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HALEIWA'S little row of commerce is a prime shopping opportunity for that most difficult of giftees, the teen-aged boy. This place is dripping with surf shops, offering a zillion ideas for the kid who loves the waves, or just likes to look as though he does.
This North Shore beach
town is a shopping haven
during the hectic holidaysBy Betty Shimabukuro
Star-BulletinIt's also a great place to shop for the boutiquey woman, mainland friends who'd appreciate a bit of Hawaiiana or the art collector.
To shop in Haleiwa at this frantic time of year is to find sanctuary. Drive out there through green fields under blue skies with the ocean peeking at you from the distance. Parking is free and plentiful. Shops are small and friendly.
As long as you allow enough time for the drive and to stroll around, Haleiwa is like forced relaxation.Map out your excursion one of two ways: Spend all your time at North Shore Marketplace, right where the bulk of the town's shops begin. There's lots of parking and the shops include a couple of boutiques, surf shops, jewelry stores, art galleries and knick-knack centers. Or, plan a tour. Start even farther up Kamehameha Highway and continue down the road and across Haleiwa bridge to the oceanfront.
It's not exactly air-conditioned comfort, and the area around the shave-ice shops can get stinky from tour bus exhaust. Those are the main pitfalls. Otherwise, it's a day of funky fun.
Stop by this gallery to see art in progress. Krista Woodward or her apprentice, Jill Elkins, demonstrate glass lampwork in the store daily. Lampworking involves the sculpting of molten glass using a torch -- it is an art form different from glass-blowing and is rarely seen at Woodward's level of mastery, says gallery owner George Atkins. Oceans in Glass
For Christmas, consider delicate hanging angels in a rainbow of color combinations for $59. The gallery also offers angel fish -- "the highest form of the art," Atkins says, because of their artistry and incorporation of color from melted colored glass rods -- as well as turtles and dolphins. They come as single ornaments or incorporated into sculpture.
Oceans in Glass also offers jewelry and blown-glass balls by other artisans. Prices range from $20 to more than $500.
Oceans in Glass is in the North Shore Marketplace; 637-3366.
Other art galleries: Haleiwa has many of these, most exhibiting ocean-themed art along the lines of the Wyland Gallery. Many also represent artists who specialize in island scenes, including slices of Haleiwa life. Check out Haleiwa Art Gallery and North Shore Art Gallery for a sampling.
Surfboards of every size shape and color line the walls at Surf & Sea.
Shop Zone runs Mondays through Dec. 18, suggesting options for intrepid holiday gift-buyers. Shop Zone focuses on a varied collection of stores in a neighborhood, tells you where to park and where to take a break.
This tiny place is piled high with touristy gewgaws, but also has well-made handicrafts from throughout Polynesia. More than 50 artisans are represented, some of them from within owner Byron Cooper's family. Polynesian and Global Handicrafts
You'll find lauhala bags, lava lava, hula implements, Hawaiian fabrics, seashells, coconut crafts and Hawaiian quilt patterns done up in pillowcases and potholders. A popular item is a tapa picture frame for about $12.
Cooper has an extensive collection of fishhook and shark's tooth jewelry, the fishhooks made of bone, wood, jade and sea shell; the shark's teeth ranging from tiny pendants selling for around $3, to large, gold-wire-wrapped fossils that go for $20 to $100. Consider these for kids in the fourth-grade age range, who often pick up an attraction for this type of accessorizing when studying Hawaiiana in school.
Cooper also displays an impressive array of weaponry from throughout the Pacific islands, much of it mean-looking stuff trimmed in sharks teeth. Prices range from $40 to $400. The items are popular, Cooper says, with military men. "It's pretty much a guy thing."
Polynesian and Global Handicrafts (soon to be renamed Polynesian Treasures) is in the North Shore Marketplace; 637-1288.
An ideal place for the woman who has that parrot-like fascination for shiny things, Jungle Gems offers showcase after showcase of colorful stones done up as necklaces, bracelets, earrings, rings -- all manner of bangles and beads. Jungle Gems
Choices range from your usual turquoise, amethyst and garnet to rare moldavite -- or "glass with outer-space origins," which store owner Brent Linden says comes from meteorite strikes.
You'll find just about every semi-precious stone here, and a few precious ones as well. Most of the jewelry is designed and made in-house. Most prices are under $100, with many items in the $20 range, including baby bracelets. Custom work and repair are also done here.
Jungle Gems also sells rough-cut loose stones for as little as 50 cents, great for kids who like to pick rocks up off the street. Some preschoolers are odd that way. Buy a handful and you'll get a little pouch to present them in.
Jungle Gems is in the North Shore Marketplace; 637-6609.
Designer Claudio Fernandez, a Hawaii resident by way of Brazil, designs clothing and furniture that is produced in Bali and sold at Bali Moon. Here, you'll find collectibles as small as carved stone animals, up to baskets, up to a chest of drawers, all of it Indonesian in inspiration. Bali Moon Hawaii
Bali Moon and its sister shop, Matahari, also offer clothing, the most popular being beaded dresses. Sarongs, halters and crocheted items also fill the racks, in prices from $20 to $52 for hand-beaded pieces.
Bali Moon is at 66-200 Kamehameha Highway; 637-0012.
In a place exploding with surf shops, this is the largest and most eye-popping. It's also casual in a run-down, Arakawa's kind of way, surf clothing piled at one end, surfboards at the other, all manner of diving, boogie-boarding and surfing accessories in between. Surf & Sea
Manager Eddie Crawford suggests gift items such as leashes, wet suits, rash guards, board bags and removable fins. You'll also find clothing in name designs of Hurley, Volcom, Roxy and more -- T-shirts, board shorts, jeans, caps and sandals. You can arrange for lessons, too -- another gift idea.
Crawford's best-selling item? "Honestly, it's probably wax." He's sold 7,000 bars this year -- "there's not a lot of money in it."
Of course, the store also sells boards and can outfit a surfer at any skill level, in many price ranges, up to collector's boards and hand-shaped replicas worth $5,000 to $7,000. "It's like art, you know," Crawford says.
Surf & Sea is at 62-595 Kamehameha Highway, across the Haleiwa bridge; 637-9887.
The classic Haleiwa breather is a stop for shave ice. For about a buck, take your pick of sticky flavors, then grab a bench outside and watch the traffic go by. The famous Matsumoto Shave Ice and H. Miura Store and Tailor Shop at the lower end of Kam Highway also have classic country stores attached. Matsumoto sells T-shirts and other souvenirs bearing the store name; H. Miura offers custom-made clothing and palaka prints. Take a break
For a meal, consider Waialua Bakery just across the parking lot from Fujioka Super Market, with its line of specialty breads, sandwiches and smoothies in the $5-and-under-range. Vegetarian specialties are always on the menu, including a tasty hummus spread.
The bakery is around the half-way point of a stroll through town, so it's a good time to take a break. Sit outside on the patio and plot the rest of your excursion.
Next week: Kailua Past Shop Zones:
Kaimuki
Waikiki
Harbor Center
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calendars and events.
