The sky is a clear diamond blue, the outline of the mountains to our north stand out crisply, no mountain mists or rain clouds that so often crown them are visible today. The Ala Moana area along the south west coast is continually changing. We have watched those changes over the years with interest. First visiting the district in the late 80’s to shop and have a meal at the Ward centre, a then thriving modern if a little funky shopping centre. Of course Ala Moana was always a Mecca for the shopping tourist, where an Australian dollar could buy so much in those days. Now though the district is a residential neighbourhood, new towering apartment buildings arise from the ground every year offering accomodation from affordable to Uber luxury.
On an island of 1545sq kilometres (Kangaroo island is 4405sq kilometres) the only way to house a growing population of around one million people is up.
As each building is completed an influx of new residents make their new homes in the district as so do new and old businesses vie for newly created retail spaces.
We venture out into the warm Hawaiian air to investigate some of the stores, coffee shops and restaurants, also to wander through the now old Ward Centre district for the last time as it is due to be demolished in August 2017. The demolition will herald the building of another apartment block with a refreshed shopping precinct below.
‘O Ke’alekūpuna ke kilo, nāna nō e kuhikuhi nei i ke ala e naue aku ai.
The pathways once traversed by our ancestors are the same paths that we should follow toward success.
A little history of the area
The Ward Centre was named after Victoria Ward, the daughter of James (a British ship builder) and Rebecca Robinson (who was of Hawaiian descent), Victoria Ward was born in 1846 under the reign of Kamehameha III and was raised by her mother in ke ‘ano Hawaii (the Hawaiian style) where Hawaiian was the first language spoken in the household. In fact, when she married Curtis P Ward in 1865, Kamehameha V and the entire royal court attended the ceremony. They purchased 100 acres of prime Honolulu realestate that stretched from the outskirts of Honolulu towards and along the coast to Ala Moana, there they built the “Old Plantation” completed in 1882. this was a stately, Southern-style home on the mauka portion of the property. It featured an artesian well, vegetable and flower gardens, a large pond stocked with fish, and extensive pasturage for horses and cattle. Self-sufficient as a working farm, Old Plantation was surrounded by a vast coconut grove.
After the death of Curtis Ward in the same year (1882) at the age of 53, Victoria continued the family business from the “Old Plantation” home.
Curtis P Ward and Victoria Ward were the parents of seven daughters. While many married, three—Hattie Kulamanu, Lucy Kaika, and Victoria Kathleen— remained on at the Old Plantation house the last of them passing in 1961. “The Old Plantation House” lasted for 80 years before unfortuneatly succumbing to development.
The owners of the Ala Moana shopping centre purchased the land from the Victoria Ward company in 2002 then spun the development off to the Howard Hughes corporation in 2010. While in 2015 Australian Super purchased a 25% share in the shopping centre for $1.1Billion.
The district is now a vibrant community with more and more service orientated businesses flocking to the area.
At 4.00pm we take a short walk to the Cinema complex, on the way we book an outside table for dinner tonight at Bellini’s Italian restaurant. We have dressed warmly for the expected chill of the theatre’s interior, our tickets for Wonder Woman (compliments of Jim and Kate) are tucked securely in my pocket. Wonder Woman is the latest in DC comics movie adaptation of their famous comic book character and heroine of the same name.
It’s a long movie, taking the viewer through Wonder Woman’s (Diana’s) childhood through to her entry into the world of man during World War One. Diana is played by Israeli model turned actress Gal Gadot.
We emerge from the cinema into the warm twilight, wispy clouds their underbellies tinged with the last of the reflected orange sunlight drift lazily across the sky. We cross the street to take up our outside table at Bellini’s. One of the most precious pleasures of Hawaii is dining outside on warm balmy nights as soft cool breezes drift off the ocean never far away.
We share calamari fritte for appetiser, tender squid deep fried in a light almost tempura batter. For entree (mains at home) we can’t go past the Lobster at $25.00. The Lobster piled high in the half shell and served with chargrilled vegetables would be at least $50-$60 in a restaurant at home.
For dessert we walk over to the newest of the shopping districts arcade style shops dubbed “South Shore”where earlier on today we spotted Lucy’s ice cream lab. First discovered on our last visit in the back streets with hardly a customer, the ice creamery is now front and centre in a new store and pulling in crowds of customers anxious to try one of Lucy’s exotic flavours. We queue, but it’s worth it settling on a single sugar cone of “cinnamon crunch toast” ice cream with “cinnamon crunch toast” topping.
We stop for awhile to devour our ice creams as we know they will not last long outside in the warmth of the Hawaiian night, once finished we make for our beds awaiting us at the Hokua.