East Manoa Road is an amalgam of history and modern culture, preserved in cemeteries, eclectic businesses and a modern shopping center for its 20,000 or so residents.

“;East Manoa Road is really the heart of Manoa town,”; said Scott Chan, president of Malama o Manoa, a community organization dedicated to preserving the neighborhood. “;It's the only part of the valley that has real commercially zoned property. It is our historic town center.”;

Andy's Sandwiches & Smoothies

2904 East Manoa Road
» Phone: 988-6161

Andy's Sandwiches & Smoothies is an “;institution of Manoa”; in the three decades that the mom and pop shop has been on East Manoa Road, said community leader Scott Chan.

“;The family is totally dedicated,”; he said.

Shop owner Andy Rodrigues said his restaurant hasn't changed much over the years—except for the name. He originally opened the shop in May 1977 as Manoa Health Market. In the early 1980s, he changed the name the to Andy's because customers kept writing his name on their checks instead of the business's name.

Andy's sells sandwiches made with fresh-baked whole-wheat bread and home-roasted turkey as well as a variety of meats and vegetables like eggplant and mushrooms.

Rodrigues' gastronomic taste was influenced by his mother—a Seventh-day Adventist Church member who served a strict health-conscious diet. His market focuses on serving healthy meals.

Customers remember his four daughters growing up in the restaurant, returning later to say hello.

“;Just being here, you get to appreciate people coming back, coming back to see you,”; he said. “;I think there is no price on that.”;

Yudi's Deli

2740 East Manoa Road
» Phone: 988-6700

Moiliili resident Peter Comeau knew exactly what he wanted when he stopped by Yudi's Deli on East Manoa Road recently—knish.

“;I really appreciate you being up here, I tell you,”; Comeau told Yudi Weinbaum, owner of Yudi's Deli. Comeau was delighted “;just having somebody who even has knishes.”;

While living on the East Coast, Comeau fell in love with the Eastern European pastry, which comes stuffed with several fillings such as potato, pastrami, or broccoli.

The kosher fare at Yudi's Deli also includes falafel and deli sandwiches.

Weinbaum, a 27-year-old certified chef from London, runs the deli himself, following strict kosher laws that have three main tenets: no mixing of meat and dairy products, the painless slaughter of the animal and the use of only certain animals.

He opened Yudi's Deli in November 2006 in a former gas station. The concrete islands of the gas pumps are now platforms for outdoor dining tables. Across from the deli, a drive-through coffee shop is opening soon.

Weinbaum said while he has many customers from Manoa and surrounding communities, every so often a customer will say, “;I drove from the other side of the island to get a knish.”;

Manoa Chinese Cemetery

Toward the end of East Manoa Road is Hawaii's largest and oldest Chinese cemetery.

Land for the Manoa Chinese Cemetery was purchased in 1851 as a holding ground for the bodies of Chinese immigrants before they were sent back to be buried in China. Over the years, the cemetery has grown to about 40 acres and holds thousands of graves.

Perched on a hill at the back of Manoa Valley, the cemetery was chosen for its “;chi”; by a feng shui master and offers a wide view out the valley's southern end, overlooking the ocean.

“;You can feel the vibrations,”; said Samuel Luke, president of the Lin Yee Chung Association, which manages the cemetery. “;Our community's very proud of (the cemetery) because of the appearance and the spiritual value that it adds to the valley.”;

Luke said the cemetery is also home to Hawaii's largest ceremony for Ching Ming, a monthlong celebration honoring the dead.

The ceremony in Manoa has retained the traditions of the early Chinese immigrants to Hawaii, preserving a style no longer seen in China, Luke said. “;It's far-reaching into the lives of the Chinese community,”; he said.

Manoa Valley Theatre

2833 East Manoa Road
» Phone: 988-6131
» www.manoavalleytheatre.com

University of Hawaii graduate theater students found a permanent home in an old wooden church on East Manoa Road in 1972.

The group was known as the Hawaii Performing Arts Company, and the performance venue was Manoa Valley Theatre.

In 1985, the group got permission from the landowner, Kawaiahao Church, to tear down the termite-ridden and rotting wooden building to build a larger, $1.5 million theater. Today the house seats 150 and the nonprofit group produces six plays a year with an $800,000 annual budget.

“;We're very appreciative of being a Manoa resident,”; said Dwight Martin, the theater's producing director. “;We like to think we help to make the valley unique.”;

Also, the theater tends a Hawaiian cemetery on its one-acre site as part of the 50-year lease from Kawaiahao Church.

“;We're known as the little theater in the graveyard,”; Martin said. He said the cemetery has about 250 graves, although most are not marked, with some dating back more than 100 years.