Hush Boutique Nightclub Lounge / If you’ve been around the area of Kalakaua Avenue and ‘Ena Road, as we often are, dressing up for drinks seems like a foreign concept. From Harbor Pub to Hideaway, and from Da Smokehouse to King’s Pub, show up in a tie and you’re likely to be pegged as a cop.
Cha Cha Cha Waikiki / Since writing about Compadres a few months back, we’ve had Taco Tuesday on the brain. Not so much for the tacos, but for the abundant hotness of its patrons.
Indigo / Give Mayor Mufi credit for revitalizing Chinatown, but Fridays at Indigo get the props and praises for rejuvenating the area’s night scene. It may go with little fanfare or acknowledgement by some, but the First Friday staple isn’t downtown’s longest-running weekly party by accident.
Hawai'i International Film Festival (HIFF) '08 Music Video Showcase / The idea of music videos these days is a curiosity, seeing how the two major so-called “music television” stations are more interested in reality programming filled with vacuous idiots and people who mistake looking slutty for being fashionable. You know, just like the people in the music videos they used to air.
Aaron's Atop the Ala Moana / As I often say when people figure out that I get paid for drinking in bars, “it beats digging ditches.” Then again, I’ve dug ditches, and that profession pays more. So I supplement my income by bartending on the weekends at a Waikiki hotspot that shall go unnamed (here’s a hint–the name contains an ethnicity and a particular flower).
Pipeline Cafe / More than likely, you know Greg Azus without ever having met him. If you’ve seen those commercials with Tommy Chong piddling around the rock shirts and bumper stickers that say “Pray for Surf,” then you’ve seen Azus, who has the second-to-last word: “rocking for 20 years…” What you may not have realized is that Azus is also a promoter, and he’s brought some of the biggest names into Honolulu.
Dave & Buster's / IT’S A CLASSIC FORMULA: Revenge-seeking nerd gets rich, gets famous, gets the girl. There’s a little bit of that particular brand of triumph on the faces of contestants in the Rock Band competition at Dave & Buster’s on Thursday nights, faces that look like they’ve spent plenty of time lit up by the blue glow of that wildly popular video game’s screen.
Brew Moon / Let’s face it: image is everything in clubland in the 808 these days. If promoters aren’t pushing upscale ambience they had better at least have an open bar to create some kind of mirage for patrons to buy into.
Loft / Here’s an unnecessary confession: My very first concert was at the Blaisdell, courtesy of KKUA, featuring the Brothers Johnson. Not that I knew who they were.
Legends Sports Pub / Over the last few months, the question we’ve heard in bars the most–other than “Are you sure you haven’t had enough?”–has been “Are you ready for some football?” And yes, dammit, we’ve been ready for a while, probably since February. Sure, the Olympics filled the sports void for a while, but watching 18-year-old female gymnasts giving each other congratulatory pats on the butt brings about a different sense of enthusiasm.
The Shack Waikiki / If there was one thing not to like about Shack Hawai’i Kai, it’s that it was too far away, particularly on Thirsty Thursday, when all draft beers are $2. On those days, it’s impossible to keep your intake to just one or two.
Coconut Willy's / Coconut Willy’s Beachwalk 227 Lewers St. Getting in: 21+.
Kimmie's Cantina / If there’s any certainty in life, it’s that we’re going to grow older, things are going to get more expensive and we never have as much fun drinking as we do while we’re in college. While you’re figuring out these unhappy truths, it helps to have a fixture to keep you grounded.
Arnold's Waikiki / Arnold’s is many things to many people: Tiki bar, dive spot, a hideaway from the Hideaway. Honolulu Weekly readers this week gave it another moniker: Best.
8 Fat Fat 8 / >You’ve passed it, and more than likely, you’ve noticed it–the lone building on Beretania Street. with no windows and the curious sign: 8 Fat Fat 8.
Compadres Taco Fiesta Tuesday / Sitting at one of our usual hovels, asking surrounding patrons for ideas on bars to visit for future columns. The usual spots were bandied about, places that receive far too much publicity already.
Sessions @ Du Vin / Jody Jenkins, general manager of Brasserie Du Vin, says that, where he comes from, live music is the norm–maybe that’s why Sessions @ Du Vin feel less like something new and more like the final ingredient into the atmospheric mix of an already popular hotspot. Here, Wednesday night is the new weekend.
Waikiki Sandbox / The closing of Tsunami’s, like its namesake, struck with little warning, and left devastation on Kuhio Avenue. “I was on vacation when it happened,” explained bartender John Bjorkholm, “and I came back to find the doors closed and locked.” But like survivors of sudden natural disasters, the core crew of the club has helped rebuild, even making improvements.
Planet Hollywood / A lot of people have asked why I personally don’t do many club reviews. I always thought the answer would be obvious: Most clubs suck.
Recess at Venus / When a venue can bring in a Wednesday crowd that other clubs can’t match on the weekend, that’s saying something. Since Wednesdays became the new “in” night to party during the week, Recess at Venus and Venus Lounge has provided just the right product for the fresh-faced new generation of club-goers.
Smith's Union Bar / Much has changed on hotel street since the early 20th Century. One thing that hasn’t is the familiar Smith’s Union Bar sign.
Even though there are undiscovered places to eat and drink all over the island, sometimes it’s hard to break away from a place you love. Then again, sometimes it’s even harder to get back often enough to a beloved establishment.
Snappers Tapas & Taps / Doing bar reviews week after week can get tiring. It’s an observation that proves, if nothing else, that I can complain about anything.
Honolulu, as of late, is fast becoming a beer lover’s paradise. Microbreweries are flourishing and distributors are working the angles to bring a wider selection to the island.
Red Bull and Vodka, Crown and Coke, some things just blend well together. In the local nightlife scheme of things, there are not too many relationships that work better than Next Door and hip-hop.
Given the city’s crumbling infrastructure and rail controversy, it’s hard to believe anyone would want to be the next mayor of Honolulu. But a few do want the job, including the incumbent, Mayor Peter Carlisle, the former Honolulu Prosecuting Attorney who won a 2010 special election to fill the remainder of Mufi Hannemann’s term.
I’d never been to a Honolulu City Council meeting until a few weeks ago. Features, not politics, was my beat.
Victoria Holt Takamine is a kumu hula, a cultural activist and a teacher and has an impeccable pedigree to back up all these titles. Born of an alii family whose kuleana was in Moanalua, she graduated as a hula teacher under the legendary Auntie Maiki Aiu Lake and taught hundreds of students in her own halau (Pua Alii ‘Ilima) and at the University of Hawaii.
On April 25, a state judge dismissed trespassing charges against a Kauai man after finding that he had been exercising traditional native Hawaiian rights hunting wild pigs on private land. Kui Palama, 28, was arrested on Jan.
The city plans to dish out $3.5 million from its Affordable Housing Fund and either purchase or renovate a structure to provide transitional housing for Honolulu’s special needs homeless population. “Our community has invested considerable effort and resources in addressing homelessness,” Mayor Peter Carlisle said in a statement, “but there remains a population whose disabilities or chronic conditions make it difficult for them to participate in traditional shelter programs.” Carlisle is referring to those homeless with mental illnesses, addictions and physical disabilities.
Makaweli Poi faces an uncertain future after its owner, a corporate subsidiary of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA) ordered the West Kauai mill to suspend operations May 23. Mona Bernardino, chief operating officer of the corporation, Hiipoi LLC, says the move to shut down Makaweli Poi was prompted mainly by financial concerns.
A resolution adopted by the City Council will solidify an agreement between the City and County of Honolulu and the University of Hawaii Water Resources Research Center (UH-WRRC) to conduct an analysis of impacts from ocean sewer outfalls on the marine environments off of Oahu. The city will pay UH-WRRC as much as $2.5 million for biological and sediment studies in portions between now and June 30, 2017 .
Along with the deep, verdant growth of spring sprouts an unyielding desire to spend more time in the open air. That’s why it should come as no surprise that National Bike Month falls in the sun-drenched time of May.
Of the many letters you publish against rail, how many offer an alternative that won’t send us into further economic demise? Billions of gallons of oil are imported for us from every oil-producing nation on this planet so that we can buy billions of gallons of gasoline.
TheBus is taking a back seat to rail. At the May 3 Downtown Neighborhood Board meeting, an audience member asked city Transportation Director Wayne Yoshioka when we could expect the bus route cancellations and changes to be reversed.
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