Today marks the 68th anniversary of the attack on the United States’ naval base at Pearl Harbor, Oahu, on Dec. 7, 1941.At Pearl Harbor this morning, the attack will be remembered with a ceremony at Kilo Pier, which directly faces the National Park Service’s USS Arizona Memorial. The event is free and open to the public.U.S. Navy boats will depart…
In the November/December 2009 issue of HAWAII Magazine, we take you with us on a glider flight above Oahu’s scenic North Shore.With pilots Steve Wood and Meagan Nauman of Original Glider Rides at the controls, I got a chance to sit in the forward cockpit seat of a motorless glider for a breathtaking bird’s eye view of the North Shore…
After a long journey across the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, the relic of Hawaii’s Saint Damien last week finished its three-week journey—from the Vatican City, through Michigan and California and, finally, to the Hawaiian Islands.Saint Damien de Veuster cared for the people who suffered from Hansen’s disease (leprosy) in Hawaii for 16 years on the island of Molokai’s Kalaupapa peninsula….
When we rang up Hawaii singer-songwriter-musician Jack Johnson at his home on Oahu’s North Shore, he immediately gave us a weather and surf report: two to four foot surf, breaking off shore, and clear blue skies.The surf wasn’t tempting enough for a seasoned surfer like Johnson. But that’s good, he’s supposed to be staying off his surfboard because of a…
If you ask us, it was only a matter of time before the Travel Channel’s gluttonous food travelogue Man v. Food made it to Hawaii.Not that we consume food here the way Man v. Food host Adam Richman does. (For those not in the know, Richman likes his eats “in very large quantities.”) It’s just that Hawaii’s seemingly endless array…
When Bali Hai calls, Mitzi Gaynor answers.The actress who famously portrayed effervescent U.S. Navy nurse, Ensign Nellie Forbush in the classic film version of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s South Pacific will return to Kauai in October to help celebrate the movie musical’s 51st anninversary.It will be Gaynor’s first visit to the Garden Island since the film was made there in 1957…
Hawaii Group Tours where you see Lava by boat. Hawaii Volcanoes National Parks coastline provides the best view of lava entering the sea from active volcano Kilauea. As Fresh Lava Flows over seacliffs these lava tour guests watch in amazement, an unforgetible ocean volcano boat tour along the remote Kalapana Coastline. 808.966.4200 www.lavaocean.comIn the September/October 2009 issue of HAWAII Magazine,…
Welcome back, Hawaiian Hall!The Bishop Museum’s 120-year-old exhibit space is getting a grand reintroduction to the public this weekend, celebrating the completion of three years and $16 million worth of renovations.Renovations, which began in 2006, marked Hawaiian Hall’s first major overhaul in more than a century. Built in 1889, Hawaiian Hall is the Bishop Museum complex’s first and oldest building….
The Ilikai has been generating its own drama of late: foreclosures, closings, reopenings. But it became an icon in 1968 when a brand new TV cop drama named Hawaii Five-O used it as part of its title sequence.Jack Lord was still an obscure TV actor when, as Det. Steve McGarrett, he stood on Ilikai’s 30th floor balcony—an aerial camera zooming…
It’s the 50th anniversary of the Hawaiian International Billfish Tournament, which draws fishermen from across the planet to Kona on the Big Island Hawaii.HAWAII Magazine was there this week on the water. We spent 11 hours Thursday, and another 8 hours today, on the 38-foot Night Runner. There was lots of action, and lots of 3-to-5-hour long fights to land…
Want to know what a Hawaiian night marcher really is? True stories of personal encounters with the legendary afterlife protectors are part of what you’ll learn on “Whispering Walls of Waimea”—an evening journey into the spiritual and historical side of Oahu’s Waimea Valley.The new two-hour tour is led by Mysteries of Honolulu storyteller and Hawaiian historian Lopaka Kapanui. Kapanui studied…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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,…
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…
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…
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…
As we welcome in the Year of the Ox, many people want to ensure their good luck and prosperity by eating the proper Chinese dishes.The special foods often consumed on the first day of the lunar calendar include jai (vegetarian monk’s food), uncut noodles, mandarin oranges, tangerines and dried fruit. But for good luck, the most popular food is a…
Hawaii has two New Years, Jan 1 and, this year, according to the Chinese calendar, Monday, Jan. 26. But Chinese New Year celebrations start tonight in downtown Honolulu’s Chinatown arts district. The evening begins with a choy cheng—a traditional Chinese lion dance blessing. If you see a lion dancing your way on the sidewalk, the appropriate thing to do for good…
It’s been 67 years since the attack on Pearl Harbor took place.Today, we honor those who lost their lives during the attack on Dec. 7, 1941. A memorial ceremony will be held at Pearl Harbor’s Kilo Pier from 7:30 to 9:30 a.m. A moment of silence will be observed at 7:55 a.m.—the exact time the first wave of bombs struck…
