HERE ON THE BIG ISLAND - Architectural Gems of Hilo - The Art Deco Years August 18, 2008
Posted by Kelly in : Big Island Hawaii, HERE ON THE BIG ISLAND, Hawaii Travel , 1 comment so farHERE ON THE BIG ISLAND
By Kelly Moran
Architectural Gems of Hilo - The Art Deco Years
In the years between the first and second World Wars, the architectural styles that were all the rage first came to public attention in a 1925 Paris exhibition of “arts decoratif et moderne” - decorative and modern arts. The term “Art Deco” was coined fifty years later, so it encompasses both the highly “decorative” style of the 1920s, that often features elaborate terra-cotta tile work; and the “modern” style of the 1930s, that has hardly any ornamentation at all, and seems almost to be “streamlined.”
Hilo has some wonderful examples of the former, and only a few of the latter; but if you’re a fan of Art Deco, they’re all worth a look.
Starting on the Bay front, on Kamehameha Ave., what is now a charter school and a multiplex-movie house still has its original “Kress” department store sign, and a busy frieze of blue-and white terra-cotta tiles.
A block away, at the corner of Kalakaua St. stands the Pacific Tsunami Museum, which was originally a Bank of Hawaii. Like many bank buildings, it’s in a “Greek Revival” style, with tall columns.
But the details - love those eagles! - are Art Deco all the way.
The Palace Theater, in the first block of Haili St., is a 1925 “picture palace” where, besides movies, theatrical and musical programs are now presented. It has a nicely tiled lobby (where its original projector is on display); and there’s a local preservation group, the Friends of the Palace Theater for the building’s ongoing restoration.
Around Kalakaua Park, several fine structures stand out. On Kalakaua St., the first building you come to was originally the front-office for the local telephone company,
and it has (I think) the most beautiful terra-cotta tile work in town.
Today, though, it serves only as an extension of the newer structure behind it, and it’s filled with telecommunication equipment; so no entry is permitted.
But you’ll want to go inside the building next door, which - though not as fancy - has the same basic form. The East Hawaii Cultural Center, at 141 Kalakaua St., is an art gallery on the main floor, and a performance venue upstairs for concerts, theater and dance. Walk up (there’s an elevator if you need it), and go out onto the second-floor lanai, which has nice vintage floor tiles, and a great view of the park. This charming building was originally Hilo’s central police station!
Along the makai side of the park stretches a lovely pergola and reflecting pool which is Hilo’s memorial to the fallen in war. Unlike pergolas that imitate European styles, however, this one is definitely moderne.
And where the Park touches Waianuenue Ave., stands one of the three “streamlined” 1930s structures in town. The Carlsmith Building (a law office) has plain white sides, practically no ornamentation, and a hexagonal window overlooking the park.
Rare for this rainy climate, but consistent with the dictates of the moderne style, it has a flat roof.
The two other 1930s buildings in town are: the main fire station, at Kinoole and Ponahawai Sts. - though you’ll have to look hard to see the streamlining;
and the office building for the old Hilo Iron Works, where Kam Ave. crosses the Wailoa River.
Though only two stories high, it was obviously designed to look like a skyscraper (well, like the base of one, anyway). There’s not much of its original interior décor left, but it is open to the public, with an art gallery and small offices inside.
HERE ON THE BIG ISLAND - Architectural Gems of Hilo - The Early 20th Century August 11, 2008
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By Kelly Moran
Architectural Gems of Hilo - The Early 20th Century
In the first half of the 20th century, Hilo enjoyed an economic boom - mainly from growing sugar cane. Much of that financial bonanza was channeled into new buildings; and as you might expect, most of the architecturally interesting examples were built Downtown.
Chief among these is the Federal Building, on Waianuenue Ave.
With its tall columns, indoor-outdoor galleries on the second floor, and a tiled fountain in the courtyard facing Kalakaua Park, it’s a great example of how a turn-of-the-century public building in the classical-revival style, was adapted for our tropical climate.
Since the 1950s, Koehnen’s furniture store has occupied the huge Bayfront corner at Kamehameha Avenue and Waianuenue Ave.
But it was built in the ‘teens, as the local branch of Honolulu-based H. Hackfeld & Co., one of the Islands’ “Big Five” corporations. (Anti-German sentiment in World War I forced the owners to change its name to American Factors.)
The majority of Downtown Hilo’s buildings went up between 1900 and 1940, including almost all of the two-story structures between the Wailuku River and Ponahawai Street.
Timber-framed, and clad in wood siding, most have - or had - first-floor overhangs sheltering their sidewalk frontage from the rain.
Nearly all had - and some still have - mom-and-pop retailers or restaurants on the ground floor, and small white-collar offices upstairs.
These modest little gems aren’t in any one style; and there’s not much that’s fancy about them. But it’s a treat to look up, above the second-floor windows, or on the corners, and see the names of the builders or original owners, like S. Hata, Holt, and Wah Yuke Chock.
Sugar may have been the dominant industry here, but those companys’ offices were out of town, at their mills. These downtown buildings, the backbone and ribs of Hilo’s day-to-day economy, were where everybody else worked.
HERE ON THE BIG ISLAND - The Great Outdoor Circle August 11, 2008
Posted by Kelly in : About Hawaii, Big Island Hawaii, General, HERE IN HAWAII, HERE ON THE BIG ISLAND, Updates , 1 comment so farHERE ON THE BIG ISLAND
By Kelly Moran
The Great Outdoor Circle
In my last blog I mentioned Hawaii’s billboard laws in passing. But they deserve a blog of their own . . . and a round of applause.
They may be unique in the United States in that they forbid the erection of billboards, not just in some places but everywhere in the Islands. And the idea of banning billboards didn’t come from “green” politicians in the 1990s, nor from hippies in the 1960s. The movers-and-shakers who successfully lobbied the government to ban billboards were women - housewives, mainly - and they did it more than 80 years ago!
They were members of a club called The Outdoor Circle, that had been formed in 1912 with the goal of keeping Hawaii green and beautiful. Some were descended from Hawaiian royalty, but many were the (mostly haole) wives of Hawaii’s mostly haole) richest and most politically influential men. Like “women’s clubs” elsewhere, the Outdoor Circle had gotten trees planted along streets and avenues. But for the women of Hawaii, that was not enough.
Despite the revenues that billboard advertising would generate, and the likelihood that billboards would draw customers to their enterprises, the businessmen of Hawaii agreed with their women-folk that, to preserve the Islands’ unique beauty, they would support laws forbidding large outdoor advertisements and severely limiting other kinds of signage.
The first of these laws was passed in 1927, and more were added as new technologies, such as neon lighting, became available. Additional laws were enacted in 1948 to prohibit aerial advertising, such as sky-writing and the towing of banners by aircraft.
Today, there are no billboards even in the densest commercial or industrial zones; and strict regulations limit the size of signs on a building that proclaim what businesses are inside. The Outdoor Circle has also taken a stand against “Admobile” trucks that don’t haul anything except a rotating set of billboard-size ads on their flanks.
Laws covering other fields comply with the billboard laws here, too. There are size limits on electioneering signs for candidates and issues; and as I noted in my last blog, after an election has been held, those signs have to come down. Under real estate law, the “For Sale” sign in front of a house or property must be removed after escrow closes.
The Outdoor Circle’s current mission statement is: “To protect Hawaii’s scenic environment by advocating for the planting and protection of trees, burying of utility lines, promoting recycling, and fighting for a billboard-free Hawaii, among other issues.” The Big Island branch of the Outdoor Circle is headquartered in Waimea.
HERE ON THE BIG ISLAND - Elections - Local Style July 30, 2008
Posted by Kelly in : Big Island Hawaii, General, HERE ON THE BIG ISLAND, Upcoming Events , add a commentHERE ON THE BIG ISLAND - Elections - Local Style
By Kelly Moran
Another political season has officially begun. The deadline for filing papers has now passed, and a total of 72 people on the Big Island are gearing up for the federal, state and county posts that will be filled this year. The island may be big, but the population is small, and most people here know the names of their County Council member, their State Representative and their State Senator. Live here long enough, and you will surely get to meet your elected officials in person.
Don’t expect any endorsements from me. What I will do, though, is tell you what to expect as election time rolls around.
If you are registered to vote on the Big Island, but can’t come to do so in person, you can cast an absentee ballot. You have until one week before the September 20 primary and November 4 general election (Sept. 13 and Oct. 28, respectively) to obtain your absentee ballots at the Office of the County Clerk’s elections division.
While the County Building is being renovated, that office has moved to the old Hilo Iron Works building, on Kam Ave. beside the Wailoa River, across from the Suisan fish market.
And if you are going to be here soon, but not on the actual election days, you can vote there, in person, any weekday during the two weeks beforehand, i.e., starting Sept. 8 and again starting Oct. 21.
Term-limits prevent our two-term mayor from running again, and eight people have filed to run for his seat, including one of the mayor’s aides, a state senator who was formerly a mayor, and two County Council members. In Hawaii you can not keep one elected position while you run for another, so each of the latter three jobs has also opened up, making the field in this year’s primary elections unusually crowded.
Three local races, however, are already decided, because no one filed to compete against two incumbent State Representatives, nor against the incumbent County Prosecutor (who had no opponent in 2004, either). Candidates can often be seen standing at busy intersections, during the morning and evening commute-times, waving at passing cars. Of course, they can’t be everywhere at once, so supporters and surrogates stand and wave in their stead. But often, you’ll see them standing alongside a life-size cutout photo of their candidate, who’s been posed with arm raised, waving, too.
You’ll also see many small campaign signs in front yards, and along the roads. But Hawaii’s strict anti-billboard laws prohibit huge signage; and all electioneering signs are supposed to be removed soon after election day.
That won’t change. But a big change is coming to the political process in the next election season: the Big Island’s State Representatives and Senators persuaded their colleagues to enact legislation that establishes a pilot project for public financing of local Council elections in 2010.
The Democratic and Republican Parties will hold pre-election rallies the night before the primary and general elections. These are big, noisy celebrations where, despite the rivalries, there is always a shared sense of joy. Remember: we all live here on this beautiful island, and as voters, we all share the responsibility to ensure it is managed in the public interest.
HERE ON THE BIG ISLAND: Battling Those Weed Trees June 25, 2008
Posted by Kelly in : About Hawaii, Big Island Hawaii, General, HERE IN HAWAII, HERE ON THE BIG ISLAND, Hawaii Travel, Updates , add a commentHERE ON THE BIG ISLAND
By Kelly Moran
Battling Those Weed Trees
A few months ago, I wrote about a tree that was brought here from Brazil
and that has gone terribly wild. It’s officially psidium cattleianum, but commonly called “strawberry guava”or waiawi (”vy-vee”), and it’s extraordinarily invasive: seeds from the fruit sprout easily wherever they fall, and are spread by birds and pigs; if the tree is cut down, it quickly regenerates from stumps and fallen branches, ultimately forming a dense thicket in which nothing else grows.
Researchers estimate that waiawi is now entrenched in more than 800,000 acres on the Big Island, and though its range may ultimately be limited by drier microclimates and higher alititudes, it is still in-filling where it’s already established, especially in Hamakua and Puna, where it squeezes out practically everything else, especially native and endemic species. It also draws fruit-flies, expanding their range, which frustrates efforts to cultivate more desireable fruit.
To fight this weed tree, the Hawaii Dept. of Land and Natural Resources, the Hawaii Dept. of Agrictulture, and the Forest Service of the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture propose to introduce a Brazilian insect called tectococcus ovatus,which severely weakens - but doesn’t kill - waiawi. It tunnels into the leaves, forcing the tree to make “galls” that contain the pest, instead of making new leaves. This is expected to slow the spread of waiwai, allowing people more time to cut thickets down and keep them down. The insect has no wings, and can move to adjacent trees only on the breeze; moreover, tests prove that it can live only on strawberry guava and on no other plant; so the release of this biological control agent is considered very safe.
Waiawi does have some practical uses. The fresh fruit, being in the guava family, are easily made into tasty jams and jellies; the wood, like other fruit-woods, makes an excellent smoke for curing meat and fish; and the trunks - if thick and straight enough - can turned into hardwood poles. So there is a small vocal contingent here, mainly in Puna, that objects to introducing tectococcus, in the name of “saving” the waiawi.
But, the USDA counters this misguided effort by pointing out that, if anyone actually wants to cultivate waiawi, or keep wild stands from being infected, they can do what farmers do for any other orchard crop: i.e., protect it with ordinary (preferably organic) insecticidal spray.
There is another invasive weed tree here that was introduced about the same time as waiawi; but it is currently being decimated without human intervention. The rose-apple (syzygium jambos), though not quite as aggressive as waiawi, tends to spread out more, and to form dark “tree-tunnel” arches over back-country roads. The fruit is rather dry: its “rose” being more of a scent than a flavor.
But rose apple trees are being attacked by a “rust fungus” disease that kills new growth and thereby starves the tree of energy. In a couple of years, many stands of rose apple will be bare and dead - and likely will be overtaken by waiawi, which is often found in the same areas.
There is a small but real danger that this rust could spread to other trees in the same (myrtle) family. The worst-case scenario would be a jump to native ohia. So Hawaii forest managers are urging the state to restrict new imports of nursery trees and other plant material that can harbor the rust. For more information about the rust,
click here.
HERE ON THE BIG ISLAND - The First Fruits of Summer June 18, 2008
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By Kelly Moran
The First Fruits of Summer
Subtropical Hawaii does have seasons; and in the late Spring and early Summer, two of our best fruits come ripe: lychee, from China, and mango from the Indian subcontinent.
Anyone who patronized Chinese restaurants in bygone days may remember eating sweet, dried “litchi nuts,” which are to fresh lychee as raisins are to grapes, or prunes to plums. Lychee are almost never found in the wild: they’re raised in orchards of distinctive small trees with wavy, light-green leaves, that require nurturing to produce quality fruits in quantity.
Ripe lychee are about the size of golf balls, with red, rough-textured skin that you peel off by hand. The translucent white fruit tastes like an especially juicy grape. At about twenty to the pound, you can expect to pay three dollars for a pound of lychee. The original Chinese varieties had large seeds; but twentieth-century agronomists developed varieties with small, “shriveled” seeds, that enable each fruit to have more meat; so you may see those labeled “small seed,” in farmers’ market stalls, and they may be priced a bit higher. Like cherries, canned lychee retain almost all of the fresh fruit’s flavor; so if you can’t get to Hawaii during lychee season, buy a can from the “Asian” section of Mainland supermarkets.
Around this time of year, too, local farmers offer a related fruit called longon. Smaller than lychee, and with a stiff, brown skin, the fruit is much sweeter, though in a cloying sort of way; some people construe it as being rather more aromatic than flavorful. Later in the year, another relative, called rambutan, will come ripe: it has a “hairy” skin, and a taste similar to lychee though not as juicy. Rambutan also has a longer season and a longer shelf-life, so it has become extremely popular in local orchards.
The smallest mangoes are the so-called “common” variety, and they are easily spotted from the roadside. The tree is long-lived and enormous: 80 feet or higher, with 30-foot spreads, dark leaves tinged with red, and an abundance of small fruit that depend from long stems. Saplings can sprout from fallen fruit, but in general, wherever you see a mature tree now, there is or was a settlement there.
Mangoes are related - believe it or not - to poison ivy and poison oak. If you have never eaten one before, you’ll quickly discover if you are hyper-sensitive or allergic to them: you may develop a swarm of (harmless) red welts around your lips that local folks call “mango mouth.” With most people, however, this does not happen.
Common mangoes can and do ripen into sweet, juicy delights, but a few varieties have a taste reminiscent of turpentine. The trees being so big, common mangoes are also hard to pick - you need a long pole with a net or basket on the end - and may well have been stung by fruit-flies before you can even get to them. So, many are picked before they’re ripe and turned into chutney, or prepared as savory treats: local recipes for “green” mango famously include marinating the slices in soy sauce (shoyu).
It’s the cultivated mangoes that are the most consistently sweet, and while there are, technically, hundreds of varieties, they fall into just a few general categories that you’ll find in local farmers’ markets right now.
Closest to “common” in size and taste, with the same greenish skin color, are the slightly elongated “cigar” mangoes. Several varieties are larger and longer still, but have a distinctive yellow-orange skin, much like the color of the fruit itself. (In other countries, such as The Philippines, these are the mangoes that are commercially dried and packaged; and except for the absence of juice, dried mangoes taste almost exactly like fresh mangoes.) The largest mangoes are the Hayden variety, which can grow big enough for two people to share. Expect to pay about fifty cents for a common or cigar mango; a dollar apiece for the larger yellow type, and three or four dollars for a giant Hayden.
All mangoes have large, flat seeds; here’s how to get the most meat out of them: Slice the fruit the “long” way, close to either side of the seed, to yield two cupped-hand-shaped halves. Set those halves aside and peel the strip of rind from around the seed; slice off whatever meat you can, into a bowl, and then (as local folks do) suck the rest of the meat from the edges of the seed before discarding it. Now, for each of the two halves, make tic-tac-toe on the flat side with a knife, but don’t pierce through to the skin. Turn the half-mango inside-out, and you produce neat chunks of juicy mango that you can peel or slice off, into your bowl.
HERE ON THE BIG ISLAND - The Naked Truth about the Kona Coffee “Calendar Girls” June 10, 2008
Posted by Kelly in : About Hawaii, Big Island Hawaii, General, HERE IN HAWAII, HERE ON THE BIG ISLAND , add a commentHERE ON THE BIG ISLAND
By Kelly Moran
Is That Kona Coffee Really from Kona?
Between about 800 and 1,500 feet mauka of the Kona Coast, a lot of folks have been growing coffee for more than 100 years, and their beans enjoy a reputation for delivering a high quality buzz. But right now, growers in the Kona Coffee Farmers’ Association (KCFA) are buzzing like angry bees: they want the words “Kona coffee” to mean just that.
You may not know this, but if as little as ten percent of the beans in a blend were grown in Kona, it can be labeled and sold as “Kona coffee.” The KCFA wants that designation to be allowed only if 100 percent of the beans are Kona-grown; the label of anything else should prominently include the word “Blend,” and list the actual percentage of Kona beans.
Until recently, most Kona coffee beans got a fairly light “American” style of roasting, giving “Kona coffee” a reputation for being on the weak side. That may be why vendors have been blending it with more robust beans from elsewhere, although that, in turn, has made consumers skeptical of anything labeled “Kona coffee.” In fact, roasting Kona beans in the darker “French” or darkest “Italian” styles cancels any perceived weakness.
Almost anyone in Hawaii can grow coffee . . . as an ornamental: it has shiny dark green leaves and bright red berries. But getting a decent cup-a-joe from a couple of plants is far more work than it’s worth. To oversimplify: the berries have to be picked at just the right stage of ripeness, then dried and roasted with expertise. Coffee-farming is very labor-intensive, which helps to explain why a pound of 100 percent Kona coffee typically sells for more than twice the price of supermarket coffees.
But it’s that “premium” status that truth-in-labeling would help to protect.
Kona was not the first place on the Big Island where coffee was raised as a commercial crop. That was in Ola’a - now called Keaau - in Puna. Some coffee is raised there still, and some comes from up the Hamakua coast near Honokaa. But mauka Kona is the Big Island’s major microclimate for coffee. And the KCFA is part of a worldwide movement to ensure the veracity of “local” labeling. “Champagne” has to come from Éperney, France, and anything resembling it that’s made anywhere else has to be labeled “sparkling wine.” Any cheese with veins of azure mold can be labeled “blue cheese,” but only the dairy farmers of Stilton, England can call it “Stilton.”
To drum up publicity for this campaign, the KCFA has published a 2009 calendar called “The Naked Truth About Kona Coffee.” Inspired by an English stunt (which was celebrated in a movie called “Calendar Girls”), a dozen women who actually farm coffee in Kona posed for its pages - yes, in the nude. Okay, most of them are … “of a certain age.” And by posing with strategically-placed tractors or farm implements, none of them shows much skin. But hey! They’re really naked!
If you want to help them ensure that calling something “Kona coffee” is more than just a marketing gimmick, you might want to hang their calendar on your wall, or - at least - check the fine print on the label of your next bag of “Kona coffee.”
HERE ON THE BIG ISLAND - More Local Talk June 2, 2008
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By Kelly Moran
More Local Talk
Here are some more words that you’ll hear on the Big Island. You may or may not want to use them, but you’ll certainly hear them enough, here, to warrant your understanding them. As I said in my earlier blog, what’s known as “pidgin” here is not a true pidgin, linguistically, but it’s what many local folks grew up speaking.
Do you remember the 1970s craze for necklaces, bracelets and charms made from “puka shells?” They were round shells and shell fragments, ranging in size from a shirt-button up to a five-cent piece, with a hole in the center - natural or man-made - through which they were strung. In Hawaiian, a “puka” is a hole that goes all the way through something, like a doughnut hole.
Knowing that, it’s easy to grasp the meaning of “kipuka.” New lava flowing downhill from a vent behaves like water: if it encounters an obstacle, like a hill or a mound that’s higher than the liquid’s surface, it flows around that obstacle. If there are trees or shrubs or ferns or houses on that mound, they will survive, while everything around them gets burned and covered with fresh lava. So, that isolated patch of old growth, surrounded by bare rock, is known as a “kipuka.” You can see several kipukas at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, and along Highway 11 from Volcano, through Ka’u and South Kona.
There is another kind of hole, though: a “lua,” which is a hole that doesn’t go all the way through, like a hole in the ground. “Kalua” pig is so called because it’s roasted in a just such a hole (the specific word for that underground oven, though, is “imu”). And because an ordinary hole in the ground might serve as a latrine, “lua” is the local slang for toilet.
Many cultures have myths about tricksters: some are animals, some are people, but they are generally beloved, or at least tolerated, for the good they occasionally do, and/or for the delight people take in watching them be rascals. The Hawaiian word for rascal is “kolohe.” It is occasionally used to mean “mischief,” or - rarely - as an adjective meaning “naughty.” But more often it’s a synonym for a sneaky politician or an unscrupulous businessman.
Generically, a “plate lunch” is a take-out meal. But most often it means something served in a three-section paper plate, with a meat course, a scoop of either potato salad or macaroni salad, and “two scoops rice.” The meat in a plate lunch is typically chicken or short ribs cooked or seasoned with teriyaki sauce.
The most intensely caloric of plate lunches doesn’t come in three sections, but on a single plate. It’s the “loco moko” - a hamburger patty or a slice of spam, set atop a lot of rice, with a whole fried egg on top, and beef-stock gravy poured all over it. The origin of the name is obscure:
the first part comes either from the Spanish “loco” (crazy) or simply from “local.” In Hawaiian, “moko” means water in the context of a puddle or a flood; and so - possibly - refers to the gravy inundation. But “moko” also may be a euphemism for “moke” (rhymes with Coke), which is the derogatory term for a Polynesian fellow, and which you should never utter around here.
HERE ON THE BIG ISLAND - A Mental Exercise: How BIG is the Big Island? May 15, 2008
Posted by Kelly in : About Hawaii, Big Island Hawaii, HERE ON THE BIG ISLAND, Hawaii Travel , 1 comment so farHERE ON THE BIG ISLAND - A Mental Exercise: How BIG is the Big Island?
By Kelly Moran
Say “island” to most people, and their first thought may well the cartoon cliché of a tiny “desert” island, whose lone palm tree barely shades a hapless castaway. But when we, here, consider the word “island,” we probably think of our hugely bigger home, and have a picture in our minds of how big it is. But the immensity of Hawaii is not easy for visitors or newcomers to visualize. So here’s a mental exercise: pick up each of the other islands and drop them onto Hawaii, and you’ll see how much bigger it really is.
Start by turning Maui about 90 degrees clockwise, and moving it about 50 miles to the southeast, so the larger, eastern part is over Hamakua, and the smaller western part over North Kohala (that is, over Mauna Kea and the Kohala mountains, respectively. Maui being the second-largest island in the chain, it does (pardon the pun) cover a lot of ground. West Maui is pretty much the same size as North Kohala, and with comparable microclimates (wet valleys to windward; dry beaches to leeward). East Maui is about as big as Hamakua from Honokaa to Hilo, including the summit of Mauna Kea. But Maui, being the second-largest island in the chain, is the only one that can fit so snugly over Hawaii.
When you’re in Honolulu or Waikiki, and especially when you drive to the Leeward side or the North Shore, Oahu seems pretty big. But lift Oahu out of the ocean and set it down in Puna, and you’ll still see plenty of Puna sticking out all around. Coincidentally, Oahu has much of the most expensive – and Puna much of the least expensive – real estate in the islands.
Because Kauai is the geologically oldest of the inhabited islands, its landmass is more irregular than that of the others; so, driving around Kauai takes longer than you think it ought to, which leads you to imagine that (like Oahu) it’s bigger than it really is. But try placing Kauai on top of the Ka‘u district of Hawaii, and it will not extend even from Volcano to South Point. Ka‘u would be just about covered if you placed Lanai, Molokai, Kaho‘olawe and Ni‘ihau there as well.
But that would still leave uncovered the entirety of West Hawaii, comprising the districts of South Kohala and North and South Kona, which make up fully half of the Big Island. Thus, you will have proven that, as the guidebooks all attest, Hawaii really is twice as big as all the other islands put together!
HERE ON THE BIG ISLAND - It’s a Mystery Why Fans Would Come Here May 5, 2008
Posted by Kelly in : Big Island Hawaii, General, HERE ON THE BIG ISLAND, Hawaii Travel, Upcoming Events , add a commentHERE ON THE BIG ISLAND
By Kelly Moran
It’s a Mystery Why Fans Would Come Here
People who enjoy mystery stories are a funny lot. They relish tales of murder and mayhem, but when they get together to talk about dastardly deeds, they tend to pick meeting-places with remarkably low crime-rates. Like the Big Island.
If you’re among the myriad folks who have a passion for, uhh . . . crimes of passion, then you might want spend next March 7-12 here.
“Say Aloha to Murder” is the theme of next year’s Western Regional Mystery Conference. Better known as Left Coast Crime, it’s been run since 1991 by and for mystery fans, and is generally held in the western (left side, as you face the map) states. Next year the LCC is on a “left coast,” at Marriott’s Waikoloa Beach Resort.
A typical LCC includes discussion-groups on various genres of mystery fiction, like police-procedurals, suspenseful thrillers, detectives’ cases, raditional “cozies,” or crimes of the (”woo-woo”) supernatural world. Also presentations about true crime, by law-enforcers and crime-lab experts. And at this LCC, of course, an intensive focus on mysteries, real and otherwise, set in Hawaii. Widely-read authors are the guests-of-honor. There’s even a ghost-of-honor: Earl Derr Biggers, who created Charlie Chan. And someone will win the Lefty Award for writing the funniest mystery novel of the year.
An un-conventional convention, yes; but not amateurish. According to a published mystery-writer who lives here on the Big Island, the organizers have in California run both an LCC and a Bouchercon (the biggest mystery convention); and they have hosted unrelated conventions at the Waikoloa hotel for more than ten years.
Of course, LCC is still ten months away. But with recent uncertainties in the travel industry, a wise visitor should plan next-year’s visits at least as far ahead as a criminal might plan the next caper.
