McClain Auction House's new Halekauwila Street site is literally
packed to the ceiling, above. Below, Marty McClain tries the podium.
Photos byDean Sensui, Star-Bulletin

Owner Marty McClain, who formally opened his McClain Auction House and the Honolulu Furniture Antiques and Gallery business Friday, said the intent was to make the 825 Halekauwila St. location a fun place to visit.

It is already being used as a "location" for television commercials. Producers like what he has done to the old office buildings and the visual effect of the various items that are displayed throughout the 18,000-square-foot property, McClain said.

"They come here for props, too," said McClain, who started in the auction business in Honolulu 19 years ago and along the way became an avid antique collector himself.

Victoria Ward Ltd., the commercial arm of the Ward Estate, encouraged him in renovating the site, as it begins to redevelop its properties on the downtown side of Ward Avenue.

McClain linked the offices together and divided the property loosely into rooms and hallways representing bedrooms, living rooms and other areas of nineteenth century and earlier homes and businesses. There is even a "Grandma's Attic" containing hundreds of items from a typical attic of the last century.

Everything in the place is for sale, except perhaps for a few pieces from McClain's own collection.

For the past four years, McClain was located in a bigger space on Queen Street, concentrating mostly on auctions and special sales. The auctions are still going on at the new location, sometimes the property from a family estate, or perhaps the innards of a failed or rebuilt restaurant or a container load of specially purchased antiques.

But McClain said there is a big emphasis on retail now and the new store is attracting everyone from serious, monied collectors to ordinary wage earners or retired folks looking for bargains.