honolulu Travel Guide
5/01/2008 at 10:32 AM
Tags: Protests, Landmarks, Attractions, Tourist Attractions, Hawaii Travel, Oahu Travel (all tags)
A separatist group occupied the Iolani Palace in Honolulu yesterday, closing the landmark to tourists to protest the "occupation" of Hawaii by the United States. The peaceful demonstration by the Hawaiian Kingdom Government lasted about eight hours, and no arrests were made.
The group says it wants to reestablish the Iolani Palace as the seat of the islands' sovereign government. The HKG plans to reoccupy the grounds today, though the organization doesn't plan to lock people out like they did Wednesday. Still, might not be the best day to visit.
The palace was the residence of the last two Hawaiian monarchs and it's now a National Historic Landmark. When it's not being occupied, you can visit on a docent-led "Grand Tour" for $20 or just take a self-guided tour of some of the galleries for $6.
Related Stories:
· Group Occupies Hawaii Palace [Honolulu Advertiser]
· Hawaiian Sovereignty Seekers Take over Palace Grounds [AP, via Google]
· Iolani Palace [Official Site]
· Hawaii Travel coverage [Jaunted]
[Photo: PeterWebb]
by pbb
10/05/2007 at 12:00 PM
Tags: Hawaii Surf Schools, Hawaii Travel, Surfing (all tags)
The way we see it, a lesson at Hawaiian Fire might be the hottest thing in the island. The seven-year-old surf school promises a wild experience that will rival the most memorable times of your life. And we believe them. Why? Maybe it's because this is the only surf school on Oahu that's run exclusively by fire fighters--get the name now?
They know what it means to coach newbies through the basics and since they're trained first responders, you can feel good about safety. After all, who wouldn't want a little mouth-to-mouth from one of Hawaii's bravest?
And it turns out the people who register for lessons love Hawaiian Fire just as much as we do:
The moment my toes touched the water, it felt like a dream. I was in paradise doing what I thought I'd NEVER do. Riding that first wave was the highlight of my whole Hawaii experience. After that, I just could not get enough.
Find it on our Hawaii Surf Schools Map.
Related Stories:
· Hawaiian Fire [Official Site]
· Hawaii Surf Schools coverage [Jaunted]
· Hawaii Travel coverage [Jaunted]
by jnaw
6/05/2007 at 12:26 PM
Tags: Restaurant Reviews, Chef Mavro, Honolulu Restaurants, Lost, restaurants-in-hawaii (all tags)
The reviews are trickling out for Cassis, Chef George Mavrothalassitis' second restaurant in the islands. He located it in a cavernous downtown space that was decorate in a vulgar glitzy manner by a corporate restaurant company. Mavro has to turn tables to make this space work -- it's that big. He also, apparently, has to charge top dollar for what two reviewers for local publications found to sporadic culinary offerings.
Not to worry. Mavro is a tenacious restaurateur and he knows how to tweak things relentlessly until they work. All of that said, it will be hard to get the locals hyped up about lunch with entrees priced at $25 and above. NYC, SF, LA -- sure. Hawaii? Ugh. We hope he can pull it off and make this work, as we love his smaller, ritzier flagship and we love his cooking. Besides, the Lost cast has been feasting here, and they will need good food on the islands for at least three more years.
Alex Salkever is the editor/founder of Hawaii travel blog Hawaiirama.com
Related Stories:
· Restaurants in Hawaii Map [Jaunted]
· Hotels in Hawaii [HotelChatter]
· Cassis Honolulu [Official Site]
[Photo: Jeff Widener]
by ASalkever
5/15/2007 at 1:45 PM
Tags: Restaurants, Chefs (all tags)
(
Alex Salkever is the editor / founder of Hawaii travel blog Hawaiirama.)
Honolulu has enjoyed a spate of new restaurant openings in the past month and among the most anticipated is
Stage, a team effort from alumni of the highly regarded Alan Wong's (home to the best Asian fusion food in the country, bar none). The new restaurant is set in a nifty design center / furniture store that's all black-and-white and high design oriented in a way that Honolulu has never really had. No tropical decor here.
Alas, in the first
review I've read, from the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, Chef Jon Matsubara perhaps gets a bit too distracted with the high art details of his food and goes a little bit too Wylie Dufresne /
WD-50 for his own good. Escolar topped with Meyer lemon gelee cubes? Um, weird is fine, but maybe this one goes over our heads. At any rate, we'll see how the full review onslaught bears out for this one, but Stage appears to be still in dress rehearsal.
Related Stories:·
Stage set for promising future [Honolulu Star-Bulletin]
·
Honolulu Restaurants: Stage Restaurant Makes Two [Hawaiirama]
by ASalkever
5/04/2007 at 2:05 PM
Tags: Missed Connections (all tags)
We've been waiting for so long for spring to get here, we're about ready to chuck it in and head to a place where the weather is perfect all year round. At least, in our heads it is in Honolulu, Hawaii. Make your paradise more, er,
paradisical by meeting someone at these local Edens:
Leeward Bowl -- "I don't care if you're completely out of my league,"
declared a lovelorn 25-year-old after a trip to this small family-style alley outside of Honolulu.
850 Kamehameha Hwy, Pearl CityKe'ehi Lagoon -- Meet an outdoorsman (or -woman) at this beach park and popular regatta starting point, or look for the
haole (or foreigner) sitting
under the coconut tree.
465 Lagoon Drive, Honolulu, OahuVolcano Joe's -- "Your vibrant smile lit up the parking lot," sighed a
happy customer at this U. of Hawaii hangout.
1810 University Avenue[Photo:
riИux]
by egw
4/17/2007 at 1:27 PM
Tags: Restaurants (all tags)
(
Alex Salkever is the editor of Hawaii travel blog Hawaiirama and an expert on all things Hawaii.)
There's gonna be more of Mavro to love, starting in May. After successfully running his posh, pint-sized eatery in Moiliili for a number of years, James Beard Award Winner
Chef George Mavrothalassitis finally took the big step up and announced in February that he'll soon open a casual-but-upscale place dubbed
Cassis after his Marseilles homeport. He will be taking over the space from Palominos, a formerly hip but quickly fading semi-highbrow downtown happy hour mainstay. Mavro has consistently been ranked among the top 10 restaurants in the country. The chef whips up serious cooking that's an amazing style amalgam of El Bulli / Per Se and Joel Robuchon with supremely fresh local product and fish.
Can the chef run two kitchens -- including a really massive one at Palomino -- and maintain quality? I'd say, for sure. He formerly ran the whole food services shebang at the Halekulani hotel, which was even more work. He's brought in Ben Takahashi, one of his proteges who, since leaving Mavro, last worked as an executive chef at a number of bit hotels around Hawaii and is highly respected. The downtown area is really starting to hop so this should be a beautiful match. Personally, I can't wait to see what Mavro does with a wood-fired oven (I am hoping he keeps the holdover from Palomino) and a full-bar (woo-hoo!). We'll keep you posted via his lovely wife and publicist Donna Jung. (Yes, I am angling for a spot at the opening, for the sake of full disclosure.)
[Photo:
spullara]
Related Stories:·
Chef Mavro: New Menu, New Season, Must Eat [Jaunted]
by ASalkever
4/10/2007 at 4:42 PM
Tags: Airports (all tags)
$2.3 billion sounds like a lot for renovations at Honolulu Airport, but, as FlyerTalker kaukau puts it:
Let's see.... 500 million kicked back to the politicians and airport officials, 500 million embezzled by the construction company owners, 500 million extorted by the union officials, 500 million spent to re-do the job that got done in a sub-code fashion with the first 300 million.....probably gonna leave us with a couple of new multi-million dollar bathrooms and a people mover that doesn't move squat and has a permanent "Temporarily Under Construction" sign.
It's better than nothing, we guess. Honolulu Airport is one of the most outdated airports in the United States. We traveled through a couple of months ago and thought we had walked straight into a taping of "That '70s Show." Luckily, the time warp is finally being acknowledged with cash, and a few updates are planned, such as improved transportation and food. For $2.3 billion? You bet. Anything, so long as they keep the bathroom signs!
[Photo:
riИux]
Related Stories:·
Improvement to Honolulu Int'l Airport (New WikiWiki Buses/Starbucks/Food!) [FlyerTalk]
by djk
2/13/2007 at 11:18 AM
Tags: Shooting, Sports (all tags)
Bless the Waikiki Gun Club for welcoming Japanese visitors to America the right way. You can find this sign out on Kalakaua Avenue, beckoning those gun-starved Japanese as they make their way to and from the beach. There's also a speaker, mounted somewhere near the entrance to the range, that emits popping noises if the visuals aren't enough to lure 'em in.
We paid a visit to the Waikiki Gun Club this weekend, and while we won't be showing off our target sheet anytime soon, we do have a tip. While the lanes can be packed at times, they were empty when we got there at opening (10 a.m.) on Saturday morning--we predict that's usually the case, and wasn't just a fluke. If you can get yourself up early enough on the weekend, private lessons are yours.
Related Stories:·
Trigger, Trigger Happy [Jaunted]
by djk
