Slather on the sunscreen, purchase your ahi and tako poke early and throw some burgers and hot dogs on the grill … the Fourth of July weekend is here! And there’s no shortage of fireworks shows lighting up skies all over Hawaii this year.

Need to sate a 4th of July pyrotechnics fix?

Here's our complete list of free, open-to-the-public fireworks displays throughout the 50th State this weekend.

Happy Fourth of July from the entire HAWAII Magazine ohana!

July 3

Oahu

If you’re in the mood to celebrate the 4th a day early, head to downtown Honolulu's Aloha Tower Marketplace tonight for its annual Pre-Independence Day Celebration and Fireworks Display.

Festivities and live music begin at 5 p.m., capped off by a performance from contemporary Hawaiian music duo HAPA at 8 p.m. The Marketplace’s fireworks show over Honolulu Harbor starts at 8:45 p.m. Tune in to Hawaiian KINE 105 FM for a simulcast of tunes synched to the display.

For more information, click here or call (808) 528-5700.

• In Waikiki, the Hilton Hawaiian Village's weekly fireworks display is set, as usual, for 7:45 p.m. at Duke Kahanamoku Beach.


July 4

Oahu

The biggest fireworks display in the state is Ala Moana Center’s annual Fourth of July Celebration. Live music at Ala Moana’s Center Stage begins at noon. At 5 p.m., Hoku Zuttermeister, Natalie Ai Kamauu, B.E.T., Pali and other contemporary and traditional Hawaiian music acts will take over the shopping center's ocean-facing parking deck for a concert leading up to the evening’s headlining pyrotechnics

The shopping center’s fireworks show—one of the 25 largest displays in the U.S.— begins at 8:30 p.m., launched from three platforms at neighboring Ala Moana Beach Park. Tune in to KUMU 94.7 FM for a simulcast music soundtrack synched to the fireworks.

For a complete schedule of Ala Moana Center 4th of July festivities, click here or call (808) 955-9517.

• July 4th Parade, Festival, and Fireworks in Kailua. Kailua Beach Park. Fireworks begin at 8 p.m. (808) 261-7997. More info here.

• Maunalua Bay Independence Day Celebration and Fireworks Show. Maunalua Bay, Hawaii Kai. Entertainment begins at 2 p.m. Fireworks start at 8 p.m. Tune in to Hawaiian KINE 105 FM for a simulcast of tunes synched to the display. (808) 396-9226. More info here.

• Turtle Bay Resort Celebration and Fireworks. Fireworks scheduled for 9 p.m. (866) 827-5327. More info here.

• Schofield Barracks Fourth of July Spectacular and Centennial Celebration. Sills Field, Schofield Barracks. Fireworks scheduled for 9 p.m. (808) 655-0112. More info here.


Big Island of Hawaii

• Great Waikoloa Rubber Duckie Race and Fourth of July Extravaganza. Kings’ Shops, Waikoloa Beach Resort. (808) 886-8822. Fireworks at 8:30 p.m. More info here.

• Hilo 4th of July Fireworks. Show starts at 8 p.m. from nearby Moku Ola (Coconut Island). You can view the fireworks from the bayfront in Hilo town. (808) 935-0555

• Kailua-Kona Independence Day Parade and Fireworks. The parade begins at 5:30 p.m., from Kekuaokalani Gymnasium to the Coconut Grove Marketplace. The fireworks display over Kailua Bay begins at 8:30 p.m. (808) 345-2108. More info here.


Kauai

20th Annual Kauai Hospice Concert in the Sky. Vidinha Soccer Field, Lihue. Fireworks begin at 8:30 p.m. (808) 245-7277. More info here. (Charge to watch from inside the soccer field.)

July 4th Fireworks and Celebration. Faye Ballpark, Kekaha. Fireworks start at 9 p.m. (808) 346-2342. More info here.


Maui

4th of July Fireworks in Lahaina. Lahaina Harbor and Lahaina Town. Fireworks begin at 8 p.m. (888) 310-1117 or (808) 667-9194. More info here.


Finally, while we're on the subject of "Boom Boom Pow": Pyrotechnics are scheduled to follow a concert by the Black Eyed Peas at Marine Corps Base Hawaii's BayFest on July 4. But you'll have to pay to get your fireworks and Fergie.



 

A major collapse at Kilauea volcano’s Halemaumau crater summit vent this week has dimmed the luminous evening glow that had attracted thousands of visitors to the site in recent weeks.

Geologists at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory report that a 1:38 p.m., Tuesday collapse of the vent wall—and a series of smaller collapses in the hours that followed—have choked the Halemaumau crater vent with a significant amount of debris.

The first collapse produced a seismic event equal to a magnitude-2.4 earthquake, shaking the ground at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park’s Thomas A. Jaggar Museum overlook, adjacent to HVO. The collapse also produced what geologists described as “a loud booming sound heard across the (Kilauea) caldera area.”

An hour after Tuesday’s collapse, a portion of the Halemaumau crater floor collapsed into the vent, enlarging the vent rim. By nightfall, the familiar evening glow from the Halemaumau vent was gone.

Late Wednesday afternoon, geologists reported "sporadic gas jetting noises" from the vent. A United States Geological Survey Webcam on the rim of Halemaumau showed a weak glow emanating from the vent last night.

The often voluminous steam and ash plume that has been rising from the vent since March 2008 was described by geologists as smaller and wispier than usual today.

Just last month, Hawaiian Volcano Observatory geologists characterized evening incandescence from the Halemaumau vent as the most luminous they’d seen in months. The increased glow—which boosted evening visitors to the park in recent weeks—was primarily due to a slight dissipation of the plume and shallower than normal depth of lava activity below the crater surface.

The Jaggar museum overlook remains open for visitors 24 hours daily.

HawaiiMagazine.com has reported regularly on lava activity at Kilauea volcano and Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. Click here to catch up with all of our Volcano News posts. Click here to follow our updates on Twitter, and here to follow our updates on Facebook.

  

We were mixing mai tais … in the morning … on TV!

And here are the videos to prove it.

As promised, we’ve got the links for Sunrise on KGMB9’s segments spotlighting our July/August fresh tropical cocktail feature Contemporary Tropicals: A Guide to the Best in Island Libations.

The video segments—which aired today on the top-rated Honolulu morning show—feature HAWAII Magazine editor John Heckathorn, Royal Hawaiian Hotel master mixologist Joey Gottesman and KGMB9 reporter Ramsay Wharton chatting about fresh cocktails and our favorite Hawaii-based national magazine.

To view all three video segments, click the screen shot below.

Then click here to learn how to make Joey’s Naturally Spiced Margarita, and here for his recipe for a strawberry martini alternative, The Shanghai Diva.

We’ll have two more Contemporary Tropical cocktail recipes exclusively here on HawaiiMagazine.com in the days ahead.

Be sure to come back and have a cocktail with us!

 
 

Our July/August tropical cocktail feature has gone multimedia.

Yep, we’re on TV!

Contemporary Tropicals: A Guide to the Best in Island Libations will be a featured segment on top-rated Honolulu morning show Sunrise On KGMB9, Wednesday, at 7:50 a.m.

Wake up and watch as HAWAII Magazine editor John Heckthorn, Royal Hawaiian Hotel master mixologist Joey Gottesman and KGMB reporter Ramsay Wharton mix up some cocktails at the Mai Tai Bar on Waikiki Beach. The segment was taped this morning under clear blue skies and warm sunlight, with the trio gamely imbibing Ramos Gin Fizzes and Beach House Coolers while talking fresh cocktails and HAWAII Magazine.

Hands down, Dr. Joey is our favorite Hawaii mixologist. Watch him in action, behind the bar with us, on Sunrise On KGMB9 on Wednesday.

We had a fun morning at the Royal. Hope it shows.

If you miss our Contemporary Tropicals segment on KGMB TV (or you live on the Mainland), we’ll be posting links to videos right here on HawaiiMagazine.com as soon as they become available.

We published eight of Joey’s tropical cocktail recipes—complete with colorful photos by staff photographer David Croxford—in the July/August issue of HAWAII Magazine, now available on newsstands nationwide. Another four recipes are being posted here, and only here on HawaiiMagazine.com. Here’s the second.

Hopefully, you’ve already mixed up Joey’s recipe for a Naturally Spiced Margarita. Now, enjoy this exclusive HawaiiMagazine.com recipe for a fresh strawberry-infused martini that’s just the right balance of sweet and tart.


Joey Gottesman crafted this drink to placate customers at Honolulu’s E&O Trading Co. who repeatedly asked for a strawberry martini. “Every recipe I’d seen was always artificially flavored,” says Gottesman. “Why would I want to do that? Why not just use fresh strawberry?” This Diva charms with an incredibly balanced taste—a bright, natural berry sweetness—that’s light on the palate. Sugar can be added or subtracted depending on the sweetness of the strawberry.

Muddle these ingredients in the mixing glass of a Boston shaker:

1 oz. strawberry vodka
1 whole fresh strawberry
1 oz. cranberry juice
1 level tsp. sugar (if fresh strawberry is tart, you may add more to taste)

Top mixing glass with ice and bruise in Boston shaker. Strain cocktail into a martini glass. Garnish with a fresh mint leaf.
 
 

Last month, we reported that the original plans to renovate Waikiki’s International Market Place had been put on hold and the property would be staying the same, for now.

That was true as far as it went. However, we have since learned that the landowner, Queen Emma Land Co., has requested new proposals from developers—not just for the Market Place, but for a 6.48 acre parcel which also includes the Waikiki Town Center (the three stories of shops on the Kuhio Avenue end of the Market Place), plus Perry’s Smorgy and the Food Pantry on Kuhio.  

Developers can, at their option, also include the adjacent 352-room Miramar Hotel.

Five developers have submitted proposals for redeveloping this major property, located in the heart of Waikiki. None of them were required to preserve either the name or the current look of the International Market Place.

“We have a long way to go before we have a final plan,” says Les Goya, vice president of Queen Emma Land. "We're reviewing proposals now."

Goya notes that community feeling is divided.  “Some people think we shouldn’t change the Market Place at all, there isn't anything else like it.  Many other people think that it's about time we did something.” He takes the latter view.  “Those wood frame buildings have seen better days.”

Goya hopes to have a decision on a development plan by the end of this summer. After that, the necessary community meetings and permitting process may take a year or two.

Our previous post attracted 27 reader comments—almost all unanimously passionate about leaving the Market Place alone.

However, for those who commented on greedy developers, it’s worth noting that the landowner, Queen Emma Land Co., is a non-profit. Its mission is to take care of the land bequeathed to the Queen’s Health Systems by King Kamehameha IV and Queen Emma. All income goes to providing health care, education and charitable services, principally at Queen’s Medical Center in downtown Honolulu. 

 

As always, the July/August issue of HAWAII Magazine is all over the subject of Island food and cocktails.

In the feature Can’t You Just Taste Hawaii? award-winning chef and restaurateur Peter Merriman takes us on a road trip visiting the Maui farmers, ranchers and fishermen he buys from exclusively, proving that fresh, Island-raised ingredients always taste better. Tropical cocktails with a fresh, modern twist are the subject of Contemporary Tropicals: A Guide to the Best in Island Libations—Royal Hawaiian Hotel master mixologist Joey Gottesman shares eight of his best tropical cocktail recipes with HAWAII readers.

When did we actually eat anything?

When editor John Heckathorn compiled Discovering Hawaii Through Food—an island-hopping travelogue uncovering many of the small places and food sources that only Hawaii residents know about.

You’ll find the complete collection of these local favorites that John found on Oahu, Maui, Kauai and the Big Island of Hawaii in our Taste of the Islands annual food and drink issue, on newsstands nationwide now. But in the sharing spirit of the feature, we thought we’d offer a favorite from each island here—you know, just to whet your appetite for more.

Dig in!


Oahu

Diamond Head Market & Grill
Just outside Waikiki, you’ll find Oahu’s best plate lunches and other local delights, like teriyaki burgers, all at reasonable prices. Want something healthier? How about a grilled fish salad with fresh mesclun greens? Absolutely the best meal on Oahu you order at a window and eat at a table in nearby Kapiolani Park.
3158 Monsarrat Ave., (808) 732-0077


Kauai

Pono Market
Kauai takes poke seriously. Everyone has his or her own favorite poke stop, but ours is Pono Market in Kapaa, where the ahi shoyu poke is some of the best we’ve tasted. That’s not all, of course. You can get sushi here. The plate lunch menu changes daily, but there’s always great Hawaiian food. It’s not a restaurant, though. Mainly a place to pick up and go.
4-1300 Kuhio Highway, Kapaa, (808) 822-4581


Maui

Pukalani Superette
This bustling local grocery store not only sells fresh Maui meats and produce, but also has a kitchen with 16 employees, turning out a dizzying array of local foods, from kim chee to poke, from chow fun noodles to bacon and egg musubi. A nice place to stock up for a picnic Upcountry.
15 Makawao Ave., Pukalani, (808) 572-7616


Big Island of Hawaii

Hawaiian Style Café
This 47-seat eatery in Waimea has the best loco moco in the Islands. The “small” loco comes with a full pound of Big Island forage-fed ground beef, with a heaping portion of grilled onions, a fried egg and gravy. If you can finish a large order—two pounds of ground beef—you get two free 10-inch pancakes. (Is that a reward or punishment?) Go early because they close when they run out of food. In fact, call first, because they close whenever they feel like it.
64-1290 Kawaihae Road, Waimea, (808) 885-4295

 

A couple of months ago, a friend who was spending a weekend on Kauai challenged me to come up with a quick list of the five things I would do on the island if I had only one day there.

That list focused on the east and north shores of the island. My friend had no complaints—and neither did any HawaiiMagazine.com readers. In fact, you asked for more Hawaii "five-things-to-do-in-a-day" features.

So here's a list for the south and west shores of Kauai.

Like last time … assuming I had an early flight in to Lihue Airport, a rental car and a late flight out, here’s what I’d do, in the order I’d do them:


1.    Koloa Town for breakfast and exploring
Head south out of Lihue to the monkeypod-shaded main street of this picturesque former sugar plantation town. Much of the old storefronts are still intact, though now occupied by small restaurant and snack shops, galleries, gift and clothing retailers and general stores. Visit Koloa History Center for a look at the town’s plantation past, then drive along the Poipu resort area coast, stopping at the Spouting Horn blowhole.

2.    Hanapepe and Waimea Canyon
Back on Kaumualii Highway, head south to Hanapepe, another quaint former sugar plantation town. The main street of this still vital residential community has become an enclave for artists, gallery owners and a new wave of small businesses. After some brief exploring, pick-up a take-out lunch and drive to Waimea town. We’ll stop back here later, but for now, take a right onto Waimea Canyon Drive, stopping at the many lookouts clinging to the edge of “The Grand Canyon of the Pacific.”
     
3.    Kokee State Park
The best thing about a trip up Waimea Canyon Drive is the opportunity to view two of Kauai’s most amazing natural wonders on one scenic drive: the canyon and Kokee State Park. After the lookouts of 10 mile-long and 3,000 feet-deep Waimea Canyon, continue driving upslope to cool and lush Kokee State Park. Native plant and birdlife fill the rain-kissed forests of this windy 4,345 acre plateau. You won’t be able to take in any of the park’s almost two-dozen trails on this Kauai day trip. But be sure to drive to the end of the road to the lookout for breathtaking Kalalau Valley on the famed Napali Coast.

4.    Waimea Town and a stroll on the west shore beaches
Spend the remainder of your afternoon exploring another one of our favorite west-side Kauai towns or sink your toes in the sand of the region's lengthy stretches of beach. Waimea is a bit more bustling than Hanapepe, with retail aimed more at serving its larger resident population. Grab a Tropical Rainbow shave ice (mango, lilikoi and guava syrups with macadamia nut ice cream) at Jo Jo’s and walk the swinging bridge of Menehune Ditch. Or walk the miles-long white sand stretches of Kekaha Beach Park or end-of-the-higway Polihale State Park.

5.    Dinner at Brick Oven Pizza
On the way back to Lihue Airport, stop by this landmark Kalaheo Town pizzeria whose pies are famous statewide. Brick Oven has been a favorite of residents and visitors for a quarter-century. Baked, you guessed it, in an old brick hearth, Brick Oven’s homemade dough is brushed with garlic butter, and given a base of tangy, slow-cooked house-made sauce. One of our favorite toppings is Brick Oven’s fresh-made Italian sausage. Otherwise, any topping on the menu will do on this pizza.Take out if you have to. But if you’ve got some time, have a seat and have your pie piping hot.

(Want a closer look at Waimea Canyon and the towns of Hanapepe and Waimea? Click here for a slideshow of west side Kauai photos from HAWAII Magazine's September/October 2008 photo essay "Hidden Hawaii: On the Way to Waimea Canyon.")

  

The luau version of the annual White House Congressional picnic was totally on tonight.

We paid careful attention this afternoon as White House pool reporters on the South Lawn early in the evening gabbed and tweeted excitedly about the picnic’s Hawaii accoutrements—both kitschy and true to luau form:

• The purple orchid lei worn by President Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, daughters Sasha and Malia, and even Vice President Joe Biden.

•  The mixed luau/backyard barbecue menu of lomi salmon, BBQ baby back ribs, tilapia tempura rolls, wasabi potato salad, crispy chicken hoagies, shrimp and clams, and grilled lamb chops crafted by Hawaii chef Alan Wong. (Yes, there was kalua pig, but not from a South Lawn imu. The National Trust for Historic Preservation would’ve had a cow if anyone took a shovel or backhoe to the lawn.)

• Sasha and Michelle Obama’s colorful aloha wear. Torches on the lawn, paper lanterns and paper flower lei.

• Hula and live music from Hawaii’s own Tihati Productions, complete with Pres. Obama-requested Samoan fire-knife dancers. Hula lessons were also being given.

Good stuff all.

Then we heard about the evening’s piped-in tunes: A DJ spinning "Beach Boys, Elvis Presley and Hawaiian music.” Our minds raced.

With the decidedly un-Hawaiian Beach Boys, we can only pray the DJ didn’t throw on “Kokomo.” Elvis? We get a kitschy kick every time we hear Presley’s “Rock-A-Hula Baby” or “Blue Hawaii,” but the King’s oeuvre isn’t really luau music. And we can only guess at what kind of Hawaiian music playlist even an expert all-purpose D.C. DJ would come up with.

So, yes, we realize our advice here is arriving a bit too late for the Obama’s luau. But we thought you might be able to use the below list of 6 Great Hawaiian Luau Albums (compiled by HAWAII Magazine editor John Heckathorn) at your summer Hawaiian-style luau.

You know, before you reach for the Beach Boys and Elvis.

• Makaha Sons – Makaha Bash 3
Recorded live at the Waikiki Shell, this 1991 album features Israel Kamakawiwoole, still with his original group. It’s Iz at his finest and funniest. We defy you to listen to this and not be in a great mood.

• Genoa Keawe – Party Hulas
This is the classic Hawaii luau album, guaranteed to make all the aunties get up and dance. It’s generally thought to be Genoa Keawe’s finest work.

• Brothers Cazimero – The Best of the Brothers Cazimero, Vol. 1
Almost any of the two dozen Cazimero albums wrap us in warm Island breezes, but this is still our favorite, with the original rendition of “Home In The Islands.”

• Don Ho – The Don Ho Show!
Hawaii’s master of good times will add to yours. This is the most uptempo—and generally up—of all his albums.

• Martin Denny – Exotica
Long-time Hawaii resident Martin Denny came up with this exotic sound while playing the lounge at the then Kaiser Hawaiian Village. It still says luau after all these years.

• Barefoot Natives – Barefoot Natives
This Hawaii supergroup includes Eric Gilliom, brother of Amy Hanaialii Gilliom, and the incomparable Willie K. These Maui musicians whip up a good time like nobody else working today.
  

In the new July/August 2009 issue of HAWAII Magazine, we’re bringing you some cocktails.

Actually, a whole collection of tasty, summer-ready cocktails we’ve titled Contemporary Tropicals: A Guide to the Best in Island Libations.

Knowing we wanted a collection of tropical cocktails with a fresh, modern twist, we sought the services of Hawaii master mixologist Joey Gottesman.

Joey knows his cocktails. First as a noted Honolulu bartender, then as an in-demand Hawai‘i consultant, he’s crafted cocktails and bar menus for some of Islands’ finest resorts, restaurants and watering holes. Recently hired to oversee beverage operations at the newly renovated Royal Hawaiian Hotel in Waikiki, Gottesman has dreamed up an entire menu of tropical delights—made with fresh, natural ingredients instead of packaged or bottled mixes—which you can make at home.

You’ll find eight of Joey’s tropical cocktail recipes—complete with brilliant photos of each cocktail by staff photographer David Croxford—in HAWAII Magazine’s Contemporary Tropicals feature, on newsstands nationwide now.

Here on HawaiiMagazine.com, we’ll be running four additional recipes from Joey in the weeks ahead.

Here’s the first—a piquant antidote to the standard blended-to-death margarita. Enjoy!


This unblended margarita has a hint of fresh ginger and a slight bite from tequila and fresh chiles. Says Gottesman, “Blending is fun. But from a cocktail perspective, it doesn’t make for a well-balanced drink. It hides flavor to the point where cocktails taste like virgin drinks. So people add more alcohol than needed.” Another twist to this margarita? No lime. It’s mellower to use lemon.
 
Muddle these ingredients in the mixing glass of a Boston shaker:

1 Tbsp. white granulated sugar
1- to 2-inch by 1/8 inch-thick slice of fresh ginger
1- or 2 1/8-inch-thick rings of fresh jalapeno or Fresno chile

Top the mixer glass off with ice cubes and add:

1 ½ oz. reposado tequila (“reposado”—or “rested”—tequila is aged from two to 11 months)
½ oz. triple sec
Juice from 1 ½ lemon (freshly squeezed)
1 to 2 oz. water

Bruise contents in the Boston shaker, and strain into a margarita glass using a Hawthorne strainer.

A word about the fresh ginger:

Fresh ginger—especially fresh ginger from Hawai‘i—offers a whole different taste sensation than dried. It’s well worth seeking out, since most of Hawai‘i’s ginger crop is exported to the Mainland.

  

Save those Chicago-style hot dogs for the next South Lawn picnic. The leader of the free world wants his Hawaii grinds.

In a nod to his first home state, President Barack Obama will host the first-ever Hawaii-style luau on the White House lawn, complete with real Island cuisine, hula and music. The Thursday luau is pretty much all the Hawaii-born-and-raised president's idea—his revamping, of sorts, of the annual White House Congressional picnic for members of Congress and their families.

Award-winning Hawaii-based chef Alan Wong is crafting the luau’s menu of contemporary Hawaiian cuisine, making use of as much Island-grown produce as he can get to D.C. The chef’s Honolulu eatery, Alan Wong’s Restaurant, has been a favorite dinner choice of the Obama’s on recent visits to Oahu.

The South Lawn luau will also feature hula and music from Hawaii and the South Pacific by Honolulu-based entertainment company Tihati Productions. Daily newspaper The Honolulu Advertiser reported this morning that White House planners specifically requested Tihati add Samoan fire-knife dancers to the entertainment lineup. They’ll get six of ‘em—doing a fire-knife dance pyramid.

(Click the frame below for HAWAII Magazine video of Tihati Productions fire-knife dancers in action.)

The fire-knife dancers will join a troupe of about 20 musicians and dancers, picked from Tihati luau shows throughout Hawaii.

No word was immediately available on luau dinner menu specifics or any Oval Office requests for specific Hawaii grinds. But we did get our hands on Alan Wong's partial shopping list, which seemed well-stocked for feeding 2,200 hungry politicos and their kin.


Among the items on the shopping list:

• 160 lbs. of green onion, 240 lbs. of tomatoes, 170 lbs. round onion (we're guessing lomi salmon here)

• 650 lbs. of pork butt (kalua pig, anyone?)

• 20 gallons of shoyu

• 20 gallons of sake

• 4,400 Manila clams

• 21 lbs. of Chinese black beans

• 200 lbs. of tilapia

• 100 lbs. of sugar snap peas


And flying up to D.C. with Wong, from Hawaii:

• 70 lbs. of hearts of palm, from Wailea Agricultural Group, Big Island of Hawaii

• 35 lbs. of chevre (goat cheese) from Hawaii Island Goat Dairy, Honokaa, Big Island of Hawaii

• 216 lbs. of mushrooms (50% eryngi, 50% hon-shimeji), from Hamakua Mushrooms, Big Island of Hawaii

• 44 lbs. of chocolate, from Waialua Estate Chocolate, Oahu

• 3 gallons of ko choo jang sauce, from Park's Brand, Oahu

• 35 lbs. of white miso, from Maru-Hi, Oahu

• 84 lbs. of macadamia nuts

• 130 lbs. of salted salmon (now we're all but confirming lomi salmon)

• 60 lbs. of pipi kaula

• 4 lbs. of Hawaii-grown chili peppers


Goat cheese? Manila clams? Tilapia? Sounds like one serious luau, and then some.




 


Update, 3/25/2009: "A little luau with some great hula dancers and tiki torches and all that good stuff."—Michelle Obama


Watch CBS Videos Online 

It’ll be one long flight from the heart of the South, but at the end of it? A winter vacation in Hawaii.

US Airways is launching daily non-stop service from its Charlotte, N.C., hub to Honolulu beginning Dec. 17.

Reservations are being taken now for the nearly 8.5 hour Boeing 767 flight, US Airways’ first to Hawaii from North Carolina’s Charlotte/Douglas International Airport.

The daily flight will leave Charlotte at 9:45 a.m. (East Coast time) daily, arriving in Honolulu at 2:59 p.m. (Hawaii time). The return flight will depart Honolulu at 5:45 p.m. (Hawaii time) daily, arriving in Charlotte at 7:42 a.m. (East coast time).

The flight’s Charlotte departure time was scheduled to time well with morning connections from US Airways network of East Coast, Midwestern and Southern cities.

The 204-seat flight will be offered year-round. 

No introductory fares or fare deals were immediately announced for the flight. Fares vary, but we were able to find a round-trip as low as $878. We’ll keep you posted if any deals for the Charlotte-Honolulu route are announced.

US Airways currently operates flights to Oahu, Maui, Kauai and the Big Island out of Phoenix, AZ.
 
 

The lobby of the Four Seasons Maui looks like Rodeo Drive this weekend.  Tori Spelling was having breakfast by the pool with husband Dean McDermot, showing a remarkable amount of cleavage.  Eddie Murphy was shadowboxing his way along the beach path. Dax Shepard is in the jacuzzi with Kristen Bell. Everyone around the pool is reading Variety.

It’s the weekend of the Maui Film Festival—and the stars are out in more ways than one, because the festival’s main venue is the Celestial Cinema, a an immense screen set up outdoors on a driving range.  It’s movies under the balmy Maui skies.  Tonight’s main feature: “Paper Heart” with Michael Cera and Charlyne Yi.

But the Celestial Cinema is only one of the great venues.  The SandDance Theatre offers free movies right on the beach in front of the Four Seasons.  The other night 700 people saw the animated film Surf’s Up and watched the incredibly charming Zooey Deschanel win a rising star award.

Even the seminars have a great setting—under the shade of a half dozen banyan trees in front of the Wailea Marriot.

Movies aren’t all the fun.  Last night the Four Seasons hosted the “The Taste of Chocolate,” a party with chocolate sculptures, chocolate fountains, chocolate martinis and chocolate desserts of all descriptions.  Tonight is the Taste of Wailea, in which the restaurants of this glittering resort strip serve up gourmet goodies and the wine flows.

In fact, that’s where we’re off to right now.  More on the Maui Film Festival in an upcoming issue of HAWAII Magazine, but for now, you can watch the festival’s trailer by clicking below.
  

HAWAII Magazine reader Lenore Larbig of Sacramento, Calif., emailed us:

Can you tell me if Dog the Bounty Hunter is for real and has an office in Waikiki? I like to watch his show on A&E because it gives me glimpses of Oahu and sometimes the other islands. Dog's office looks, to me, that it is across the street from Waikiki Beach, next to the church. Dog and Beth’s home looks like it is in the Kahala area?

You ask, we answer.

Duane “Dog” Chapman is real, as are all of the busts you see on his A&E reality TV series Dog the Bounty Hunter.

The office of the Chapman family business, Da Kine Bail Bonds, is not in Waikiki, however. It’s at 1381 Queen Emma Street in downtown Honolulu. (Not far from HAWAII Magazine's offices, actually.)

The church you see next door is not St. Augustine in Waikiki. It’s St. Peter’s Episcopal. Across the street from Da Kine Bail Bonds is the lawn of Central Middle School.

We see fans taking pictures in front of Da Kine Bail Bonds all the time, but the establishment is not much to look at. There is a store selling Dog the Bounty Hunter merchandise just around the corner in the same building.

Dog and Beth Chapman live in the east Honolulu suburb of Hawaii Kai.

We often run into Dog and Beth at events around town, most recently at the opening of the new Wolfgang Steak House in the Royal Hawaiian Center in Waikiki.

I was at a table with Dog, Beth and their attorney Brook Hart.

Chapman excused himself to go outside for a cigarette. Since the table was open to the air, I suggested he could just smoke there: “If you get in trouble, Brook can defend you.”

“He can’t defend him from me,” said Beth.


 

You ask. We answer.

HAWAII Magazine reader Ron Jeffries writes:

Whenever I try to check the weather for some of my favorite Big Island locations—Hawi, Waimea, etc.—weather websites report the same conditions as Kailua-Kona. I doubt the nightly low in Kailua-Kona and Waimea are the same.

Is there another website where I can check Big Island weather?

Unfortunately Ron, even major websites, such as The Weather Channel and the National Weather Service, can’t provide in-depth coverage because of the limited number of weather tracking stations on the Big Island.

These websites procure their localized Hawaii weather information from areas that have government-funded weather equipment. On the Big Island, these sites are the airports in Hilo and Kona, and Bradshaw Army Airfield at the Pohakuloa Training Area, straddling the highland saddle between Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea mountains.

As a result, the websites just offer information on conditions at the nearest forecast site. Those wondering what the high temperature is in Laupahoehoe on the island's northeastern Hamakua Coast, for example, may see weather data for Hilo International Airport—some 30 miles south.

Weatherbug, an independent service that charts weather data through neighborhood schools statewide, has additional tracking stations in Hilo and Laupahoehoe on the Big Island's eastern side and Kailua-Kona on the west.

All you need to do is enter a city or zip code. Weatherbug’s seven-day forecasts offer high and low temperatures, and wind and rain data.

Oahu, Maui and Kauai are well represented by Weatherbug stations, making the site a useful tool for those needing weather reports for these islands The not-so-great news for Big Island weather watchers? The Big Island is currently only covered by the three Weatherbug stations mentioned above. Some areas—such as the Big Island’s southern end—go uncovered.

Hawaii television station KHNL has a Weatherbug-powered website with an animated map of the Islands.You can also download a Weatherbug widget for your computer, or a mobile version for your phone, here.

Weatherbug doesn’t list wind speed and humidity. For this we suggest the National Weather Service website, which gives a general—yet fairly accurate—reading of these conditions across the Islands. You can also find satellite and infrared photo loops of Hawaii weather at the NWS site.



 

Summer hasn't even begun, but a number of air carriers are already looking to capitalize on fall travel plans, offering reduced fares for the autumn months.

Continental Airlines is listing a $214 Los Angeles-Honolulu round-trip fare, tax included. Travel deal blog Airfare Watchdog first reported the rate and link to a search page on online travel agent Travelocity.

But like most good online airfare deals, scoring the deal will take some trial and error by the savvy traveler.

After playing around with the Travelocity page for some time, the earliest departure date we found was September 2. Needless to say, availability quickly fluctuates as seats are being snapped up fast.

If you have trouble finding the $214 rate, there are other Travelocity options for Oahu travel. Northwest and American Airlines have a $234 fall fare. And Delta’s roundtrip rates start at $236.80.

Considering the current average L.A.-Honolulu fare costs nearly $100 more one-way, shelling out an additional $20, we think, is small change.

All offers are good for travel until December 16, 2009.

 

At the Ritz-Carlton Kapalua, Jean-Michel Cousteau’s Ambassadors of the Environment program offers a number of adventures, all with an ecological point, including one we found irresistible: Underwater Photography.

The center supplies you with snorkeling gear, an underwater digital camera and something even more useful, knowledge of what you are going see, an orientation that emphasizes the interconnectedness of life in the ocean.

There’s an article on our experience in the July/August 2009 issue of HAWAII Magazine, but we thought you might like to see more of the photos. The aquatic life we found amid the crystal clear waters along the reef was astounding.

Here’s a slideshow of everything from red pencil urchins to snowflake eels.
 
Our mahalo to Linda Castro and the Ambassadors of the Environment for these photos.

Click on the slideshow image for a larger view:


 

Honolulu’s Hawaii Theatre recently signed a 10-year lease renewal with chef Glenn Chu’s Indigo Restaurant.  This is a big deal.  Why?

The two were prime movers in the restoration of Honolulu’s Chinatown and the creation of the Chinatown Arts District.

An nonprofit organization saved the 1922 Hawaii Theatre from demolition and painstakingly restored it to all its gilded glory.  

Called “The Pride of the Pacific” when it opened, the theatre was showplace for vaudeville, plays, musicals and silent films.  It reopened in 1996 as a 1,400-seat state-of-the-art performance space.  In 2005 it was named the Outstanding Historic Theatre in America by League of Historic American Theatres.

Chef Glenn Chu’s Indigo Restaurant was the first fine-dining restaurant to open in the area, turning a historic building owned by the theatre into a stylish, open-air, Asian-inspired space.  A popular afterhours spot, it’s also one of President Barack Obama’s favorite Honolulu restaurants.

Both the restaurant and theatre were forerunners in the contemporary Chinatown scene—which now bustles with galleries, nightspots, restaurants and performance spaces.

It took so long to renegotiate the lease, many in Honolulu were worried that Indigo would close or move.  But at a luncheon last week, it was announced that the lease had been renewed and the award-winning restaurant was already renovating.

Given the menu at the luncheon—Goat Cheese wontons, Ten Thousand Chili Chicken, Mongolian Grilled Lamb Chops, Chocolate Cloud with Summer Berries—we’re glad Indigo is staying.  And that Honolulu’s Chinatown continues to thrive.


 

Great video and photos of lava activity at Kilauea volcano’s Halemaumau crater just keep coming!

Geologists at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory this week shot some of the best footage yet of Halemaumau’s lava lake during one of its periodic draining cycles. The video arrives a week after HVO shared some of the clearest footage it had captured of lava activity within the Halemaumau crater vent.

The new video below—shot by HVO geologists on June 12—shows the lava lake slowly draining back down the Halemaumau vent’s funnel-shaped conduit. Shown in real time, the conduit drains in about 40 seconds in the video. Geologists say the action is part of regular cycles of filling and draining caused by the episodic release of accumulated gas in the vent.

Post-draining, the lava lake again fills the conduit, leveling off at about 670 feet below the crater floor vent opening. Geologists say they do not know if the lava lake within the vent will eventually surface or fountain within Halemaumau.

Meanwhile, Hawaii Volcanoes National Park’s Thomas A. Jaggar Museum is still extending its daily hours of operation to accommodate visitors flocking to the park to see the vent’s heightened evening luminescence.

Kilauea volcano area residents, volcano watchers and regular HawaiiMagazine.com contributors Stephen and Donna O’Meara captured the image above of the Halemaumau vent on June 5 from the Jaggar lookout, as a full moon rose over the crater. Our mahalo to the O’Meara’s for sharing another stunning Kilauea photo with us.

The Jaggar museum is open until 8 p.m.; its overlook is open 24 hours daily.

HawaiiMagazine.com has reported regularly on lava activity at Kilauea volcano and Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. Click here to catch up with all of our Volcano News posts. Click here to follow our updates on Twitter, and here to follow our updates on Facebook.


Click on the frame below for United States Geological Survey video of the Halemaumau lava lake draining:

 
 

As many of you will read in the new July/August 2009 issue of HAWAII Magazine, Jean-Charles Cuillandre is an astronomer at the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope-—one of the dozen observatories taking advantage of the cloudless skies above the 14,000-foot summit of Mauna Kea, on Hawaii’s Big Island.

Cuillandre helped build a 340-megapixel camera, allowing the observatory to capture some way-out images—way, way out, like galaxy clusters 500 million light years away.
 
But that wasn’t enough camera work for the French scientist. In his spare time, he took time-lapse photos of the observatories and landscape of Mauna Kea. Often he would spend eight hours taking photos—to get only 15 seconds of digital video.

But, as you'll see when you click on the frame below, what video! Cuillandre’s time-lapse images move. Clouds boil, stars arc through the sky. The observatories open, close and spin like so many R2D2s, blinking and shooting off lasers. All of it set to music from video game “Halo.”  When Microsoft, which owns the award-winning game soundtrack, saw Cuillandre’s spectacular footage, they said, sure, go ahead, use it.

After seven years of labor, Jean-Charles has compiled his video for a 43-minute film called Hawaiian Starlight, now on high-definition DVD. It’s enough to take your breath away.

Distributed free to schools, the DVD is also available to the public for $15 a copy—including free shipping—by clicking here. Proceeds go to the Canada-France-Hawaii Education Fund.

Time lapse photography by Jean-Charles Cuillandre. In the photo above, the stars above Mauna Kea trace their paths through the sky as the Canada-France-Hawaii telescope moves to stay focused on single images in space.

  

King Kamehameha Day was yesterday—June 11. It was a state holiday. Hawaiian royal societies held tradition-steeped ceremonies in the king's honor. Schools were closed. State workers had the day off. Street parking was free.

So why continue celebrating the holiday into the weekend? Well, we do love a good Saturday morning parade.

The annual King Kamehameha Celebration Floral Parade—with its flower-bedecked floats, high school marching bands, pa‘u riders, hula dancers, musicians and apropos dignitaries—always happens in Honolulu on the Saturday before or after the holiday. This year, it’s tomorrow. If you’re here on Oahu, trust us, this is the parade your brand new digital camera was made for.

This year’s 93rd annual parade starts in downtown Honolulu, proceeds down King Street, then onto Kapiolani Boulevard. The parade route takes a final turn onto Kalakaua Avenue, past Waikiki hotels and Kuhio Beach, before ending at Queen Kapiolani Park. Live entertainment and craft demonstrations begin and food and art booths open at the park at 9 a.m.

Over in downtown Honolulu, the floral parade begins at 9:30 a.m. The best spots to grab a curbside spot? On King Street, we'd opt for anywhere near Iolani Palace, the King Kamehameha I statue, Kawaihao Church or Honolulu Hale. In Waikiki, we like the stretch of Kalakaua Avenue fronting Kuhio Beach.

The Oahu King Kamehameha I statue, fronting Aliiolani Hale across from Iolani Palace, gets its annual lei draping for the parade today at 3:30 p.m. This is another Kamehameha Day tradition made for photos. Utilizing a cherry picker (or fire truck ladder) to raise them up to the great king’s visage, volunteers carefully drape lengthy strands of flower lei over the king's outstretched arms. When the lei crew are done a few hours later, the king appears as resplendent as you see in the photo above. Accompanying the lei draping today—live music by the Royal Hawaiian Band and hula performances.

There are King Kamehameha celebrations on the other islands as well. Click on the island names below for more information.

Maui (courtesy of The Maui News)

Kauai (courtesy of TheGardenIsland.com)

Kailua-Kona, Big Island of Hawaii (courtesy of Big Island Visitors Bureau)

Have a great weekend!
 
 

You ask. We answer.

HAWAII Magazine reader Wendy Pinkoske writes:

Is there still volcanic smog, or "vog," along the Kona-Kohala coast? When we last stayed in Keauhou the vog arrived around 11:00 a.m. and never left. Would another island be a better choice to visit right now?

The answer to your first question, Wendy, is "yes"—vog is still often present along the Big Island’s Kona-Kohala coast.  

"Vog" has been a familiar term to Big Islanders since 1983, when it was coined to describe the volcanic smog emanating from Kilauea volcano's east rift zone eruption, occasionally drifting 40 miles north to the town of Hilo. Vog is formed when sulfur dioxide—a colorless, noxious gas naturally produced by volcanoes—combines with oxygen, moisture and sunlight creating a murky haze.

Kilauea's east rift zone eruption continues to this day, producing vog that primarily drifts east out to sea. But for the last 15 months, a steam and ash plume pouring from a vent at Kilauea volcano summit’s Halemaumau crater further south has been spreading vog to the west side of the Big Island—and on rarer occasions, the rest of the state.

Where the vog ends up on any given day is up to nature. Once out of the Halemaumau vent and in the atmosphere, vog is at the mercy of the Hawaii’s prevailing southwest-traveling tradewinds, or lack thereof.

The tradewinds carry the vog south and around the southern end of the Big Island—indicated by the blue arrows in the graphic (right)—before lighter north-traveling winds blow it north. Blocked from prevailing tradewinds by the height and mass of Mauna Loa, the vog settles in the Keauhou and Kailua-Kona area and parts of the South Kohala coast beyond, casting a soupy bluish haze across the sky.

Conversely, when strong south-emanating Kona winds—marked in the graphic by the red arrows—interrupt Hawaii’s tradewinds, vog is blown further north toward Hilo and sometimes the rest of the Islands. Because Kona wind patterns occur only once every couple months, this scenario isn't common.

Vog pattterns and concentration are also affected by other factors such as air temperature, humidity and rainfall.

Now for the answer to your second question, Wendy. Our opinion is the unpredictable nature of vog shouldn't discourage anyone from vacationing on the Big Island. The presence of vog won’t affect the Big Island’s diversity of natural wonder and outdoor activities such as snorkeling, stargazing atop Mauna Kea and driving the island's many scenic roads. And where else in Hawaii can you explore an active, erupting volcano?

If you still insist on changing your vacation plans because of the vog, any of our other Hawaiian Islands would do. According to the Hawaii State Department of Health, the distance from Kilauea is too great for sulfur dioxide to travel across the ocean in significant amounts. The exception? When the temporary slowdown or disappearance of our prevailing tradewinds causes vog to slowly bloom outward beyond the Big Island to the rest of the state.

If you have health concerns, speak to a doctor before your vacation. Health-wise, the effects of vog vary from person to person. Hawaii Volcanoes National Park monitors current vog and sulfur dioxide conditions on the Big Island and posts the information online here.

Whichever island you ultimately choose, though, Wendy ... We're happy you're vacationing in Hawaii!


 

There were no multi-multi-category award winners at last night’s Na Hoku Hanohano Awards a la Hoku Zuttermeister's six Hoku in 2008 or Kealii Reichel's seven in 2004. No single artist walking out the doors of the Sheraton Waikiki’s Hawaii Ballroom with a handful of trophies.

But that’s what made victory all the more sweeter for the more than two dozen Hawaiian music artists and professionals who got to take home a Hoku—the Hawaiian music industry equivalent of a Grammy—at this year's 32nd annual awards ceremony.

Contemporary Hawaiian vocal group Pali (above) and its album …with Aloha walked away the evening’s biggest winner with three awards—album of the year, Island music album of the year and song of the year for the track “Island Days.”

Male vocalist of the year and best Hawaiian language performance honors went to Kaumakaiwa Kanakaole for his disc Kaumakaiwa—one of HAWAII Magazine’s picks for our Best 5 Hawaiian Music albums of 2008.

Another one of our best of 2008 picks, Amy Hanaialii’s Grammy-nominated Aumakua, grabbed a trophy for contemporary album of the year. But Hanaialii (below, right) was denied a fifth Hoku for female vocalist of the year by Natalalie Ai Kamauu, who won for her album I. The win was Kamauu’s second in the category.

Hanaialii’s 2009 Best Hawaiian Music Album Grammy-nominated peers Led Kaapana and Mike Kaawa won favorite entertainers of the year—Hoku’s sole award voted on by the public—for their slack-key guitar-infused Force of Nature album.

Traditional Hawaiian vocal group Holunape won group of the year honors and Hawaiian album of the year for its album Ahea? ‘Ano!

The bulk of Na Hoku Hanohano’s awards categories are voted on by members of the Hawaii Academy of Recording Arts, an organization of recording industry professionals, journalists and others with interest in Hawaiian music.

Here is a complete list of 32nd annual Na Hoku Hanohano Award winners:

Album of the Year
 …with Aloha - Pali

Favorite Entertainer of the Year
Led Kaapana and Mike Kaawa - Force of Nature

Female Vocalist of the Year
Natalie Ai Kamauu - I

Male Vocalist of the Year
Kaumakaiwa Kanakaole - Kaumakaiwa

Group of the Year
Holunape - Ahea? Ano!

Song of the Year (a composer award)
"Island Days" - written by Pali T.W. Kaaihue, from …with Aloha

Most Promising Artist of the Year
Kupaoa - Pili O Ke Ao

Rock Album of the Year
Many Classics, Kalapana Plays Their Best - Kalapana

Hip-Hop/R&B Album of the Year
Reborn - A Touch of Gold

Island Music Album of the Year
with Aloha - Pali

Contemporary Album of the Year
Aumakua - Amy Hanaialii

Reggae Album of the Year
Nothing To Hide - Rebel Souljahs

Hawaiian Album of the Year
Ahea? Ano! - Holunape (left)

Hawaiian Language Performance
Kaumakaiwa - Kaumakaiwa Kanakaole

Haku Mele (Best achievement in creating a new song or chant primarily in the Hawaiian language)
"Uluwehikalunaokaala" written by Joseph Badis and Kellen Paik, from Pili O Ke Ao

Jazz Album of the Year
Tropic Rhapsody - Teresa Bright

Religious Album of the Year
All For One - Del Beazley

Slack Key Album of the Year
Hawaii Island … Is My Home - John Keawe

Instrumental Album of the Year
Haleakala - Jeff Peterson and Riley Lee

Christmas Album of the Year
E Ola Ke Alii: The Na Kama Christmas Collection, Volume 1 - Na Kama

Music Video DVD of the Year
Kamehameha Schools 2008 Song Contest - Kamehameha Schools

Anthology Album of the Year
Unforgettable - Israel Kamakawiwoole and the Makaha Sons of Niihau

Compilation Album of the Year
Hawaiian Slack Key Kings Master Series Vol. II - Various Artists

Graphics
Stacey Leong Design for Aina, by Peter Apo

Liner Notes
Puakea Nogelmeier, Fred Krauss and Kealii Reichel for Kamalei: Kealii Reichel Collection—Two

Engineering
Milan Bertosa, DJ Pratt and Gaylord Holomalia for Many Classics: Kalapana Plays Their Best


  

Think four days of gastronomic and oenophilist nirvana, throw in an oceanside location at one of Maui’s premier luxury resorts and you’d still have to actually attend the Kapalua Wine & Food Festival to truly grasp its grand appeal for foodies.

The 28th annual edition of this pioneering and esteemed Hawaii food and drink festival happens this week from June 11 to 14 at its usual location—west Maui’s celebrated Ritz-Carlton Kapalua Resort.

If your love of food and wine extends beyond tasting to learning about both as well, the Kapalua Wine & Food festival is worth the price of admission. Daily events include culinary demonstrations and interactive wine and food tastings hosted by master sommeliers, renowned chefs and industry pros. Master Sommelier Fred Dame (below pic, pouring) has once again orchestrated the fest schedule. And the weekend is anchored by two of the most amazing grazing dinners you’re likely to experience: The Grand Tasting on Friday, and Seafood Festival on Sunday.

Can’t do the $800 per attendee four-day festival pass, which includes entry to most of the Kapalua Wine & Food Festival’s biggest events? Here’s what we’d selectively consider if we were going (each event running from $125-$145 per person; all included in the four-day fest pass):

The Grand Tasting
6-9 p.m., Friday
Take it from us, the name fits. A New Orleans French Quarter reminiscent “Carnival” theme on the Ritz-Carlton’s Beach House Lawn at sunset. A Creole-inspired menu crafted by the resort’s culinary team, matched with more than a hundred wines from around the world. Seafood Etouffee with red beans and rice. Crawfish and sherry bisque. Baked Gulf crab and cheese grits with crackling bread. Corn battered red fish and pickled okra salad. Uh-huh. Where do we sign up? Click here for the full menu.

Day After Alchemy
10:30 a.m.-noon, Sunday
If forced to choose between the fest's culinary exhibitions, we'd have to pass an “in the kitchen” luncheon with James Beard “Best Chef in America: Southwest” award-winner Robert McGrath, and DLTs (duck breast bacon, organic field greens, tomato marmalade, green garlic aioli on crisp brioche) at Chef Scott Giambastini’s “An Organic Experience” for this culinary exhibition. Why? Day After Alchemy is a sommelier competition with a goal of creating the best weekend hangover cure. Plus, who can resist a menu of breakfast fare that includes the sinisterly-named “huevos rancheros from hell?” Not us.

Walla Walla and Cheese
2-3:30 p.m., Sunday
A sampling of international cheeses from aficionado Kent Torrey of The Cheese Shop (Carmel and Santa Barbara, Calif.), paired with wines from the Washington/Oregon border’s Walla Walla Valley region. The appeal here? Torrey’s bringing some serious cheeses with him. Naturally, we follow where the cheese goes. Those seeking to keep their palates solely reserved for wine may want to stick to the tastings “Psycho Pinots” (1:30-3 p.m., Friday) and “Raising Reisling from the Dead” (2:30-4 p.m., Saturday).

Seafood Festival
6-9 p.m., Sunday
A food fest within the food fest showcasing seafood from Pacific and Island waters, and featuring 30 dishes from 15 of Maui’s most-lauded restaurants. Just graze from restaurant to restaurant, chef to chef. If you’re a seafood lover, we won’t waste words on you. Click here for the menu.

Click here for Kapalua Wine & Food Festival information, ticket prices and purchase, and Ritz-Carlton Kapalua accommodation packages. A schedule of events is here.

Bring an appetite. Save a trip to the gym for next week.
 
 

Planning to drive on your next Oahu visit?

You should know you that as of July 1, 2009, it will be illegal to use mobile electronic devices such as iPhones, BlackBerrys, digital cameras and iPods while behind the wheel of an automobile on Oahu.

The ban intends to reduce the number of traffic accidents linked to use of mobile devices. According to the Honolulu Police Department’s Web site, the act of “using” a mobile device under the new law simply means “holding it while operating a motor vehicle.” Hands-free devices are acceptable. You can still use an iPod or other portable music device in your car as long as you do not handle its interface while driving.

Unlike California and New York, which implemented statewide cell phone driving bans, the law here applies only to the island of Oahu. Once in effect, police officers won’t let anyone—residents and visitors alike—off the hook with a warning, said HPD officials.

The fine is $67 for a first offense. Subsequent infractions could cost as much as $500.

Click here for all the details you'll need to know about the upcoming ban.

There are some exceptions to the new rules. Drivers can legally make emergency phone calls to 911 and use walkie-talkie-like systems for work-related calls.

Police officers, however, won't know the difference between these calls and an illegal one. So ticketed drivers will have to show proof to a judge in court—either in the form of a cell phone bill or letter from an employer—confirming the call was legit.

Our best advice? Get yourself a Bluetooth headset before your Oahu vacation.



 

Geologists at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory this week released some of the clearest video footage yet captured of lava activity within Kilauea volcano’s Halemaumau crater vent.

Since opening in March 2008, the summit vent has sent out a thick plume of steam and ash into the skies over the Big Island of Hawaii volcano. Six months later, HVO geologists on a daily flyover of the vent captured this video of a lava lake roiling below the Halemaumau crater floor.

Similarly clear footage of lava activity within the vent has been scarce ever since.

But the new videos below—shot by HVO on June 3 and 4 as the plume recently assumed a less dense, slightly wispy character—offer some of the clearest, most measurable detail yet seen of the lava’s behavior within the vent. The footage shows molten lava emerging about 300 feet below the vent opening, the direction and speed of lava movement, and the character of that movement (waves, bursts, spattering, etc.).

Lava activity within the Halemaumau vent is not visible from the Kilauea caldera and Halemaumau crater overlook at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park’s Thomas A. Jaggar museum. But theres' still a great deal to see—especially at night. HVO geologists have characterized this week’s evening incandescence from the vent as the most luminous they’ve seen since last fall—mostly due to the slight dissipation of the plume and shallower than normal depth of lava activity below the crater surface.

If you’re on the Big Island and want to head over to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park in the evening, the Jaggar museum is keeping later hours for the time being. The museum is open until 8 p.m.; the overlook is open 24 hours daily.

HawaiiMagazine.com has reported regularly on lava activity at Kilauea volcano and Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. Click here to catch up with all of our Volcano News posts. Click here to follow our updates on Twitter, and here to follow our updates on Facebook.

Click on the frames below for United States Geological Survey video of June 3rd and 4th activity:
 






 

You ask. We answer.

HAWAII Magazine reader Walter Brown of San Francisco e-mailed us: 

How can I obtain the original Ernie Morgado recipe—not the bottled stuff— for authentic Huli-Huli Chicken? Can you send it to me?

First off, we'll just say that we understand Walter's desire for the recipe.

Huli-Huli Chicken is one of those great "only-in-Hawaii" foods. In 1955, Ernest Morgado of Pacific Poultry barbecued his version of teriyaki chicken for a farmers gathering.

The chicken was such a hit, it became a favorite Hawaii fundraiser, raising perhaps millions over the ensuing years for schools, softball teams and hula halau (hula groups).

The chicken was cooked between two grills. The grills had to be flipped over. And since huli is the Hawaiian word for turn, thus was born the name Huli-Huli Chicken.

Huli-Huli chicken all but disappeared after Morgado asserted his rights to the trademark, and started marketing a bottled sauce under that name. 

Of course, you can still buy Huli-Huli-style chicken in the Islands, practically anywhere you see billows of great-smelling smoke emanating from a large roadside grill. It won’t be called Huli-Huli Chicken. But that's pretty much what it is.

Morgado’s exact recipe is a trade secret. But here’s my personal recipe, which, if you ask me, is better.

This is a marinade recipe, so don’t be fussy about measuring. Jus’ do ‘em to taste.

The recipe is enough for about three chickens, split in half.  You can use chicken pieces if that’s what you have. Marinate your chicken for at least a half-hour.

                               1/3 cup ketchup
                               1/3 cup soy sauce
                               1/4 cup brown sugar
                               1/4 cup honey
                               1/4 cup sherry
                               1-2 Tbsp. sesame oil
                               1-2-more pieces ginger root, crushed
                               3 cloves garlic, crushed
                               Worchestershire sauce to taste
                               Sriracha or Asian chili paste (or red pepper flakes) to taste
                               Squeeze a lemon in if you've got one

Brush the chicken with the remaining marinade while cooking over a grill. And don't forget to huli the chicken.

Finally, feel free to invite us over.
 

 

So this guy walks into a bar with a bottle of beer in a bag.

The guy? Jack Joyce, one of the founders of Rogue Ales in Newport, Ore., who spends four months a year in Hawaii.

The bar? Colin Nishida’s Side Street Inn in Honolulu, which has been featured on Anthony Bourdain’s Travel Channel series No Reservations.

In the bag? “Jack told me, Try this beer,” recalls Nishida. “So I fumble it out of the bag, and the picture on the label looks familiar. Then I read the name, and I have to tell you it surprised the [expletive deleted] out of me.”

On the label, a picture of Nishida and the name, “Side Street Inn Ale.”

“A small batch beer like that isn’t really a commercial venture for Rogue,” says Joyce. “We just did it as a present to Colin. He’s a good guy, who does a lot for his community and doesn’t ask for a lot back.”

We first tried Side Street Inn Ale at Colin’s wedding reception last Saturday. His wife, Mel, handed me a glass full and said, "You have to try this."

Rogue's ales and lagers are almost as well known for their colorful names and bottle graphics as their flavor profiles. The microbrewery's Side Street Inn Ale was nice—malty on the front, nice hops, but not overpowering.

The real test, though, came yesterday at lunch. We split a bottle (we were in the office on a workday, after all) with an order of Side Street Inn’s legendary pork chops. We felt our pairing was a must. Jack Joyce had printed on the Side Street Inn Ale bottle: “Dedicated to Colin and his pork chops.” 

Our verdict: a perfect combo.

The next shipment of Side Street Inn Ale reaches Honolulu again next week. It's available only at Side Street Inn and a few select retailers.

“It’s been a big year for me,” says Nishida. “A new location.” (Another Side Street Inn is under construction on Kapahulu Ave., near Waikiki.) “A new wife, and now a new beer.”

You'll find the original Side Street Inn at 1225 Hopaka St., Honolulu; (808) 591-0253, (808) 596-8282.




 

You ask. We answer.

HAWAII Magazine reader Debbie Eppelheimer of Ontario, California writes:

My husband and I have traveled to Hawaii every year for several years now.  We have fallen in love with the Hawaiian culture and language. Do you know where we can find Hawaiian language classes in Southern California?

Unfortunately Debbie, finding some Hawaiian language classes in Southern California for you was tough going for us, too. If anyone reading this knows of any classroom-based Hawaiian language classes in the SoCal area, please leave a comment below or e-mail us the information.

That said, we did find another option for you, Debbie.

There are a couple of Hawaii-based groups offering online “distance learning” programs specializing in Hawaiian language and grammar.

Non-profit organization Aha Punana Leo offers online courses in conjunction with the University of Hawaii at Hilo’s Ka Haka Ula O Keelikolani College of Hawaiian Language. These were originally launched to introduce Hawaiian language courses at West Coast universities, but have evolved into a global online classroom. Students run the gamut from teenagers to kupuna (elders) worldwide.

The group is committed to keeping the Hawaiian language alive and thriving. “We want to spread the Hawaiian language to as many people as possible, in Hawaii and around the world,” says Alika McNicholl, an instructor with the program.

Beginner and intermediate-level classes run 14 weeks each. A separate advanced program is available, involving more intensive course work such as translating Hawaiian texts and recordings.

The online format allows students to work at a comfortable pace that works with their schedule. That’s not to say the program isn’t rigorous—students should expect to study an average of 10 to 15 hours a week, says McNicholl. Students work closely with instructors via email or Skype video conferencing.

Costs for the term start at $340. For more information, call (808) 935-4304, or click here.

Looking for a course less time-intensive? Kamehameha Schools offers a series of shorter online courses for the more casual learner. Courses run from three to four weeks and cost $25 each.

Kamehameha’s online courses are topic-specific, focusing on everything from Hawaiian naming traditions to family relationships and interactions. Televised lectures, e-mail, discussion boards and Web-conferencing bridge the gap between teacher and student.

For more information on Kamehameha’s courses, call (808) 842-8877, or click here.

(If you’re worried about whether your current computer is compatible with the online courses, click here for Aha Punana Leo’s system requirements. For Kamehameha’s requirements, click here.)



 

You’ve got 11 days.

That’s 264 hours to let us know if your favorite Hawaii restaurant is Hamura Saimin or Chef Mavro.

Or 15,840 minutes to tell us if your preferred Hawaii hotel is The Royal Hawaiian, Mauna Kea Beach Hotel or Aston Waikiki Beach Tower.

Or 950,400 seconds and counting to give us the lowdown on your favorite Hawaii snack: Spam musubi, poke or loco moco?

There are just 11 days left to enter a ballot in HAWAII Magazine’s annual Best of Hawaii poll.

We’re hoping you’ll share with us and other HAWAII reader what your Hawaii “favorites” are when you’re in the Islands. In addition to the ballot categories above, we’re asking for your favorite Hawaii towns, places to shop, outdoor and indoor attractions, musicians, spas and festivals.

Also … What advice would you give to someone planning a trip to Hawaii?

Ten entrants will be randomly selected to receive a gift pack of sauces and marinades, courtesy of Aloha Shoyu. We’ll feature the balloting results in the September/October 2009 issue of HAWAII Magazine.

There are two ways to enter.

Fill out an online ballot here. Or pick up a copy of the May/June 2009 issue of HAWAII Magazine for a mail-in ballot, which you’ll find on page 68. The issue is on newsstands nationwide now.

Can’t find a copy of HAWAII? Just click here to download a ballot, print it out and mail it in.

Whichever method you choose to get them to us, ballots must be postmarked or submitted online by June 12, 2009.

We’re getting some great “favorites” on the ballots. So keep ‘em coming.





 

There are only three ways to get to Kalaupapa—plane, mule or by hiking down Molokai’s sheer cliffs. While most travelers come to Kalaupapa through guided mule tours, we flew into Kalaupapa on a chartered plane. (Yes, Kalaupapa does have an airport, a tiny one).

We stayed in Kalaupapa for three days and two nights in the Visitors’ Quarters. (To stay overnight, visitors must be sponsored by a Kalaupapa resident.)

We toured St. Philomena Catholic Church and placed a lei on Father Damien de Veuster’s grave in Kalawao. We stood at the bottom of the Molokai’s towering sea cliffs and drove to the top of Kauhako Crater. Each experience was spiritual, life changing—unforgettable.

The September/October 2009 issue of HAWAII Magazine will feature a story about Father Damien—his life on Molokai, his dedication and devotion to Hawaii’s Hansen’s disease (leprosy) patients. We'll also write about the miracle that officially grants Father Damien sainthood this year on Oct. 11.

For now, we leave you with a brief glimpse of this remote, but beautiful region of Molokai. Watch the mail for your copy of HAWAII Magazine. There are more photos to come. (Click on the slideshow screen below for larger photos.)






 

Here's a deal for traveler’s seeking an affordable vacation on Oahu this summer, or a reasonably priced Waikiki escape right now.

Ohana Hotels & Resorts is offering seriously low room rates at four of its Waikiki properties all summer, and through the fall. Nightly rates start at $79 at Ohana’s Waikiki West, $89 at the Waikiki Malia, $97 at the Waikiki East and $119 at the Waikiki Beachcomber.

We’re not talking Waikiki beachfront properties here. But each Ohana property is conveniently enough located in Waikiki to offer a good home base for Oahu exploring. A number of free amenities are also included in the deal, such as wireless Internet, long-distance phone service, and transportation around Waikiki and to Ala Moana Center aboard the Waikiki Trolley.

Ohana’s offer is good for reservations made through December 21, 2009. For more information on the deal at each property, click here or call (866) 968-8744.



 


 

The photos you see here nearly wound up in a Honolulu landfill.

Along with 800 other turn-of-the-20th-century glass plate photos of the Kingdom of Hawaii taken by Bertram Gabriel Bellinghausen, they were marked for trash collectors by a Honolulu private school in 1964 before someone wisely saved them.

Bellinghausen was a young Marianist brother from Dayton, Ohio, who arrived in Honolulu in 1883 to work with the Catholic Mission. On his journeys throughout the Islands over the next 22 years, he combined a boundless interest in the cultures he saw with a passion for capturing it all with the emerging art of photography.

Brother Bertram’s photos from his Big Island of Hawaii travels are the subject of “Na Pa‘i Ki‘i ‘O Brother Bertram, Photographs of the Kingdom of Hawaii, 1883 to 1905” on display through October at Hilo town’s Lyman Museum. The collection offers a fascinating, rarely seen glimpse of the architecture, people and lifestyle of urban and rural Hawaii during the era.

Brother Bertram’s photos are historically important, as well—a one-of-a-kind record of a period when the merging of Hawaiian and Western cultures was accelerating.

“Many of these photos were not presented to the public in Hawaii until 2005,” says Lyman Museum executive director Dolly Strazer. “We are fascinated with Brother Bertram’s ability to capture nature, witness a family’s special moment or record a historic moment. Many of Brother Bertram’s photos are, simply put, magical.”

The rest of the Lyman Museum and Mission House are on their own worth a visit. The mission house—originally built in 1839 for New England missionaries David and Sarah Lyman—is the oldest intact frame building on the Big Island. Restored to give a sense of missionary life in the mid-1800s, the house—near downtown Hilo—is filled with the original furnishings and household items of the era. The neighboring Smithsonian-affiliated Lyman Museum features extensive collections and exhibitions touching on the natural history and culture of Hawaii.

Having taken many a school field trip to the museum and mission house as a kid growing up in Hilo, I can vouch that the Lyman Museum is a definite "must-see" on your next Hilo visit.

Entry for the entire museum (including the Bertram exhibit) is a very reasonable $10 for adults, and $3 for ages 6 to 17. Hours are 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday.

Click here for more information, or call (808) 935-5021.

 


 

These days the old Princeville Resort looks more like a construction site than a luxe-lodging establishment. The $40 million overhaul—which began last October—is part of the recent rebranding of the Kauai resort as the St. Regis Princeville Resort.

The St. Regis brand is a luxury offshoot of worldwide hotelier Starwood Hotels & Resorts, Princeville's management company.

The revamped resort will be the only St. Regis property in Hawaii. The developers are trying to integrate the elegance of the high-end luxury chain with the resort’s island surroundings. 

According to the resort’s Facebook page (yes, even luxury resorts have Facebook pages), the redesign is guided by the Hawaiian concept of ahupuaa—or what St. Regis is describing as "living in balance with nature." (The word ahupuaa actually describes a Hawaiian land division system that extended from the ocean to the mountain. The bounty of that land, however, often depended on living in balance with nature.) Consequently, the resort will incorporate natural island elements of sea, sky and earth.

The resort’s main lobby and common areas will feature native dark wood floors, ceilings of woven matting and large glass panels overlooking the ocean. The resort’s 252 guest rooms and its 51 suites will have contemporary Hawaiian décor, custom furnishings and large, electronically controlled glass reveals.

Four new restaurants will open, anchored by the first Jean-George Vongerichten restaurant in Hawaii. The eatery will place a strong emphasis on ingredients farmed or produced on Kauai. Vongerichten’s other restaurants include the well-received Perry St. and the Michelin-three star-recipient Jean-Georges in New York.

Among the other additions to the resort: several boutique shops and the 10,000-square foot Halele'a Spa offering a 24-hour fitness center and treatments that use indigenous fruit and flora.

To celebrate its debut, the resort is offering the Quintessential Princeville Experience. The deal includes your choice of complimentary activity for two with a five night minimum stay. Choose either two rounds of golf at the Prince Golf Course, an hour-long spa treatment at Halele’a Spa, an adventure package at Princeville Ranch or dinner at Makana Terrace restaurant.

The St. Regis Princeville Resort is set to debut September 19, with an official grand opening celebration scheduled for October 1.

Reservations are being taken for travel dates beginning at October 1. For more information, call (808) 826-9644 or click here.




 

The Maui Writers Conference is now the Hawaii Writers Conference, and it’s bringing in Norah Jones for a private concert.

Don’t worry. The annual week-long conference will still host its usual handful of New York Times bestselling authors, Academy Award-winning screenwriters and big time agents, editors and publishers, too. Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Jones will be on hand to headline the conference’s first Writers Block Party fundraiser on September 4, 2009, at the Sheraton Waikiki.

The Hawaii Writers Conference is anchoring all events—except for Ms. Jones’s concert—at the newly renovated and reopened Royal Hawaiian hotel, from Sept. 4 to 7. It also adopts the more fitting "Hawaii Writers Conference" as its new name, abandoning the oddball “Maui Writers Conference On the Road” moniker it took last year.

Launched in 1993 at the Ritz-Carlton Kapalua, the Maui Writers Conference took up residence at the Grand Wailea Resort & Spa and Wailea Marriott before moving to Oahu last year hoping to increase attendance. The move and name change appear permanent.

Self-billed as the world’s largest writer’s conference—with more than 1,000 attendees annually—the event’s biggest draw for aspiring authors and screenwriters has generally been the opportunity to meet and consult with some of the industry’s biggest names.

Well-known authors and screenwriters, agents, editors and publishers often present the conference’s schedule of writer workshops, panel presentations and keynote lectures. Past guest presenters at the conference have included Carl Bernstein, Frank McCourt, Ron Howard, Carrie Fisher and Aaron Sorkin.

This year’s list of presenters looks promising, as well: Mitch Albom (author, Tuesdays with Morrie), Gregory Maguire (author, Wicked), Jaquelyn Mitchard (author, The Deep End of the Ocean), Diana Ossana (screenwriter, Brokeback Mountain), Michael Arndt (screenwriter, Little Miss Sunshine), to name a few.

Proceeds raised from the Writers Block Party with Norah Jones will benefit the Hawaii Writers Foundation, which is the HWC's founding organization, and its young writers scholarship program. The party's dinner menu will be designed and guided by Hawaii chef, restaurateur and best-selling cookbook writer Roy Yamaguchi.

For a full list of Hawaii Writers Conference presenters, scheduled events, registration and more information on the Writers Block Party with Norah Jones, click here.





 

For the second year in a row, two Hawaii beaches made Dr. Steven P. Leatherman’s—a.k.a. Dr. Beach’s—list of America’s Best Beaches. And one of them is no. 1: Hanalei Beach on the north shore of Kauai, which moves up from no. 2 last year.

Hamoa Beach, on Maui’s lush and remote east side near Hana, moves up to no. 5; it was no. 7 in 2008.

Good national publicity for Hawaii and two of its best beaches? Yes.

Another list in a collection of increasingly flawed Dr. Beach rankings? Oh, yes.

Here's why we're not completely buying the doc's diagnosis:

Dig deep into Dr. Beach's research methodology and you'll find that once a beach claims the list's no. 1 spot, it is excluded from all future lists. With Hanalei Beach now at the top, Hawaii has taken the no. 1 spot on Dr. Beach’s list 12 times in the list’s 18-year-history:

• 2006: Fleming Beach Park (Maui)
• 2004: Hanauma Bay (Oahu)
• 2003: Kaanapali Beach (Maui)
• 2001: Poipu Beach Park (Kauai)
• 2000: Mauna Kea Beach (Big Island)
• 1999 Wailea Beach (Maui)
• 1998 Kailua Beach Park (Oahu)
• 1997 Hulopoe, Hawaii (Lanai)
• 1996 Lanikai Beach (Oahu)
• 1993 Hapuna (Big Island)
• 1991 Kapalua Bay Beach (Maui)

All are fine Hawaii beaches worthy of the top spot.

But because they made the top spot, each is now ineligible for inclusion on future Dr. Beach lists.

The result of these exclusions, of course, is an annual America's Best Beaches list that grows more irrelevant and inaccurate with each passing year.

Hanalei and Hamoa were the only two Hawaii beaches included on Dr. Beach’s Top 10 list last year, as well. Does that mean the doc’s running out of Hawaii beaches eligible for the list? Will Hamoa be the only Hawaii beach on the 2010 list?

We’re happy Hanalei was recognized as one of the best beaches in the U.S.—its two-mile crescent of white sand cradling Hanalei Bay is truly one of the most beautiful in the state.

Still, we think the tide is quickly going out on Dr. Beach’s America’s Best Beaches list. What's your opinion?




 

Monday evening marks the return of the annual Lantern Floating Hawaii ceremony—one of Hawaii’s most visually breathtaking and poignant events.

We attended last year’s event, at Honolulu's Ala Moana Beach Park—along with 40,000 Hawaii residents and visitors. As you can see below in a slideshow of photos we took, the sunset ceremony is a sight to behold.

Lantern Floating Hawaii is based on Toro Nagashi—a Japanese ceremony started by the Shinnyo-en Buddhist order in 1952, and traditionally held in July and August to mark the end of Obon festival season. Translated literally, the words toro nagashi mean "lantern offerings on water." 

Hawaii’s Shinnyo-en order holds its ceremony annually on Memorial Day to honor lives lost in war, and to remember departed loved ones. There are prayers for a future filled with peace and harmony.

Participants write the names of the deceased and messages of comfort on paper lanterns, which are then set adrift onto the open ocean. This year more than 2,000 candle-lit lanterns will be released from Ala Moana Beach.

A limited number of lanterns will be available to the public beginning at 1 p.m. Monday. Go early, as the lanterns usually run out fast. But attend even if you are not launching a lantern.

While the ceremony is Buddhist in origin, Hawaii’s version reflects the Islands’ diverse collection of faiths and backgrounds. Previous ceremonies have featured everything from Hawaiian chant and hula to Japanese Taiko drumming. This year’s 10th anniversary lineup includes diverse mix of acts including members of the Honolulu Symphony, R&B singer Christina Souza, Halau Hula Olana and German trumpeter Matthias Höfs.

Free parking is available at the Hawai‘i Convention Center beginning at 9 a.m. with free roundtrip shuttle and handicap bus service beginning at 4 p.m. The ceremony begins at 6:30 p.m., is free and is open to the public.

For more information on Lantern Floating Hawaii, click here.

Can’t make it Monday evening? Local television station KGMB9 will be streaming the ceremony live on the Web here.





 

London. Paris. San Francisco. Florence. Austin. The Big Island of Hawaii.

The latest episode of Travel Channel’s Samantha Brown’s Great Weekends—airing Saturday at 10 p.m. (Eastern and Pacific), 7 p.m. (Hawaii)—is showcasing as much of the Big Island of Hawaii's charms as its über-cheerful, ever-game host could squeeze into one hour of television, and three days of traveling last fall.

Among Brown’s adventures on my former home island: a helicopter tour of Kilauea Volcano's eruptive activity, a visit to a green sea turtle nursery at South Kohala’s Mauna Lani Resort, a beachside luau at the Kona Village Resort, hula and lei making lessons at the Sheraton Keauhou, a trip to the summit of Mauna Kea with Hawaii Forest & Trail, and some java bean harvesting at the Kona Coffee Cultural Festival.

Not quite the gripping drama that accompanied last year’s Maui-filmed Jon & Kate Plus 8 wedding vow renewal show, perhaps. But a lot more Hawaii scenery getting screen time, for sure. And Brown's bound to be smiling a lot more than Jon was.

One small gripe about Brown's itinerary: A good chunk of the east and north sides of the Big Island (Hilo, Hamakua Coast, Waimea, etc.) seems to have been left out of her schedule. I get it. She only had a weekend, and her destination isn't called the BIG Island for nothing. But still.

Frankly, I was surprised it took two seasons for Brown to bring her Great Weekends crew to the Islands. The self-described “travel goddess” was awarded her first taste of Travel Channel-style fame hosting the network’s 2000-2001 series Girl Meets Hawaii, where she essentially traveled the Islands looking for cool stuff to do—even hanging with the late Don Ho.

She’s still doing the same kind of stuff for Great Weekends that the staff of HAWAII typically does before breakfast. Only with a camera crew, and millions of Travel Channel viewers in tow.

Yeah. I'm jealous. Perhaps she’ll give us a call the next time she's here.






 

You ask. We answer.

HAWAII Magazine reader Patricia Renze from New York, NY, writes:

What’s the status of the International Market Place renovations in Waikiki? I have spent many a happy day walking around and talking with all of the vendors. I hope the project has been shelved, as I love the Market Place just the way it is.

Well, Patricia, you’ll be happy to know that Waikiki’s International Market Place is staying the same. For now at least.

A $150 million overhaul of the 4.5 acre banyan-tree-shaded property in the heart of Waikiki has been postponed indefinitely, say Market Place officials. Development plans will be revisited sometime after 2010, but there’s no certainty of what will become of the open-air bazaar.

The planned redevelopment of the property has sparked protest from residents and visitors. A revitalized market place would come at the expense of the dozens of small retail booths that sell all manner of mostly foreign-made Hawaii tchotchkes—from plastic tiki statues and discount aloha wear to writhing hula girl lamps and wood carvings.

The International Market Place has been a Waikiki attraction for decades. Restaurateur Donn Beach—owner of the now long-gone Don the Beachcomber restaurant chain—once famously perched his office in the sturdy branches of the market place's massive banyan tree.

Since the International Market Place's 1957 opening, there have been no major renovations to the property. The newest building on the property was erected in 1970. But property developers have coveted the shopping district’s central Waikiki location for almost as many years as the Market Place has been open.
 
Landowner Queen Emma Foundation’s latest plan for site—originally slated for a 2005 start—called for razing most of Market Place’s familiar tropical facade, making way for more upscale shops and restaurants, a storytelling center and an entertainment pavilion. Construction delays and the souring economy have stalled the project.

We’ll keep you posted on what happens next here on HawaiiMagazine.com.


  

The June-July issue of Food Network Magazine recently hailed the loco moco at Hukilau Cafe in Laie, Oahu, as the best in Hawaii.

Not the best loco moco, as one might rightly expect. But the best burger in Hawaii.

“A loco moco is Hawaii’s take on a burger,” writes Food Network Magazine of the Hawaii comfort food favorite in its feature "50 States, 50 Burgers," honoring burgers from across the United States.

We found Food Network’s assessment interesting. The classic version of a loco moco is a beef patty cradled on a bed of rice with a fried over-easy egg perched on top. A smothering of brown gravy binds the components together.

The loco moco is barely even a burger variant. When we crave a burger in Hawaii, we generally get a burger. Not a loco moco.

The loco moco’s origins date back to 1949 at Hilo’s Lincoln Grill where a group of hungry teenage athletes once arrived looking for something cheap to sate their appetites. The owner threw together some white rice, a beef patty and brown gravy to appease the young men. The fried egg would follow later.

Today, there are countless variations of the loco moco, featuring everything from Spam on top to fried rice underneath. Even established Island chefs are fond of paying homage to the humble dish. Hawaii Regional Cuisine pioneer Alan Wong’s Ala Moana Center eatery, The Pineapple Room, serves a version (pictured, above) with a kiawe wood-grilled Maui Cattle Co. beef patty and two farm-fresh sunny-side-up eggs on a bed of fried rice. A rich veal jus blankets the dish.

Celebrities have also shared their love for the loco moco, although sometimes, as with Wheel of Fortune co-host Pat Sajak, with a slight twist.

“I substitute the hamburger patty with Portuguese sausage, which I like better, and I have my eggs scrambled as opposed to (over easy). But I love it because you can eat it for breakfast and not eat for three or four days,” says Sajak.

So what had Food Network Magazine salivating over Hukilau Cafe's take on the loco moco? The gravy. The mag credits the gravy's rich, beefy tones for separating Hukilau’s loco moco from the rest of the pack.

Hukilau Cafe indeed makes a fine loco moco. But HAWAII Magazine’s staff has its own favorites:

The loco moco at Hawaiian Style Café in Waimea on the Big Island, is noteworthy for its quality and its sheer quantity, says HAWAII editor John Heckathorn. The café’s loco moco is anchored by a flavorful full-pound beef patty. The Big Island grass-fed beef in the patty tastes like steak.

According to HawaiiMagazine.com online editor Derek Paiva, “The loco at humble mom-and-pop eatery Canoe’s Lanai Restaurant in Lanai City on the island of Lanai (pictured, right) is the definition of local comfort food. A crisp over easy egg and juicy hand-pressed hamburger patty perched atop a mound of house-made fried rice, chockfull of bits of Spam, bacon and green onion. The homemade brown gravy topping it all is thick and rich—steeped with onion and beef flavor and a hint of soy sauce.” He also warns, “Bring a defibrillator.”

“The loco moco at Ted’s Bakery on Oahu's North Shore is ono,” says HAWAII Magazine associate editor Sherie Char. ("Ono" is the Hawaiian word for "tasty.") “The hamburger was nice, fat and juicy, smothered in gravy.”

Honolulu’s Like Like Drive Inn remains a tried-and-true favorite with the HAWAII staff for loco moco, your writer included. Says HAWAII Magazine art director Darin Isobe, “The hamburger is flame broiled and their gravy has a lot of flavor without being too salty. Wish I had one right now.”

So do I.

Have a favorite Hawaii loco moco (or Mainland one, for that matter)? Leave a comment below and share your favorite with other readers.




 

This week Oahu holds its biggest culinary festival. If 20 chefs and a dozen winemakers don’t whet your appetite for the fest, there’s also music, fashion and golf.

Hawaii Food & Wine Paradise is a four-day culinary gala, held at west Oahu’s Ko Olina Resort and Waikiki’s Halekulani Hotel. The event kicks off Thursday, May 21, with the Paradise Golf Experience at the Ko Olina Golf Club, complete with food stations and a gourmet bento lunch.

That night there are two special food events. First, Paradise Uncorked, a six-course dinner with wine pairings at Roy’s Ko Olina. And second, the Paradise Food & Wine Showcase, at a private beachfront estate in Ko Olina called Lanikuhonua, with seven of Hawaii’s best chefs providing the food. There will be wine and beverage stations and entertainment.

The luncheon wine match competition on Friday, Pairings In Paradise, will feature four chefs—including Diego Oka from Mexico City—trying to pair wines with their dishes in competition with the moderator, Tim Love. Love is the chef-owner of two Fort Worth, Texas, restaurants.

Friday night will see a Paradise Beachside Barbeque, with far fancier than normal barbecue foods whipped up by eight chefs, cocktails created by master New York mixologist Julie Reiner, and music from the legendary Eddie Kamae and the Sons of Hawaii.

All this leads up to Saturday’s Grand Finale: a dinner that ranges from a smoked kampachi and barbecue eel terrine created by Lanai chef Fabrice Huet to a Diamond Head Market Chocolate Delight from Oahu’s Kelvin Ro. There’ll be wine with each course, of course. And finishing things up, a fashion show and an appearance by Hawaii’s thrilling jazz quintet, Bop Tribal.

In the Island tradition, all this demands a hana hou, or an encore. So there’s Hana Hou At Halekulani, a special brunch on Sunday in the Halekulani Ballroom.

Festival proceeds help support the Kapolei Foundation, which provides scholarships for local youth.

Hungry yet? For reservations: (808)722-9892. For more details, click here.







 

The Hanalei Colony Resort—located on Kauai’s serene north shore—has been a longtime favorite for visitors looking for a peaceful getaway. Still, in this cool economic climate the resort is doing what it can to lure travelers to its sunny shores: by cutting rates on just about everything.

The beachfront resort’s Rainbow of Savings deal offers serious some savings: 25 percent off all accommodations, 15 percent off food at The Mediterranean Gourmet Restaurant, 10 percent off food at The Na Pali Coffee House & Art Gallery and 10 percent off all treatments at The Hanalei Day Spa.

In addition, those staying at least six nights receive the next night free.

The deal is good for travel through December 31, 2009. However to qualify for the savings you must book online.

All of the resort’s 48 two-bedroom condominiums have a lanai and fully-equipped kitchen. You can even have your kitchen stocked pre-arrival. The resort has an on-site swimming pool and jacuzzi, barbecue areas and children's programs. For those who need to be kept up-to-date, the resort has complimentary wireless internet in the oceanfront Makana room. But with Kauai’s golden shoreline only feet away, we recommend leaving your laptop at home.

For more information on the Rainbow of Savings deal call (800) 628-3004, or click here.



 

If you're on Oahu, consider your summer reading list and backyard barbecue soundtrack complete.

The Hawaii Book & Music Festival is happening Saturday and Sunday in Honolulu.

Looking for a superabundance of literature and music created and published here in Hawaii, all in one location? We'd be hard pressed to think of a better place to begin your search.

The fest is the largest annual gathering of Hawaii-based book publishers, authors and music distributors. Admission and parking are free. And the fest’s special events this year include a sunset concert by Hawaii ukulele genius Jake Shimabukuro.

Best-selling authors from Hawaii (former Gov. Ben Cayetano, Lois-Ann Yamanaka), national and international authors (Terry Brooks, John Saul) and book illustrators will be on hand to sign books and participate in panel discussions. A variety of author stages will feature readings, kids storytelling and plays. There’ll be arts and crafts booths, food booths and a live music stage.

Should you want to dive quickly into your new book purchase, the fest’s outdoor location on the grounds surrounding Honolulu Hale has many shade trees to settle down under.

The stuff we found most interesting on this year’s Hawaii Book & Music Fest program?

• Many opportunities to learn more about Hawaii. Two stages at the fest are being dedicated to an all-day schedule of panel discussions and presentations on Hawaii subjects and Hawaiian culture. Hawaii stories, poetry, music, architecture, art and other issues related to the Islands will be discussed by local experts, writers and artists. Just pick a topic that interests you and settle in. Click here for schedule.

• Sunset concerts by Jake Shimabukuro (5:30 p.m., Saturday), Grammy-nominated slack-key master Cyril Pahinui (5 p.m., Sunday) and contemporary Hawaiian group Kaukahi (7 p.m., Sunday). Otherwise, the fest’s main stage will host an all-day line-up of music and hula. Click here for schedule.

• A full menu of storytelling, plays, improvisational comedy and book-signings in the keiki tents. Among the offerings: readings from Dr. Seuss, Hans Christian Andersen and Riki Tiki Tavi, and performances of scenes from Singin’ in the Rain, Romeo & Juliet and High School Musical. Check out a lively live reading by the cast of the audiobook Eddie 'Wen Go: The Story of the Upside-Down Canoe (4:30 p.m., Sunday). Click here for schedule.

Stop by HAWAII Magazine sister company Watermark Publishing's booth on both days to peruse its wide selection of books covering a broad range of Hawaii topics. Watermark will be doing more than just selling books at the fest. Click here for a full schedule of Watermark’s book and music fest book-signings, readings, panel discussions and food and Hawaii-grown coffee samplings. Get a free copy of HAWAII Magazine at the booth while supplies last.

The Hawaii Book & Music Festival runs from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., Saturday and Sunday, at the Frank F. Fasi Civic Grounds at Honolulu Hale at Punchbowl and King Streets.

For a full list of Hawaii Book and Music Festival participants, events and a map to the festival, click here.

 


 

You ask. We answer.

We got an e-mail from HAWAII Magazine reader Candice Sanders, asking for our help in identifying a Hawaiian song:

I am looking for the words and music to a Hawaiian song that is often sung at the end of concerts and also at the end of the Hawaii Ironman Triathlon. I've also heard the song at a recent Keola Beamer concert when everyone sang it at the end of his concert. It is sung by everyone in the crowd, often holding hands, and it's in Hawaiian.
 
We vowed this time, we would make the effort to learn the words, so that the next time, we can sing along, but we are unable to remember the name of the song or the person who wrote it.  
 
I am hoping perhaps you can help me.

You ask, we answer.

It’s “Hawaii Aloha,” written by Rev. Lorenzo Lyons in the 19th century. Lyons was perhaps the most beloved of the missionaries and a strong advocate for “the grand old, sonorous, poetical Hawaiian language.”

“Hawaii Aloha” is commonly sung at the end of concerts and gatherings, by everyone holding hands in a circle, swaying to the music and raising their hands at the end.

Here’s a particularly touching video of Bruddah Iz, Israel Kamakawiwoole, singing the song at the end of an informal concert on the Big Island. The lyrics follow. If you can’t memorize them all (and even Iz doesn't seem to know all the verses), you can always sing the Oli e! loudly.

"Hawaii Aloha" by Lorenzo Lyons

E Hawaii e kuu one hanau e Kuu home kulaiwi nei Oli no au i na pono lani ou E Hawaii, aloha e	O Hawai‘i, O sands of my birth My native home I rejoice in the blessings of heaven O Hawai‘i, aloha.
Hui: E hauoli e na opio o Hawaii nei Oli e! Oli e! Mai na aheahe makani e pa mai nei Mau ke aloha, no Hawaii	Chorus: Happy youth of Hawai‘i Rejoice! Rejoice! Gentle breezes blow Love always for Hawai‘i.
E hai mai kou mau kini lani e Kou mau kupa aloha, e Hawaii Na mea olino kamahao no luna mai E Hawaii aloha e    (Hui)	May your divine throngs speak Your loving people, O Hawai‘i The holy light from above O Hawai‘i, aloha. (Chorus)
Na ke Akua e malama mai ia oe Kou mau kualona aloha nei Kou mau kahawai olinolino mau Kou mau mala pua nani e    (Hui)	God protects you Your beloved ridges Your ever glistening streams Your beautiful flower gardens. (Chorus)

 

Waikiki’s Halekulani hotel celebrated its 25th anniversary last weekend. The hotel is actually 102 years old, having begun life in 1907 as the Hau Tree Residential Hotel, a relatively modest establishment, a beachfront house and five bungalows.

No, this is the 25th anniversary of the “new” Halekulani. By the 1980s, the hotel had grown, the old house replaced by a plantation-style mansion with a C.W. Dickey roof, the cottages now numbering 37. It was a famous oasis of luxury on the beach, and its House Without a Key had been immortalized as the title of the first Charlie Chan novel.

By the ‘80s, however, the skyrocketing costs of Waikiki beachfront property (not to mention taxes) made such a small resort impractical.  

It was sold to Japan’s Mitsui Corporation, which did a careful job in creating the “new” Halekulani, without losing traces of the old. The new hotel retained the main building, the lawns, the century-old kiawe tree, but surrounded them with an elegant 453-room resort that remains an oasis of luxury in bustling Waikiki.  A number of Mitsui execs (right: Hitoshi Saito and Kosei Murakami) flew in from Tokyo for the anniversary.

(You can download an illustrated history of the hotel here.)

The anniversary celebration was, as you might have guessed it, elegant as well. The Honolulu Symphony brass and percussion played a fanfare written for the occasion—the Halekulani having been a dedicated corporate supporter of the arts.  

The champagne flowed. The food? Amazing. The Halekulani chefs vied to outdo themselves, with La Mer chef Yves Garnier preparing his remarkable foie gras terrine and filling a table with rare French cheeses.  

In addition, both the Japanese and French chefs of the Imperial Hotel Tokyo flew in to cook for the occasion. The most crowded station of all was the sushi bar presided over by none other than Nobu Matsuhisa, who has a Nobu’s in the Halekulani’s sister hotel, the Waikiki Parc.

There were proclamations of "Halekulani Day." The stage was filled with jazz, Hawaiian music, hula.  There were open bars and a happy crowd of well-dressed well-wishers. 

The  thing that caught many people’s eyes—the stunning flower arrangements (pictured, right) by San Francisco florist Jun Pinon. Why would Pinon fly to the Halekulani on the one of the busiest weekends for florists, Mother’s Day? 

“I got my start in the flower shop here,” he said.  “I would never miss this.”




 

Big Island luxe resort The Fairmont Orchid, Hawaii is offering two rooms for the price of one.

Yeah, you read that right.

How can you qualify? Just book a room at the Fairmont Resorts property from now to June 30, 2009 for travel until December 20, 2009 and get the second free. It’s that simple. The deal even guarantees adjacent rooms for families or other groups who prefer staying next to each other.

What’s the catch? There isn’t one as far as we can tell. However, this is a luxury resort.

Room rates start at $449 a night—not exactly small change. Still, if you need two rooms, this is essentially a half price deal—especially for the savvy traveler wanting to bask in the lap of luxury.

The 32-acre Fairmont Orchid, Hawaii—a AAA Four Diamond recipient—sits along a pristine stretch of shoreline on the Big Island’s South Kohala Coast. Guests can take advantage of the Hawaiian-inspired Spa Without Walls, massage cabanas, six restaurants, 10,000-square-foot oceanfront swimming pool, tennis courts, 36-hole golf course and a year-round children's program.

No minimum stay is required for the Fairmont Orchid’s Two-for-One package. The deal may not be combined with any other promotion such as the resort’s third night free and $200 resort credit.

Also, the package cannot be booked online. You must call (800) 845-9905 for that.

But for more information about this and other Fairmont Orchid deals, click here.




 

Where’s your favorite place to stay on Kauai? The best place for shopping on Maui? Your favorite Hawaii spa to get away from it all? Got a favorite town on the Big Island?

We ask these questions—and many more—on the ballot for our annual Best of Hawaii feature. Results will be featured in the upcoming September/October 2009 issue of HAWAII Magazine.

And the answers are up to you.

We know you know what makes Hawaii special. Have a Best of Hawaii pick? Tell us what it is. Ten lucky readers will be randomly selected to receive a gift pack, courtesy of Aloha Shoyu.

There are two ways to enter: You can fill out a ballot online here.

Or you can mail in a ballot. There’s one on page 68 of the May/June 2009 issue of HAWAII Magazine, on newsstands nationwide now. If you can’t locate a current issue of HAWAII, you can download and print out a ballot here, and mail it in.

Either way, ballots must be mailed or submitted by June 12, 2009—meaning you’ve a little more than a month left to enter.

Do it now! We're very interested in seeing what your Best of Hawaii picks are.




 

Our readers love Hawaii as much as we do. So we’re always thrilled when they share their Hawaii experiences and memories with us.

One of the ways they share with us most often is through photos. Lots of photos. The best of these give even longtime residents like us new perspectives of Hawaii, and reaffirm why we are so very fortunate to call the Islands our home.

Got a great photo taken in Hawaii? It could win you a free trip back to our Islands in our 11th Annual HAWAII Magazine Photo Contest.

Enter your photos in one of these four categories: Oahu, Maui, Big Island or Kauai. The photos can be of anything—people, places, things—but need to have been shot on the island corresponding to the category you are entering.

You may enter up to eight photos, but no more than two photos per category. Make sure you send your photo (or photos) to us, postmarked by Aug. 7, 2009.

We’ll be giving away nine prizes—one grand prize, four first-place and four second-place prizes.

Grand Prize is airfare for two to Honolulu from your nearest Hawaiian Airlines gateway city, plus a six-night stay at the newly remodeled Outrigger Reef on the Beach Hotel in Waikiki.

First place winners will receive $100, a coffee gift set from The Kona Coffee & Tea Company and a book prize package from Watermark Publishing.

Second place winners receive $75, a Hawaiian music CD from The Mountain Apple Company and a book prize from Watermark Publishing.

Winners will be published in the January/February 2010 issue of HAWAII Magazine, and on HawaiiMagazine.com.

Click here for more contest details, rules and the official entry form.

Want to check out last year’s Photo Contest winners and finalists? Click here for a slideshow.

Good luck!
 



 

As the world waits for Father Damien de Veuster to be canonized on Oct. 11, 2009, Hawaii celebrates his feast day (May 10) this weekend with three nights of evening prayer services and a statue ceremony in Honolulu.

Last night, HAWAII Magazine was invited to attend the first evening prayer in honor of Blessed Damien of Molokai at Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace. We read psalms, sang Hawaiian songs and recited a Latin hymn. In the middle of the service, we paused to reflect on Father Damien’s life. A woman also read an excerpt from Damien: Servant of God, Servant of Humanity. Click here to listen to the excerpt.

Father Damien had compassion for Hawaii’s leprosy patients. (The term leprosy is of course outmoded. It’s now called Hansen’s Disease.)

Damien moved to Honolulu from Belgium in 1864, and later to Molokai on May 10, 1873. He cared for Hawaii’s leprosy patients when no one else seemed to care. As the late Hansen’s Disease sufferer and Kalaupapa resident Henry Nalaielua said, “He came, he saw, he conquered.”

If you’re on Oahu this weekend and missed last night’s service, there is an evening prayer tonight and on Saturday. On Sunday, the community will hold a ceremony at the Father Damien statue at the State Capitol beginning at 1:30 p.m. All events are free and open to the public.

In addition to the prayer services and ceremony, the Cathedral’s gallery has several rare artifacts on display for a limited time. Such items include Father Damien’s walking stick, glasses (pictured left), his Meerschaum pipe and a few letters signed by him.

You’ll also find Father Damien souvenirs available for purchase in the gallery— from postcards to books about Hawaii’s saint. The gallery will be open before and after this weekend’s services.

UPDATE, 5/13/09: The exhibit of rare Father Damien artifacts at the Cathedral's gallery has been extended for two more weeks.

Can't make it to the gallery before or after mass? Just inquire at the front desk. "We'll be happy to let them in to view the display!" says the Cathedral's office manager Alika Cullen.
 


 

You ask. We answer.

HAWAII Magazine reader Edd Kogan of Oak Ridge, Tenn. writes:

Where I can view and purchase the 2009 Merrie Monarch Festival poster online? I collect them, and used to get them at a store in Hilo.

While this year's edition of the annual Big Island of Hawaii hula festival is over, demand for Merrie Monarch souvenirs is still on. Posters from each year’s fest have always been popular collectibles among those who want a little Merrie Monarch in their lives all year long. The good news if you’re interested in buying one, but can’t fly to Hilo? The artist will mail it to you.

Big Island artist and clothing designer Nelson Makua was commissioned to create the official 2009 poster—the sixth he has designed in the last seven years of the fest. You can view and purchase the 2009 poster—and posters from previous years—on the website of Makua’s Hawaiian clothing line Na Makua.

Figures from Hawaiian mythology have been favorite subjects of Makua’s posters, and a nod to the Merrie Monarch Festival’s cultural roots. Previous Makua posters depicted volcano goddess Pele, Pele’s sister Hiiaka and pig god Kamapuaa. This year’s poster (pictured left) illustrates the legend of Ohia and Lehua, mortals whose undying love led them to be joined forever in the form of the ohia lehua tree.

Makua’s website notes that the posters are produced in “very limited quantities" so order your 2009 poster soon. Otherwise, we found a few posters sold through online auction house Ebay—albeit at slightly higher prices. 




 

Celebrities and power brokers looking to get away from it all on their Hawaii holiday have long loved the Kona Village Resort.

The reasons for the ardor are many: the resort’s secluded location on the Big Island’s Kona coast, unique beachfront Polynesian-style thatched-roof bungalows, wealth of ocean activities, lack of in-room TVs and A/C, and no-cell-phone-or-laptop-outside-of-your-room policy.

Even Apple CEO Steve Jobs—who is said to make frequent visits to the resort—has to contend with zero data ports and Wi-Fi in his bungalow. Should Jobs decide to skip the recently grounded Apple private jet and fly commercial on his next Big Island trip, he might want to make note of the resort’s current money-saving deal.

The Kona Village Resort is offering all of its guests an $800 credit to offset airfare costs. The catch? Reservations must be confirmed by May 10, 2009, for stays from May 17 to June 17.

That’s right, you have only four days left to book this deal!

To qualify, just book a bungalow—the resort calls them hale, the Hawaiian word for “house”—in the garden, superior or deluxe categories for a minimum five-night stay and present your air travel voucher. The resort will apply an $800 credit to your account upon departure. The deal also includes a complimentary room upgrade.

Click here to book, of for more information on the airfare credit deal.

Families and other large groups who require multiple hale get another deal: a buy-one-get-one-half-off package. Book one hale at the standard rate and mention the word, "Togethering,” and a second hale is half the price. (We agree. It's no fun saying togethering. But, hey, HALF-OFF!) The deal also includes 50 percent discounts on family activities such as outrigger canoe paddling and stand-up paddleboard lessons.

For more information on this and all Kona Village Resort packages click here, or call (800) 367-5290.
 



 

Alaska Airlines is expanding service to Hawaii with a new four-times-weekly Oakland, Calif. to Maui route, and a thrice-weekly route between Oakland and Kona, on Hawaii’s Big Island.

Service begins Nov. 9 on Alaska Air’s Oakland-Maui route, Nov. 10 on its Oakland-Kona route. An introductory $169 one-way fare is being offered on both routes for tickets purchased before May 21, 2009.

The Seattle-based carrier is also expanding its existing Hawaii routes—adding a second daily Seattle-Honolulu flight starting July 2, and moving up the launch of its already announced Portland, Ore.-Maui service to July 3.

Tickets may be purchased at alaskaair.com or by calling (800) 252-7522.

With the added routes and expanded service, Alaska Airlines ups its Hawaii flight schedule to 59 flights weekly to four islands: Oahu, Maui, the Big Island of Hawaii and Kauai.

Alaska Airlines launched service to Hawaii in 2007, with flights to Oahu and Kauai.



 

Today in Hawaii we celebrate tango-no-sekku, more commonly known as Boys’ Day.

In Japan, where Boys’ Day originated, the holiday was joined with Girls’ Day to form Children’s Day. However, we in the Islands are fond of setting aside separate days for both sexes. Hence, Girls’ Day is observed on March 3, while Boys’ Day falls on May 5.

A common sight in Hawaii’s neighborhoods during Boys’ Day is koinobori, large carp streamers or windsocks that “swim” in the tradewinds on bamboo poles in front of homes. Following tradition, each streamer represents a male in the household. The carp nearest the top of the pole usually symbolizes the father, and is the largest. Additional carp represent sons ordered by age, working downward from oldest to youngest.

Carp are classic symbols of masculinity in Japanese culture, associated with strength, perseverance and longevity. In the wild, the fish swim against the currents, scale waterfalls and live an exceptionally long life—qualities that are fitting traits for a young man.

Other Boys’ Day staples include musha-ningyo (samurai dolls clad in body armor and armed with weapons and helmets), kashiwa mochi (a bean-filled rice cake wrapped in an oak leaf) and chimaki mochi (a similar cake wrapped in bamboo leaves)—all of which are given to the men of the house.

As of 8 a.m. this morning (Hawaii time) the males on HAWAII Magazine’s staff had yet to receive a box of either mochi. We’d gladly settle for lunch from our female co-workers.

Any takers?
 



 

American Airlines is offering round-trip airfares from Los Angeles to Honolulu starting at the ridiculously low price of $235 (tax not included) for travel between now and June 7, 2009. Advance purchase is not required.

Finding the fare will take a little sleuthing on the traveler’s part.

Airfare-monitoring website airlinewatchdog.com reported the rate today, referring visitors to online travel service Orbitz. Click on the Orbitz link provided and you will be led to a calendar of departure dates and their corresponding rates, including the $235 price.

At the time this post was published, a minimum 4-day, 3-night stay was required for the $235 fare. Though as you can expect, seats are going fast. Don’t sit on this deal for long.



 

The Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea is cutting room rates to their lowest prices in four years—offering visitors the opportunity to indulge in island luxury despite the economy. 

The rate for standard mountainside rooms at the AAA five-diamond and Mobil five-star resort now start at $395 per night.

That price is valid for stays between May 4 to June 26, and Aug. 23 to Nov. 19. The price climbs to $445 from June 27 to Aug. 22—the peak of summer travel season.

The rate includes a large number of complimentary amenities: outrigger canoe classes and scuba clinics in the waters off Wailea Beach, shuttle and car service throughout Wailea, poolside cabanas and full access to fitness center and beachside fitness classes.

Traveling with children? The Four Seasons is luring vacationing families with kid-centered premiums such as a free full-day children’s program and a game room with ping-pong and pool tables, Nintendo Wii, Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 gaming systems. Children under five also eat free at Four Seasons restaurants DUO and Ferraro’s Bar e Risorante.

For a complete list of complimentary services and amenities, click here.

The resort is also offering an additional night free for a minimum four-night stay in garden-view rooms and all above room classes. Click here for room availability. Or, for more information, call (808) 874-8000.




 

We had such a great response to our article on Thai-Hawaii chef Chai Chaowasaree in the May/June issue of HAWAII Magazine that we thought we’d pass along this little food tip to anyone who is going to be on Oahu in the next few months.

We timed our article with the release of Chai’s The Island Bistro Cookbook, by which we were much impressed.  (We were right by the way:  The book, filled with 90 signature recipes and stunning photography by Honolulu photographer Rae Huo, just won the Hawaii Book Publisher’s Ka Palapala Pookela Award for cookbooks.)

Here’s the good deal.  To celebrate the success of the book, Chai’s Island Bistro in Aloha Tower is offering a five-course meal for only $55 a person, all recipes from the book, full of vibrant Hawaii-style flavors.

It gets better: Every party of two or more that orders the meal receives a free copy of The Island Bistro Cookbook—which is selling briskly at $32.50.  Want to see the full menu?




Reading this made us so hungry we’re going to go ourselves, and we already have copies of the book. We're going on a night when Chai's Island Bistro has great Hawaiian music.

 


 

“It was a location we couldn’t pass up,” says Hawaii chef and restaurateur Peter Merriman of the new Kapalua Merriman’s.

The location is the Bay Club of the old Kapalua Bay Hotel, now gone, making way for the Ritz-Carlton Club and Residences, still under construction.  

It was always a perfect restaurant location, out on the point of Maui's Kapalua Bay, surrounded by palm trees, tiki torches and ocean on three sides. You can sit in the open air dining room or (on a day when Kapalua is less windy than usual) outside by the ocean.

Merriman is well known for his Big Island Merriman’s in the ranching town of Waimea, and for his insistence on eating local.  

Try the beet salad.  Don’t like beets? These are grown less than a mile from the restaurant on an organic farm, topped with Surfing Goat Dairy goat cheese, from the slopes of Haleakala. They will change your mind.

Look for Maui-grown beef and lamb, mahimahi caught only by trolling, and butter-poached Big Island lobster.

For more on Merriman (right) and his insights into Island cuisine, see HAWAII Magazine’s annual Food and Drink issue, out in July.  (Haven’t gotten around to subscribing yet? Click here and don’t miss this delicious issue.)




 

When the Ritz-Carlton Kapalua opened in 1991, it was the last of the cookie-cutter Ritz-Carltons, very New England-looking in the middle of some of Maui’s most beautiful real estate, the 23,000-acre Kapalua Resort.

When the hotel shut down for a $160-million renovation last year, its full-time Hawaiian cultural expert, Clifford Naeole, asked that all new decorative items pass through him to make sure they were authentically Hawaiian.  “Watch what you wish for,” he says.  “They let me, and it was months of work.”

We finally got a chance to experience the property firsthand.  Although we were working, we’ve decided that from now on we’d prefer to work in a Ritz-Carlton club lounge, with a friendly concierge and an endless supply of made-to-order cappuccinos and Ritz-Carlton chocolate chip cookies.

But really, our favorite part was walking through the property with Naeole (below), who is rightfully proud that all the details are now culturally relevant.  He pointed out that the wood carvings in the lobby are now the insignia of the great Maui chief, Pi‘ilani, for whom the main highway through West Maui is named.

As we passed by the new lobby sushi bar, Naeole noted that the proposed artwork was of canoes that weren’t remotely Hawaiian.  “What are you guys trying to do to me?” said Naeole, who made sure that the décor is now a mural of legendary Hawaiian voyaging canoe, Hokulea.

The artwork is now all Hawaiian, the lobby is filled with true Hawaiian artifacts, and our favorite detail is the small umeke (wooden or gourd bowls) that are dotted around the property, including the entrance to every room in the spa.  Reach in and you get a Hawaiian value to live for the day.

“Of course, all that pales compared to this,” said Naeole as we walked outside and looked down the long sweeping lawn, across the undisturbed ancient burial site, to the pristine blue waters of Kapalua Bay.  “This is my favorite view in the Islands,” he said.

 


 

It’s not August yet, but the Maui-onion madness is here.

The annual Maui Onion Festival at Whalers Village happens tomorrow at 9:30 a.m. The all-day festival includes chef demonstrations, games and prizes, a beer garden, live entertainment and a raw Maui onion eating contest. We know what you’re thinking: Raw onions? But Maui’s onions aren’t like their counterparts—the Valley Isle’s world-famous bulbs are famously sweet and non-pungent.

If you’re not up to the challenge of eating these onions raw, there are booths serving crispy, fried Maui onion rings—a definite must-try. Last year, more than 1,000 pounds of Maui Kula onions were made into rings.

The Maui Onion Festival, which celebrates its 20th anniversary, is starting a new tradition. Organizers have has changed its annual August date to the first Saturday in May.

For the complete festival schedule, click here. Attendees who spend $150 or more will receive a free Maui Onion canvas bag this year.

Can’t attend the Maui Onion Festival? Don’t cry—there’s always the option of ordering your own supply of Maui onions.

For more Hawaii updates, read “What’s New” in our May/June 2009 issue.





 

Tomorrow is May 1: May Day, or Lei Day, in Hawaii.

It’s an annual celebration of Hawaiian culture that’s popular with residents and visitors alike. A day for attending music and hula shows (many organized just for the occasion), sporting your best aloha wear and, especially, wearing colorful lei.

Hawaii’s May Day origins date back to 1927, when writer Don Blanding suggested in an article for the Honolulu Star-Bulletin that a holiday be created to honor the custom of making and wearing lei. Colleague and fellow Star-Bulletin columnist Grace Tower Warren came up with the idea of having the holiday on May 1 in conjunction with May Day, stating that "May Day is Lei Day." The tagline stuck.

The first Lei Day was held on May 1, 1928, with Honoluluans greatly encouraged to wear the flowery wreaths. The practice soon spread throughout the Islands, encompassing all facets of Hawaiian culture—hula, music, cultural demonstrations and lavish court processions. Still, lei has always remained at the heart of Hawaii May Day festivities.

Lei were certainly the focus of last year’s Honolulu May Day hoopla. The celebration culminated with the city-sponsored construction of a 5,336-foot-long lei in Waikiki’s Kapiolani Park—good enough for entry in the Guinness Book of World Records.

There won’t be a giant garland at the city May Day festivities this year, but there’ll still be lots to see and do. The most popular events are the investiture of the Lei Queen and her court, and the May Day Lei Contest. The 2009 royal court ceremony starts at 10:15 a.m. at Kapiolani Park bandstand, while judging for the lei contest takes place from 10 a.m to noon. The lei contest exhibit and a full afternoon of entertainment from Hawaiian bands Kapena, Manao Company and several hula halau (hula troupes) follows, from noon to 5:30 p.m.

Don’t have a lei? Booths selling all manner of lei, Hawaiian crafts and food will be open in the park all day. For a complete schedule Kapiolani Park May Day events, click here.

Other May Day-only events:

• The Halekulani resort’s House Without A Key in Waikiki celebrates May Day with an evening of song and dance from Hawaii’s first May Day in 1928, and the era. Stories about various lei will be shared throughout the evening. Cocktails here are great. The view is stunning, too—oceanfront, with a Diamond Head backdrop. Wear a lei. Click here for more information.


• Outside of Waikiki, drop by the ever-popular monthly First Friday Gallery Walk in downtown Honolulu’s Chinatown culture and arts district. In honor of May Day, several artists will be displaying wares with a distinctly Hawaiian aesthetic in the Mendonca Building Courtyard: including wooden bowls, oil paintings and photography. Click here for more info and a list of artists.

Post-May Day events:

• The Brothers Cazimero May Day Concert will be held on May 2, at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center this year instead of the Waikiki Shell. The show begins at 7:30 p.m. Click here for details.

• Ever wondered where the lei from the May Day festivities end up? On May 2, the colorful lei will be placed on the tombs of the alii (Hawaiian royalty) at the Royal Mausoleum in Nuuanu and upon King Lunalilo's tomb at Kawaiahao Church in Honolulu.

For more insight into the flowers and foliage used to make Hawaii lei, check out the feature “What's In Your Lei?” in the May/June 2009 issue of HAWAII Magazine. You’ll find copies at most national bookstores and newsstands, by print subscription, or digital subscription.

 

Lanai City, one of Hawaii’s last largely intact plantation towns, has been included in the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s latest list of America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places, released this week.

The island of Lanai’s modestly-populated residential center— also the former hub of its long-gone pineapple industry—was included on the annual list due to planned changes the NTHP believes will permanently alter Lanai City’s historic visage.

Still known as the Pineapple Island, Lanai, from the 1920s through 1980s, was most famous for its more than 20,000 acres of prime Hawaii pineapple plantation land, founded by businessman James Dole. Since the demise of the island’s pineapple industry in 1993, Lanai’s main industry has largely been the small, but vital tourist trade drawn to the island’s seclusion, two world-class Four Seasons resorts, and quaint old-Hawaii charm of Lanai City (pop. 2,500).

The National Trust for Historic Preservation, which has annually compiled endangered places lists for two decades, wrote as its reason for Lanai City’s inclusion:

In the 1920s, Dole, who owned the entire island, created a thriving company town, complete with hundreds of plantation-style homes, a Laundromat, jail, courthouse and police station, all centered around a tree-lined park named in his honor.

The company town of Lanai City looks very much as it did in its 1920s heyday. There are no traffic lights, no malls, no public transportation and less than 30 miles of paved road on the island.

Today, Lanai is almost entirely owned by Castle & Cooke, one of the largest private landowners in Hawaii. The company, which also owns Dole Foods and two high-end Four Seasons resorts on Lanai, recently submitted a three-part plan calling for the demolition or alteration of 15-20 historic buildings in Lanai City to make way for large-scale commercial development.

The new development proposal includes an oversized, out-of-scale grocery store, dramatically incompatible with the historic downtown. The grocery store’s parking lot alone would consume an entire city block. Local preservationists hope to convince Castle & Cooke that a preserved Lanai City is a draw for heritage tourists and is, therefore, an economically viable solution.

Is it likely Lanai City’s inclusion on the Endangered Historic Places list will alter Castle & Cooke’s plans to some extent? Actually, yes.

Over the years, the list has become one of the most effective tools for saving America’s most at-risk architectural, cultural and natural heritage sites. Of the 211 sites cited since the NTHP began compiling lists in 1988, only six have been lost.

Want to learn more about Lanai and Lanai City?

For our March/April 2009 issue, HAWAII Magazine editor John Heckathorn and photographer David Croxford traveled to Lanai to meet its residents and experience its natural wonder. See what they found on their trip in the feature “Hidden Hawaii: Cool, green and serene Lanai.” Click here.

In April 2008, I visited Lanai to put together a HAWAII Magazine feature on the island’s diverse collection of beaches. Along the way, I couldn’t help taking photos of more than just sand and surf. HawaiiMagazine.com got my pics. Click here for a slideshow.

For a look at other sites on the 2009 list of America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places, click here.

 

Here’s another great deal on hotel rooms in Hawaii this summer and fall.

Aston Hotels & Resorts is offering 40 percent off daily room rates at all of its Hawaii properties this summer and fall with its “Vacation Bailout” program.

If you can plan a trip here for any time between June 12 through Dec. 21, 2009, you qualify.

Call 866-774-2924, or click here to book online.

“Vacation Bailout” prices range from $88 dollars a night for the Maui Lu in south Maui’s Kihei resort area to $296 a night for more luxe accommodations at Aston’s oceanfront Waikiki Beach Tower on Oahu. With more than 26 Aston resorts to choose from on Maui, Oahu, Kauai and the Big Island, there’s likely a rate that fits your budget.
 
 

Where can you see people dress up in life-size Spam can costumes? In Waikiki, of course!

This year’s annual Waikiki Spam Jam street festival kicks off tomorrow (4/25) on Kalakaua Avenue. The block-party celebration—which runs from 4 to 10 p.m.—includes two stages of Hawaiian music, a variety of Hawaiian crafts booths and merchandise stands selling Spam-themed items such as the Spam T-shirts and slippers. There’ll also be a dozen Hawaii restaurants that’ll reinvent the popular luncheon meat beyond the musubi version. Click here to see a list of what restaurants will be serving.

According to SpamJamHawaii.com, “More Spam is consumed per person in Hawaii than in any other state in the United States. Almost seven million cans of Spam are eaten every year in Hawaii.” Imagine that!

If you hate Spam, here’s a chance to give it away. Volunteers will be collecting cans of Spam for the Hawaii Food Bank. For each donation, you can enter to win a trip for two to the neighbor island of your choice.

Admission to the block party is free. Last year, approximately 20,000 visitors and local residents attended the festival. Click here to view the entertainment schedule. If you’re planning to drive to the festival, we’ve got the parking information you’ll need.

  

Prince Resorts Hawaii’s oceanfront accommodations in Hawaii are more affordable this summer for the ohana (family). Plus, you don’t have to stay in the same room as your children.

Families who book the first room at a Prince Resort Hawaii hotel will receive the second room free.

Here’s a list of the hotels offering the summer deal:

• Hawaii Prince Hotel Waikiki—rates start at $330
• Maui Prince Hotel—rates start at $425
• Hapuna Beach Prince Hotel—rates start at $415
• Mauna Kea Beach Hotel—rates start at $700

The “2 for 1” package accommodation deals are good through Sept. 30, 2009.

Also, from April through Sept. 30, Hawaii Prince Resorts is offering a “Kids Eat Free” program. Parents can enjoy a main course entrée, while their keiki (12 years and younger) enjoy a complimentary meal off the children’s menu. There are 17 different dinning locations to choose from. Click here to see the entire list.

Other keiki summer specials at the Prince Resorts Hawaii hotels include the “Kids Golf Free” program for children 17 years and younger.

For additional keiki perks—from hula, lei making and Hawaiian lessons to snorkel and boogie board rentals—we recommend checking with your hotel’s concierge.




  

If you happen to be on Maui this weekend, you’re in luck. The annual East Maui Taro Festival kicks off this Saturday in Hana.

Each year, the Hana community transforms its baseball park into a place that pays tribute to the ancient Hawaiian staple—the kalo (taro). The two-day festival includes Hawaiian music, arts and crafts and various food booths offering taro-related products. Attendees will also have a hands-on opportunity to pound poi.

On Sunday, taro pancakes will be served for breakfast along with scrambled eggs, rice and sausage. The breakfast costs $8.50 for adults and $5 for keiki.

After breakfast, there are two free tours open to the public: The excursion to Kahanu Gardens and Piilanihale Heiau (sacred temple) starts at 11 a.m., and the Kipahulu Kapahu Living Farm field trip leaves the Hana Ballpark at 2 p.m. No reservations are required. Simply show up on Sunday.

Taro, which is often thought of as the ancient Hawaiians’ life force, is often pounded into poi, but chefs have also found a way to make taro chips, breads and cookies. You’ll even find taro burgers on the grill.

Admission to the two-day festival is free. Click here to view the complete schedule.


 

Jack Johnson’s annual Kokua Festival benefit concerts are taking a break this year, but his non-profit, Kokua Hawaii Foundation, is holding its inaugural benefit auction, starting today.

Collectible items from the festival’s former performers are being auctioned off for charity. Up for grabs? Johnson’s autographed guitar, Willie Nelson’s sneakers and tickets to attend Eddie Vedder’s concert in Hawaii.

There’s even a pair of tickets to see the Dave Matthews Band and a Koolau handcrafted ukulele autographed by Johnson.

Kokua Hawaii Foundation supports environmental education in Hawaii’s schools and communities. So, of course, it’s starting the auction on Earth Day.

Bidding continues through May 1. All proceeds support Kokua Hawaii Foundation's programs. Click here to see the entire auction list. Good luck.

  

"Maui is the place where I hope to my long and healthy latter years," says 61-year-old Fleetwood Mac drummer Mick Fleetwood, who moved his entire family to Maui's Napili shorefront—wife, twin daughters and his mother.

But make no mistake.  Fleetwood has not retired.  He's currently on tour with a (mostly) reunited Fleetwood Mac, currently in Texas, then points West, tour dates now scheduled through May.

However, as we reveal in the Mele section of HAWAII Magazine's May/June issue, Fleetwood can't stop playing, and now has two bands based on Maui. 

First, the Mick Fleetwood Blues Band harkens back to the early days of Fleetwood Mac, when it was a four-man blues ensemble.  Fleetwood took advantage of a hiatus in the Fleetwood Mac tour to fly back and rip up a Waikiki venue, Level 4, with the blues band, all of whose members live on Maui.  The band's double live album, Blue Again, went to No. 18 on iTunes even before the CD release.

His second band is more Island-style.  In addition to Vito, Mick Fleetwood's Island Rumours Band  includes an array of remarkable Hawaiian musicians, including  Willie K., Eric Gilliom, Lopaka Colon, and one of the strongest talents to emerge from contemporary Hawai‘i, Moloka‘i’s Raiatea Helm.  What's it like?  See and hear for yourself. 

Here's great footage of the band and a video interview with Mick.





 

You ask. We answer.

HAWAII Magazine Reader Richard A. Watkins of Anaheim, Calif., writes:

I am looking for a source where I can purchase Hawaii-grown papayas. Do you know of one?

There’s nothing quite like the taste of a fresh Hawaii-grown papaya. For those away from the Islands, however, getting their papaya fix can be a challenge. Fortunately, there are several online companies offering the fruit for delivery year round.

Hawaiian gift wholesalers HawaiianKineStuff.com and HawaiiVacationGifts sell an assortment of Island-themed merchandise including scented soaps and tiki torches—and Big Island papayas.

The sites sell 10-pound cases of 8-10 papayas for around $75, shipping included. Both sites ship throughout the continental US only.

Also check out the Volcano Isle Fruit Company, which seems largely focused on papaya. The Kapoho-based group has been committed to growing the fruit in the rich, volcanic soil of the Big Island for the past 30 years.

The company offers two types: the golden Rainbow papaya and the pink-fleshed Sunred variety.  If you can’t decide on just one you can order a mix of both. A 10-pound box goes for the more-than-reasonable price of $49.95. Shipping is free for anywhere within the US, including Alaska. However, take note: they ship just once a week, on Mondays.

Upon receiving your papayas it’s best to let them sit for a couple days, as they are typically picked in a green stage to avoid spoilage during delivery. Skin color and feel are the best indicators of a fruit’s ideal ripeness. At least 75 percent of the papaya’s skin should be colored and the fruit will give slightly when squeezed.

Be patient. It’s a small price to pay for Hawaiian papaya perfection.


 

This year’s Merrie Monarch Festival has come to a conclusion. Ke Kai O Kahiki walked away with the big prize of top hula halau.

The Oahu halau (troupe) won the festival’s overall honor Saturday night thanks to a strong showing in the men’s categories. They won the men’s kahiko (traditional) competition with one of the festival’s most talked about dances, a hula mai, or procreation chant, and placed second for the men’s auana (modern) dance.

Halau Na Mamo O Puuanahulu—led by kumu hula (hula teacher) Sonny Ching—placed second overall for the second straight year, with top scores in women’s kahiko and men’s auana dance. The group won the women’s overall award.

The festival opened last Thursday with Cherissa Henoheanapuaikawaokele Kane winning the title of Miss Aloha Hula 2009, the festival’s top individual award.  

Kane—a dancer with singer-songwriter Kealii Reichel’s Halau Kealaokamaile—also won the festival’s Hawaiian Language Award for her chanting skills. The prize? $1,000.

Video of the winning performances will be available on KITV.com throughout the week. In the meantime, you can browse a collection of clips of other halau from last weekend’s events. Click here and scroll down until you arrive at the “video” header for a list of videos.

For a complete list of Merrie Monarch Festival winners, click here.


 

Thanks to CouponsForFun.com, today’s traveler can download discounted coupons for Hawaii attractions.

Online deals include two-for-one admission specials at The Contemporary Museum, a coupon for a free combat simulator flight at the Pacific Aviation Museum and several 20 percent discount coupons redeemable at various Oahu attractions.

The site also features a 20 percent discount on the Stars and Stripes tour at Pearl Harbor, which includes a guided tour of the Battleship Missouri, visiting the USS Arizona Memorial and a walking tour of the National Cemetery of the Pacific at Punchbowl.

You can browse through six categories of Hawaii attractions (some for other states, too)—although we’re not quite sure how Wet 'n' Wild Hawaii (formerly known as Hawaiian Waters Adventure Park), a splash-and-fun amusement park, ended up being listed among the “Themed Dinner Shows.” 

  

You ask. We answer.

HAWAII Magazine reader Rosemary Grutt e-mailed us:

I’d love to hear song samples from your favorite five albums of 2008, as mentioned in the article in my January/February 2009 issue of HAWAII Magazine. I went online and tried to find a link but was not successful. Please tell me where the link is. Mahalo.

Click here to hear the song samples mentioned in “The 5 Best Hawaii Albums of 2008,” including:

• Destiny, by The Brothers Cazimero (Mountain Apple Company)
• Home Malanai, by Leokane Pryor and Friends (Naupaka Productions)
• Aumakua, by Amy Hanaialii (Ua Records/Concord Records)
• Kaneohe, by Nathan Aweau (Bass Plus Music Arts)
• Kaumakaiwa, by Kaumakaiwa Kanakaole (Mountain Apple Company)

If you like what you hear, our online editor Derek Paiva even included links in his article about where you can purchase these CDs.

 

The Grand Waikikian has a pair of promotions going on now; giving potential guests the chance to experience the Waikiki resort’s upscale digs at seriously reduced rates.
 
The 331-suite Grand Waikikian opened December 20, 2008—the most recent addition to the Hilton Hawaiian Village. Those who book now are eligible for the “Grand Suite Getaway” package, offering a nightly rate of $250 for a one-bedroom suite, with a five-night minimum stay, saving guests as much as $290 per night. 

Suites are equipped with private outdoor lanai, full kitchen, flat-screen televisions, wireless Internet and deep-soaking tub.

If that’s not convincing enough, guests also receive a $100 resort credit valid for activities including spa treatment, surfing or standup paddle boarding lessons and dining at the Hilton’s Starlight Luau. Shoppers take note the credit is also good at the 90+ stores and restaurants within the Hilton Hawaiian Village.    
 
The package is offered based upon availability, now through May 31, 2009, for travel dates through December 31, 2009. For more information, or to make a reservation, call (877) 631-4482 and ask for the “Grand Suite Getaway” package.
 
The Grand Waikikian and other Hilton properties are also offering a Mahalo Package for guests staying four or more consecutive nights. The deal includes 10,000 Hilton HHonors bonus points, double miles with one of more than 20 airlines and a complimentary bathrobe. The offer is valid for travel dates through June 15, 2009 for room rates starting at $269 per night and is based on availability.

For reservations and a list of all participating Hilton properties and airlines, click here, or call (800) HHONORS (800) 446-6677 and ask for Plan Code H9.



 

During Merrie Monarch, you can hardly get a hotel room or a rental car in Hilo, the Big Island’s biggest city.

The rest of year? Hilo’s awfully quiet. Visitors prefer the sun-drenched resorts of the Kona Coast to the sometimes damp environs of the Big Island’s lush windward coast.

But Hilo’s a real town, surprisingly vibrant. Photographer David Croxford and I spent some time there recently. You can read about our visit in the May/June issue of HAWAII Magazine. (Don’t subscribe? You’re missing the only national magazine devoted to Hawaii, its people, its scenery, its culture.)

In addition, we’ve created this slideshow to walk you through one of Hawaii’s most interesting—but little visited—communities. (You can click on the slideshow images for a larger view.)



 

The site of the one of the oldest hotels on Kauai, the Poipu Beach Hotel, officially resumed business this week as a boutique hotel: the Koa Kea Hotel & Resort. There are grand opening specials, see below.

Koa kea, or white coral, is a symbol of rebirth in Hawaiian mythology—a fitting name for a property that slipped into relative obscurity during the last 17 years.

In 1992, the Poipu Beach Hotel closed following the devastation of Hurricane Iniki. It was one of three Poipu hotels to shut down due to the hurricane, along with the Sheraton Kauai and the Stouffer Waiohai.

The Sheraton Kauai reopened in 1997. The Stouffer was transformed into time-share resort Marriott Waiohai Beach Club in 2004.

The Poipu Beach Hotel, however, sat abandoned, until Florida-based CTF Hotels purchased the property with the intent of upgrading the space. Even then, delays in renovation and permit processing pushed back the hotel’s opening.

The hotel—part of the Preferred Hotels & Resorts collection—has 121 rooms and suites with HD cable television and high speed internet, among other amenities. Normal rates start at $395 nightly.

But here’s the good news: To celebrate the opening, the hotel is offering a special $299 a night rate for garden-view rooms. Guests can also receive a free upgrade to the next room category by paying the standard rate. For example, purchasing a garden-view room will automatically qualify you for a partial ocean-view room. For more information click here, or call (877) 806-2288.

The hotel also boasts a spa that uses natural Island ingredients such as seaweed, pineapple and red Kauai clay. While the hotel’s new restaurant, Red Salt, is generating serious buzz, largely due to the leadership of Executive Chef Ronnie Sanchez, formerly of Michelin-star winning restaurant El Bulli.

 

The 46th annual Merrie Monarch Festival kicks off tonight. For many hula halau (troupes), the festival is their Super Bowl. They spend much of the year practicing and preparing for this weekend.

Hundreds of dancers from around the world congregate to Edith Kanakaole Stadium in the Big Island town of Hilo for a weekend filled with arts, music and, of course, hula.

Hawaii TV network KITV will once again stream the hula competition online. If you have access to a TV set in Hawaii, you can, of course, watch the broadcast live on KITV Channel 4. This year’s Merrie Monarch will be aired in high-definition, a first for the festival.

Tonight, April 16, is the competition for Miss Aloha Hula 2009.

On Friday night, you can watch kane (men) and wahine (women) halau perform in the kahiko (traditional) competition.

Saturday is the group auana (modern) hula competition. An emotional award ceremony closes the festival that evening.

It’s not all hula, however. The festival sponsors an arts-and-crafts fair today through Saturday at Hilo’s Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium. On Saturday morning, the Merrie Monarch Royal Parade marches through downtown Hilo. Except for the hula competition, all events are free and open to the public.

Live coverage begins tonight at 6 p.m., Hawaii Time. That’s midnight on the East Coast, 9 p.m. on the West Coast.

Here's the complete schedule (all times HST, add 3 hours for PDT, 6 hours for EDT):

Miss Aloha Hula: Thur., April 16, 6 to 11 p.m.
Hula Kahiko: Fri., April 17, 6 to 11 p.m.
Hula Auana: Sat., April 18, 5:30 p.m. to midnight


 

The good news was that there was no damage from yesterday's 5.0 Big Island quake, though the island got a healthy shake. 

Reactions varied. One of our friends on the Big Island was driving and didn't feel it. Another  was in her home office while her husband was engaged in a do-it-yourself project. She ordered him to stop shaking everything, she was trying to work. "The only damage was embarrassment on my part," she said.

But we were concerned that the quake was so close to Kilauea's active volcano. So we immediately called our volcano watcher-on-the-spot, Donna O'Meara, for a first-hand account.

What follows is from Donna:

Yesterday’s 5.0 earthquake felt more like a 6.0 to me. My humble house is close to the quake’s epicenter, and the quake seemed to go on forever.

I was at my computer working on my new Kilauea book and happened to be downloading information on explosive blasts in Kilauea’s past. Suddenly the house began rocking, and cups began falling from the shelves. I grabbed my little dog, Daisy Duke, who was by now barking  madly.

The quake seemed to last for a long time before everything settled. Then I noticed my hands trembling and knew we had just had another one of Kilauea’s recent surprises. 

I thought of Pele and the fact that the Merrie Monarch Hula Festival was kicking off this week. What does this quake mean? No one knows for sure, but I still venture that we may see lava at some point in the summit of Kilauea’s caldera.

Maybe we will even see the majestic lava fountains of last summer.

The photo is Donna and husband Steve's image of Kilauea in action from last July. It graces the cover of America’s National Park’s Calender 2010, available at the park.
 

Since they are virtually our neighbors in Hawaii Kai, we'd like to extend our congratulations to Josh Holloway and his wife Yessica Kumala, who had a baby girl, Java Kumala Holloway, last week.

Local media were caught flat-footed, since the Holloways reportedly shopped for a Honolulu hospital that would keep the happy event under wraps. News broke in People Magazine. But after all, it's a private moment and a first child for the couple.

The good news: Java can always say she was born in Hawaii.
 

Hawaii-born lead vocalist Nicole Scherzinger of the Pussycat Dolls returns to Oahu for "The Doll Domination Tour" at the Neal Blaisdell Arena this summer.

Scherzinger, who is of Hawaiian, Filipino and Russian descent, was born in Honolulu, but moved with her family to Louisville, Ky., when she was six years old.

Now, the 30-year-old singer lives in Santa Monica, Calif., but occasionally returns to Hawaii during the holidays to frolick in the Pacific Ocean.

“The Doll Domination Tour” kicked in Europe and continues on the road with Britney Spears for the Circus tour. After making their way around the United States, Canada, Australia and Asia, the ladies will stop to perform in Scherzinger’s hometown, Honolulu—making it the Pussycat Dolls' first Hawaii concert.

The group’s hit songs include “Don’t Cha,” “When I Grow Up” and “Stickwitu,” which earned a Grammy Award nomination.

Tickets for Hawaii's June 13 concert cost $60 to $80 and go on sale Saturday, April 25 at the Blaisdell Box Office, online at Ticketmaster.com and at all Ticketmaster outlets, including select Macy’s stores.


 

In Greek mythology, Mount Olympus was the home of the gods. On Oahu we have our own Olympus. You won’t find Zeus here, but remarkable views of Honolulu, the Manoa and Palolo Valleys and East Oahu await those who make the trek.

The best way to get to Mount Olympus is up the Waahila Ridge Trail. Last time I hiked Waahila, time constraints kept me from proceeding all the way. A recent patch of fair weather beckoned me to return.

My hiking partner and I set off in the early afternoon. We quickly traversed the Waahila Ridge Trail, arriving at the sign that marked the end of the lower trail. Take a right at the sign and you will head toward Olympus.

The trail narrows through a forested area before arriving at a steep rock face. Logs and branches provided support as we climbed. Soon we reached a grassy knoll with a stunning panorama of the Manoa and Palolo Valleys, all the way out to the ocean.

We marched on. The trail was muddy and uluhe ferns raked against our ankles. Don’t be deterred, the best is yet to come.

We crossed a thin land bridge—where the backs of the Manoa and Palolo valleys meet—and arrived at the foot of a peak, one that leads to the summit of Mount Olympus. Exercise extreme caution from this point on. Surfaces are slick and the narrow foot holes carved right into the mountainside. You will find yourself grabbing onto branches and other vegetation for support.
   
At Olympus’ summit our heads were in the clouds—literally. A heavy fog rolled in, partially obstructing our views of Hawaii Kai and East Oahu.  Still, mere fog could not diminish the adrenaline of standing more than 2,300 feet above sea level, all of Honolulu stretched out far below our feet.

If you do ascend up Mount Olympus, give yourself enough time and wear proper shoes.  The hike from Waahila to Olympus stretches roughly six miles round trip.

Click on the slideshow below for larger photos from my hike.


 

Ever watch hula at a resort or luau?

It's more than just a show.

It is a perpetuation of Hawaiian culture passed down through generations. It’s a way of belonging. A way of life.

For the May/June 2009 issue of HAWAII Magazine, I spent a few days on Kauai with the women of halau Na Hula O Kaohikukapulani as they prepared for this week’s Merrie Monarch Festival.

Merrie Monarch is hula’s premier annual event, the Super Bowl of hula. The 22 dancers in Na Hula O Kaohikukapulani’s 2009 Merrie Monarch contingent had given up much of their leisure time since last September rehearsing for the roughly half-hour they’ll be on stage at the competition.

When I talked with the halau and its kumu hula (hula teacher) Kapu Kinimaka-Alquiza a few weeks before Merrie Monarch, three-nights-a-week of rehearsals were turning to four. The women were excited and nervous about the competition, but anxious to talk about why they loved hula.

“I think hula plays a big part in why Hawaiian culture is still alive,” said halau member Keahi Celebrado, 19, dancing solo this week for Merrie Monarch’s best dancer title, Miss Aloha Hula. “Auntie Kapu always reminds us that Hawaiian culture is a beautiful culture. Hula honors that. It’s about what comes from the heart.”

Find out what a life in hula is really like for this one halau in the feature, “Dancing from the Heart,” in our May/June 2009 issue of HAWAII Magazine. You’ll find copies at most national bookstores and newsstands, or by print subscription.

Planning a visit to Kauai? Want to see Na Hula O Kaohikukapulani dance? Make a reservation for the halau’s weekly luau show at the Sheraton Kauai Resort in Poipu. It’s fun and lively, with a variety of hula styles, done by a very talented halau.

Can’t make it to Kauai? Click below for a video of Na Hula O Kaohikukapulani dancing at Salt Pond Beach Park in Hanapepe, Kauai.
 



 

A friend who’s off to Kauai later this month challenged me to come up with a list of the five things I would do on the island if I had only one day there.

Having spent time on the island recently, I had my answers ready.

Assuming an early flight in, a rental car and a late flight out, here’s what I’d do, in the order I’d do them:

1.    Take a helicopter tour
Mornings generally offer the clearest skies on Kauai, making it the best time to take an air tour of the island. Much of Kauai’s natural beauty is visible from the ground, but you’ll never see Waimea Canyon, the Napali coastline and Kauai’s lush valleys and mountains the way you will from the air.

2.    Grab an early lunch at Hamura's Saimin Stand
Before you head out from Lihue, stop by this landmark Kauai eatery, long a favorite of residents. The décor is rustic, and service is hit and miss. But Hamura’s signature saimin is hailed for its house-made noodles and broth—the latter a closely-guarded recipe. DO NOT forget to order Hamura’s equally-famous teriyaki beef sticks.

3.    Stop at Kilauea Point Wildlife Refuge
The ocean cliffs and flora of this peninsula on Kauai’s rugged north shore are home to the largest population of seabirds on the main Hawaiian Islands. Monk seals and green sea turtles swim into its coves to lounge in the sun. During winter months, this is one of the best spots on the island to watch adult humpback whales and their calves breach offshore.
     
4.    Take a walking tour of Limahuli Gardens
Nestled in a forested valley cradled by craggy peaks, Limahuli Gardens offers a glimpse of how ancient Hawaiians used the natural lay of the land to create life-sustaining communities. Stroll around ascending lava rock terraces built by Limahuli Valley’s first inhabitants. Then climb through newly planted native forests to view the valley and shoreline from a scenic bluff.

5.    Pick a beach … and just hang until flight time
Now that you’ve driven to the end of scenic Kaumualii Highway, turn back and spend the rest of the afternoon on one of the north shore’s white sand beaches. Kee Beach has a sweet view of the Napali Coast. The beach at Hanalei Bay is always popular. But crescent, postcard-perfect Lumahai Beach is my favorite. Swimming isn’t recommended here. But sinking your toes in the sand and soaking in the sun is.

  

Part-time Hawaii resident and full-time Pearl Jam vocalist Eddie Vedder will end a solo summer tour in one of his favorite places in the world: Hawaii.

Vedder will wrap up an 14-date United States east coast tour of small theatres with a trio of concerts as far west as one can go in the U.S. He’ll play the Maui Arts & Cultural Center’s Castle Theater on June 29, and the Hawaii Theatre in Honolulu, Oahu, on July 1 and 2.

Vedder has close ties to the islands.

He keeps a home in Hawaii and spends a good deal of time here annually, most of it surfing our winter swells. Hawaii was where Vedder first met Hammond B-3 organ master, unofficial sixth member of Pearl Jam and Waimanalo, Oahu native Kenneth “Boom” Gaspar. He’s given considerable amounts of his time and music over the years to several Hawaii-based causes, including the North Shore Community Land Trust and Jack Johnson’s environmental education-focused Kokua Hawaii Foundation and Kokua Festival.

Tickets prices for Vedder’s Hawaii solo concerts will be the lowest on the tour—$66.50 for the Maui show, and $72 for the Honolulu shows.

And as a special “mahalo” to fans who live here in Hawaii, Vedder is discounting a limited number of tickets by $10 in a special pre-sale on April 17. A valid Hawaii photo I.D. is required. Tickets at the discounted price must be purchased at the following locations, at the time specified.

Volcom Waikiki
2134 Kalakaua Ave., Honolulu, Oahu
(808) 923-6200
10 a.m.

Tropical Rush
66-620 Kamehameha Highway, Haleiwa, Oahu
(808) 637-8886
9 a.m.

Volcom Whalers Village
2435 Kaanapali Parkway, Lahaina, Maui
(808) 661-6263
9 a.m.

Hi-Tech Surf Sports
425 Koloa St., Kahului, Maui
(808) 877-7750
9 a.m.

Otherwise, general ticket sales for Eddie Vedder’s Hawaii concerts begin April 18 at 9 a.m. at all Ticketmaster outlets and online at Ticketmaster.com.

Click here for dates and times for other cities on the June and July tour.

Click here to read a 2007 chat I had with Vedder, in part, discussing his Hawaii ties.


 

Our readers love Hawaii.

So we weren’t surprised when they quickly began sending us extraordinary photos of the Islands for our HawaiiMagazine.com Reader Photo of the Week contest.

We didn't promise any prizes. All we offered was a chance that their favorite photo taken in Hawaii would become one of our favorite photos taken in Hawaii … and that we’d share it with other readers.

Since launching our Photo of the Week blog in January 2008, we’ve received hundreds of snapshots of Hawaii (and the stories behind those snapshots). We've put together a slideshow featuring all of the photos that won a week’s residency on our  HawaiiMagazine.com home page (check out the right column for this week's winner) and a permanent spot in our Reader Photo of the Week blog.

You'll find the slideshow below. (Click on the frame to make the photos larger.)

Got your own great photo of Hawaii? E-mail it to us for P.O.T.W. consideration. Include your name, the city, state and country you live in, and a brief story about the photo (where and when it was take, the story behind the shot, etc.). Photo subjects can be anything you want—people, places, things—but must be shot in Hawaii. Send your photo to photo@hawaiimagazine.com.

Interested in winning a free trip to Hawaii?

All P.O.T.W. entries and weekly winners may be resubmitted for consideration in our 11th annual HAWAII Magazine Photo Contest. The grand prize—airfare for two to Honolulu on Hawaiian Airlines and a six-night stay at the Outrigger Reef on the Beach Hotel in Waikiki. Click here for official rules and more information about the contest.

We never tire of looking at the photos readers submit of our Hawaii backyard. They remind us how fortunate we are to live in a place of such singular beauty … all of it pretty much just outside our door.

We hope you enjoy these photos as much as we do.


 
 

Spring is here. No better time for some great art-house cinema.

The Hawaii International Film Festival's Spring Showcase will feature 23 films from more than 10 countries. The event runs from April 3-9.

Unlike the two-week festival in October, the Spring Showcase offers far fewer films—2008’s HIFF had over 100 films—but the eclectic spirit that has made the festival a popular draw remains. Like HIFF, the Regal Theatres 18 at Dole Cannery in Honolulu is the site for the spring mini-fest.

While films began airing last Friday, there are plenty of flicks still worth checking out:

Nati Baratz’s visually-stunning documentary Unmistaken Child (102 min) follows a former Tibetan disciple's search for his master’s spirit. When Tibetan master Lama Konchog passes away, the Dalai Lama instructs disciple Tenzin Zopa to search for his Konchog’s reincarnation. The film—shot over the course of four years—was recently rescheduled to run tonight at 8:45.

Closing out Tuesday night’s schedule is Burma VJ (85 min)—an unflinching look into the recent civil conflict in Burma. In 2007, Buddhist monks led a rebellion of more than 100,000 people. In response, the Burmese government banned foreign news crews and the Internet—effectively shutting off the ongoing events from the rest of the world. That is until a small band of reporters known as the Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB), or Burma VJs, take to the streets with pocket-sized video cameras to document the events, routinely putting their lives on the line.

The highest grossing Hindi film of all time, India’s Ghajini, (183 min) makes its Hawaii debut. Starring Amir Khan as Sanjay, a man afflicted with short-term memory loss that is bent on avenging the death of his girlfriend. Sound familiar? Sure, the film’s inspiration comes from Christopher Nolan’s thriller Memento, but be assured that director A.R. Murugadoss has added his own spin on this tale that will keep audiences guessing.

Tickets are now on sale for at Dole Cannery.  For the complete schedule, click here, or call (808) 528-3456.
  

While its Princeville Resort awaits a grand return to business in July after $40 million in renovations and a luxury St. Regis rebranding, Starwood Hotels Hawaii is offering appealing room deals on its two other Kauai properties.

The Westin Princeville Ocean Resort Villas timeshare is celebrating its one-year anniversary with a 50 percent off rack rates package. Rates start at $312 per night for studios, $425 a night for one-bedroom units. Book five nights and get the fifth night for free.

The resort is a great place to anchor a few days of Kilauea- and Hanalei-area adventures. My one-bedroom suite on a recent two-night stay was agreeably appointed—much like a home away from home … with benefits. A large, fully-equipped kitchen. A relaxed dining and living room area. A roomy bath with whirlpool tub and separate glass-enclosed shower. And Westin’s almost obscenely comfortable Heavenly Bed.

Garden-style swimming pools, hot water pools, and barbeque areas are leisurely scattered among the villas’ collection of unpretentious two- and three-story story buildings. Located on a bluff overlooking Kauai’s rugged north shore coast, the Villas’ large expanse of real estate was ripe for exploration.

Westin Princeville Ocean Resort Villas one-year anniversary packages include a $50 daily resort credit good for activities, golf on Princeville’s two courses or dining at the Villas’ Nanea Restaurant & Bar. Book here by May 31, 2009, for reservations between April 15 and December 25, 2009.

If you’ve got a week to spend exploring the Garden Island’s infinite natural charms, Starwood’s Discover Kauai package is an even better deal—three nights each at Westin Princeville Ocean Resort Villas and the Sheraton Kauai Resort at Poipu on the island’s south shore, with third night at each resort free.

Two six-night packages are available:

• $330 per night at Sheraton Kauai (deluxe garden view) and Westin Princeville Villas (island view deluxe studio). Third night at each property is free.

•$405 per night at Sheraton Kauai (deluxe oceanfront) and Westin Princeville Villas (island view deluxe one-bedroom suite). Third night at each property free.

You’ve got a bit more time to book the Discover Kauai package—reservations can be made through Dec. 21, 2009. Book here.

  

Pop star Rihanna arrived clandestinely in Hawaii yesterday, reportedly for some vacation time and to record tracks for her next album.

Apparently eluding notice from the frenetic paparazzi corps permanently camped at Los Angeles International Airport, Rihanna was photographed by fellow travelers as she arrived in Honolulu looking relaxed and happy.

Rihanna, 21, smiled and laughed while being filmed walking through Honolulu International Airport and waiting for a ride curbside with a friend. (Click here for video from celeb gossip Web site TMZ.com.)

In between downtime at an unnamed Oahu hotel, Rihanna will reportedly be recording tracks at Avex Studios in the east Honolulu suburb of Hawaii Kai—the same studio used by hip-hop artist Kanye West to record tracks for his recent 808s & Heartbreaks album.

West and hip-hop producer/musician Jay-Z—the latter, the former CEO of Rihanna's record label Def Jam—have also been spotted on Oahu in recent weeks. Could the three be collaborating here on Rihanna's next album? Stay tuned.

UPDATE, 4/3/2009: Turns out the R&R-in-Hawaii forecast was wrong. After a couple of days of work in Hawaii, Rihanna was spottted in New York City late Thursday night (4/3) and back in her home island of Barbados today. Ah, to be young and jet set!


 

The thought of waking up early on a Sunday and heading to the quaint Oahu north shore town of Haleiwa generally holds serious appeal only for surfers and beachgoers. Starting this weekend, you can add fresh produce devotees to the mix.

The Haleiwa Farmers’ Market is set to debut this Sunday morning, April 5, at 9 a.m. When a conch shell is blown signaling the market is open for business, patrons will be treated to some of the freshest locally grown produce from the North Shore and around Oahu.

More than 40 vendors representing many of Oahu’s farms and business will be there. A market café, educational demonstrations, kids’ booth, musical acts and a performance by a local hula halau should keep people well fed and entertained.

Still, what separates this farmers’ market from others here is its singular commitment to the environment. Striving to be Oahu’s first completely green farmers’ market, it will be completely solar-powered and absent of non-renewable materials. Vendors will use bio-compostable plates and utensils, which are later composted back into the Earth. Leftover produce and food will be given to area farms to feed livestock.

The market encourages a BYOSB—bring your own shopping bag—policy. However, free bags will be provided to the first 500 customers at the opening day celebration.

“I think we are doing something very unique,” says co-manager Annie Suite of the market’s focus on sustainability.

The market is the brainchild of Suite and Pamela Boyar. Boyar is no stranger to running a farmers’ market. She founded the Sunset Valley Farmers’ Market in Austin, Texas, which was recognized during her tenure one of the top farmers’ markets in the country by Audubon and Eating Well magazines. Boyar was named Farmers’ Market Director of the Year from the North American Farm Direct Marketing Association in 2005.

A resident of Haleiwa since 2006, Boyar long desired to open a farmers’ market showcasing the North Shore’s produce and goods. Boyar’s and Suite’s hard work—along with the efforts of dozens of Oahu’s farmers—finally takes center stage this Sunday.

Haleiwa Farmers’ Market will be open every Sunday at 9 a.m. You’ll find it at the traffic signal where old Kamehameha Highway (Haleiwa’s two-lane main drag) and Haleiwa Bypass Road intersect. Parking is free. For more information call (808) 388-9696, or click here.

Want a farmers market closer to Honolulu? The Saturday Farmers’ Market at Kapiolani Community College isn’t all-green. But it was our HAWAII Magazine 2008 BEST OF HAWAII choice for “best reason to get up before dawn on a Saturday.” Click here to read about it and view a slideshow.


 

As the Outrigger Reef on the Beach completes its $110 million renovation, it opened its new poolside Kani Ka Pila Grille.

We got there on a recent Sunday to hear Brother Noland sing up a storm, debuting his new CD, Hawaiian Man. Noland Conjugacion is one of the innovators in contemporary Hawaiian music, having had hits with the reggae-flavored “Coconut Girl” and the Hawaiian swing tune “Pua Lane.” 

The new CD is a dip back into tradition, both in its slack key sound and its song selection—“Royal Hawaiian Hotel,” “Henehene Kau Ako,” and “My Little Grass Shack In Kealakekua, Hawaii.”

It was no surprise to find an artist of Noland’s calibre playing Kani Ka Pila. The name of the place, after all, means “let’s make music.” Kani Ka Pila has filled its stage with some of the best contemporary Hawaiian musicians.

The current entertainment line-up includes two sons of the legendary Gabby Pahinui, Cyril and Martin. Cyril, of course, is a Grammy award-nominated guitarist in his own right. 

Here's the schedule:

• Sunday: Brother Noland, through April 15.
• Monday: “Pau Hana Monday” talent search with Kimo Kahoano
• Tuesday: Weldon Kekauoha
• Wednesday: Cyril Pahinui
• Thursday: Kawika Kahiapo and Martin Pahinui
• Friday: Kaukahi
• Saturday: Mānoa DNA

Kani Ka Pila Grille serves casual cuisine from 11 a.m.-9 p.m. daily, with live entertainment nightly from 5:30-8:30 p.m. If you’re looking for a particular artist to go with your poolside mai tai, make sure to check for changes in the schedule.

Kani Ka Pila Grille, Outrigger Reef on the Beach, 2169 Kalia Road, Honolulu, Oahu, HI. (808) 924-4992.

  

All the upscale burgers and sweet potato fries you could eat. Kahlua-spiked milkshakes at the open bar. And a few members of the Lost cast lending some celebrity support to one of their own.

Last weekend, Lost actor Daniel Dae Kim, Hawaii chef DK Kodama and business partners Ed Robles and Pablo Buckingham threw a very cool grand opening reception for the first Hawaii location of their new build-your-own-burger joint, The Counter.

Dropping by to nosh, hang around and generally look cool were Kim’s Lost cast mates Michael Emerson (“Ben”), Jorge Garcia (“Hurley”), Josh Holloway (“Sawyer”), Ken Leung (“Miles”) and assorted crew members.

Invitations weren’t easy to come by for the private party at the Kahala Mall eatery. Guests were whisked into The Counter’s darkened-for-the-evening interior after posing for “paparazzi” pics at an arrival area just outside the door. As intimate a gathering as the party was—barely a hundred or so guests, by our count—The Counter was still standing-room-only inside.

For the party, The Counter had an open-all-night sushi bar and a DJ spinning house music and classic tracks. Staff worked the room offering trays filled with mini burgers and those habit-forming sweet potato fries.

Regularly packed with patrons, The Counter appears to be a solid hit with residents and visitors. None of this has gone unnoticed to Kim who aims to make The Counter part of his plan for remaining in Hawaii after Lost wraps up production for good in 2010.

Still, I had to ask Kim if even he was sick of hamburgers after spending much of the last month taking care of Counter business when not on the Lost set. He laughed hard and shook his head no.

“But I’m eating just as many salads now to make sure I stay balanced,” said Kim. His favorite menu item? “I like our veggie Burger in a Bowl.”

Kodama, for his part, said his favorite burger was the Old School—angus beef burger, cheddar cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, pickle and red relish—on a bun.  “I like it simple,” he said.

Kodama was enjoying the hoopla accompanying the grand opening party—much of it courtesy of his celebrity business partner. “This is great! I hear we even have Kanye West coming tonight, and maybe even Jay Z.”

Neither showed up. But Garcia and Leung arrived early, hanging with tight circles of friends before splitting midway. Emerson stayed from beginning to end, affably chatting it up with all that approached, chowing down on burgers and, at one point, pausing at the bar to watch episodes of Lost playing silently on flat screen TVs. An ebullient Holloway breezed in late in the evening, immediately making the rounds of the room, getting to know folks by name and happily posing for all pictures.

At evening’s end, Kim offered us a personal thank you for coming, and Kodama asked that we return on a normal day at The Counter to try a full-size burger, fries and milkshake.

“You’re gonna leave full,” he promised.

No doubt.

The Counter: Kahala, Kahala Mall, 4211 Waialae Ave., Honolulu, Oahu, HI (808) 739-5100.

  

Attention Pacific Northwest residents!

Want to trade your drizzly skies and extra tall lattes for a dose of Hawaii sunshine this summer? Act now and you’ll be able to for a seriously reasonable price, with Hawaiian Airlines.

The catch? You must book the end of March, which, unfortunately, happens to be tomorrow.

The Hawaii-based air carrier is offering special roundtrip airfares from Portland and Seattle beginning at $360, taxes and fees not included. The deal is good for travel from June 15 to August 21, during the peak summer travel season.

Hawaiian Airlines also has lowered fares on its direct flights to Kahului, Maui, from the Pacific Northwest. Prices start at $386 for Hawaiian Airlines flights departing from Seattle, $430 from Portland.

All fares are subject to seat availability, of course. Click here for details.
 

This weekend the Mauna Kea Beach Hotel celebrated its reopening after a $150 million renovation, with not one but two nights of parties.

The elegant first night featured dignitaries, including former vice president Dan Quayle, speeches, and the traditional Japanese ceremony of breaking open a taru (wooden sake barrel). Not to mention a concert by jazz fusion group Hiroshima and splendid food and drink.

The weekend included a golf tournament, Hawaiian cultural classes, cooking demonstrations, art tours and culminated in a full-on luau with headliners Cecilio and Kapono.

Sound like fun? Here's a peak at the festivities. (Click on the slideshow for larger images.)



 

UPDATE, 3/30/2009: Kilauea: Mountain of Fire is now viewable online, in its entirety. Click here to watch.


If you can’t go the Big Island of Hawaii to see the current eruptive activity at Kilauea volcano in person, a new documentary airing this weekend on PBS might be the next best thing.

Producers of Kilauea: Mountain of Fire say their documentary is the first of the ongoing eruption at Kilauea filmed specifically for high-definition television. Filmed last year at a particularly heightened period in current Kilauea activity, the doc airs Sunday evening on the long-running Emmy-award winning PBS series Nature. (Click here for program times for your local PBS station.)

Given extraordinary access by Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, the crew of Kilauea: Mountain of Fire aimed to take viewers about as close as one could get to the powerful forces of nature at work on the volcano. Another goal was capturing the challenges of the animal and plant life living in Kilauea’s shadow.

The footage we’ve seen so far certainly looks impressive.

Aerial views peering into the maw of Kilauea volcano’s Puu Oo vent. Molten lava from Puu Oo reacting explosively in blasts of steam and lava particles as it meets the cold, roiling sea. Close-up sights and sounds of underwater lava flows building more Big Island land beneath the surface of the waves. A hike into the pitch darkness of Kilauea summit’s Kazumura lava tube, the world’s longest and deepest.

“The production used a variety of filmmaking techniques to bring this story to life,” says producer-director Kevin Bachar. “From special camera cranes offering us unique perspectives, to underwater housings allowing us to get up close … the production team was always looking for interesting ways to tell the story about this volcano.”

Gathering footage of the resilient animals making their home in and around the volcano’s unpredictable environs, Bachar’s crew encountered Hawaii state bird the nene goose, various species of lava tube-dwelling creatures called troglobites and an attack by a swarm of invasive wasps. One of the most captivating of these encounters focuses on efforts to protect the Hawaiian green sea turtles, which make their home offshore where coral clings to hardened lava.

Says Bachar: “In the end, the film crew was able to bring back a unique and extraordinary look at Kilauea volcano, with some images never captured before in high-definition television."

Click the below frame for a behind-the-scenes look at the filming of Kilauea: Mountain of Fire.
 
 

The Mauna Kea Beach Hotel got a glorious day for its official reopening, sunshiny, 79 degrees, with pleasant trades.  Things are quiet here in the hotel lobby. 

Everyone seems to be down enjoying the hotel’s most prominent amenity, its crescent white sand beach.

Things will light up tonight with a “Cuisines of the World” food festival and a concert by jazz fusion band Hiroshima.

The venerable Mauna Kea Beach Hotel was the only one of the Kohala Coast hotels that sustained serious damage from the 2006 earthquake.  Two and a half years and $150 million later, it has reopened, with a few changes.

The hotel never looked tacky, but it was starting to look dated, very beige and '60s. The original architectural design couldn’t be improved—it’s a triumph that blends spare modern construction with a tropical surroundings.


 

Every year Hawaii celebrates Prince Jonah Kuhio Kalanianaole Piikoi’s birthday.

It is Hawaii’s way of paying tribute to the man who created much of the Hawaii the world sees today. His determination and dedication for the Hawaiian Islands and its people led him to serve as Hawaii’s second congressional delegate from 1903 until his death in 1922. Thanks to Prince Kuhio, we have King Kamehameha Day—the only other state holiday dedicated to Hawaii’s royalty.

For more information on Prince Kuhio’s life and the impact he had on Hawaii, check out “Who Is Prince Kuhio?” in our March/April 2007 issue of HAWAII Magazine.

In honor of Hawaii’s beloved prince, today is a state holiday—schools are closed, city transportation operates on a holiday schedule and many people have the day off.

If you’re on Oahu this weekend, here is a list of Prince Kuhio celebrations:

Thurs., March 26:
Prince Kuhio Statue Ceremony (Kuhio Beach)
Prince Kuhio Celebration of Life (Royal Mausoleum)
Prince Kuhio Day Celebration (Hilton Waikiki Prince Kuhio)

Sat., March 28:
Prince Kuhio Hoolaulea (Kapiolani Park)
Prince Kuhio Annual Parade (Saratoga Road, Kalakaua Avenue, Kapiolani Park)
Prince Kuhio Moonlight Concert (Kapiolani Park)

In the Koloa district on Kauai, Prince Kuhio’s birthplace, there are many Prince Kuhio celebrations scheduled throughout the weekend, including cultural demonstrations, commemorative ceremonies, carving demonstrations and a celebration luau.

Below is a slideshow of a past Prince Kuhio Day ceremony at Oahu’s Royal Mausoleum in Nuuanu Valley. There’s also a video of the hula performance in his honor.

Click on the slideshow screen for larger photos.


 

Today marks the 25th anniversary of the last eruption of the Big Island of Hawaii’s Mauna Loa volcano.

At 1:30 a.m. on March 25, 1984, the largest active volcano on Earth woke up suddenly and spectacularly after nine years of slumber. The eruption sent several fast-moving fingers of lava down Mauna Loa’s gentle slopes, primarily over old flows and through upslope forests. One of the fastest of these molten Earth fingers immediately took direct aim at the Big Island’s largest city, Hilo, putting its residents on high alert in the days that followed.

The eruption ended three weeks after it began, its longest finger of lava coming to a stop just four miles from the nearest Hilo home. Mauna Loa has been quiet ever since.

Geologists at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory on neighboring Kilauea volcano do not expect Mauna Loa to erupt any time soon. Near-surface earthquake activity that typically precedes Hawaii volcano eruptions by years or months isn’t being detected on Mauna Loa currently. (There were three years of such temblors prior to the 1984 eruption.) But though quiet for the moment, Mauna Loa is still considered as active as its younger, smaller and currently erupting sister mountain Kilauea.

Mauna Loa has erupted 33 times in the last 150 years. And though its current slumber has gone on longer than other periods of inactivity, geologists predict that another quarter-century isn’t likely to pass before the mountain erupts again.

On the occasion of March 2008's heightened eruptive activity at Kilauea and the 24th anniversary of the Mauna Loa eruption, I wrote a post from my memories of those exciting and frightening three weeks in Hilo in 1984.

Here it is again:

The current eruption of Kilauea is bringing back old memories for me.

I grew up on the Big Island of Hawaii. Mauna Loa awoke in the early morning hours 24 years ago this week, March 25, 1984.

The 1984 eruption on the 13,680-foot volcano’s southeast flank produced a river of lava that came within four miles of the upper slopes of Hilo before stopping.

I lived in Hilo at the time.

My friends and I joined other residents on Hilo’s bayfront or near the airport runway after dark, studying the suddenly strange-looking mountain looming over the city. The familiar placid evening silhouette was gone. Mauna Loa now had a glowing amber hot spot and a thin finger of orange lava moving downslope through its thick forests.

Twenty-four years ago we had a rare opportunity that even the current eruption does not afford: Two Hawaii volcanoes erupting simultaneously. Turn southeast at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory and you’d see clouds lit up by the Kilauea eruption downslope. Turn west, and you could make out the curtain of 160-foot lava fountains upslope on Mauna Loa.

We became nightly volcano watchers over the three weeks that followed. Meanwhile, the intensely glowing orange finger of lava drew closer to the lights of Hilo each night. Fascination turned to fear. The town buzzed with talk of evacuation.

A friend’s house in upper Hilo was at least a dozen miles away from where the tip of the flow was mowing down vegetation. But sitting in his backyard gazing at the intense orange glow streaming through the forest beyond after dusk, you’d think it was just over the treeline, possibly arriving before morning.

In the end, the gentler slopes and thick forests of Mauna Loa’s lower elevations slowed the flow’s progression. The eruption ended around the same time, three weeks to the day it began. Hilo returned to its sedate pace. Mauna Loa has been quiet ever since.

Hawaiian Volcano Observatory’s most recent Mauna Loa report on March 15 showed no seismic activity or ground swelling—which means no lava is collecting in the mountain’s sizable below-surface reservoir.

One has to wonder, though, how long Mauna Loa will continue to let its younger sibling Kilauea continue to steal all the attention.

And so it remains today, as well.

Click here for Hawaiian Volcano Observatory Mauna Loa-related film and talk story events happening today through April 4 on the Big Island.

  

One of Hawaii’s most visited military historical sites is getting a facelift.

Preliminary construction has begun on a new 17,750 square-foot USS Arizona Memorial visitor center at Pearl Harbor. The $58 million project includes other additions and landscaping changes to the visitor center grounds. The world famous edifice of the Alfred Preis-designed memorial, constructed above the sunken hull of the battleship in Pearl Harbor, is not part of the renovation.

The current 29-year old visitor center (pictured below) will remain open during construction.

In the coming weeks, octagonal shaped pillars, or piles—each 125 to 200 feet long and 16.5 inches around—will be driven into the ground to serve as the foundation for buildings and other structures. The bulk of this first-phase structural work will take place weekdays from 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. from April 30 to May 27.

Everything at the Pearl Harbor Historic Site will remain business as usual with tours and boats running as scheduled. You should, however, plan accordingly as traffic in the area will likely increase.

When completed in early 2010, the new visitor complex will house interactive exhibits, a renovated concession area and restrooms better accommodating the 1.5 million people visiting the Arizona Memorial annually. Additional site improvements will include more walkways, security walls, and new landscaping and parking.

Phase two of the project begins soon after, with the demolition of the existing visitor center and construction of new pavilions. The estimated completion date for the entire project is September 2010.

A formal opening ceremony for the new visitor center is being planned for December 7, 2010—the 69th anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack.

Click here to view a photo slideshow by HAWAII Magazine associate editor Sherie Char of a recent visit to the USS Arizona Memorial.

 

Time to catch up with our best and most-popular Web posts again!

Every couple of months, we bring our brand new HawaiiMagazine.com readers—and even regular visitors who sometimes miss a few stories—up to date with the best of our daily Web site posts.

We’ve written 528 posts in total since January 2008—all of ‘em still here in our HawaiiMagazine.com archives, all of ‘em searchable by subject or island. Short features on Hawaii’s people, places, and products. Travel tips and travel deals. Slideshows of the photos we take on our travels throughout the Islands. And dozens of updates on activity at Kilauea volcano on the Big Island.

The Hawaii subject matter we write about is as infinite as our continuing fascination with this collection of Islands we call home.

Click the links below to catch up with HawaiiMagazine.com’s staff and readers favorite posts since the beginning of the year.

• Celebs, music and fireworks light up Royal Hawaiian gala reopening

• Hawaii officials huhu at The Rock’s SNL skit. Are you?

• Jason Mraz shares tales from "I'm Yours" Hawaii video shoot

• What's the deal with Waikiki's Trump Hotel & Tower?

• Take a tour through Lahaina’s historic trail on Maui

• Where's the beach? Seeking the origins of Waikiki sand

• Colbie Caillat shows Kauai roots in "Little Things" video

• Hidden Hawaii: Cool, green and serene Lanai

• New Hawaii burger joint part of Daniel Dae Kim's post-Lost plans

• VIDEO: Kilauea volcano lava lake rising, falling

• Jack Johnson's Kokua Festival taking a break in 2009

• Where to stay in Hawaii if you smoke

• Searching for Hawaii’s poi on the Mainland

• L.A./San Francisco to Hawaii airfare and hotel as low as $299

• The best restaurants in Hawaii

• It's humpback whale season in Hawaii

• Doing a Hawaii-themed luau away from Hawaii

• Char’s Chopsticks: Fresh Catch restaurant

• Char’s Chopsticks: Sam Sato’s, Inc.

• Maui's Grand Wailea Resort finishes multimillion dollar renovation

• What’s really “essential” on iTunes' Hawaiian Music Essentials playlist?

• Oahu’s Waahila Ridge Trail. I hike it.
  

Hawaiian voyaging canoe Hokulea and its crew sailed into the calm teal waters of Palmyra Atoll yesterday, nine days after departing Oahu.

Crew members reported sight of the atoll— some 1,000 miles south of Hawaii—at 8 a.m. (Hawaii time) Thursday, posting the information on its voyage blog a few hours later. In a lengthier update today, crewmembers Jenna Chiyono Ishii and Pauline Michiko Sato blogged about Hokulea’s very cool and very unexpected atoll welcome escorts, and other much-missed necessities accompanying the Palmyra arrival.

Wrote Jenna and Pauline:

On our approach, we were escorted by pods of dolphins (spinners, bottlenose) and melon-headed whales. It was a sight beyond imagination. Palmyra grew bigger and bigger and we saw the lush green trees on the low-lying atoll.

We were welcomed by The Nature Conservancy's staff by boat that led us through safe passage in this beautiful yet potentially dangerous system of reefs. It took a while to finally enter, but the wait was definitely worth it. The staff fed us a delicious lunch. However, the thing we went for first was an ice cold drink. This was the first time we had anything cold for a long time!  We were in heaven!

The staff took us out on short field trips in the afternoon. Tomorrow we will write more and hopefully load some photos of our adventures.

As previously reported here, the current month-long voyage to Palmyra and back to Hawaii is the first of at least a dozen training missions preparing Hokulea crews for a global circumnavigation voyage in May 2012.

You can continue to follow the crew members’ daily activities as they log them in Hokulea’s Palmyra voyage blog, or on its Twitter page.

  

You ask. We answer.

Reader Faye Waltman writes:

When my husband and I last visited Oahu, construction had just started on the new Donald Trump property on Waikiki Beach. I haven't heard any more about the progress of the hotel. Is it open? Or did construction stop due to the economy?

The real estate market may be soft, Faye, but leave it to the Donald to get things done.

The Trump International Hotel & Tower Waikiki is on track for a September completion. As of March 1, the hotel reported finishing room interiors up to the 15th floor. High-end appliances were installed in rooms up to the 25th floor, and plumbing lines were being installed on the top floor of the 38-story tower.

Touted as Hawaii’s first “ultra-luxury condotel”—that’s biz slang for condo-hotel—Trump Tower Waikiki sits adjacent to Fort DeRussy Beach Park, and a block from the ocean. Since the tower is one of the most expensive residential condo properties in Waikiki, much is riding on the its completion and ultimate success.

But the bigger issue likely concerning the Trump Organization and development partner Irongate Capital Partners LLC isn’t the completion of the tower itself, but whether or not the sales of its 464 units will close.

Nearly $700 million worth of units were snapped up when they went on sale in November 2006. Prices ranged from $460,000 for a 400-square-foot studio to $9 million for three-bedroom penthouse suites. Many buyers, however, still need to close their purchases prior to the tower’s completion. For many, this means obtaining a loan in a difficult economy.

If buyers don’t close the deals, they will forfeit deposits of as much as 20 percent of the condo’s purchase price.

A completely sold-out tower would likely be a much-needed boost for Trump. He recently abandoned a condotel project in Baja. His 100 percent presold Las Vegas condotel opened with fewer than 30 percent of sales closed, and his Chicago condotel remains 30 percent unsold.

We will keep you posted as news on the Trump Waikiki property develops.

  

A rare Molokai vine has been added to the federal endangered species list this week—the first plant to receive the designation from the Obama administration.

Phyllostegia hispida can only be found in the thick, damp forests of eastern Molokai, 2,300 to 4,200 feet above sea level. The vine is distinguishable by its loosely spreading branches that often tangle into a large mass.

The vine is the latest on Hawaii’s list of 329 federally protected endangered species—the most of any state in the U.S.
    
Only 10 individual plants of the vine had been spotted in the wild between 1910 and 1996, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The vine is so seldom seen that it doesn't have a common or Hawaiian name.

Feral pigs and competition from nonnative plants constantly threaten the plant. But the vine’s biggest hazard is its low population numbers, which put it at greater risk to natural disasters like hurricanes and disease.

Great strides are being made to boost Phyllostegia hispida’s numbers. 10 new wild plants were discovered within Puu Alii Natural Area Reserve—one of two federal natural area reserves on Molokai—last April.

Seeds and cuttings from those plants are being propagated at the University of Hawaii's Lyon Arboretum in Oahu’s Manoa Valley, Kauai’s National Tropical Botanical Garden-run McBryde Garden and Molokai’s Kalaupapa National Historical Park. The specimens will eventually be reintroduced into the wild, according to the Fish and Wildlife Service.

Meanwhile, the state's Department of Land and Natural Resources have erected fences in areas around Molokai to protect the vine from wild pigs and other ungulates.


 

Hawaii and Ireland have a lot in common.

Both are islands. Ireland is known for its verdant “emerald” countryside, while Hawaii has more than its fair share of lush green surroundings. Also, both places know how to have a good time come St. Patrick’s Day.

Hawaii’s St. Paddy’s Day festivities begin this afternoon. A parade, sponsored by the Friendly Sons of Saint Patrick of Hawaii, begins at noon in Waikiki. About 750 marchers, 50 vehicles, a float and five bands will start at Saratoga Road, before marching down Kalakaua Avenue to Kapiolani Park.

The state’s biggest St. Patrick’s Day celebration, however, happens in downtown Honolulu tonight. For decades, Murphy’s Bar & Grill has led the Celtic charge by doing what it does it best: serving up plenty of food and libations to patrons. This year will be no different.

Honolulu’s “Irish corner”—on the corner of Nuuanu and Merchant Streets where Murphy’s is located—will be set up all day for an epic block party that starts at 6 p.m.. Food and beverage booths from Murphy’s, Side Street Inn and Wahoo’s Fish Tacos will line the streets. Get your fill of corned beef sandwiches, steamed clams and Guinness Ale. Live music from Doolin Rakes and Piranha Brothers will set the evening's soundtrack as thousands of revelers fill the streets. The party officially goes until 10 p.m., but reveling continues downtown into the wee hours.

On the menu all day at Murphy’s are classic Irish fare such as corned beef and cabbage and Gaelic steak. Murphy’s is donating $1 for every pound of corned beef it sells this month to the Hawaii Children’s Cancer Foundation. More than $5,000 was raised last year. Don’t worry. There’s no chance of the pub running out of corned beef anytime soon. 

A St. Patrick's Day celebration will also take place at nearby Aloha Tower Marketplace at 6 p.m. tonight, featuring Irish food, drinks and music. For more information, call (808) 566-2337 or click here.

Bring your appetite, and throw on some green—unless you’re looking to get pinched.

Erin go bragh!


 

The Hawaii Superferry will cease operation of its sole inter-island route between Oahu and Maui indefinitely on Thursday after a Hawaii Supreme Court ruling against the company today.

The court ruled as unconstitutional a state law allowing the Superferry to continue operating without an environmental impact statement. The Superferry had been allowed to continue operating while an environmental review was being completed. But the court ruled that the law allowing the company to stay in business was unconstitutional because it was created specifically for the Superferry.

In a statement this afternoon, the company said it was in the process of calling all customers with near-term bookings to inform them of the shutdown. Customers may also call (877) 443-3779 or (808) 853-4007.

“Our first priority is to take care of our customers who have recently traveled and need to return to either Oahu or Maui and those who have future bookings,” said the statement. “We will make one additional round-trip to get vehicles back to their homes this Thursday.”

For news coverage of this story from our Honolulu dailies, click here for Honolulu Star-Bulletin updates, and here for Honolulu Advertiser updates.
 
 

Love lei? On Oahu this weekend? We’ve found the festival for you.

A Celebration of Hawaiian Lei Making will take place March 20-22 at the Academy Art Center at Linekona, across the street from the Honolulu Academy of Arts—with hands-on lei-making demonstrations, talk story sessions and photo exhibits.  The weekend’s events will culminate with an “Iron Lei Maker Challenge,” where two teams of lei makers will have two hours to craft a lei using a secret theme material.

Master lei maker Brian Choy—who we profiled in our Hawaii Style feature in the March/April 2009 issue of HAWAII Magazine—will host many of the weekend’s events, including panel discussions on planting and maintaining a lei garden and tips on how to enter the state’s May Day Lei Competition, a contest he has won on numerous occasions.

Choy was introduced to Hawaiian lei making in 1976, in of all things, a class on preparing a luau. The class included a half-hour lei making session. Those 30 minutes grew into 30-plus years of practice. Lei making became his life-long passion. Though Choy has retired from competition, he has long been compelled to teach others and will do so this weekend.

He'll have a little help from his friends. Island lei legends Bill Char, Roy Benham and others will be on hand to showcase their skills. Fellow Hawaii Style artist Paulette Kahalepuna will also contribute. Kahalepuna was profiled in our feature for her exquisite feather lei work, though she is well versed in floral lei. The lei masters have over a century’s worth of lei making experience combined.

For more information on this weekend’s events, click here, or call (808) 532-8700.

 

The Islands’ rich ecological diversity is reflected in its bird population. Hundreds of avian species call Hawaii home.

With the countless number of species—many bearing similarities to one another—distinguishing our feathered friends can be a daunting task. A new publication details all you need to know about Hawaii’s birds.

The Checklist of Birds in the National Parks of Hawai'i is a 12-page color booklet that profiles 158 different native and indigenous birds. Compact in size and cheap (it goes for just $2.50), the guide is a must-have on the trail for the avid ornithologist or the casual bird watcher.

Where in the Islands can you spot the Kaloko-Honokohau (Hawaiian Duck)? What are the Hawaiian and Latin names for the red-tailed tropicbird? (Koaeula and Phaethon rubricauda, respectively.) Which species of endemic honeycreepers may have recently gone extinct? You can find the answers to these questions and many more.

Published by nonprofit organization Hawaii Natural History Association (HNHA), proceeds from the booklets will help fund Hawaii’s National Park Service-sanctioned parks, supporting education programs, cultural demonstrations and other related activities.

Checklist of Birds in the National Parks of Hawai'i can be found in visitor centers of state parks served by the HNHA. Or click here to order a copy for yourself, or call (808) 985-6051.

 

Hawaii’s most popular pupu (appetizer) is poke (seasoned bite-sized raw fish). It’s a common staple you’ll find at backyard barbecues, grocery stores and even fine-dining restaurants in the Islands.

While many sell the usual soy-sauce-sesame seed oil-onion ahi poke, Fresh Catch specializes in 25 different styles of poke. This Kaimuki restaurant on Waialae Avenue reinvented the spicy ahi (tuna) poke by adding Hawaiian chili peppers and a few secret ingredients. It’s called the fireball ahi (pictured above right), a popular hit with kamaaina.

Fresh Catch also carries pokes you won’t find at many places, including taegu ahi, lomi oio (bonefish), ake (raw beef liver), pipikaula (dried beef) and spicy smoked tako (octopus).

Deciding what to eat at Fresh Catch for the first time can be overwhelming. “So many choices!” exclaimed one customer.

Besides the poke, there are plate lunches (click here to see the menu). “We’re selling 200 plates a day,” says chef/owner Reno Henriques. So far I’ve tried the ahi-stuffed crab roll (pictured above), furikake salmon, clam chowder and the fried ahi belly plate lunches. All I can say is that I licked each plate clean. 

Never tried poke before? Reno and his staff are more than happy to give you a sample. Here is a video of his recommendations and a tour of his restaurant.

Fresh Catch is mainly a take-out restaurant, but there are picnic tables if you want to eat right away.

Below is a slideshow of some of the poke and plate lunches available at Fresh Catch. Don’t drool on your keyboard. (Click on the slideshow screen for larger photos.)

Insider’s tip: Reno plans to open up a second Fresh Catch restaurant in Kaneohe on Oahu’s windward side. We’ll let you know on HawaiiMagazine.com when it’s open.

[3109 Waialae Ave., Kaimuki, Oahu, (808) 735-POKE (7653)]



 

After 10 days of patient waiting, the sea-starved crew of the Hokulea finally left Hawaii yesterday evening just before sunset. The voyaging canoe’s course is now set for the remote Palmyra Atoll, some 1,000 miles south of Hawaii in the Line Islands.

As previously reported here, Hokulea was originally scheduled to leave Friday, Feb. 27 from its dock at Oahu’s Sand Island. Cloudy weather, unpredictable winter winds and choppy ocean conditions kept pushing the date back. A window of clement weather finally opened up yesterday afternoon, prompting the crew to meet and make the decision to depart.

Clear skies and favorable weather were essential for the trip as the crew of Hokulea uses celestial bodies and currents to navigate the open ocean, similar to the techniques of ancient Polynesian voyagers.

The month-long excursion to Palmyra and back is the first of at least 12 long-distance training missions to prepare crews for an upcoming global circumnavigation, set for May 2012. While at Palmyra—one of the most pristine marine wilderness areas on Earth—the young crew will explore the ocean and coral reefs surrounding the atoll.

Can’t get enough Hokulea news? Follow the goings on of the canoe’s crew through social networking and micro-blogging service Twitter (click here). Crewmembers have been tweeting (updating) regularly on all things Hokulea as they awaited the go-ahead for the Palmyra journey. Their tweets should get even more interesting now that the canoe is on the open ocean.

In February, HAWAII Magazine and HawaiiMagazine.com jumped into the Twitter universe, as well. Click here to begin following our official Twitter page for quick links to our Web features as soon as they’re posted, magazine news and to follow the musings of other like-minded folk who love the Islands as much as we do.

Our hopes for safe travels and calm seas go out to the crew of the Hokulea!

  

Hawaii tourism officials and the state’s Lt. Governor, Duke Aiona, are publicly protesting today—about how offensive they found a Saturday Night Live skit that featured Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and cast member Fred Armisen as hula-dancing waiters, insulting visitors in a hotel bar.

The skit continues the long tradition of Mainlanders making up nonsense about Hawaii.  For instance, stringing random syllables as a “Hawaiian” song.  Or throwing in a few fake hula moves and then proclaiming hula is “dancing like a monkey.”  

Dwayne Johnson should have known better. He spent time here as a teenager—and has promised to portray Kamehameha the Great in a planned movie about the Hawaiian king in a “culturally sensitive” manner.

On the other hand, isn’t this skit what SNL always does? Broad, exaggerated comedy that sometimes isn’t as funny as it aspires to be?

When a skit starts out by showing stock footage of Waikiki Beach and then claiming it’s Kauai, does anybody think it’s real? Does anyone really think that every service worker in Hawaii makes minimum wage and lives in pickup truck outside a shanty town? Or that all our visitors are as clueless as the ones in the skit?

Maybe. But they’re wrong.

Or maybe at HawaiiMagazine.com, we’ve just got enough aloha not to get offended easily?

You decide. Here’s the skit (an ad runs first). Tell us what you think.

 

The Royal Hawaiian isn't the only venerable Hawaii hotel property celebrating a grand reopening this month.

A weekend’s worth of food and entertainment will welcome back the Big Island of Hawaii's Mauna Kea Beach Hotel on March 26 and 27. The South Kohala coast luxury resort is hosting two separate nights of lavish dinners and concerts.

Patrons on March 26 will be treated to a buffet-style “Cuisines of the World” themed dinner, accompanied by the smooth jazz-fusion of Hiroshima, performing live. On the second evening, veteran Hawaiian contemporary music duo Cecilio & Kapono will take the stage when the hotel throws itself a traditional luau.

Dinner is $150 per person for each night. Tables seating 10 are $1,500.

The Mauna Kea is returning to business in grand style following $150 million in renovations necessitated, in large part, by an October 2006 earthquake off the South Kohala coast. Structural damage and safety concerns prompted the closure of the resort for two years.

Built in 1965 by venture capitalist and financier Laurance Rockefeller, Mauna Kea Beach Hotel was one of the first resorts built on the rugged lava fields of the Big Island’s South Kohala coast. It has been a well-recognized landmark on the northwestern side of the Big Island ever since. The American Institute of Architects, in 2007, ranked the resort as one of the 150 best works of architecture nationwide.

The two-year renovation included large- and small-scale changes for the hotel. The overall foundation of the resort’s buildings was reinforced. Dated interiors were overhauled with roomier floor plans, a more modern design scheme and modern amenities including flat screen TVs, media hubs and bedside iPod docks. (Click here for a previous post on the Mauna Kea's renovation.)

Though the hotel reopened its doors to the public last December, reopening ceremonies have been delayed until final touches—such as a brand new 4,000 square-foot Mandara Spa, set to open on March 20—were completed.

Special introductory room rates start at $385 a night, and come with a $50 resort credit. A multitude of vacation packages—including super luxe three-night grand opening weekend packages from $3,999 to $6,999—are detailed on the resort’s Web site.

For more information on reopening events or room reservations, click here, or call (808) 882-5707.
  

First the Hawaii Chair, now, finally, an actual trip to Hawaii.

Hawaii is getting national exposure this week on the daytime television circuit courtesy of Emmy-winning gabfest, The Ellen DeGeneres Show. The popular talk show’s “Hawaiian Play for a Lei Game Week” event begins today and runs until Friday, March 13—showcasing the Islands through trivia, live music and other entertainment.

The week’s big prize is a free trip for two to Hawaii valued at $30,000 for a very lucky member of Ellen’s audience. The all-expenses-paid package includes first class airfare to Oahu and the Big Island, luxurious hotel suites at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel and Mauna Kea Beach Hotel—both newly reopened following multi-million dollar renovations—and a helicopter tour. It will be handed out on Fri., March 13, live on the air.

In sporadic fashion—fitting of the ever-ebullient DeGeneres’ animated personality—the winners will be whisked away to Hawaii almost immediately after winning their prize—arriving in Honolulu the next day for their eight-day stay. A video documenting their Hawaiian dream vacation will be played live on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, following the winners’ return. 

We’re certain they’ll have a good time here.
 
Viewers tuning in at home will be eligible to win a similar trip on the March 16 episode of DeGeneres’ show. Click here to enter. Ellen's 400 audience members that day will also receive a collection of gifts from each of the major Hawaiian Islands.

Sensing a major marketing opportunity for the Islands, the Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau (HVCB) sponsored the vacation giveaways along with Hawaiian Airlines, Royal Hawaiian Hotel, Mauna Kea Beach Hotel and other Hawaii businesses. With more than 3 million viewers tuning in daily to watch DeGeneres, its a great place for Hawaii to be front and center.

The Ellen DeGeneres Show airs in Hawaii on ABC affiliate KITV at 3 p.m., weekdays. Click here for TV stations and broadcast times elsewhere.

Can’t make the TV time to check out Ellen’s Hawaii-themed antics? Visit the show’s Web site, which offers streaming video and daily updates.
  

The Royal Hawaiian threw itself a grand opening gala on Saturday, blending the classic and modern eras of the 82-year-old Waikiki hotel into one unforgettable evening.

Guests at the luxe party were treated to much food, drink—including the Royal’s signature mai tai—and a performance by virtuoso trumpeter Chris Botti. Celebrities in attendance included actors Hayden Panettiere (Heroes), Justin Long (He’s Just Not That Into You), Heather Graham (Boogie Nights) and Jennifer Esposito (Samantha Who?) The entirety of the Royal Hawaiian property was open for exploration throughout the night.

About half the 528 rooms of the “Pink Palace of the Pacific”—newly coral pink, to be exact—have been open since the beginning of the year. Final touches on more than $110 million worth of renovations—launched back in June when the resort was shut down for seven months—ended this week before the big party.

In charge of the gala was New York-based wedding and event designer David Beahm, named one of 2008’s Top 25 trendsetters by Modern Bride Magazine. Among his notable credits, Beahm designed the multi-million- dollar 2000 wedding of Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones from top to bottom.

Gala guests—who were asked to dress “formal with a nod to pink”—were treated to several simultaneous party areas on the hotel grounds. 101-year-old ukulele virtuoso Bill Tapia and guitarist/vocalist Makana played on satellite stages on the Royal property. Later in the evening, a “convergence of parties”—that’s Beahm’s explanation—brought everyone together on the Royal’s Waikiki beachfront lawn to dance to live music by Botti, performing in the Monarch Room ballroom. Late evening, live music and dancing continued on the lawn beneath the hotel’s Spanish-Moorish façade.

Though rain fell intermittently through the evening—clearing up only during the gala's final hours—guests seemed to have a grand time exploring the variety of "parties" Beahm had scattered about the property (see photo slide show below). One of our favorites? A late evening gathering in the Royal's new moodily lit, mod-cool Azure restaurant (bottom photo), which wound up as THE spot for guests eager to party past the gala's midnight end. Among the scenes at beachfront Azure's tables and banquettes? Actor Justin Long (middle photo, arriving at the gala) getting goofy with a posse of friends. Lost cast members Michael Emerson and Daniel Dae Kim chatting with friends, occasionally leaving their pod of banquettes to scope the room. And Chris Botti hanging around long past his Monarch Room performance, making the rounds of Azure tables.

Tickets to the gala were $350 each. Corporate tables (at $10,000 each) and the resort’s new beachside cabanas (at $5,000 each) were also available. Proceeds went to Oahu-based Rehabilitation Hospital of the Pacific.

 
 

After weeks of suspense and heated negotiation between Hawaii tourism officials and the National Football League, the Pro Bowl will return to the warm winter weather of Hawaii after all.

The Hawaii Tourism Authority (HTA) voted this morning to accept the NFL's latest offer to bring the Pro Bowl back to Oahu in 2011 and 2012.

The HTA vote was 9-1 in favor of bringing the game back. The board will pay the NFL $4 million annually for the rights to host the annual all-star game at Aloha Stadium.

In December, the NFL announced that the Pro Bowl would be leaving Hawaii in 2010 for Dolphin Stadium in Miami, Fla., site of next year’s Super Bowl—the first time in 30 years that the game would not be played here.

HTA and NFL officials have been negotiating since that decision was made to bring the game back to the Islands. Both sides had been deadlocked on terms of the deal.

Last week, the HTA rejected an NFL proposal similar to the one approved today. The NFL turned down HTA’s proposal to rework the deal. But both sides were compelled to reach an agreement, facing mounting pressure from Hawaii state government officials, residents, fans and even NFL players who want the Pro Bowl to remain in Hawaii.

The NFL also agreed today to consider returning the Pro Bowl game to the Sunday after the Super Bowl, the date the all-star game has traditionally been played. Along with the move to Miami, the 2010 Pro Bowl is scheduled for the week before the Super Bowl. The NFL hopes that doing so will revive waning national interest in the game.

A big reason Hawaii state government officials want the game to remain here? Money, and lots of it. Last month's Pro Bowl generated $28.6 million in spending and $2.9 million in taxes for the state in tough economic times.

The game has attracted sellout crowds annually for its entire 30-year run in Hawaii.


 

Rumblings about the possible closure of Waikiki’s famed Ilikai Hotel have the hotel’s frequent guests concerned. The good news? The Ilikai is sticking around for now, and may even get a new and luxe lease on life.

The Ilikai’s current travails date back to 2006 when developer Brian Anderson bought 343 rooms with renovation plans that reimagined the hotel as a hip gathering place for young adults. The hotel had billed itself as "the first luxury high-rise hotel in Hawaii" when it opened in 1964 and remained popular with visiting celebs, dignitaries and other moneyed folk through the 1970s.

That penthouse balcony where a helicopter camera zooms in to meet square-jawed Jack Lord as Detective Steve McGarrett in the groovy opening credits of every “Hawaii Five-O” episode? Yep, it’s the Ilikai.

Anderson’s renovation never happened. A new generation of moneyed young adults never gathered. Ilikai condo owners are now suing Anderson for not paying condo fees on the collection of units he purchased. The issue went to court and the future of the iconic hotel—along with its 1,000-plus hotel rooms and condos—was, until recently, up in the air.

In the last few weeks a new court receiver was appointed and a new business plan proposed. Sadly, that plan is contingent on the Ilikai maintaining a hotel occupancy rate much higher than what local hotel experts consider feasible given the current economy-related problems facing Hawaii tourism.

The Ilikai remains open to serve visitors. Our visit to the hotel’s reservations Web page found rooms available for booking through December 24th, 2009. Plans beyond that date are unknown.

But the answer could be a brand new management company. Hotel Business Magazine reported last week that Edition Hotels was angling to take over the Ilikai in 2010, converting it into a luxury boutique hotel.

Edition Hotels is the brainchild of current Ilikai management company Marriott Hotels and global hotelier Ian Schrager. Some may remember Schrager as the co-founder and co-owner of the original incarnation of New York disco-era hotspot Studio 54. Credited with originating the “boutique hotel” concept, Schrager is these days more well-known for developing and/or managing tony hotel and residential properties such as New York’s Gramercy Park Hotel. A relatively new partnership between Schrager and Marriott International chairman and CEO Bill Marriott, Edition bills itself as "the first truly global branded boutique/lifestyle hotel on a large scale."

Should the Ilikai project not follow the fate of recently stalled Edition boutique projects in Washington D.C. and Miami, it would be the company’s first property to actually open for business. Details on an Edition’s Ilikai plans are minimal—there's no mention of the project on the company's Web site—and Ian Schrager Company officials are staying mum.

We’ll keep you posted when and if more news breaks on the project.

  

In Japan, Girls’ Day is a thing of the past, giving way to Children’s Day on May 5 (formerly Boy’s Day). But here in Hawaii, we still like to give the girls a day all their own.

Hinamatsuri, or Girls’ Day, takes place every March 3 and is mostly celebrated by Hawaii families of Japanese and Okinawan descent. Early Japanese immigrants first brought the holiday to the Islands.

Following Girls’ Day tradition, elaborate dolls were given to Japanese girls upon birth, detailed with brocaded silk kimonos, fans and musical instruments. Young girls would display their dolls in arrangements up to seven tiers high. Tradition states that the display must be taken down by March 3 or the girls would not find husbands.

In Hawaii, you will find trays of hishi mochi sitting in the storefronts of Asian groceries. The diamond shaped colored rice cakes are the traditional food of Girls’ Day. Red or pink represents peach blossoms and other flowers, white signifies snow or purity and green symbolizes growth or fertility.

If this was 19th century Japan, girls could expect gifts of peach blossoms and paper dolls—symbols of a peaceful and prosperous marriage. Current generations of girls have come to expect something more sensible: perhaps a high-tech trinket or some money.

Modern adult women are accustomed to find a box of mochi cookies by the office water cooler. It’s not uncommon for male co-workers to treat the ladies to lunch—becoming an unofficial Girls’ Day tradition in workplaces around Hawaii.

This office included.

  

You ask. We answer.

HAWAII Magazine reader Doug Wight writes:

As I understand it, Hawaii laws prohibit smoking in hotel/condominium rooms throughout the state.
 
Are there any facilities that allow smokers to use balconies/patios to smoke or do all hotels/condominiums prohibit smoking entirely?

Doug, the law you refer to is likely a 2006 measure prohibiting smoking in “all enclosed or partially enclosed areas open to the public” throughout the Islands. As a result of this law, many of Hawaii’s hotels and resorts declared all of their guest rooms to be smoke-free. Whole hotel chains like Marriott Resorts Hawaii, OHANA Hotels Hawaii and ResortQuest Hotels Hawaii have responded by banning smoking throughout their properties entirely.

The ban has left people who smoke in the cold—literally. Smokers are now required to congregate in designated smoking areas such as parking lots and other outside spaces that are at least 20 feet away from buildings, and even further from their hotel rooms.

Despite these strict guidelines, finding accommodations for smokers in Hawaii isn’t impossible. Hotels around the state have various rules with regard to where smokers can or can’t smoke. A few select rooms are often reserved for visitors who smoke. These are typically available on request. Travel-Hawaii.com provides a full list of these lodgings, along with specific guidelines. Hotels and condos on all the main Hawaiian Islands are listed, including Lanai and Molokai.

The site is a valuable resource for non-smokers as well. Visitors who require a completely smoke-free environment due to health concerns, small children or a general displeasure for second-hand smoke should check it out.

Concerned either way? We’d recommend simply phoning the Hawaii hotel or resort you’re considering and asking what their smoking policy is.

 

The legendary Polynesian double-hulled voyaging canoe, Hokulea, will set sail from Oahu this weekend. The destination: Palmyra Atoll—some 1,000 miles away from Hawaii’s shores.

Famed Hokulea navigator and Polynesian Voyaging Society (PVS) chairman Nainoa Thompson confirmed the crew is scheduled to depart for Palmyra on Saturday. However, strong winds that have battered the Islands could put their travel plans on hold.

Palmyra Atoll sits 1,050 miles from Oahu, nestled within the fragile chain of the Northwest Hawaiian Islands.

The trip to Palmyra and back is the first of at least 12 long-distance training missions to prepare crews for an upcoming global circumnavigation, which is scheduled to start May 2012, with the Hokulea returning to Hawaii in June 2015. Over the three-year period Hokulea will require 12 crews to travel to more than 20 countries.

Since its maiden voyage to Tahiti in 1976, Hokulea has set out on nine occasions—traversing the far reaches of the South Pacific and beyond. In 2007, Hokulea racked up more than 8,000 miles en route to Japan.

The crew of Hokulea continues to use navigation similar to that of ancient Polynesian voyagers—favoring celestial bodies and ocean currents over instruments and other forms of modern technology—making the planned global trek all the more impressive. We’ll keep you posted as news about the 2012 trip develops.

UPDATE 3/2/2009: Strong winds kept the Hokulea from departing to Palmyra Atoll last weekend. The voyaging canoe will attempt to set sail again today if weather permits.

UPDATE 3/4/2009: The Hokulea's departure has been delayed for a second time due to high winds and cloudy skies. For non-instrument navigators, it is important to be able to see the stars. No new sailing date has been set. We'll let you know as soon as we find out.

 

Last night was the grand opening of Jimmy Buffett’s at the Beachcomber, his new restaurant in the Ohana Waikiki Beachcomber Hotel.

It’s hallowed ground since the location once housed the Don Ho show.  At the VIP opening, the Land Shark beer (Buffett’s brand with Anheuser-Busch) and the margaritas (with Buffett’s licensed Margaritaville tequila) flowed freely.  And Buffett played a full set with his Coral Reefer Band.

Buffett’s beach vibe is Caribbean, not Hawaiian.  But Buffett made some gestures, including having Hawaii musicians Henry Kapono and Jake Shimabukuro on stage with him.

Shimabukuro has toured with Buffett, who spotted the Hawaii ukulele wizard in his now famous viral video, playing “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” in New York’s Central Park.  Says Jake, “He’s increased my exposure far more than I could have done on my own.”

Buffett’s $15-million, 400-seat Waikiki restaurant is open daily, with local music, casual food and, of course, his signature margaritas.

And, if you are on Oahu, you can catch Buffett and His Coral Reefer Band in concert at the Waikiki Shell tomorrow, Sat., Feb. 28th, at 7 p.m.  For tickets: (808) 591-2211 or click here.


 

Lahaina, Maui was once a favorite hangout spot for Hawaiian royalty and rowdy sailors.

You can learn much about the first capital of the kingdom of Hawaii by strolling down Lahaina’s historic trail. The self-guided walking tour features 62 historic and cultural sites.

The historic “trail” is not really a trail at all, but rather historical sites scattered throughout Lahaina. Many have been restored by the Lahaina Restoration Foundation, and can be found around the big Banyan tree and Lahaina Harbor. Look for the brown Lahaina Historic Site markers like these pictured on the right. Some sites have newer bronze markers with the sites’ histories.

Want to learn more about the history of West Maui’s largest town? Check out “A Walk into Lahaina’s Past” in our March/April 2009 issue of HAWAII Magazine.

In the meantime, here are photos of some of the tour’s sites. Click on the slideshow screen for larger photos.
 

Again this month, our photographer David Croxford and HAWAII Magazine editor John Heckathorn took roads less traveled. In this case, often dirt roads less traveled, on the cool and green island of Lanai.

The two rambled through Lanai City and then combed the island, meeting some fascinating people, from artists to conservation workers, from shooting instructors to seabird biologists. 

As on previous Hidden Hawaii sojourns to Hawi and Kapaau on the Big Island, the road to Waimea Canyon on Kauai, the Hana coast on Maui, and Honolulu's Chinatown by Night, Croxford brought back hundreds of photos.

You can find a couple dozen of them and Heckathorn’s illuminating story on this unique island in our March/April 2009 issue of HAWAII Magazine.

Here’s the best of the rest—the photos that made us jealous we didn’t come along for the ride. Click on the slideshow screen for larger photos.

 

On Maui? Want to end your February on a high note? How about some Hapa?

The Grammy-nominated Hawaiian music duo kicks off a national tour at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center (MACC) this Friday, February 27. Musicians Eric Gilliom and Ernie Cruz Jr. will join Hapa. For more information, call (808) 242-SHOW, or click here.

Hapa then jets east for shows in Maryland and Virginia, returning home via the West Coast, playing several spots in California, Oregon and Washington. For a complete tour schedule, click here.

Not familiar with Hapa? Led by the assured vocals of Nathan Aweau and anchored by guitarist Barry Flanagan’s steady rhythms, Hapa’s music stands out among contemporary Hawaiian artists.

Hapa’s eponymous debut CD was released in 1993 and swept the 1994 Na Hoku Hanohano Awards. The album went on to become the biggest selling CD by a group or duo in the history of recorded Hawaiian music. Hapa’s 2005 effort, Maui, also went on to score big at the Na Hoku awards, taking several honors including Album of the Year.

Click here to sample some of Hapa’s music for yourself, courtesy of online music service Rhapsody.

If you’re on Oahu, you can usually find Nathan Aweau performing every Friday at Chai’s Island Bistro in downtown Honolulu’s Aloha Tower Marketplace. When he’s not on tour, of course.

While you’re at it, take a listen to Aweau’s excellent 2008 solo CD, Kaneohe. HAWAII Magazine online editor Derek Paiva ranked it one of the five best Hawaiian music albums of last year.


  

New Orleans and Rio de Janeiro may have their own Mardi Gras celebrations, but so does Oahu.

Here’s a list of Mardi Gras/Fat Tuesday events in Honolulu:

Honolulu Chinatown Arts District
• Mardi Gras—Carnaval 2009 (Free street festival on Nuuanu Avenue)
• Pre-party celebration: Alliance Francaise dinner and wine tasting at Du Vin
• After-parties at Epic, Indigo, Next Door
• Entertainment stages: Pauahi St. outside The ARTS at Marks Garage, Hotel Street outside Louis Pohl Gallery and near King Street outside Tea@1024.

Near Honolulu Harbor
• Mardi Gras/Fat Tuesday Celebration (Aloha Tower Marketplace)

Waterfront Plaza (formerly Restaurant Row)
• Mardi Gras Madness (Oceans 808)

Besides the free beads and parties, today is also Malassada Day in Hawaii.

In order to use up eggs, butter and oil before Ash Wednesday (the first day of Lent), Portuguese immigrants made malassadas (yes, the Portuguese spelled it with two s’s).

On Malassada Day, indulge in these hot deep-fried sugar-coated doughnuts at Leonard’s Bakery [933 Kapahulu Ave., (808) 737-5591], Agnes Portuguese Bake Shop [46 Hoolai, (808) 262-5367] or Champion Malasadas [1926 S. Beretania St., (808) 947-8778].

If you’re on the Big Island, stop by Punaluu Bake Shop for guava-sugared and lilikoi (passion fruit) glazed malassadas.

Insider's tip: Leonard’s Bakery will be passing out free malassadas (while supplies last) during the street festival on Nuuanu Avenue tonight.

  

I recently had breakfast with Lost actor Daniel Dae Kim—and well-known Hawaii restaurateur, DK Kodama—at their new Hawaii restaurant. The two are partners in The Counter, a build-your-own burger place in Kahala Mall (a sizeable neighborhood mall in East Honolulu that also houses a Whole Foods, and an Apple store, among other retailers).

What was for breakfast at the burger joint?  That Hawaii favorite: a loco moco, with kim chee on the side. (For those who don’t know: A loco moco is a mound of rice topped with a hamburger patty and a fried egg, all of it smothered in brown gravy. Kim chee is the Korean national dish, a highly spiced preserved cabbage.)

“I can’t tell you how great it is to live in a place where everybody knows what kim chee is,” said Kim, whose investment in the California-based franchise chain restaurant—the first of three planned for Hawaii—is a way of setting down roots in the Islands. He wants to stay here after Lost wraps up production in spring 2010.

Kim's wife and children are Korean—“Korean-American,” he points out, “but the beauty of Hawaii is that the American is assumed. Nobody thinks of you as foreign here because of your ethnicity.” 
Hawaii is the first place where he’s felt completely accepted.  “I want that for my children. It’s the way the rest of the world should be.”

He hopes, of course, that movie roles will come a-calling, too, after Lost. But The Counter is now his stake in the community—and things seem to be going well.

The place is already packed with local families, and members of the Lost cast including Josh Holloway, who dropped by for lunch with Kim last Saturday.

The Counter: Kahala, Kahala Mall, 4211 Waialae Ave., Honolulu, Oahu, HI (808) 739-5100.

 

You ask. We answer.

HAWAII Magazine reader Deborah Wheeler of Australia writes:

A group in Australia claimed that sand from Stockton Beach in Newcastle, Australia, was shipped to Hawaii many years ago. But on a recent visit to Hawaii, I asked a tour guide about this, who told me that I was incorrect.

So where does Waikiki Beach’s sand come from?

We’ve heard countless stories and urban legends about sand being shipped over from all over the world to replenish Waikiki’s famous stretch of beaches. It turns out Waikiki’s sand comes from … (insert dramatic pause for effect) … Hawaii!

Even more interesting? The majority of Waikiki sand actually comes from just offshore.

“The benefit of using localized sand is compatibility,” says Sam Lemmo, of the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources’ Office of Conservation and Coastal Lands. Using sand similar in color and structure not only benefits Waikiki Beach aesthetically and environmentally, it also maintains the beach’s integrity from an engineering standpoint, Lemmo adds.

Erosion and rising sea levels have swallowed a foot of Waikiki Beach annually since 1985. This phenomenon, while accelerated in the last few decades, is nothing new. Reports from the 1920s and 1930s reveal that sand was brought in from Manhattan Beach, California, via ship and barge, to Waikiki Beach. Importation of sand into Hawaii ceased in the 1970s.
 
Recently, sand has been pumped from neutral areas of the ocean floor some 2,000 feet off Waikiki to fill in the shrinking beach. In 2004, the state spent $500,000 to siphon 10,000 cubic yards of sand from offshore—the largest replenishment effort of Waikiki’s beaches in more than 30 years. It’s a solution that aims to lessen the environmental impact and is being adopted by deteriorating beaches worldwide.

Before that, Waikiki’s sand was trucked from various points around Hawaii including Oahu's North Shore—in particular, Waimea Bay Beach and a sand bar off the town of Kahuku—and Papohaku Beach on Molokai.

While it’s true that some sand is brought into Hawaii from places like Australia, Polynesia and even China, it serves more utilitarian purposes—namely construction and filling sand traps on Hawaii’s golf courses.