CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Representatives from the visitor and restaurant industry
joined Mayor Harris for a news conference yesterday
to unveil the new "Sunset on the Beach" program, an
effort to attract people to Waikiki.

Waikiki Beach to
play host to weekend
movie showings

Mayor Harris hopes the weekly
event will attract visitors
and residents to Waikiki

---

By Gordon Pang
gpang@starbulletin.com

Food, movies, music and a Hawaiian sunset on the shores of Waikiki Beach.

Mayor Jeremy Harris and local businesses are hoping the combination will draw kamaaina and tourists alike to a weekend "Sunset on the Beach" program set to begin this weekend at Queen's Surf Beach.

Harris told reporters at a press conference yesterday that the program is the latest effort to attract people back to Waikiki where businesses have suffered significantly since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

"The concept is to have on Saturday and Sunday night a movie shown right here on the beach and some of our finest restaurants serving dinner here on the beach," Harris said.

Umbrellas, tables and chairs will be set up along Kapahulu Pier. Music will be provided at sunset. Later, a 30-foot screen set up along the far end of Queen's Surf will show Hawaii-related features and short films.

Between six and eight Oahu restaurants will set up booths along the mauka end of the beach each week. Restaurants participating during the first weekend will be Indigo Eurasian Cuisine, I Love Country Cafe, Auntie Pasto's, Skyline Cafe, Naniwa-ya, Paniolo Popcorn and Seafood Village. Restaurants will pay $450 a weekend to participate.

City Deputy Managing Director Malcolm Tom and the Hawaii Restaurant Association are coordinating booth space.

CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Umbrellas, tables and chairs are being set up at Kapahulu
Pier to accomodate diners attending the event.

Co-sponsors include the Hawaii Restaurant Association, the Hawaii International Film Festival, News8 and K-5, radio station Island Rhythm 98.5 FM, the Waikiki Improvement Association, the Hawaii Hotel Association, the Hawaii Visitor & Convention Bureau and the Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii.

The event is scheduled for 4 to 9:30 p.m. each Saturday and Sunday through the end of the year.

This weekend's two feature movies will be Disney movies with Hawaii connections. "George of the Jungle," which was filmed on Kauai and Oahu, will be shown on Saturday. "Dinosaur," a computer animated feature that had plate shots filmed throughout Hawaii, is Sunday's film.

This weekend's "Sunset on the Beach" opening was designed to coincide with the city's "Brunch on the Beach" that takes place along Kalakaua Avenue on the second Sunday of every month.