Nothing Better

A L O H A From Honolulu!

There is nothing better than

to be happy and enjoy ourselves

as long as we can. And people

should eat and drink and enjoy

the fruits of their labor, for

these are gifts from God.

     Ecclesiastes

From every human being

there rises a light that

reaches straight to heaven. 

   Baal Shem Tov

40% of Hawaii's first-time visitors

have never seen an ocean before.

PBS, Hawaii

Better keep yourself clean

and bright: you are the

window through which

you must see the world.

George Bernard Shaw

 If a child is to keep his inborn sense of wonder, he needs the companionship of at least one adult who can share it, rediscovering with him the joy, excitement, and mystery of the world we live in. Rachel Carson

ࢦࢦࢦ ࢦ ࢦ ࢦ ࢦ ࢦ ࢦ ࢦ ࢦ ࢦ ࢦࢥ

Love You,

Cloudia & Pixie

-

 Links

Travel Tuesday 

Happy Tuesday 

Pictorial Tuesday 

Tuesday Treasures

My Corner Of The World

Wild Bird Wednesday

Signs2

Nature Thursday

Wordless Wednesday

My Friends Call It Self-Confidence

A  L  O  H  A !

"In meteorology, a virga is an observable streak or shaft of precipitation falling from a cloud that evaporates or sublimates before reaching the ground.[1] A shaft of precipitation that does not evaporate before reaching the ground is a precipitation shaft. At high altitudes the precipitation falls mainly as ice crystals before melting and finally evaporating. . ."

Wikipedia Link

I always like to look on the optimistic side of life, but I am realistic enough to know that life is a complex matter.

Walt Disney

Perfect Palm Shadow

When the shadow of a tree is bent, 

straighten the tree, not the shadow.

African Proverb

I have great faith in fools - 

my friends call it self-confidence.

Edgar Allan Poe 

Linking To:

Shadow Shot Sunday

 >)))))))'>

Love You,

                                   cloudia

Hawaii Photo of the Day

A  L  O  H  A !

Hawaii Photo of the Day

A  L  O  H  A !

Happy Aloha Friday!

Father of the Aloha Shirt

Ellery J. Chun gave the aloha shirt to the world.

Although he first created aloha shirts in 1931, 

it was in 1936 he introduced the "Aloha Shirt"

 label to the distinctively bright, colorful

 Hawaiian attire. The term and 

the style caught on, 

and countless clothing manufacturers 

followed suit.

Chun first sold aloha shirts -

- originally inspired by 

palaka garments of plantation workers 

and silk shirts 

of high school classmates 

sewn from leftover kimono 

material by Japanese housekeepers -- 

at the family store, which he renamed 

King-Smith Clothiers, 36 N. King St.

The Honolulu native graduated from Punahou 

[ Like president Obama] in 1927 and majored in 

economics at Yale, class of 1931.

By 1933, he began to produce 

ready-to-wear patterns

 from cloth imported from 

the U.S. mainland, Japan, 

China and Tahiti. Surfers 

and beachboys snapped up 

the bold, breezy styles, 

and visiting Hollywood celebrities

 and other rich and famous ones 

began sailing home to 

display the new fashions.

In 1991, the state Senate 

honored Chun for creating

 the aloha shirt, on the 60th anniversary 

of his landmark contribution to distinctive

 Hawaiian apparel and the state of Hawaii.

50 Years of Hawaii Fashion

A L O H A!

click on photos, et voila!

Welcome to Hawaii Style

Our University of Hawaii teams are nicknamed "Rainbows."

This shirt from the early Sixties carries the familiar cheer:

"Go `Bows!"

Reyn Spooner still makes top tier Aloha Wear for discerning locals.

This "Statehood Shirt" from 1959 shows the Hawaii flag, the Nene Goose, Hibiscus, and other proud emblems of the isles.


Subtle. . . for the Sixties!

Groovy, man!

Don't be uptight!




Late Sixties:

Those "Sleeves" are hanging strings. Swingy!

Pop Art comes to da beach!




The graphics and bright color blocks got heavy, Dude

in the Seventies...







I took these photos at the "Fifty Years of Fashion" exhibit at

Ala Moana Shopping Center, celebrating 50 years of both Statehood, and of shopping at "Hawaii's Center," the worlds best people-watching venue, that I can see from my boat.

The garments were on loan from the University of Hawaii's "Historic Costume Collection. "...one of the largest assemblages of garments, textiles, and related artifacts of any American university. It consists of the following four sub collections: Asian, Hawaiian, Ethnic, and Western. "

<http://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/costume/>








When the missionaries landed in Hawaii, they dressed just like they had at home. They covered their bodies, not a bad idea in the sub tropical sun, but in black, somber costumes of heavy wool. What's more, they insisted that the Hawaiians cover themselves similarly. The "Mother Hubbard" begat the Mu`u Mu`u. Kiawe trees are sometimes called "missionary thorns" here in the islands because it is said that those Calvinists planted them so that the Hawaiians could be induced to wear shoes (I don't!). This would also have the additional advantage of forcing them to work for money!



With so many cultures brought here to provide labor for King Sugar on the plantation, Japanese, Chinese, and Korean attire have always been part of the Honolulu street scene.





Up to the Sixties, businessmen in Honolulu wore coats and ties - just watch re-runs of HAWAII 5-0. Denizens of our courts continue to dress like their mainland counterparts, though defendants and witnesses are not regarded as disrespectful for appearing in the local attire (Clean t-shirts, work clothes, flip flops). Most men here don't own a suit (or a winter coat ;-)





In Hawaii , for the most part, clothes are less important than your grooming and how you carry yourself. After all, that fat character in ugly beach wear might just be a vacationing Supreme Court Justice from Ohio or Stuttgart. This is not to say that I would not dress properly for a business meeting, interview, or court appearance, but there is much more latitude in Hawaii. Famous writer and professor of Hawaiian Studies, Haunani Trask, is NEVER seen in western clothes at all. She wears a sarong EVERYWHERE. At home, my husband and I adhere to the same local standards of dress. I tie my sarong under my arm-pits, he wears his around his waist with a t-shirt; and yes, I have gone in public wearing only that. In fact, on mainland trips I pack sarongs for lounge/sleepwear, and have even scandalized my hosts by wearing it to dinner! I take being a Hawaii person very seriously and expect the same respect a Scotsman wearing a kilt would demand.

OK, I'll dress properly should you invite me. When in Rome. . .





Tasteful aloha shirts (we know the difference!) dress slacks, and closed shoes are executive work wear here today. And just as one needn't be thin or young to dance hula publicly, I can always hide behind a tasteful, tailored mu`u mu`u and look quite respectable.



ALOHA, my over-dressed friends!! Cloudia

No Tourists

Big Taro Leaves

the Hawaiian "staff of life"

"What is patriotism but the love of the food one ate as a child?"

Lin Yutang

Birds in Frame!

"How strange that Nature does not knock, and yet does not intrude!"

Emily Dickinson, letter to Mrs. J.S. Cooper, 1880

Lum Yip Kee & Sky

"If you cannot be a poet, be the poem."

David Carradine

No Tourists in Town!

That's right. We call them "visitors" as in Hawaii Visitors Bureau.

I've always liked that old fashioned way of thinking about folks from elsewhere. It speaks of our local pride, identification with our island home & our traditional spirit of welcome. Yes, they all manage to hang on somehow – even in our topsy-turvy day.

It's called Aloha!

Yes, the real Waikiki, the genuine Hawaii, they do still exist.

Some visitors are fooled by our modern tempo and amenities, but for those with a heart to see more deeply, there is authenticity.

The key (as always) to finding it, is to bring your own along with you. . .

Actually, I've made my peace with tourism.

It used to bother me to see visitors shopping at chain stores, eating in chain restaurants, spending their days on

"Activities"

and never tasting, or even glimpsing,

the authentic treasures

that I love about my

unique Honolulu Town.

Now I realize that "authentic experience" is not the same

for everyone.

Some folks just want to lie on a beach,

and have drinks with umbrellas in them.

That's cool.

I've stopped judging them

or wondering at their

in-curiosity.

To each their own!

And I'm certainly grateful to each one who does visit us.

But if you want living history,

a wide palate of food choices,

people & places unique in all the world,

then you will find all that here in Honolulu

and MORE.

If you want a package deal,

that product called a

"vacation"

you can find that here

too.

One of the best you ever had!

If you Comfort Spiralers would like to look at some authentic Hawaiian fabrics,

perhaps to make some lovely Spring/Summer clothes,

visit this website for Fabric Mart.

Check out their hula implements too!

http://www.fmart.com/

The world's premier Hula event,

the Merrie Monarch Festival,

begins next week

for the 45th year.

And many of the dancers will be clad in Fabric Mart patterns!

But more about that laters!

(Including information about watching it on line!)

Aloha to each of YOU

my friends

!

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