The Left Lane
Quarrying queries

No one seems to know how Kawaiaha'o Church's coral blocks were quarried, hauled ashore and installed. Advertiser library photo

Barracks and the Kaka'ako Pumping Station, among many others.

No one seems to know how those huge coral blocks in Kawaiaha'o Church, for instance, were cut from the Honolulu reefs, hauled down Coral Street and put into place, author David Cheever said.

Cheever, who is preparing a book on the use of stone in Hawaiian culture and architecture, is asking anyone with information about early quarry operations on O'ahu to call his office at 524-0086.

More laughing tears

Launched in 1988 as a free weekly for University of Wisconsin dorms, the Onion is high on the ridiculous

and low on the highbrow stuff, with popular, intellectual and underground culture targeted equally. "Dispatches from the Tenth Circle, The Best of the Onion" (Random House, $16), the Onion's newest collection in paperback, carries on the proud, shameless tradition of tackling subjects as diverse as "NASA, Nascar Merge" and "You Know I Used to be Kind of Cool Once," a personal insight by Sting.

Hot dates on Maui

"Blind Date," the TV show that gives singles a chance to sample romance, is filming a series of shows on Maui through tomorrow. This after a five-episode Big Island shoot.

Producer Joel Raatz will tape couples parasailing off Ka'anapali, facing the sea creatures at the Maui Ocean Center, taking a chopper ride with Blue Hawaiian helicopters and dining at such spots as Mama's Fish House, Longhi's Wailea, Kimo's, Leilani's on the Beach and Tommy Bahama's Cafe.

The syndicated show, distributed by Universal Worldwide Television, airs at 1:30 a.m. weekdays and at 1 a.m. Saturdays on KITV-4.