By TIM RICHARDS, Lonely Planet
Heading for Honolulu? Then you’re probably going to spend time in Waikiki. For many people, the popular beachfront district is all they see of the Hawaiian capital. However, there’s more to the city than tourist-thronged streets and beaches. When you feel like a break from the crowds, take time to check out these highlights of hidden Honolulu.
Mural being created for the Pow Wow Hawaii festival. Image by Tim Richards / Lonely Planet
Hidden neighborhood
Kaka’ako isn’t actually that hidden, situated as it is between Waikiki and Honolulu’s downtown. But visitors rarely give it a second glance, breezing by on their way from the airport. A historically industrial district on a stretch of flat land, it might seem an unlikely place to hang. Over the past few years, however, Kaka’ako has developed into Honolulu’s coolest ‘hood.
Each February it hosts the Pow Wow Hawaii (powwowhawaii.com) festival, a celebration of street art that invites top artists from around the world to paint the area’s walls with huge colorful murals. These vast paintings are left in place until the following year, so there’s always something to look at. It’s great fun to track them down, camera in hand, to assemble your own street art collection – and they make fantastic photos to share online. For best results, start from the corner of Auahi and Cooke Streets and head northwest along Auahi, making sure to duck into Lana Lane as you reach it on the left. This laneway is home to the Lana Lane Studios (327 Lana Lane), the hub of artistic activity in Kaka’ako. It’s not usually open to the public, but you may well see its members at work on the surrounding walls.
There are plenty of good refreshment options near this stretch. For hip street food drop into Hank’s Haute Dogs (hankshautedogs.com), for locally-brewed beer check out Honolulu Beerworks (honolulubeerworks.com), and for cutting-edge bar food and great cocktails visit Bevy (bevybar.com).
For more murals and a dose of pre-gentrification Kaka’ako, walk along Queen Street between Ward Avenue and Cooke Street (being careful to avoid traffic on the section without sidewalks). In addition to spotting murals on the walls of automotive workshops, you’ll find Fresh Café (freshcafehi.com), a trendy hang-out and the original home of Pow Wow Hawaii.
Another local highlight is the weekly Kaka’ako Farmers’ Market (alamoanafarmersmarket.com), featuring fresh Hawaiian produce. And once a month, the Honolulu Night Market (honolulunightmarket.com) takes over Auahi Street, creating the vibe of a big street party with stalls selling locally produced food, art and fashion. It doesn’t get less touristy than this.
Hidden art
The Honolulu Museum of Art is rightly praised for its impressive collection housed in its main building, not far from Waikiki. Lesser known, however, are two of its other premises on the edge of the city.
The first, Spalding House, is situated above the concrete sprawl in attractive Makiki Heights. This former home is now a small but impressive museum of contemporary art, with changing exhibitions often featuring local artists. There’s also a separate pavilion which houses a permanent installation by artist David Hockney, an interpretation of his stage designs for a 1981 opera. As fascinating as the art is, the extensive gardens almost surpass it with their sloping lawns and gullies, dotted with tropical plants and trees. On a sunny day you could spend hours here, looking at art then relaxing amid the greenery.
The other hidden museum is Shangri La, located on the eastern side of Diamond Head in the upmarket Black Point neighborhood. This magnificent house once belonged to Doris Duke, a wealthy heiress who traveled the world and fell in love with Islamic art. She filled her Hawaiian home with pieces bought and commissioned in the Middle East, specifically from Iran, Egypt, Morocco, Turkey, and Syria. The result is a stunning tribute to Islamic artwork: the building is crammed with beautiful décor both old and new, including such rare items as 13th-century Persian tiles. The exterior is just as stunning, with a garden overlooking the Pacific and a former guest house in which Duke once hosted stars such as Elton John. Shangri La can only be visited on a bus tour from the Honolulu Museum of Art. It’s well worth it.
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