantation workers how to play various musical instruments. He later opened up his store Metronome Music in downtown Honolulu. The first store was on Bethel Street, then moved to Hotel Street. He marketed the Kamaka pineapple shaped ukulele with the pineapple decal under Ka Lai. Ka is from Kamaka and added Lai. Eventually they changed the name to Ka Lae because it sounded more Hawaiian. With the leftover monkeypod from the ukuleles, they also created monkeypod souvenirs such as ukulele perfume bottles and outrigger canoes. In the 1930s, John and Ellen Lai sailed to the U.S. Continent to market their Hawaiian souvenirs.