We ran into Michael Emerson, who plays Benjamin Linus on ABC’s hit TV series “Lost,” listening to jazz in Honolulu’s Chinatown district the other night.

Nice guy—which makes you realize what an incredible actor he is. When he plays Linus—the series’ complicated is-he-or-isn’t-he-a-villain—he somehow manages to be both seriously sinister and as equable as a Jack Johnson CD. Often at the same time. Always brilliantly.

In the cover feature of our current issue, we give you the low down on the “15 Things We Love About Hawaii” right now. One of these, just happens to be Emerson—the only actor to make the list.

Among the other objects of our affection? The only ukulele we’d pay four figures to strum. The Hawaii-published book that’s on our nightstand right now. The Big Island clothing designer with the fashion sense we’re digging most. The classic surfboard we’d hit the waves with right now if we weren’t at work (and knew how to surf). And more.

Emerson’s work on “Lost”—which is filmed entirely on Oahu—is one of our favorite things about every episode. It’s our good fortune that he feels similarly about our Islands, and talked to us about it.

Here’s an excerpt:

There is no “Lost” without Oahu, says Emerson. … He admits that Oahu’s beauty captivates him. No matter where he is after a long day of work shooting in the jungle, he stops every evening to watch the sun drop beneath the horizon.

Well, we did say it was just an excerpt.

You’ll find the full text of our Emerson write-up and the 14 other things we love about Hawaii in the May/June 2008 issue of HAWAII Magazine, on newsstands now.

  

Wish you were here?

Can’t blame you.

Here’s almost the next best thing. We’ve collected links to a handful of Webcams around the state offering live views of our beaches and—well, pretty much just our beaches.

Want to see the sun set over Hanalei Bay on Kauai? Click the Sheraton Princeville’s beach-roving camera below.

Got friends staying in Waikiki? Tell 'em to stand in front of the Duke Kahanamoku statue fronting Kuhio Beach and then give you a call, while you click the “Waikiki Beach” cam.

It’s almost sunset here as I’m posting this. Click now and you won’t miss it.


Kuhio Beach, Oahu: A view of the folks wading in the surf off Waikiki.

Click here.


Waikiki Beach, Oahu: More a view of the Duke Kahanamoku statue than a beach view, but, oh well.

Click here.


Waikiki Beach from the sky, Oahu: Point a camera at the top of the 31-story Sheraton Waikiki towards Diamond Head or the surf below, mix a mai tai, enjoy.

Click here.


Sunset Beach and North Shore of Oahu surf spots: Check the wave action at some of the best surf spots.

Click here.


Hanalei Bay, Kauai: The sunsets are terrific from this Webcam at the Sheraton Princeville Resort.

Click here.


Kaanapali Beach, Maui: The weather and ocean action on one of West Maui’s best beaches, fronting the Sheraton Kaanapali Resort.

Click here.


Hilo Bay, Big Island: A so-so view of the bayfront. At least you’ll be able to tell if it’s a sunny or rainy day in Hilo town.

Click here.


The South Kohala Coast, Big Island: From the rooftop of the Mauna Lani  Resort.

Click here.
 

Have a favorite Hawaii Webcam we missed? Leave us a comment below.
 

Last night I had drinks on Waikiki Beach with Gidget.

Not the most memorable movie Gidget, Sandra Dee, and the iconic TV Gidget, Sally Field—no, the real Gidget.

Before Gidget was three movies, a couple of TV series and even an animated feature, it was a novel.  Gidget was written in 1957 by a Malibu screenwriter named Frederick Kohner, who based it on the experiences of his then 15-year-old daughter Kathy.

Kathy Kohner Zuckerman—in Hawaii to celebrate her 66th birthday and her 43rd anniversary with former professor Marvin Zuckerman—joined me for a drink at House Without a Key.

“Gidget really was my nickname,” she said.  “It stood for girl midget.  Once I had a nickname, I knew I was part of the Malibu surfing crowd.  And that’s my photo, with my board, on the cover of the book.”
 
The original Gidget was a part of surfing subculture before there really was a surf subculture. Her story help launch a thousand surfboards, not to mention Jan & Dean, the Beach Boys, half a dozen bad Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon movies and the now multibillion dollar worldwide surf industry.

Kohner apparently has mixed feelings about becoming a surf icon.  She wrote in her diary that the first Gidget movie, which came out when she was only 18, was stupid.

She developed a love for Hawai‘i—hence, the follow-up Gidget Goes Hawaiian.  But she outgrew surfing, and didn’t take it up again until the ‘90s when Surfer Magazine placed her No. 7 on its list of the 25 Most Influential People in Surfing.
 
Two days a week, she’s a greeter at Duke’s Malibu. It’s a sister restaurant to the popular Duke’s Waikiki, and sells the novel, reissued seven years ago.  “The girl in the book, that’s me,” she tells people.