Traditions and Changes

Something old, something new at HONOLULU.

We couldn’t help but get a little nostalgic pulling together this month’s cover story. Once you start listing all the experiences and traditions that “every local must do,” you start thinking about the unique Island habits that seem to be slipping away. How long has it really been since you went to a backyard lu’au? Or threw out a grateful shaka in traffic?

We hope you’ll take “40 Things Every Local Must Do” in the spirit intended-part celebration, part reminder, part inspiration. That’s why we’ve loaded the feature with information on where and how you can do these things, just in case, for example, you never got around to learning how to surf.

By coincidence, as this issue got underway, I got hooked on Hawai’i Five-0 reruns on Oceanic Cable. Recent episodes are from the show’s fourth season, showing Honolulu as it appeared in 1972.

The episodes aren’t making me nostalgic, necessarily. I was 4 when they aired. But I am blown away by how much the city has changed. One episode featured a showdown between McGarrett and some crooks under the bleachers of the old Honolulu Stadium on King Street. Back then, catching a game there was an experience every local would’ve shared.

Hardly anyone my age or younger has a living memory of the place. To us, that site is a park. As the Islands change, the things every local must do change as well.

Some local traditions have a way of coming back, however. This month, the HONOLULU Magazine/Hotels & Resorts of Halekulani photo contest returns, for the first time since the 1980s. We’ve added a couple categories we didn’t have back then-digital and manipulated digital. See our special section to learn more about the winners and the judges.

This month, we also kick off something we hope will become a new tradition-for the first time, HONOLULU Magazine is sponsoring the Louis Vuitton Hawai’i International Film Festival. For more information on the festival and our involvement, see this article.

Our two new staffers: Kathryn Drury Wagner (left) and Jenny Quill (right).

Another fine Island tradition? Welcoming newcomers. For us, this means introducing you to Jenny Quill, our new managing editor for HONOLULU’s sister publication, Ala Moana Magazine. Quill was born and raised in Scotsdale, Ariz., where she was most recently features editor of Arizona Foothills Magazine. Says Quill of her new gig, “I have a job that provokes jealousy in a lot of women. They say, ‘You get to go to the mall three times a week-for work?'”

Unlike the casual shopper, however, Quill is out there on a mission, working hard. And she’ll be quite busy, as her job includes being an associate editor for HONOLULU Magazine. In the months ahead, you’ll see her byline in these pages, too.

Quill joins us because our former managing editor of Ala Moana, Kathryn Drury Wagner, is now managing editor of HONOLULU Magazine. Wagner has been with the company two years, having come to us via Manhattan, where her magazine career included a three-year stint as managing editor of Country Living Gardener. She’s excited to join HONOLULU full-time. “I’m really looking forward to immersing myself in a magazine that’s about the community,” says Wagner.

Part of Wagner’s new duties include tracking all the components of each issue, making sure things get done on time-so I had better sign off. As she has politely, but firmly, reminded me, my Editor’s Page is already late!