Hawaii - Jeff Campbell [76]
The Bike Shop (Map; 596-0588; 1149 S King St; rentals per day $20-40; 9am-7pm Mon-Fri, 9am-5pm Sat, 10am-5pm Sun) rents top-quality road bikes and can provide maps of suggested cycling routes to match your interest. Cyclists often head up to the scenic Tantalus–Round Top loop road (Click here) for an athletic workout.
Golf
Hawaii’s oldest golf course is the nine-hole/par 36 Moanalua Golf Club (Map; 839-2411; http://moanaluagolfclubhawaii.com; 1250 Ala Aolani St; green fees $25-40; by appt Mon-Fri). Built in 1898 by a missionary family, it’s a fairly quick course with an elevated green, straight fairways and nine holes that can be played twice around.
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WALKING TOUR
Honolulu’s most foot-trafficked neighborhood is Chinatown (Click here), filled with bustling markets and eateries, nostalgic antiques shops and nouveau art galleries.
Start at Chinatown Gateway Plaza (1), where stone lions mark the neighborhood’s official entrance. Walk northeast along Bethel St to the neoclassical 1922 Hawaii Theatre (2; Click here). Nicknamed the ‘Pride of the Pacific,’ it showed movies until Waikiki’s more modern cinemas brought down the curtain in the 1970s. Now gloriously restored, the performing-arts theater sometimes offers one-hour guided tours ($5) at 11am on Tuesday mornings; call ahead to confirm schedules.
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WALK FACTS
Start Chinatown Gateway Plaza
Finish Chinatown Cultural Plaza
Distance 1 mile
Duration one or two hours
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Proceed up Pauahi St and turn left on Nu′uanu Ave, where you’ll see the now-abandoned Pantheon Bar (3), Honolulu’s oldest watering hole and a favorite of sailors in days past. The granite-block sidewalks of Nu′uanu Ave are also relics, built with the discarded ballasts of 19th-century trading ships that brought tea from China in exchange for ′iliahi (sandalwood). At the corner of King St, peek into the First Hawaiian Bank (4), with its antique wooden teller cages. Incidentally, Kate’s bank robbery scene in the TV show Lost was shot here.
Turn right onto King St, then right on Smith St. Poke your head into the Hawai′i Heritage Center (5; Click here). Soon you’ll intersect seedy N Hotel St, undergoing a transformation from a red-light district into a row of nightclubs and lounges. Turn left onto N Hotel St and walk to the corner of Maunakea St, where the ornate facade of the Wo Fat Building (6) resembles a Chinese temple. Turn left and walk down Maunakea St, then right onto N King St.
Walk past the red pillars coiled with dragons outside the Bank of Hawaii (7) and keep going to the corner of Kekaulike St and the bustling O′ahu Market (8; Click here), where boxes of iced fish and fresh produce await eager morning shoppers. Walk north up the Kekaulike St pedestrian mall to Maunakea Marketplace (9; Click here). Stroll past its dozen pan-Asian lunch counters, turning right as you emerge onto Pauahi St.
At the corner of Pauahi and Maunakea Sts, O′ahu’s thriving lei industry is in full bloom. You’ll pass clusters of tiny lei shops (10) where skilled artisans, some with glasses studiously tilted down, string and braid blossom after blossom, filling the air with the scents of pikake and ginger. Turn left onto Maunakea St, then left again onto N Beretania St.
Down by the riverside, the Dr Sun Yat-sen statue (11) honors the Chinese revolutionary. The utilitarian modern building next door is Chinatown Cultural Plaza (12; Click here), where you can feast at dim-sum palaces and bite into Buddhist vegetarian fake meats or manapua (island-style steamed or baked buns with various fillings).
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COURSES
Native Books/Nā Mea Hawaii (Map; 596-8885; www.nativebookshawaii.com; Ward Warehouse, 1050 Ala Moana Blvd) This bookstore hosts free classes, workshops and demonstrations in hula dancing, Hawaiian language, traditional feather lei–making and ukulele playing.
Campus Center Leisure Programs (Map; 956-6468; www.hawaii.edu/cclp; Room 101, Hemenway Hall, 2445 Campus Center Rd; classes from $20) UH Manoa offers a variety