Wai'anae ready for Sunset series event
By Will Hoover
Advertiser Leeward O'ahu Writer
Honolulu Deputy Managing Director Malcolm Tom stood in the grass Thursday at Ma'ili Beach Park and acknowledged the work of people who helped organize the upcoming Wai'anae Coast Sunset on the Beach.
Advertiser library photo • Dec. 23, 2001
When someone noted that he had forgotten to mention Patty Teruya, a resident who works for the city's Neighborhood Communication Office, Tom paused, blushed and smiled sheepishly.
Sunset on the Beach has proved so popular in Waikiki that the event is being tried in other locations. Wai'anae businesses hope it will give their economy a boost.
"If it wasn't for Patty Teruya," he told some 70 vendors, restaurant operators and civic leaders, "we wouldn't be here today."
Indeed, Teruya had been the driving force behind bringing the popular Waikiki weekend blowout, food fest and outdoor movie extravaganza to her own backyard March 16 and 17.
Teruya and others in this economically ravaged region have pinned a lot of hopes on Sunset on the Beach.
Such a highly promoted happening (newspaper, radio and TV ads, as well as invitations mailed to 30,000 area homes) has the potential to do more than alter the financial fortunes of an area that has not shared in the postiSept. 11 recovery.
"This could be the thing that ends the ugly stigma there is against Wai'anae," said Teruya, referring to the area's well-worn negative reputation. "This is special. We want to host O'ahu. We want to show off Wai'anae" with its beautiful beaches, magnificent sunsets and $1.39 gasoline, she said.
Whether that will happen is anybody's guess.
"It could be the biggest Sunset on the Beach, or it could be the smallest," said Tom. "You never know. But I hope it's going to be a big crowd, because the community has been working so hard on this."
Honolulu Mayor Jeremy Harris agrees the event could give Wai'anae the economic jump-start it needs. He also believes it could provide a point of rediscovery for folks all over O'ahu who have not paid a visit to the western part of the island in years.
He predicted the event would be a "phenomenal success," and noted that a week before the event Kekai Moe from the Wai'anae Coast Coalition already had signed up more booth vendors than for any other Sunset on the Beach. Apparently he was only getting warmed up.
Still, Harris remembers how, when he proposed the idea of the sunset movies at Waikiki, "everyone thought I was nuts.
"You never know about these things. It's sort of 'Ready ... fire! ... aim.' When you come up with an idea and it works, then you build on it. If it doesn't work, you try something else."
Teruya herself admits she had so many doubts about interest among her own neighbors that she practically talked herself out of the idea when she first pitched it to Wai'anae Coast community leaders in January.
"I didn't think the restaurants here would feel they could supply the food that would be necessary to feed so many people for two days and nights," she said. "I didn't think people would go, because they had no money to spend. I wondered if it would be better to just have it in Kapolei."
To Teruya's surprise, the Wai'anae community responded with enthusiasm. Soon, area kupuna and members of civic clubs, schools and service organizations were asking to join in.
Now "nobody isn't involved," she said.
By last week, reality had settled in, as different factions tried to sort out the logistics of handling a large influx of visitors.
Even under ideal circumstances, Farrington Highway ranks as one of the most treacherous strips of asphalt in the state. Add thousands of weekend motorists competing for space along the only corridor in and out of the Wai'anae Coast, and you could have the recipe for a vehicular snarl.
The city hopes to alleviate congestion with a shuttle service.
"What they're going to do is have a trolley system," said Capt. George Yamamoto of the Honolulu Police Department's District 8. "It's going to go from Wai'anae Boat Harbor to the Butler Building in Nanakuli.
"It's going to be circulatory, so people will be able to park at certain stops along the way and jump on the trolley and come on over to Ma'ili Beach Park. Then, after it's all over, they'll trolley them back to their car."
The system has been used successfully in Wai'anae in the past, and Yamamoto said additional patrol officers would be on duty.
Tom said three trolleys would be running during peak crowd periods, and more would be available if necessary.
Meanwhile, others were sorting out dilemmas such as how much food to prepare when you have no idea how many will drop by.
"This is going to be a tough event for us," said Randal Ishizu, executive chef for the J.W. Marriott Ihilani hotel at Ko Olina, which will be operating the Naupaka Restaurant food station.
"A lot of my workers are from the Wai'anae Coast, so I'm always consulting with them about how many people they think we'll serve here. But I was underguessing, figuring we'd have about 200 each day. And I just found out they think it will be more like 400 to 500. So we're a little bit flying blind."
At the other end of the food chain, Laurie Shiroma, co-owner of the tiny family-operated Uncle Lani's Poi Pub and Eatery at the Wai'anae Mall, said the family had decided to minimize its risk by focusing on snacks and drinks for the junior segment of the audience.
"We'll do the poi mochi," she said. "But we're going to concentrate on slush floats, shave ice and a keiki special — a hot dog, chips and a soda. We'll be there to take care of the kids."
After Sunset on the Beach packs up its 20 tents and pulls out of Ma'ili Beach and the crowd — however large — goes home, the magic is not supposed to end.
"Hopefully what you leave behind is not just some money in the local economy and families having had a good, fun day," said Harris. "You leave behind the organizational structure, the ability and desire to do a whole lot of other creative things."
In other words, you keep the momentum going, said resident Mark Suiso, who has focused his attention on creating coupons, raffles and other incentives to entice others to continue patronizing the establishments they encounter at Sunset on the Beach.
"The idea is to get the local community acquainted with the local businesses," said Suiso.
And if folks outside the Wai'anae Coast decide to drive back over, so much the better, he said.
If nothing else, they won't find cheaper gas anywhere in Hawai'i.
Reach Will Hoover at 525-8038 or whoover@honoluluadvertiser.com.
