A pal from high school sent this video link about the Ala Moana Shopping Center. We used to hang out there, with Liberty House being THE cream of the crop. Carol and Mary was also cream of the crop but they looked down on me – local girl who didn’t look rich. McInerneys was another snobby store and downstairs, Lynn’s had THE best pastrami sandwich on rye with dill pickles as well as delicious Chinese plate lunch choices like Panda’s of today.

I could spend all day there even though I only had $5 in my purse because I did a LOT of window shopping. The current owners are a Canadian company – Brookfield Properties. Over the years, Ala Moana Center has changed. Gone are the old stores that I liked (and didn’t like), but it is still an exciting place to shop and look.

Brookfield has plans to build 5 skyscrapers up to 400 feet high on the property, if they can. The current limit is 150 feet high. I will be watching this and hoping that they don’t get their way. We don’t need more high rises at million dollar price tags. Plant trees instead, please!

Aunty loves to see the ocean, mountains, sky, trees, and wonderful old buildings with character.  What do you love?

If you love those modern buildings made of mirrored glass popping up higher and denser, then good for you – because that is what the developers are building, with the blessing of our city council, mayor, and departments.

If you don’t like them and want a rather easy way to say so, then please fill out an online survey that the Department of Planning and Permitting is conducting for the island of Oahu – called the Honolulu Public Views Study.  They are collecting this information until this Friday, May 31, so time is of the essence.  Survey extended to June 15, 2019, hurray!

The link is:808ne.ws/citysurvey

Maybe this will help us keep our island saner and safer from the skyscrapers that threaten to turn us into a metropolitan concrete and glass corridor.  Maybe, or maybe not.  At the very least, we get heard.

See you this Sunday?

There is a song called the Molokai Slide with the lyrics, “Take me back, (take me back), back to da kine…..” that the following film reminded me of.  Nostalgia for those days gone by when Hawaii was more for real than now.

This was put together by a talented George Mihal (dunno who that is) and is actually color footage from 1959-1960, which is unusual for that time era since we didn’t even have color tv yet!

I kept imagining what I was doing or if I saw that parade or knew of anyone in the crowd.  I must have been 7 or 8 years old, growing up in Palolo and about 8 minutes in, a fantastic little local parade of monks and dressed up little kids and lots of Japanese people congregated for what looks like the grand opening of the new Palolo Hongwanji Temple – was I even there?  Maybe!  Maybe not. But that was kinda neat!

We lived in simpler times.  We did not have the opportunities then that we have now, but still, it was such a wonderful place to grow up with “the tropical moon and the lazy palm trees” and the smiles, the luaus by the sea, mo’ bettah da kine.

When you have about 20 minutes, try watch the video.  Let me know if you spock yourself in it or somebody you know. Some of those Palolo priests were super young looking back then, and now they must be kinda really old.

An almost freebie

News flash for those who like to get Hawaiian Miles:  Signing up for a new Hawaiian Miles credit card will get you 50,000 miles after you spend $1,000, but this is for a limited time.  Even my friend at Bank of Hawaii (who also issues this card) didn’t know about it.

An easy way to get this deal is to go to HawaiianAirlines.com or click on the Hawaiian Airlines ad to the right of this column, sign in with your Hawaiian Miles membership number (or sign up for one first), and then after logging in, click on the “Apply now” tab and fill out the form.  If you don’t log into your Hawaiian Miles membership first, you will not see the deal – which is only available until November 30, 2015.

50,000 miles!  Annual fee of $89.  Must spend $1000 in first 90 days.  Aunty has been declined twice in the recent past and been a bit huhu (angry) at the Hawaiian Miles credit card people but then figured, for 50,000 miles, no get mad, just try again.  And this time, they said OKAY!!!  **Update: this is a rather goofy offer and not everyone gets the 50,000 miles.  Aunty called customer service when a friend was only able to get 35,000 miles and was told by the card’s customer service that some people have the offer (randomly?), and that they just need to check every once in a while on their account for the deal. 

Just make sure you use credit wisely.  Pay it off in full every month and on time.  Then, use your miles for free trips, upgrades, or give away to friends and family.  Also comes with a one time 50% companion booking if you have a buddy that you want to travel with during the next year.

A fun good freebie

Another good Hawaiian sign up is Hawaii.com.  Pal Fay told me about this one.  Sign up is free and you can really accrue a LOT of points at start up.  After that, it is kinda good fun to get the emails, then click on the powerlink from the email and ta-dahhh, you get 1000 points, almost every day that you click!

Photographers (Jalna, you should try!) can enter their pictures of Hawaii and win too if picked.

Once a week, you can play find the pineapple and that will win you 5000 points!  Sometimes Aunty explores the well written articles on the website – some interesting tidbits of information that are good to share while socializing with friends.

Points can be used to enter sweepstakes for stuff like a holiday stay (good for Mainland folks who want to come to Hawaii) or coffee, nuts, all kinds of stuff, all for FREE!  Aunty has tons of points and planning to use all of them to stuff the ballot box in her favor one of these days.  Meanwhile, Aunty keeps clicking and hopes that people that she knows become winnahs!

(side note:  drawing for the pamphlets/booklets will take place on Sunday.  Please email Aunty@hawaii.rr.com if you want to be entered, or leave a comment on that post and your name is put in the pot!)