Sometimes we're just as clueless

By Lee Cataluna
Advertiser Columnist

Stories abound of the strange perceptions of life in Hawai'i. No doubt your circle of friends has its favorite. One of the best I've heard is about a guy from Hawai'i traveling on the Mainland. He called the operator to place a collect call from Rhode Island, where he was visiting, back home to Maui. The operator paused, shocked, and asked, "They have phones out there?"

Then there's the woman I met in California who said she had been to Hawai'i many, many times and just loved it because the Hawaiian people don't take money for goods and services, they operate on the barter system. (I have no idea what she was trading and what she was getting, but she certainly wasn't shopping at Longs or Costco.)

But that same kind of misconception occurs between the islands. There are people who still think Kaua'i is in shambles because of 'Iniki. There are people who think you can't find an ATM on Lana'i. And probably the biggest misconception of all, there are people who think Maui is still slow-paced and unspoiled. (Just because you can't find a place to eat after 10:30 p.m. doesn't mean a place is slow. It just means they don't have a Zippy's.)

But while people on O'ahu often think the Neighbor Islands are much less developed, less sophisticated than they are, sometimes the faulty perception goes the other way. There was a news story a few years back about a pedestrian on Kaua'i who was hit by a car. The man was on the side of the road at the time of the accident, and O'ahu media outlets reported, "The victim was not in a crosswalk when he was hit." Well, of course he wasn't in a crosswalk. There wasn't a crosswalk for miles. No sidewalks, either. Just canefields.

Neighbor Island residents who don't find much occasion to travel to O'ahu tend to think of the entire island as Ala Moana Center. Or even more intense, Ala Moana Center during a Christmas season sidewalk sale. Take visitors from Kahului over the Pali for the first time and watch as their eyes almost fall out of their heads. They can't imagine O'ahu could be so, well, pretty.

Then there's the story from Russell Yamanoha, one of the best storytellers around. While growing up in Lahaina, Russell saw the wonders of O'ahu played out on television: the Skyslide, Sea Life Park, the Waikiki Shell. He remembers hearing about concerts at the Shell — C&K, Kalapana, all the biggies — and being very impressed because he thought the Shell was a gas station with really, really good promotions.

Maybe when we get the "you mean they have phones in Hawai'i?!" questions from folks who just don't know, we should cut them a little slack. After all, we have a hard enough time keeping track of what's happening on different islands. We should empathize with their misunderstanding.

(Nah.)

Lee Cataluna's column runs Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Reach her at 535-8172 or lcataluna@honoluluadvertiser.com