Shopping for Books in Waikiki

Hawai`i has never been known, to our knowledge, as a Mecca for book lovers in the way mainland locations such as the Boston and San Francisco areas are renowned. While there are good bookstores around the islands, it's safe to say that the tally is more like a small handful than a large grouping.

So, what then are the prospects in Waikiki for the tourist (or resident) who wants a couple of "beach" books, or maybe something more substantial, like some scholarly Hawaiiana, local fiction, tourist guides, and other varieties of reading matter?

Those prospects have varied over time, but they were never great, and as of this writing, we're only able to find a single dedicated bookstore in all of Waikiki, and that's the Borders Express in the Royal Hawaiian Center.

Borders Express used to be in the Waikiki Shopping Plaza; it was once a Waldenbooks before that chain was bought out and converted. It has since moved across the street and down the block. We'll give them credit; it's a relatively small store, but it has a nice collection of Hawaiiana, from tourist guides to books on the Hawaiian language, some very high quality histories and commentaries, and quite a lot more.

They have a few books about Waikiki (there aren't tons of these in print, and the store stocks some representative entries).

The store isn't necessarily easy to find if you don't know about it or aren't looking for it; you're not likely to just "run into" it by accident. This may leave some visitors with the unfortunate and mistaken impression that there are no bookstores in Waikiki.

Indeed, there are no others, and it's all a bit of a sad tale. While we don't have the complete history (and please let us know if you can add some detail), we've heard there was once a Christian book store in Waikiki. There have also been some used bookstores; a man named Summers ran one on the second floor of the location below, at Ka`iulani and Kuhio, a few years back. It lasted a year or so, as we recall.

More recently the same ill-fated location (first floor this time) housed The Recycled Bookstore. It changed owners and moved to the rather unappealing location shown below on Prince Edward Street, but didn't last long there either and closed in January, 2011.

Then there was a branch of the locally-owned and operated Bestsellers Books and Records. At one time, Bestsellers had multiple O`ahu locations, with their "flagship" store downtown and even a branch at Honolulu International Airport. Their Waikiki location was in a little shopping plaza in Hilton Hawaiian Village and was called The Ohana Reading Room and Library. It opened in September, 2007 and closed in January, 2010. Bestsellers has since gone completely out of business, island-wide.

And as the saying goes, "That's all, folks."

If you're still with us, you may ask us if this is really is an issue that merits so much column space. It's a reasonable question, so please stay with us just a little longer.

Our view is that this does indeed matter, even though we'd be the first ones to admit that a hypothetical row of book stalls and shops along Kalakaua Avenue, a la the Seine in Paris, won't bring in droves of tourists seeking the latest Hawaiian history books.

But it still matters because we don't want Waikiki (and by extension, Hawai`i in general) to be viewed as a lowest-common-denominator tourist market, a sort of mindless Disneyland of popularized, inaccurate and sometimes demeaning representations of Hawai`i and Hawaiian culture. The presence of intellectually-oriented establishments, such as bookstores, goes a long way toward avoiding such an all-too easily acquired impression.

We believe, perhaps naively, that it is possible to appeal to a wide range of visitors and residents without compromise and without reducing our culture to pre-digested pap. In fact, we believe that striving for a higher intellectual level will add to our appeal, not reduce it.

The failure of one bookstore after another seems on the face of things to argue against our position. But bookstore failures are a nation-wide problem these days; even Borders itself has filed for bankruptcy and will be closing many stores (no O`ahu locations are scheduled for shuttering, but the neighbor islands stand to lose a couple of stores).

What we'd really like to see, and what we think would stand a good chance at success, is for a serious-minded Hawaiian operator, such as we see in Ward Centers at Native Books and Beautiful Things (who themselves once had a small shop at Hilton Hawaiian Village which, alas, did not sell books) take the chance with a Waikiki location. We think it would have great appeal and beneficial effect. Any takers out there?

In Search of Seafood: Blue Water Shrimp and Seafood Market

Restaurant reviews generally appear on the third Sunday of each month.

  
This month's Waikiki restaurant review continues our series on the unexpectedly difficult search for top-quality fresh seafood eateries. We tried the Blue Water Shrimp and Seafood Market, located in the food court of Waikiki's International Marketplace, and we came away pleased. (Despite the name, it's definitely a restaurant and not a market.)

Located in a corner of the food court that used to house a pizza place, Blue Water offers a limited menu of familiar favorites. Like most food court restaurants, there's a walk-up counter where you order, pay, and then wait for your food. On our latest visit, the food court was packed, as there was a high-quality stage show going on and as with all the shows in the food court, admission was free. That's something we love to see because the tourists really appreciate a good, free show.

Blue Water dishes aren't free, but they are relatively inexpensive. We had the macadamia-crusted opakapaka which was covered with a spicy mango sauce, and came with rice, salad, a small piece of corn-on-the-cob, and a slice of pineapple.

The fish was delicious, with a crunchy crusting and a moist and tasty interior. We thought the mango sauce was a little too strong and heavy and tended to overwhelm the flavor of the fish, but we would definitely order this dish again, and it was a fine value at $12.95 for a very large serving.

We also tried one of the combos: steak and ahi.

The ahi was coated with furikake seasoning and grilled; while the ahi was of good enough quality, it was cut rather thin and got slightly over-cooked and dry. The steak was nicely marinated, flavorful, and tender without the loss of texture commonly found in meat dipped in tenderizer (we don't think this meat was so treated). It was grilled and served in medium-thick slices, and the combo dish came with the same accompaniments as the opakapaka. Once again, the portion size was huge and a steal at $13.95.

We were also impressed with the elegant presentation, with the dishes served on large, colorful hard plastic plates instead of the styrofoam that is ubiquitous at food courts.

The menu is not large and extensive, and there is no pretension at all in the food and service at Blue Water. But we're more than pleased with a small menu of dishes that are prepared well, and if we want pretension, it's readily available elsewhere--- at about three times the price.

We only wished that the music had been a little less loud and that we would have had less trouble finding an empty table. But happy crowds are what we want to see in Waikiki, so we're not complaining!

Blue Water is definitely worth your time and money, and we recommend that you give it a try and tell us what you think.

Unexpected Neighbors

O`ahu is home to some first-class institutions of higher learning, and students come from around the U.S. and around the world seeking a good education and an enjoyable experience in our beautiful and friendly state.

Of course, they need an affordable place to stay while here, and for newcomers, student housing is often the first choice, as the idea of being with a group of fellow students appeals in terms of camaraderie, convenience, and safety. Student housing is of course offered by many of the universities and colleges. Student housing is also available through commercial enterprises; a group of student housing properties is, for instance, administered by King Realty of Honolulu.

One of these properties is the `Ohi`a, on Kuhio Avenue in Waikiki. It's a nice looking building and appears to be well-maintained. Room pricing is, at least by Waikiki standards, quite moderate, and the location can't be beat; it's an easy bus ride to major schools and all the activities and attractions of Waikiki are at hand, from surfing to dining and more.

It's the "more" part that we found interesting.

The `Ohi`a is at the corner of Kuhio and Nohonani. Just `Ewa of the `Ohi`a is a J&L Hawaiian Barbecue fast food restaurant. But go one more property in the same direction, and we find ... Hawaii by Night.

And just what is Hawaii by Night? It's not a night club or a tour agency, that's for sure. Think the letter 'X' in capitals, repeated about three times, and you'll get the picture (no pun intended).

Now, we're not here to make moral judgments about "adult" entertainment; to each his own, although we don't think Hawaii by Night is helpful in enhancing the family vacation aspects of Waikiki that are so important to tourism.

But we do have some questions about such an establishment being literally next door to student housing. It's not necessarily that students need to be "sheltered" from "adult" material; they're exposed to it in many places and in many contexts. Our concern is that "adult" establishments can attract some pretty creepy people. Is this the kind of neighbor that's suitable for a student dorm? If you were the parent of a 20-year old student, would this make you think twice about the `Ohi`a?

Realistically, Hawaii by Night isn't going to move and for that matter neither is the `Ohi`a. Somewhere along the line, though, somebody didn't do their homework, and it wasn't the students.

Briefly Noted

On the first Sunday of the month,

we present a few photos taken around Waikiki,

with just a brief comment.

Well, it must be safe, or they wouldn't let them do it ... er ... right?

 

 

A dramatic Lion Dance at the International Market

celebrated the Chinese New Year

A Waikiki block party marked the return of the Pro Bowl to Hawai`i;

there was the usual giant traffic jam

TheBus did a great job ferrying fans from Waikiki to the Pro Bowl game

with a large number of special buses

And finally, our mystery photo for the month:

can you guess where the photo above was taken?

Last month's mystery photo was taken in the alley that runs between Kuhio and Kalakaua on the Diamond Head side of the International Market.
Rather a strange place for part of a Banyan tree,
which can be seen on the `Ewa side of the alley.