Posted on: Sunday, December 19, 2004

OUR HONOLULU

By Bob Krauss
Advertiser Columnist

The Big Island is pregnant, a sleepy giant that has come awake. There's a construction boom going on. People wait a year to find a contractor with time to build their house. Homes are selling at a record pace. Nurseries to supply landscapers have popped up all over.

Subtle changes in character are taking place. Downtown Hilo still has the flavor of a country store, but the shopping mall past the airport is as big and crowded as Ala Moana. They have Wal-Mart, Borders, Sears, Ross and a Home Depot coming in.

The fishing village with one street that was once Kailua in Kona is buried under hotels, shops, tour buses and signs. Hulihe'e Palace and the old church are as out of date as a heiau on a golf course. The village has become part industrial park, part subdivision and part tourist hotel.

West Hawaii Today, Kona's newspaper, has grown bigger than the Hawaii Tribune-Herald. People drive all the way across the island to shop at Kona Costco.

For me the most startling transformation has taken place at Waimea. It's not a cowboy town anymore. It's Dallas in the tropics. Waimea smells of money; elegant mansions, smart shops, art galleries and traffic lights.

Driving up from Kawaihae in the rain at about 4 p.m. when everybody was going home from work, I got stuck in a mile-long traffic jam coming into what used to be the one-horse village of Kamuela. Not any longer. Now the dude ranchers park a stable of Mercedes SUVs in the corral.

I'll say this for the Waimea drivers. Not one of them tooted a horn the whole half-hour it took to get into town.

The coastal road from Kalapana along the Puna shore to Honolulu Landing is another shocker. Southern plantation homes with wraparound verandas have blossomed on the black lava bluffs where only 'opihi fishermen ventured before. Puna has become a combination of Hawaiian, hippie and speculation.

I have to report, however, that the soul of Hawai'i is intact, the aloha spirit still operates in familiar fashion. The pace is much slower than O'ahu. There's plenty of elbow room. Only Kona and Waimea approach Honolulu traffic congestion.

My prize for creative evolution into the 21st century goes to Kohala, where historic restoration combined with new energy has produced a charming ambiance. Kamehameha's statue presides over an example:

Colorado businessman Neal Price, who sells tools around the United States, has restored a 100-year-old Japanese hotel. The co-ed toilet has lace curtains. The building houses a used bookstore that carries one of the largest inventories of Hawaiiana in the world, an electrician turned jewelry maker, a deli and an art gallery.

Of all the Neighbor Islands, Hawai'i today probably has the most potential.