Aloha Ah: Waikiki, Once

“I used to surf with these old guys at Waikiki, one guy, he was 89. He said that the 30s and 40s, that’s when Waikiki was magic. The beach boys, they were gigalos, really, teaching surfing lessons by day and then at night, taking the rich ladies out and playing the ukulele for them on the beach. They’d surf those heavy long boards, they were so stable you could put four people on them, but they’d ride them all the way to the beach. Nowadays, the kids are all over the place on their boards, we couldn’t do that on the old style boards. Of course, those boys, they’re so hopped up on testosterone – the good thing about being older is now I know which waves NOT to ride…

When we think about Waikiki, we’re all looking for that time that past, that kind of mythical Hawaii that doesn’t exist anymore. We’ve got some of it left up here in Haleiwa, but they want to put in five big hotels just up the road. Five hotels! We can’t support the traffic load for one hotel. We’re fighting against it, we have been for 30 years. It’s why we say ‘Keep it Country’ up here.” – Hurricane Bob Brown, Curator, North Shore Surfing and Cultural Museum

Oahu Oy: If you are booking a trip to a major crossroads, one of incredible historical significance and the home of surfing mania, well, you might want to do a little forward thinking and try to not plan your visit to Pearl Harbor and Oahu’s north shore around Veteran’s Day or the opening of the Van’s surfing competition, an event that brings, count them, 25000 people to the island. Unless you’re a fan of huge crowds and getting your rental car on luck alone. Just sayin’. (Thanks SO much, guy at the Thrify rental car counter!)

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