Honolulu

Today if you think of design for sure you will miss Honolulu. But when it comes to modern architecture in 1950s and 60s all eyes were on Hawaii‘s capital city. The building there have highly influence of some kind of ”tropical modernism”. So I would say that the modern architecture is everywhere these days, even in a place like Honolulu.

If you look around Honolulu the majority of new structures there have been resorts and high-rise hotels, most of them not very good or worse built on speculation for short term stays. The city experiencing another building boom and there needs to be more of a civic conversation about the fate of Honolulu.

The Chinatown is one of the successful development in Honolulu. In the past five years the district become a true urban environment with a lively gallery scene and great restaurants and bars. In the morning you will glimpse people buying seafood and old women making leis. During the night you’ve got the youth attending art openings and going to nightclubs.

In my opinion to know the real Honolulu the best thing to do is to volunteer for a week at a cultural organization like the Bishop Museum or the Honolulu Academy of Arts. Get know locals and find your way into their lives.When you see how people live there, it’s really the great experience. The native people in Honolulu – Asian tend to be very private, very humble, but very welcoming and generous. That’s the real spirit of ”Aloha”.

One of the coolest place in Honolulu is a hidden cafe in YMCA across the University of Hawaii campus and it serves the island’s best coffee, but no one knows about it:). Dennis Seyeoka is the owner and prides himself on only serving on people he likes.