File photo
Yes, there was a wave on the side of the Wave Waikiki
building, but it was painted over in 1991 due
to a signage controversy.
Jack Law remembers the birth of Wave Waikiki as a business decision pure and simple.
"There was this nightclub that had been on the market for a long time. I watched it go down in price from around $1 million to down like $300,000, and I said to my business partner, Bob Magoon, that we'd better buy that place or somebody else would buy it and compete with (our bar) Hula's.
"Right before we took possession, Hula's caught on fire and we were able to take the Hula's employees and clientele move them over to the Wave. It was terrific and we were jamming," he said. When Hula's reopened, however, the Wave crowd went back to their old haunt and didn't appear until Hula's closed at 2 a.m.
"I had to find something that would bring other people in early and be compatible with the late crowd. After that, the Wave just sort of evolved."
Law took some of the best ideas he'd seen in mainland punk clubs and brought in a local band called the Squids. The Wave quickly took on an identity of its own.
That was 18 years ago. The club is a Waikiki landmark and enjoys a well-deserved reputation as one of the most innovative local nightspots of its era. Law, Magoon and the loyal Wave clientele celebrate the Wave's 18th anniversary on Sunday. Law notes that the event will be less of an extravaganza than in some years past.
"You'd see some people who only came that one time each year and they'd make a pig of themselves at the food table and you wouldn't see them for another year. This party is really for the people who support the Wave."
Those supporters have helped the Wave stay open through boom times and bad, and what times they've been! The Wave was the home of Hawaii's biggest and most viable "New Wave" bands of the '80s; the Squids were followed by Hat Makes the Man, and Sonya & the Revolucion.
The club has also been a concert venue for national acts as diverse as George Thorogood & The Destroyers, Bow Wow Wow, Grace Jones, Romeo Void, Elvin Bishop, Hollis Gentry & Neon, and the group Law recalls as the biggest of all -- Fleetwood Zoo with special guest Stevie Nicks.
The Wave's elaborate Halloween and New Year's Eve theme parties are the stuff of legend. And, despite the current stagnant economy, the Wave is again showcasing local bands several nights a week. Surf Psycho Sexy, Cartman's Lunchbox, the Beat Poets and the Bosscats share the schedule. Sunday is Swing Tiki night with free dance lessons.
Law considers change an important element in the club's "post-modern" attitude.
"I always felt decor should be part of the entertainment and never remain stagnant."
So it is that the Wave still has a full-time artist on staff. "If you haven't been here in six or eight weeks you're bound to find something new," Law said. In-house video editing facilities continue to create original art to for broadcast over the Wave video system.
The building's ewa side once bore a mural in the style of Japanese artist Hokusai Katsushika's classic woodblock print, "The Great Wave." Law was eventually forced to paint over the mural as a result of what many considered to be others' overzealous interpretation of local signage regulations. However, Law cites the raising of the drinking age to 21, and the state's eight-year recession, as the biggest challenges thus far to the Wave's survival.
"Raising the drinking age significantly changed the demographics, and changed the summer demographics of Waikiki for the worst. I still believe that the drinking age should be lowered, if not back to the age of majority, then to 20.
"Unlike the mainland, you can't get in your car and drive to the next state, get bombed, and try to drive home. That was a factor in raising the age on the mainland but it doesn't exist here."
"With the economy the way it's been since 1990, not only is tourism down, but a lot of the Wave's clientele over the years have been people who work in Waikiki. If they're not making money they're not able to go out either."
The closing of Hula's Bar & Lei Stand in July after 24 years made the Wave a refuge again for Hula's crowd. The two clubs-in-one Hula's-at-the-Wave period of coexistence ends tomorrow when the new Hula's opens in the Waikiki Grand Hotel. The official grand opening takes place Nov. 29.
"I haven't worked harder in my whole life than in the past four months," Law said, "but it's going to be really nice."
Wave Waikiki: 18th anniversary party with drinks at 1980 prices; to be eligible for a $1,000 giveaway, pick up a raffle ticket at the club before Sunday
