I want to smell the salty air - not vape smoke - and lounge on a beach where I can’t hear the conversation of seven separate groups of people sitting uncomfortably close to me.Ĭlearly, travelers want different things.īut the way our state has marketed the islands seems to clash with what visitors arrive to, at least on Oahu, where the bulk of first-timers stop. ![]() When I think of a vacation - and I had just returned from a laid-back weekend on Kauai with my family - I want to relax, to unwind. I walked nearly two miles in one direction and was already considering jumping on a Biki and biking out of there. The streets of Waikiki aren’t the type of a vacation experience I would want. So these visitors want to be out there? And not in here, where it’s quiet and calm and peaceful? They actually like the chaos? They just walk around.” According to the sign, this bunny does trick for tips. “Yes, so many people,” she answered, “but they don’t come in here. “Man, it’s crazy out there,” I said to one of the smartly dressed saleswomen at the Clinique counter. As I meandered around the cosmetic counters, I realized something: The store was empty. I quickly ducked into Macy’s - my safe space - lulled by the nondescript, inoffensive music and ice-cold air conditioning. Homeless regulars staked their usual spots. A hodgepodge of music blared from every direction. Souped-up cars pounded music as they cruised down the street. People stood in long lines to get coffee and shave ice. Kalakaua Avenue was bustling with street performers - breakdancing groups, guitar-slinging singers, a hack Elvis impersonator, a magician, an inordinate number of caricature artists, even a guy who claims his bunny could do tricks for tips. ![]() Catherine Toth Fox/Civil Beat/2022īy 6 p.m. There’s no doubt Waikiki is full of magic, especially at sunset, if you look beyond Kalakaua Avenue. (Henry’s Place yes, Waikiki Yokocho no.) I expected a lot of visitors - the state reported 818,268 visitors came to Hawaii in April, a 96.3% recovery from April 2019 and the highest recovery rate since the start of the coronavirus pandemic - but I wasn’t prepared for the packed sidewalks, the noise, the intensity. I spent Tuesday afternoon, wandering the neighborhood, seeing if my favorite restaurants and shops were still open. My 5-year-old son caught his first wave at Baby Queens. I met my husband here, spent anniversaries and birthdays here, went to proms here, surfed with legends, picnicked under fireworks, watched meteor showers. I’ve spent decades roaming around Waikiki, cutting school to watch movies at the old Waikiki Theater 3 with its balcony seating and cinema organ - now a California Pizza Kitchen - and surfing the breaks along this sunny coastline. A guy on a motorcycle zooms down the street, balancing on his back wheel. A girl with a guitar turns up her amp to compete with the breakdancing group nearby. ![]() People hand me flyers for a gun-firing range and why I need to reject the Chinese Communist Party. ![]() I push through a moving wall of sunburned shoulders on Kalakaua Avenue.
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