 Courtesy of Cloudia Charters Author of Aloha Where You Like To Go?
Aloha
Greetings!
Hope
this Aloha Preview of the next "Walking in Waikiki" column finds you warm
and
happy.
Hawaii
is still buzzing about our local guy (born & raised!) Barack being sworn in
as 44th
President.
The
slight downturn in visitor numbers has only made Waikiki even sweeter, I
think. Robert Cazimero told me that he thinks that the slower pace
is conducive to renewed ALOHA. "Folks have the time to talk story, and to
remember how Mamma and Grandad treated people back in the old days." I
think he may be
right!
So
jump on a hotel "deal" (they
are
out there!) and get your feet into da sand! Jimmy Buffet will be
performing here later in February, and will no doubt also be seen at his NEW
Waikiki restaurant on the site of Don Ho's iconic
show.
If
you can't fly over, then just sit back and enjoy this stroll through Waikiki and
surrounds along with
us.
Walking in Waikiki now appears in the Kaimuki
News! along with
Waikiki News and TripAtlas.com. And please remember to visit my
daily Hawaii Blog:
Comfort
Spiral at comfortspiral.blogspot.com
for more free
feelgood!
Warm Aloha,
Cloudia
Zippys
(a casual dining chain) is the place that returning Hawaii folks go to
directly from the airport for local comfort food. Usually, when in Chinatown,
I'll have dim sum at my favorite place, but I was "ono" (Hawaiian, means
'hungry' and also 'delicious') for
Won Ton Min at Zippys.
So, I began my Chinatown New Year
Celebration at the Maunakea Street & Vineyard Boulevard location directly
across from the beautiful Kwan Yin Temple. My server told me that my
choice is President Barack's favorite when he's in
town!
Waddling towards the Chinese Cultural Center after my meal, I passed the
Lum Sai Ho
Tong(1899-1953 on Kukui at the canal)
which is the clan temple, gathering place, and record-keeping center for all of
the folks with the surname of "Lum" who immigrated to our Honolulu from
China. This was the first time in my 20+ years in town I ever
saw it open for New Years visitors! It was an amazing place with multiple
altars upstairs and a great, usually inaccessible view across the canal (Nu`uanu
Stream) from the upper
floor.
At
the Cultural Center I bought some lucky calligraphy on red paper as well as
"Gau,"
a round rice "pudding" cake that celebrates family cohesion. Streets were
closed, crowds were thick, and
dancing
lions with their gong/drum/crashing
cymbal bands roamed the district to the sounds of firecrackers. I went into a
hole-in-the-wall noodle factory and bought some fresh noodles for dinner.
"Nihau" (Hello) Shi Shi (Thank You) and "Gung Hee Fat Choy" (Happy Lucky New
Year!) everybody! A bit of patient gesturing, along with the linguistic niceties
above will take you far in our friendly and fascinating Honolulu Chinatown, the
oldest in
America!
Walking
back to the car with my noodles, lucky amulets, and new red t-shirt, I noticed
that the Shinto
Shrine on Kukui Street was open too.
Inside, a Shinto Priest was conducting services for two young Japanese
folks. At the end of the service, he took a ceremonial pole with
hanging white papers from the altar and blessed the two with it by dangling
it over their heads. Then he kindly blessed me as well! Finally, he brought a
wooden tray with porcelain cups on it and served each of us a sip of good Sake.
Bracing! I had been afraid that I was trespassing so I thanked the Priest
sincerely. "Thank
you
for coming." he generously said. Cultures and customs mix and share like nowhere
else, here in our Polynesian
metropolis!
For
over twenty years I have driven right past the Kaimuki Fire House (Koko Head
Avenue)without thinking much about the hill that looms over it. I'd been close
to a real treasure and never even knew it! The
Pu`u
(pronounced: poo - oo) or "hill" O
Kaimuki, the high point of the whole
neighborhood, is crowned by a tiny, secret jewel of a city park! The
pu`u has many stories and legends attached to it. Hawaii's "little
people," the
Menehune,
supposedly frequented it nightly well into the
20th
Century; and its peak is also considered a likely site of Hawaiian cultural
practices dating back to "pre-contact times. The little mountain has
played host to a water tank, an early astronomical observatory, and a WWII
military lookout. She witnessed the arrival of the original Hawaiian voyaging
canoes, and later saw the first European ships sail past an incredulous Diamond
Head. Yes, this quiet spot has certainly seen lots of change, and lots of
growth. An easy climb, the Pu`u boasts spectacular views from Koko Head and
Maunalua
Bay in the East, to Waikiki, urban
Honolulu,
Punchbowl
Crater, and the expansive, green Ko`olau range all the way to the Waianae
Mountains at the western edge of O`ahu. I was greeted at the top, by
mellow locals jamming on guitars, and enjoyed a mesmerizing sunset over the
Pacific. Check it
out!
I
have always been of fond of our classic little
Kaimuki
neighborhood with its main
commercial strip of Waialae
Avenue. Strolling there, one finds a
few remaining "mom and pop" businesses beside culinary gems offering everything
from classic diner food (Big City Diner) to Asian, Italian, Greek, Mexican,
French & even an Indian Tandoori place! Kaimuki was the first large
subdivision outside of Honolulu (though now it's part of the City & County).
In
1898
two businessmen bought 520 acres of land here for 20,000 dollars, envisioning a
lucrative, high-class residential area where only rocky hills and hardscrabble
dairy farms existed. Fee simple house lots were offered for 400 to 600 dollars
each; but without paved roads it was a hard sell. Potential buyers were even
offered a 50-dollar "Bounty" for every baby born in Kaimuki! Today
we can see that the parched red dirt finally did grow a friendly community
of homes, schools, and yummy restaurants; all around the feet of our tall
friend, the Pu`u O Kaimuki, up behind the fire station. .
.
The
Hawaiians had names for every little feature and area of this
`Aina,
the precious land. Today we give directions by roads and buildings: human made
creations. Yes, the people of old had intimate familiarity with all of nature
and took pleasure in naming it, in singing, and in dancing about it. Nowhere is
this more apt than here in Waikiki,
the "Spouting Waters" where three
mountain streams: Palolo, Manoa, and Makiki, all give themselves to the sea,
creating a unique micro-climate that the ancients considered to be powerfully
healing.
Diamond
Head, or course, remains from their landscape to our own day. And at her
green skirts of Kapiolani Park is a distinct area of Waikiki Beach that we call
"Queen's
Surf." The people of old called it
"Kalehuawehe,"
The Open Lehua
Blossom."
High
Chiefs from every Ahupua`a, or district, came to Waikiki in season to enjoy it's
special ambiance. Taro was brought to them from nearby uplands; Fish and their
favorite sea-vegetables were always fresh at hand in the sea and also in the
ingenious fishponds that graced our neighborhood back
then.
One
thing that even the chiefs might NOT do was to surf at Kalehuawehe. This
lovely beach was Kapu, or taboo, to any but the daughter of O`ahu's highest
Ali`i: Kakuhihewa. And so it remained her private joy until one morning . .
.
As
the lovely Princess made her way to the surf that day, a handsome young chief
(pure Ali`i from the
right
side of Manoa Valley) stepped forward to offer her a perfect lei of Lehua
blossoms. Enraptured by the rich moment of their glorious youth on that
exquisite Waikiki day so long ago, she accepted the lei, which was almost as
beautiful as his manly smile. The unbroken
custom of
Aloha, of flawless reciprocation, thus
placed her in his debt. So, wordlessly they joined hands and entered the surf
together. And from that day the Kapu was broken at Kalehuawehe . . . The place
we call Queen's Surf . .
.
The
passing generations immemorial of Ali`i have left their Mana, and sometimes
their bones (their sacred
Iwi)
at this special place as well. Closer to our own times,
King
Kalakaua, the Merrie Monarch, spent
happy hours beside the grand park named for his
Queen
Kapiolani. Then another Queen, his
sister
Lili`uokalani,
had her beach home here: the lovely Pua Leilani or "Heavenly Flower Lei," which
she in turn left to Prince Jonah
Kuhio,
Hawaii's first (nonvoting)
representative to the U.S. Congress. He was known fondly as our "Citizen
Prince." (And as Prince Cupid to the ladies ;-) Queen's Surf remained his own
beloved retreat until his passing in 1922 . .
.
Today,
the Waikiki Aquarium is the queen of this part of the beach. It's deceptively
small building houses myriad wonders as well as genuine scientists working to
heal & repair the oceans. So the healing quality of Waikiki remains. Only
now it extends to the oceans themselves. Come feel it for yourself. Come to
Queen's
Surf.
And
that little thing about Kamehameha
landing his army here to begin the
conquest of O`ahu, I mean the UNITING of the islands? It was a one-time thing,
man! Today, Queen's is a beach of peace - all back to normal. A happy
normal indeed . . . when you're walking in Waikiki . . .
Aloha!
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