View Point

Friday, May 22, 1998

Waikiki isn’t as bleak
as it’s being portrayed

Efforts to preserve Hawaiian culture in
Waikiki are becoming increasingly easy to find

By George S. Kanahele

As Briana Poilon referred to it in her May 8 View Point column, "the wasting of Waikiki" sounds ominous. But, on the contrary, there are many points of light in Waikiki that tell a brighter story.

An important part of that story is the effort of Hawaiians and Hawaiians-at-heart to enhance Waikiki's Hawaiian sense of place -- important because Waikiki's attraction is its uniqueness derived ultimately from its Hawaiianness.

For example, the students of Papa Henry Auwae, a highly respected healer, volunteer their time caring for the restored "healing stones" at Kuhio Beach.

They scrub the stones, trim and water the plants and clean the area regularly. They have even replanted those plants that have been thoughtlessly uprooted.

Significantly, they symbolize the return to Waikiki of a group of Hawaiians who otherwise would not go there.

The beachboys who operate a nearby concession look after the sacred spot by discouraging people from hanging their towels on the fence or trying to lounge on the stones. But the beachboys also answer questions that visitors constantly ask about the place.

Over the past year, Hiram Hirai, banquet manager at the Hawaiian Regent, who grew up in Waikiki but never appreciated its historical and cultural importance, has been preparing to become the first certified guide for the new Waikiki Historic Trail.

Hula dancers from various halau perform for visitors every Friday evening at Kuhio Beach. Although the halau receive some money from a joint state/-city fund, it hardly covers the cost of as many as 60 dancers performing at one time.

Another group of three musicians and two hula dancers strolls along Kala-kaua Avenue in the evenings to entertain visitors and residents alike.

These points of light shine partly because of the behind-the-scenes efforts of many individuals and organizations, from both the public and private sectors.

Hirai is able to become a guide because of a combined effort by the city, the Hawaii Convention Center, the Queen Emma and Waiaha foundations, the Waikiki Improvement Association, Outrigger Hotels and Resorts, and others to build the trail.

It's taken five years, but the first five of the planned 18 historic markers are now being installed. Since each marker will describe an important historic event or person associated with the site, anyone walking the trail and reading the markers should come away with a better understanding of Waikiki.

What better classroom could there be for Waikiki's visitors?

The trail was one of 143 suggestions in my report, "Restoring Hawaiianness to Waikiki," published by the Queen Emma Foundation in 1993. The report has been well received; more than 3,000 copies have been distributed free of charge.

The major improvement of the healing stones site was another suggestion that the Queen Emma Foundation also funded. The Hawaii Hotel Association and many of its members have been quietly implementing other suggestions, including teaching the history of Waikiki to employees, honoring historic figures and plant-ing more native shrubs and flowers.

The city has been one of the report's greatest champions.

I recall talking with mayor's chief of staff, Ben Lee, shortly after the report was released. I was pleasantly surprised to hear Lee tell me that he had carefully reviewed it and had assigned different parts to different city departments.

Lee has been a veritable taskmaster, especially on completing the trail.

One of the most significant actions taken by the city was promoting the concept of a Hawaiian sense of place in its Waikiki Planning & Program Guide (published in February 1996) and referencing my report in the amendments to the Waikiki Special District legislation.

So far as is know, it is the only reference to a private publication in any jurisdiction in the United States as a zoning/urban design guideline.

One thing this means is that future developers in Waikiki will now need to read the report to determine whether their plans evoke a Hawaiian sense of place.

In her View Point commentary, Poilon dismisses this concept as "a catchphrase created by someone who couldn't have been Hawaiian."

Well, I created the phrase and I am Hawaiian. In fact, I started writing about a Hawaiian sense of place in 1981 as described in my book "Ku Kanana -- Stand Tall, A Search for Hawaiian Values."

If Poilon hasn't read it, I don't blame her -- 532 pages is a bit much. But ignorance is no excuse for arrogance.

There are other points of light that have appeared in the last five years: the trees that have replaced the T-shirt hawkers, the citizen's Aloha Patrol, the landscaping along Kuhio Beach with its native plants, the beautification of mini-parks along Kuhio Avenue, the recent landscaping along the Ala Wai Canal as well as the wonderful improvements to the promenade adjacent to the convention center.

We have other points of light to look forward to, such as the widening of Kuhio Beach and the Ala Wai clean-up. Waikiki is not being wasted.

Like Poilon and so many others, I don't look forward to ugly, "monolithic architecture" or developments that turn Waikiki into "one gigantic shopping mall."

I believe the new planning guidelines will encourage a new Waikiki with activities and options for design and entertainment consistent with its legacy as a place of beauty and hospitality.

I know for a fact that the design of a major future development will meet these expectations. Let's hope others will, too.

I realize that the name of the game is politics and that the players and priorities keep changing, but our core values and vision need not change.

For Waikiki, those values include aloha for its visitors and residents, respect for its cultural integrity, appreciation of its historical role as a place of hospitality, and sustaining its economic vitality.

And I think any vision for Waikiki would want it to continue to be a place of enchantment for another 100 years.

But resorts have a life cycle of their own and some decline and die. As a resort, Waikiki is on the downside of the cycle, but we have an opportunity -- perhaps our last -- to reinvigorate and reaffirm its reason for being.

Finally, Waikiki is more than a resort, more than an alienated enclave for tourists. It is an integral part of our Hawaii nei that deserves our understanding and caring.

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George S. Kanahele, a historian and author, is a longtime consultant on Hawaiian cultural issues for the tourist industry and government.