Ono Da Kine!

Aloha!
it's
Wednesday
in
H O N O L U L U



clickity click click!

Christmas Aunties

"Do not regret growing older. It is a privilege denied to many."
Anonymous

Lucky for New Year


"Go and wake up your luck."
Persian Proverb

Northern Chinese Cuisine

"I watched a small man with thick calluses on both hands work 15 and 16 hours a day.
I saw him once literally bleed from the bottoms of his feet,
a man who came here uneducated, alone, unable to speak the language,
who taught me all I needed to know about faith and hard work
by the simple eloquence of his example."
Mario Cuomo

Kalapaki Apt. Hotel

"The perfect man uses his mind as a mirror.
It grasps nothing. It regrets nothing.
It receives but does not keep."

Chuang Tzu

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Although I enjoy walking in Waikiki, there are many other wonderful areas of our town that reward a thoughtful perambulator.

One such is the stretch of South King Street between Keeaumoku & Kalakaua. Formerly the path taken by the King from old Honolulu down to "suburban" Waikiki, King Street grew and developed along with the plantation generations as they moved from the fields to shops, small business and snug bungalow homes of their own in the nearby villages of Paawa and Mo`ili`ili.

Today, most stores and businesses have migrated to the malls and such, but this corridor still boasts small family restaurants, mom & pop shops, and doctor's offices featuring old-fashioned "American" first names with Chinese and Japanese last names (Clarence Wong MD). This area is like a museum of Honolulu's working-class-American-Dream 20th Century, now in it's twilight. Many of the physicians are as old (or older!) than their patients and these practices are unlikely to survive their founders as the younger generations join HMOs. Same trend with the little shops, restaurants and businesses. More and more Hangul (Korean alphabet) signs are seen spreading out from Keeaumoku's Korean nexus as new immigrants replace the old.

I love everything that makes our town unique, and most special is our people. In Waikiki one sees faces from all over the world. Every generation and human condition is represented. But stroll along King Street on a sunny weekday early afternoon and you will be among the local elderly. The people who built the Hawaii of today, who fought both WWII and discrimination, are now leaning on canes and waiting at the bus stop. The pulse of Honolulu's life has moved towards upscale condos, tourism, & retail. Meanwhile, the low-rise store-front blocks, and modest, aging professional buildings of South King Street host hustling entrepreneurs and immigrant dreamers as they wait for whatever may be coming next.
Elegy and expectation walk arm in arm along King Street as the traffic hurries past towards the University, Waikiki, upscale Kahala Mall, and growing residential Hawaii Kai where the last small farms and nurseries face down developers at the end of the road, where the wild Ko`olau Mountain foothills seem to recede with our past.

Walking down Kalakaua Avenue back towards Waikiki I had a sudden "local style" hankering for Shrimp Chips. How long has it been since my tongue stuck to a puffy shrimp chip as it changed in my mouth like "Pop Rocks?" Little by little, the small unique things that used to define us become submerged in a sea of Frito-Lay and Whole Foods house brands.
I stopped into the tiniest mom & pop you can imagine, right behind kupuna (elders) and teens waiting at the bus stop. One bag left. I thanked the woman in my best Korean: "Kahm Sahm Ne Dah."
Soon after, I bought some take-out jerk chicken from the "new" Jamaican lunch truck across Kapiolani Boulevard from the Hawaii Convention Center. But tomorrow (I promised myself) I'll go to a hole-in-the-wall for a local plate lunch with two scoops rice, macaroni salad, mochiko chicken, lau lau, and cone sushi - all the local stuff we like eat. . . before there's nothing left but fast food and chic cafe`s.
Ono da kine!
(Delicious, that's the kind!)

PS: Best selling novelist Alan Brennert (read my review of his wonderful MOLOKAI here) quoted me (of all people) in a recent interview and then e-mailed me about it!
Read it here

Cool! ALOHA, cloudia

Aloha Friday!!

Click on photos to enlarge!

Remember when I was little, and you took me to the beach?

"I never think of the future. It comes soon enough." Albert Einstein

Distant Diamond Head

"Anything done out of fear, is a prayer to the devil."

Anonymous



Yes, these men are working half-submerged!


"Are you still colonizing life, or have you gone 'native' yet?"

Anonymous

Before there were casual Fridays, there was "Aloha Friday" here in Hawaii.

The world famous "Aloha Shirt" was initially developed in Honolulu during the Thirties. First, colorful Japanese yukata fabrics were used. Then tropical prints were imported from Tahiti and Samoa. Traditional Hawaiian tapa cloth patterns, and Javanese batiks became popular too.

Ellery Chun, a local alumnus of Mr. Obama's school, Punahou and of Yale University (1931) changed the name of his family's King Street dry goods store from Chun Kam Chow's to King-Smith Clothiers. He arguably developed the concept there, and many consider him to be the father of the aloha shirt. Other local companies such as Gump's Department Store, and Watamull's East India Store, soon commissioned Hawaii artists like Elsie Das to create floral textiles emblazoned with local foliage, surfers and hula dancers. Mr. Chun's sister, Ethel, hand painted her own motifs that were then reproduced on cotton or silk in Japan. Today those vintage "silkies" are worth quite a lot of money!

Other classic-era Aloha Shirts were marketed by Branfleet, Kamehameha, and Royal Hawaiian. But only Mr. Chun had the foresight to trademark the term "Aloha Wear."

In 1947 the City of Honolulu began encouraging locals to wear Hawaiian shirts to work during the Summer months. Soon enough, Fridays year round became "Aloha Friday"s. Ultimately the shirts became ubiquitous, no matter the day of the week. Today in Honolulu's downtown business district few of the men one see's on the streets are wearing suits and ties. The only major exceptions seem to be attorneys and court workers who, nonetheless manage to look "local" in some indefinable way. It's easy to spot a "foreign" businessman in town for a meeting. The conservative grey suit is a dead giveaway!

Of course, the subdued patterns favored by local businessmen for office wear are a far cry from the loud shirts that a visitor to the islands might buy. Companies like Manuheali`i, Tori Richard, and Reyn Spooner are major producers of the finer sort of Aloha Shirt. Couples walking the sidewalk in matching Aloha Wear might as well wear a sign reading: "Tourist." But that's OK. Our whole economy is based on the visitor industry! So wear what you like, and have a wonderful day.

As the song says: "It's Aloha Friday - no work till Monday." See you at Da Beach! Mahalos to Alan Brennert, author of Honolulu, for his research on the topic.

A L O H A! Cloudia

MTM, Honolulu Living History

Moonlight Hawaii, Vintage Postcard

"Nothing had prepared me for Honolulu ... It is a typical western city ... It is the meeting place of East and West, the very new rubs shoulders with the immeasurably old. And if you have not found the romance you expected, you have come upon something singularly intriguing. All these strange people live close to each other, with different languages and different thoughts; they believe in different god and they have different values; two passions alone they share, love and hunger. And somehow as you watch them, you have an impression of extraordinary vitality" Somerset Maugham in 1921

Honolulu Harbor, T.H. (Territory of Hawaii)

Post Card

"The further I traveled through the town the better I liked it. Every step revealed a new contrast - disclosed something I was unaccustomed to. ... I saw cottages surrounded by ample yards, ... I saw luxurious banks and thickets of flowers, fresh as a meadow after a rain, and glowing with the richest dyes ...I saw huge-bodied, wide-spreading forest streets ... I saw cats - Tom cats, Mary Ann cats, long-tailed cats, bobtail cats. . .individual cats, groups of cats, platoons of cats, companies of cats, regiments of cats, armies of cats, multitudes. . . and all of them sleek, fat, lazy, and sound asleep ... I breathed the balmy fragrance of jessamine, oleander, and the Pride of India ... I moved in the midst of a summer calms as tranquil as dawn in the Garden of Eden ..."

Mark Twain on Honolulu

Today, a modern city surrounds Diamond Head

"Honolulu - it's got everything. Sand for the children, sun for the wife, sharks for the wife's mother." Ken Dodd

Reading a historical novel that bears the name of one's Home Town is an unusual experience. Well, Brennert's Honolulu is as good as I could have hoped for. This is what they call a "page turner," except that I'm enjoying it too much to hurry! There are wonderful sentences to linger over, and savory bits of Honolulu history that illuminate my hometown ever more deeply and richly.

This author also animates the thoughts and emotions of women characters so well that it is irresistible for me to identify with Jin, the heroine. Frankly, I see many parallels between her immigrant story and mine. The story of Honolulu is the story of those who came here from far away - beginning with the voyaging Hawaiians themselves.

Hawaii continues to lure many. Some she expels outright. She seems especially to test those who wash up here determined to stay sight unseen, especially those of us like Jin and myself with no "back" to go "back" to.

Life here is very hard, until one day you wake up and realize how much this place has become a part of you (and vice versa); how much you love Honolulu Town and her people, and that you could never live anywhere else for the rest of your life. You passed the purification, been humbled, been hanai-ed (adopted) become "local."

It was very difficult to pull myself away from the story this morning, but as my day would take me into the Historic core of my town, I was (in a real sense) still in it's setting. Walking today on streets named in the novel, I saw and knew not just what was so pungent before my eyes, but my own taxi memories of nights long ago, things vanished, and landmarks that remain. Now, thanks to Brennert, the people and places of even older times are all around me too.

There's no other place exactly like this place, my hometown: Honolulu!

A L O H A! Cloudia

Brennert a Class Act

Click on photos to enlarge!"The reward for conformity was that everyone liked you except yourself."
Rita Mae Brown


A Very Competent Workman

(He is making the "Shaka" gesture that is a friendly greeting among Hawaii people - NOT a gang sign!)

"Do not hire a man who does your work for money, but him who does it for love of it."
Henry David Thoreau

Alan Brennert: Author & Gentleman

“A gentleman is one who puts more into the world than he takes out.”
George Bernard Shaw

Throughout classic Asian cultures, a person was not considered completely cultivated, truly civilized, if they could not write a passable poem. Additionally, it was the height of barbarity & rudeness to receive one and NOT reply. By these lights, many otherwise well-regarded modern folks are barbarians. How many of us have sent a manuscript, CD, or weblink to someone we might reasonably expect an acknowledgement from, and then heard. . . Nothing. . . ?

Then there are recognized artists, or writers, who remain humble even while enjoying best seller(s), the laurels, and the rewards that success brings. They feel, perhaps, a responsibility to their muse & a mission to carry the torch with some purpose greater than their egos. They remain alert to the struggling beginner for whom a kind word is like winning a prestigious award. No need to lie, a mere friendly acknowledgement will satisfy the hobbyist, feed and fire up the true & lonely journeyman.

A while back I blogged a review of Alan Brennert's Molokai a novel that haunts me still with it's successful alchemy of research, skill, & magic. You can look at the review here:

http://comfortspiral.blogspot.com/2008/12/fiction-nonfiction.html#links

Well, out of the blue, Mr. Brennert was kind enough to send me a friendly e-mail graciously thanking me for the review! His book is already HUGE, and he's on to the next one. He didn't have to do that. He wrote that my little Hawaii novel, Aloha Where You Like Go? and this blog, looked "interesting" and invited me to meet him here in Honolulu during the promotional tour of his latest: Honolulu.

Last Saturday was rainy, and wet in more ways than one (see previous post Water Week). Consumed by my domestic excitement I had forgotten the long awaited rendezvous. At 20 minutes till the book signing, the light went on! I jumped into clothes (all black matches - no thinking) and even found a parking spot. (quite a condensed sentence eh?).

Mr. Brennert's latest, is the story of a young Korean "Picture Bride" who came to these islands in the early 20th century to marry. Many mainlanders cannot discern a Chinese from a Japanese person. Living in Hawaii, I have had the privilege and pleasure of meeting and befriending the above, plus Korean-Americans, and thus becoming aware of this great culture even before TV's LOST, or Hyundai.

The early chapters of Honolulu have already "hooked" me, and taught me things I never understood about the "Yobo" culture, food, history & language. When the action moves to Hawaii I'll need to retreat to a locked room to gorge on this story. Do not disturb. The man has skills and heart - the unbeatable literary combination! He mentioned during the reading, that he chose a Korean protagonist partly because the wonderful independent film Picture Bride had already addressed the story from the better-known Japanese perspective. Smart move. Picture Bride is a masterpiece that says more about the real Hawaii than a dozen history books! I strongly suggest that you see it. AFTER reading Honolulu that is ;-)

Alan was friendly, and humbly happy to exchange signed books. Easily wearing the generosity of "the great" he elevated me to his rarefied empyrean, and we talked simply as fellow writers. I personally know how exhausting (if exhilarating) it is to address even a sympathetic audience about one's passion. And this was the last stop of the tour for a very sniffly and sore-throated author!

Nevertheless, he took time to talk story with me about his career (TV writing, genre fiction) about the process of researching and producing a novel, and about his love of Hawaii. "The next book," he said, "won't be set in the islands. Don't want to be typecast." Cloudia (relieved): "That's my pigeon-hole!"

So check out Honolulu. And thank you for entering the Comfort Spiral! Stop by any time; The A l o h a here is always as fresh as two-finger poi! Cloudia

Fiction & Nonfiction

click on photos to enlarge!

King Kalakaua at a lu`au.

Honolulu ca. 1851
Traditonal Grass Hale (house)1800's

"Men show their characters in nothing more clearly than in what they think laughable." - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

"If any man wish to write in a clear style, let him be first clear in his thoughts; and if any would write in a noble style, let him first possess a noble soul."

- Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

"We taste and feel and see the truth. We do not reason ourselves into it."
- William Butler Yeats

The two categories of books are Fiction and Non-Fiction, not False & Non- False. Facts can me twisted to say any damned thing, but a story must have some deep truth at it's core - or why would anybody read it? Fiction is truer than non-fiction because without that internal truth it's not really a literary work at all; it is only a literary attempt. . . Like too many of us I rarely read fiction anymore. Never mind that some of the great life-changing relationships of my life have been with fictions: Winnie the Pooh, Babar, Franny & Zoey, Orlando . . Well, recently a good friend, a fan of my little novel (yes, 'fiction') bought me a copy of Molokai, a Hawaii novel by Alan Brennert. I tried to be gracious - not like I'd been given an assignment, but I didn't feel hopeful when I saw the words: "National Bestseller" on the cover! How good, how HAWAII TRUE could this book (by a mainlander!) be?! Then I started reading:

Chapter 1

1891

Later when memory was all that she had to sustain her, she would come to cherish it: Old Honolulu as it was then, as it would never be again. To a visitor it must have seemed a lush garden of fanciful hybrids: a Florentine-style palace shaded by banyan and monkeypod trees; wooden storefronts flourishing on dusty streets, cuttings from America's Old West; tall New England church steeples blooming above the palm and coconut groves. to a visitor it must have seemed at once exotic and familiar; to five-year-old Rachel it was a playground, and it was home.

Certain things stood out in memory, she couldn't say why: the weight and feel of a five-cent hapa`umi coin in her pocket; the taste of cold Tahiti lemonade on a hot day; palm fronds rustling like locusts high above, as she and her brothers played among the rice paddies and fishponds of Waikiki. . . But most of all, most clearly of all, she remembered Steamer Day - because that was when her father came home."

. . . I was tentatively hooked; the names of local places and local things-past always cast a magic spell on me. When Rachel bought fresh bread from Fanny Love (we still have Loves bread!) I was all-the-way hooked!

The story begins in 1891 when Rachel is 7 years old. A Hawaiian Kingdom is her home. During her lifetime the Islands become a Republic, a Territory, and finally a U.S. State, the fiftieth star on the flag. She (and we!) experience the end of routine sail travel, the birth of island flight, the passing of a culture. I remain touched and impressed that a man from California could express the soul of Hawaii, and of her people, with this level of sensitivity and skill. There were no glaring mistakes (common in books by 'outsiders') and many rich surprises for me, plus wonderfully realized characters, several of whom continue to haunt my imagination . . . . This is one of those books that you lose yourself in! I just got teary typing the opening lines, remembering the incidents, those characters, the Hawaiiana, the history, the humanity, the HEART that I found in this wonderful novel! I cherish it as a great work of fiction, and as a deep work of truth about how Hawaii became what she is today. Well done, Mr. Brennert! I won't hold your bestseller status against you. Sometimes the crowd is right. Read Molokai, then come back here to Comfort Spiral to share YOUR thoughts; And to thank me! Mahalo, George Cattermole!

A L O H A! Cloudia