HONOLULU Magazine - February 2004

When Ed Gayagas readied for his first Great Aloha Run, the 45-year-old worried about running the entire eight-mile course. Not that he was unfit. Gayagas ran a few miles daily and had spent years in the Army, but the course…

Entrepreneur John Paul Farmer wants to sell you some air. Not air, exactly, but a bottle with fragrance beads in it, labeled "Pure Hawaiian Air." The product does have Hawaiian air in it. It's bottled on Maui, after all. Crazy…

At age 15, Lea Woods Friedman wanted to be a pop star. The next Madonna, maybe, or Mariah Carey. But when Friedman started voice lessons at Punahou, her instructor thought differently."My teacher told me my voice was suited for opera,"…

Q: When did you start weightlifting? A: When I first started teaching at Seagull. It was exhausting, and I used to fall asleep as soon as I got home. That's why I started training. With 2-year-olds, especially 14 of them,…

Kaua'i is legendary for its beaches, many of them immortalized by Hollywood. As old coastal trails and roads disappear behind fences and manicured landscaping, however, folks may find it easier to rent the movies showcasing these famous locales than to…

Noel Okimoto was baptized musically at the age of 10 by a talent contest and his father's drum set. His father was a busy professional drummer, who worked a number of other jobs to make ends meet. "The drums were…

You don't drive as well as you think you do. That's the cause of most traffic accidents-and the solution to preventing them in the first place, according to Honolulu psychologist Dr. Robert Spicer. "People simply aren't as competent behind the…

The day after New Year's should've been busy for the Honolulu Zoo, offering some welcome relief after the typically slow fall months. Zoo director Ken Redman anticipated about 2,000 people on Jan. 2. Only 160 showed up, thanks to the…