Letters to the Editor may be
sent to: Honolulu Magazine, P.O. Box 913, Honolulu, HI, 96808-0913, faxed: 537-6455
or e-mailed: letters_honmag@pacificbasin.net THE
KAILUA ISSUE, DECEMBER 2003
HONOLULU Magazine’s special issue featuring Kailua
people, places, businesses, history and architecture. What a
great set of articles on Kailua. After 20 years in Kailua, Mainland family issues
brought my wife and I to North Carolina. However, I still get back to Hawai’i
four or five times a year for business, and stay with a friend in Pohakapu. Fresh
squeezed tangerines from the tree in the backyard each morning. And every trip
has a mandatory breakfast at Boots & Kimo’s (Maui Wowie omelet and full stack
of pancakes with mac nut sauce, washed down with copious amounts of coffee), followed
by a shopping expedition to Island Treasures. I also can’t leave without at least
one trip to the Kalapawai store for a mocha latte and to pick up some old Hawaiian
postcards. Dinner is always at Zia’s or Assagio’s. You definitely caught the ambiance
of the town. George D. Bussey, M.D., J.D.
Pinehurst, NC Your
December Kailua issue felt like an advertisement for Kailua, and one in which
the “truth in advertising” police should have been after you. I had recently been
discussing with a fellow Kailuan what newspaper or magazine to approach for an
in-depth article about the runaway and homeless youth in Kailua, and was hoping
your Kailua issue would at least touch on it. I would like to challenge your reporters
to do a real investigative report on this town and its large and very real problems,
since they seem to have been completely ignored. Your reporters must have little
or nothing to do with the schools and youth of this town, let alone notice the
many homeless folks who haunt the bus shelters, parking lots, hills, marsh areas,
and beaches. How about it? Anyone up to the challenge? Sally Shore, Kailua
No doubt you have received many letters decrying your error of
placing King Kamehameha in Kailua, when every school child knows he spent his
last years in Kailua-Kona. If you want royal history, during the reign of Kakuhihewa
on O’ahu, he maintained a residence in Kailua, and at ‘Älele in Kailua he built
his government house, Hale Aupuni. Even better is the mythical history, as given
by Samuel Kamakau-the first man was created here: “There on the eastern flank
of Milolani [the crater on Mökapu], facing the sunrise and near the seashore,
the soil is red mixed with dark blackish earth. There is where the first man was
made. … There Kane drew the form of a man in the earth… ” If any proof is
needed that we live in the garden of Eden, that’s it!
Makana Risser, Kailua “MURPHY’S
DAUGHTER,” DECEMBER 2003
Stuart Coleman’s article on the real Edward A. Murphy,
for whom Murphy’s Law is named, and his daughter, an ‘Iolani School teacher.
My family and friends are delighted with the “Murphy’s Daughter” article by Stuart
Coleman in the December issue of HONOLULU. We are also pleased with the photo
by Ronen that you selected to go with the article. However, Murphy’s Law seems
to have reared its troublesome head on the “Contents” page: the cadet in the photo
listing the page number for the article about my father, Edward A. Murphy, Jr.,
and me, is not my father. It does look like Murphy’s Law proves sound again. Something
went wrong when that photo was selected!
Jane Murphy Romjue, Honolulu Editor’s
reply: It’s true-we
had two old photos of men in uniform for the December issue, one of Murphy, the
other of Christian Rasmus Holmes II. The table of contents photo is of Holmes,
for the piece, “Coconut Island.” “HILO HATTIE HITS THE
BIG 4-0,” DECEMBER 2003
Kathryn Drury’s piece on the real Hilo Hattie, Clarissa
“Clara” Haili, and the store that bears her name. It was nice
to see some recognition of the late Hilo Hattie. I had the good fortune to entertain
with her aboard the former Matson liner SS Monterey for several years. It should
be clarified that her marriage to Theodore Inter was from 1930 to 1946. She was
married to Carlyle Nelson from 1949 until her death in 1979. Uncle Carlyle was
a very talented musician and composer who played steel guitar with Auntie Clara
(see photo above), as well as violin, clarinet and saxophone. He also performed
for several years with the Royal Hawaiian Band. Bob Alder, Waikiki Theatre
organist 1980-1997 “THE TRASH WE SWIM IN,” DECEMBER 2003
Catherine
E. Toth’s profile of Waikïkï lifeguard Ben Morse, who picks up the trash lurking
in the water just off the beach.
Ben Morse is to be commended
for taking the initiative to pick up the trash he sees. I thought you might like
to know that one of the photos he took features a sea urchin named “Tripneustes
gratilla”, sometimes called the Garbage Collector Urchin, as Morse’s photo so
aptly illustrates. Great issue, keep up the good work! Dale Moana Gilmartin,
Manoa AHANA Ko-Ko- LELE Please note that Brown’s Beach
House on the Big Island is at One N. Kaniku Dr. at The Fairmont Orchid, not the
Orchid at Mauna Lani, as we printed in our 2004 Hale ‘Aina Awards, in the January
2004 issue. |
