Honolulu by foot
Aug 29, 2007 |
Let’s face it. We are all guilty of taking things for granted–it’s part of the human condition. There’s just too much out there for us to take notice and appreciate everything all the time.
Some people fall pray to obsession, throwing up blinders to everything not associated with their fancy. Some fall victim to the fast pace of modern life; they rush around and around, going nowhere fast. Some of us suffer from none of these maladies, yet we have grown so accustomed to our surroundings that we fail to stop and smell the plumeria.
We here at the Weekly would like to give you a glimpse into an old-fashioned way to get reacquainted with a town we all love–by foot. Maybe you’ve been hard pressed for a new restaurant to try in Chinatown or maybe that couples-only ghost tour at midnight is right up your alley. Either way, it’s time to pause and appreciate our unique and wonderful island town.
One-man show
Chris Christensen places his plastic tote bag at the base of the brawny Father Damien statue at the State Capitol. Not a single cloud offers a break from the intense midday sun. Father Damien’s large circular eyes seem to bulge out of his head in distress. No doubt he is roasting in his oppressive bronzen cloak.
‘Is this everyone?’ Christensen asks the four people that have shown up for his Heart of Honolulu tour, eager to absorb tidbits of historic information. ‘Well, let’s wait a minute and see if anyone else shows up.’ His wide grin is friendly and inviting.
Christensen is literally a one-man-show. He has been leading tours in Honolulu since 1962 under his public service projects, the Clean Air Team and the Program to Preserve Hawaiian Place Names. The Heart of Honolulu walking tour is the first of 13 guided tours he will lead this month. In total, he will give 156 tours over the course of the year.
No one else has shown up, so he begins.
‘Welcome folks, I’m Chris Christensen, still pursuing my career as the most unimportant person in the Hawaiian Islands,’ he says with a smirk. His bald head is covered by a loose white fishing hat, the brim completely encircling his head. He is wearing a blue and white New York Yankees T-shirt–not because he supports the team but because he got it on sale at the Goodwill–and cut off jean shorts just above his knees. His thin frame, a testament to the treks around town this quick and witty 75-year-old tackles with passion and gusto, is supported by a pair of bright white running shoes.
Christensen pulls a stack of worn three-by-five cards from his bag –125 cards painstakingly handwritten and bound together by a single-ring binder clip. The cards hold all the facts, dates and important people mentioned during the tour, which has evolved over the years to incorporate all the frequently asked questions of his followers.
From the State Capitol to Washington Place and then over to St. Andrews Cathedral, Christensen keeps serving up the facts and witty interjections. Positioned next to the fountain in the courtyard, he tells the story of the bronze statue of St. Andrew and the seven bronze fish, three of which were stolen, hovering above the water. From inside the church, the entire front wall, a stained glass window, is aglow. He offers us this little-known fact: Jesus is surfing in the very top left portion of the window.
The Park Chapel, the No. 1 Capitol District building, the YMCA and the ‘Iolani Barracks receive a quick but thorough mention from Christensen. Although ‘Iolani Palace itself is not on his hit list, the trees in the courtyard are: the towering kapok, the monkey pod, the tropical almond and the kukui nut tree planted by Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1934.
At the Kamehameha the Great statue in front of Ali’iolani Hale, Christensen tells us it was designed by sculptor Thomas Gould of Boston, a man greatly unfamiliar with the history and culture of the Hawaiian people. To remedy his ignorance, he merely fashioned Kamehameha after Caesar Augustus addressing the Roman court and called it a day.
The tour continues past the Territorial Building and over to King Lunalilo’s Mausoleum and the Kawaiaha’o Church, made of hand-hewn coral blocks and fitted with elaborate pews in the rear of the church so the monarchy could worship alongside their people.
The afternoon sun is piercing, and the group looks for shade whenever possible. Christensen is peppy and unaffected by the heat as he flips through his note cards, spouting off dates, stories and anecdotes at each turn in the path.
The Mission Houses are the next stop, and Christensen notes that the small printing press next to the Mission House was actually located across the street.
He leads us across the street to Honolulu Hale. The Spanish-style exterior reminds him of Santa Barbara, and he loves the fact that the massive chandeliers can be lowered to the ground to change the light bulbs.
On the steps of the State Library, Christensen applauds the arrival of the 125th card and politely thanks everyone for hanging in there for his three-hour tour of historic Honolulu.
The Heart of Honolulu, 1-mile walk First Friday of every month, 1-3:30pm. Free, 948-3299
Graves at midnight
The wind is calm, almost eerily still. The late-night air is warm and thick. Tiny stars are abundant and bright. The new moon could be a bad omen.
A small group of ghost seekers huddles together on the steps of the State Library. They don’t know each other yet, but they are almost shoulder to shoulder, quiet and very aware of the dark surroundings. A slight nervousness emanates from the pack. No doubt they are unsure of what to expect on this particular ghost tour. The witching hour closes upon them. It’s Friday the 13th.
‘I hope everyone is wearing running shoes–you never know. Follow me,’ instructs Lopaka Kapanui, our ghost tour guide.
Kapanui has been giving this tour for six years, having taken over for his mentor and friend Glenn Grant, ghost story writer, teller and guide, who died of cancer in 2003. According to Kapanui, the job was given to him by Grant’s ghost, along with the authority to write and publish ghost stories.
Murder, blood, infidelity, spirits, apparitions, hauntings, graveyards, mass graves and dead children are some of the topics he will cover on the tour of the dead.
He tells the story of a night security guard who offended the spirit of a little boy by chasing off relatives visiting his grave. When the security guard is again alone, the little boy and all the other deceased children in the graveyard lash out against him. Kapanui’s menacing voice flows from his mouth like blood draining from a fresh laceration. Several members of the group rub their arms to try and ease their chicken skin.
Kapanui is dressed in a tuxedo–white jacket, black pants–a triangle of gray beard covers his bittom lip and points to his chin. The suit and fullness of his face gives him a Hitchcock-esque appearance, minus the belly.
‘Everywhere you walk in this graveyard you’re stepping on bones. There are so many people buried here, there are not enough headstones,’ he says of the massive graveyard behind The Mission Houses Museum.
The group looks around on the ground and pores silently over the expanse of the dark graveyard, stepping lightly as if to not disturb the interred residents.
At ‘Iolani Palace, the next stop on the tour, Kapanui warned the walkers of the calling spirit, a beautiful Hawaiian girl who rejoices in killing men. He mentions how one photo taken underneath a banyan tree, known to trap lost souls, on the palace grounds revealed the red, staring eyes of dead children. The original royal mausoleum was also visited, and the many Hawaiian curses discussed in their gory glory.
The palace was inspected from all sides, paying close attention to the entrances and stairways. According to Kapanui, a self-proclaimed Freemason, King Kalakaua was brought into the Freemasons by Albert Pike and ascended to the highest rank in the order. The palace, which was designed by Kalakaua, is actually a Masonic temple, Kapanui claims, pointing out the Masonic symbols hewed into the ceilings, walls, steps and pillars, which are there for everyone to see if one only knows what to look for. Kapanui also claims the palace was built over a spiritual vortex and the entrances built to symbolize and mimic tunnels found on O’ahu connecting mass burial sites underground.
Kapanui, a master storyteller, does not hold back his tongue and acts as a bridge between the world of the dead and the frightened followers he leads. He calls out for the spirits to appear, chants and asks permission to be in their presence.
Standing in the graveyard once again, he explains to the group that in Hawaiian custom, they are now defiled, having improperly mingled with the dead. He has the group join hands and resound a chant to cleanse and protect them from any evil spirits that might follow them home.
‘All right, now let’s get the hell out of here!’ Kapanui turns and quickly walks away.
Ghost Tours Every Friday walking tour 8:30-10pm, $35
Every Saturday bus tour 6:30-10pm, $50
The Couples Only Ghost Tour Saturdays at midnight, $50
Private tours also available No children under 12 years old, 386-3704
Pigging out
Walter Rhee’s ad in the Weekly specifies, ‘Comfortable shoes and elastic waistband pants recommended,’ for the Taste of Chinatown Eateries tour. That’s no joke! Be prepared to eat. Be prepared to learn.
Rhee has a master’s degree in food science at the University of Hawai’i-Manoa, is a food critic and writer and has been giving restaurant tours for more than 10 years–the last four of those in Chinatown.
‘There is no other Chinatown in the United States that has the diversity and authenticity of Honolulu’s Chinatown, and I’ve been to a lot. You can’t even get good Chinese food in L.A.’s Chinatown. The Vietnamese have pushed out the Chinese,’ Rhee says, as he opens a Styrofoam container filled with shrimp dumplings. ‘Everyone try one. Remember the taste and especially, remember the texture.’
The group devours the chewy morsels of shrimp, unaware of the copious buffet from which they will sample. Rhee divides the group into teams, hands out some money and sends the people out to specific restaurants for specific dishes. A meeting place–Maunakea Marketplace–is established.
This tour is about flavor. It’s about what nuances to look for in Asian cuisine, the true, authentic styles of certain dishes and why the foods taste the way they do. It touches on the historical significance of certain dishes and the regional differences in Asian cuisine.
About a half hour later, the last of the stragglers have arrived with their culinary delights.
Rhee cleans off one of the gray plastic tables that dissect the small food court. The smell of curry, Chinese five spice and dried fish mingle in the stale warm air.
‘This is a Vietnamese sandwich. Notice how the baguette is very crispy,’ Rhee continues. ‘It is made with rice flour. The French introduced the baguette to the Vietnamese during their occupation. They also introduced the beef noodle soup that is common. Vietnam harvests rice twice a year, so they put in it everything.’
The sandwich is crispy and very flavorful, packed with cilantro, Vietnamese sausage, carrots and a special beef bouillon sauce.
A lady yells in Chinese. Rhee jumps up and grabs a bowl of steaming wonton soup from her hands. He places it on the table and immediately pulls out a Chinese doughnut–a deep-fried baguette-like piece of savory bread–from his tote bag, slices it into bite size pieces and drops them into the broth.
He explains the correct way to enjoy the soup with the soft bread and moves along quickly to the Laotian sausage, distinctly flavored with basil. Next he serves roast duck with plum sauce and follows it up with Banh Beo, a circular rice cake topped with bean sprout paste and dried shrimp bits.
‘Try it first plain and now try it with the sauce. The sauce is called nuoc cham, and it is made with fish sauce, radish, carrot, garlic, sugar, lime and chili pepper,’ Rhee explains.
A see-through tapioca dumpling filled with shrimp is passed around, followed by a mochi-like ball with mung bean paste filler. Next, turnip cake squares coated in egg are sampled. He instructs the group to pour a rice vinegar sauce over the top and explains the science of sweetness.
After the bar-none fried rice, Rhee leads the group around Chinatown by foot and points out the inconspicuous and often unnoticed restaurants. Without a missed step, the tour ends up in the Chinese Cultural Plaza at Fook Lam Seafood Restaurant along the river. Rhee orders what he says are ‘real’ shrimp dumplings and ‘real’ chow mein for the group.
The food is top notch. Everyone is nearing the point of food coma.
Rhee delights in sharing his knowledge of Asian cuisine and offers up recipes to anyone interested. ‘Now you know what fried rice should taste like, and you know what won ton soup should taste like,’ he says. ‘I hope that you not only learned about why the food tastes the way it does, but have become connoisseurs in the meantime.’
Taste of Chinatown Eateries, Every Saturday 11:30am-2:30pm, $59
Cook’s Tour of Chinatown, Every Saturday 8:30-10:30am, $15, Reservations required 391-1550
Toes in the sand
Landmarks Along the Legendary Waikiki Beach, a tour given by Chris Christensen of the Clean Air Team, highlights the often overlooked and very interesting changes that have shaped the look, feel and tastes of the Waikiki shoreline. Of course, Christensen deftly incorporates historical facts and dates into the fabric of the tour.
Christensen prides himself in the fact that his two-mile guided walk does not deviate from the shoreline, as in the high water mark, not Kalakaua Avenue. It is a path rarely taken in its entirety, often obstructed by hordes of beachgoers, blankets and umbrellas. Before the advent of tourism and man-made beaches, Waikiki was a disconnected patchwork of beaches, stream outlets from the mountains and marshes.
Our guide weaves a delicate path through the scantily clad sun worshipers and is not afraid to get his feet wet. He stops abruptly in the sand nestled up against the Kapahulu groin on Kuhio Beach.
‘OK, everyone, this is the only place to find authentic Waikiki sand along the entire stretch of Waikiki,’ says Christensen. ‘Because of beach erosion and the economic need for these wide sandy beaches, sand has been trucked in and dumped onto the shore to create the beaches you see today. First they trucked the sand in from Kane’ohe Bay, then brought it in by barge from Moloka’i and Lana’i, and then from Manhattan Beach in California.
‘Notice how fine the sand is we are stepping on now, the light color. It comes from the coral surrounding the island. This is beautiful Waikiki sand.’ Christensen points down the beach, toward ‘Ewa, ‘Now look at the color of the sand lining the rest of the shoreline. It’s much darker and much more coarse.’
The origin of the sand on the gently sloping beaches is no deterrent, and the group steps lightly around towels and tourists. Christensen talks about the disappearance of three major streams that flowed out through Waikiki, due to the construction of the Ala Wai Canal in 1924. The canal itself was supposed to have a second outlet on the Diamond Head side of Waikiki Beach, but the wealthy land owners on the other side of what is now Paki Street were able to block the construction of the canal through their land.
The names of two popular surf breaks, Queens and Canoes, are explained and the first high rise in Waikiki is pointed out. Of course, the group stops at the Duke Kahanamoku statue, the legendary icon who also served as sheriff of Honolulu for 25 years.
The history of the Moana Surfrider and the Royal Hawaiian are the next main area of focus. Christensen details their paralleled growth with the popularity of Waikiki and the changes brought on by Worl War II. He ferries the group into the first passenger elevator in the territory inside the Moana Surfrider and presents them with an unmatched view of the coastline from the observation deck on the sixth floor.
The group continues past the Sheraton Waikiki and Fort DeRussy, the largest single piece of property in Waikiki and the longest stretch of continuous sand (completely manmade). The last remaining pier in Waikiki is pointed out at the Hawaiian Hilton Village. Christensen talks fondly of the previous hotel on the property, Kaisers Hawaiian Village, which featured small grass-roofed shacks.
Construction fizzles out the end of the tour. The giant gaping pit, soon to be the Hilton Hawaiian Village’s lagoon, is a burning eyesore, and it’s hard to enjoy the beach with wooden panels lining the beach, doing little to disguise the melee.
However, Christensen remains upbeat. Overlooking the Ala Wai Small Boat Harbor, he finishes the tour with a magnificent view, a nice cool finish to an entertaining version of the history of change along the Waikiki shoreline.
Landmarks Along the Legendary Waikiki Beach 2-mile shoreline walk Last Wednesday of every month 9am-noon, $10, 948-3299
