TV REVIEW
Kapi'olani Park lives through 127 years
By Wayne Harada
Advertiser Entertainment Writer
"Kapi'olani Park," airing at 9 p.m. tomorrow on KGMB-9, is a revealing and reverent glimpse of one of the community's valuable resources.
Advertiser library photo
With black-and-white stills and occasional vintage film footage, the show offers a look at one of Waikiki's cherished open spaces, where horses once raced and polo matches were played, the elite rode boats around a man-made island, and the military once erected a tent city.
In the Kapi'olani Park of old, people leisurely rowing boats around a man-made island were a common sight. Now it's mostly green grass.
Hosted by Elizabeth Lindsey Buyers, the special is a loving tribute to a multi-use zone that now encompasses the Waikiki Shell, a zoo, aquarium and natatorium.
The show also is a stroll down memory lane, since the pivotal Waikiki nightclub, Queen's Surf (and the smaller Barefoot Bar) is long gone. So is the ostrich farm. And the gazebo on the island once surrounded by water.
Produced and directed by Phil Arnone and written by Robert Pennybacker, "Kapi'olani Park" is an armchair journey jammed with delightful recollection, insightful history, and nuggets of factoids few know today. There are scores of voices represented — hula dancers, promoters, musicians, environmentalists.
Now, Kapi'olani Park is home to festivals and craft fairs, soccer matches and tennis, sunbathers and joggers — and the annual Honolulu Marathon, plus sundry other fitness events.
As narrator Buyers says, the park is "more than a patch of land — a living, breathing, sometimes colorful character." It is defined by the people who use it, many of whom know little about the park's 127-year history.
'Kapi'olani Park'
The park was created to resemble parks of Europe, says Palani Vaughan, a Hawaiian entertainer and scholar on matters of King Kalakaua, who founded the park and named it after Queen Kapi'olani. Initially, it was envisioned as a seaside suburb with homes, not a space for public enjoyment, but ownerships changed.
Jon de Mello and Tom Moffatt reflect on the talent parade at the Shell, ranging from Jimmy Buffett to The Eagles, from Willie Nelson to Kenny Loggins, and the signature Lei Day event starring the Brothers Cazimero.
Kapi'olani Park's keen green look is no accident, since parks director Bill Balfour decreed that the park should be emerald green all the time.
The special incorporates right-on Hawaiian music by Island gems including Auntie Genoa Keawe, Palani Vaughan, Sonny Chillingworth, Bla Pahinui, The Emersons, Sam Kapu Jr., The Caz and Amy Hanaiali'i Gilliom.
Reach Wayne Harada at wharada@honoluluadvertiser.com, 525-8067 or fax 525-8055.
