USS Arizona Memorial

1 December 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, House of the Month Reading Time:  9 minutes

USS Arizona Memorial © Victor-ny/cc-by-sa-3.0

USS Arizona Memorial © Victor-ny/cc-by-sa-3.0

The USS Arizona Memorial, at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Hawaii, marks the resting place of 1,102 of the 1,177 sailors and Marines killed on USS Arizona during the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, and commemorates the events of that day. The attack on Pearl Harbor led to the United States’ involvement in World War II.   read more…

Pearl Harbor on Oahu

7 November 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  6 minutes

Pearl Harbor and Ford Island © U.S. Navy - Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Dylan Lavin

Pearl Harbor and Ford Island © U.S. Navy – Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Dylan Lavin

Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the Naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the Reciprocity Treaty of 1875. Much of the harbor and surrounding lands are now a United States Navy deep-water naval base. It is also the headquarters of the United States Pacific Fleet. The U.S. government first obtained exclusive use of the inlet and the right to maintain a repair and coaling station for ships here in 1887. The surprise attack by the Imperial Japanese Navy on December 7, 1941, led the United States to declare war on the Empire of Japan, making the attack on Pearl Harbor the immediate cause of the United States’ entry into World War II.   read more…

Kamehameha Highway on Oahu

22 December 2022 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  9 minutes

Palm trees along the beach at Punalu'u Beach Park © Famartin/cc-by-sa-4.0

Palm trees along the beach at Punalu’u Beach Park © Famartin/cc-by-sa-4.0

Kamehameha Highway is one of the main highways serving suburban and rural O‘ahu in the U.S. state of Hawai‘i. Informally known as Kam Highway, it begins at Nimitz Highway near Pearl Harbor and Hickam Air Force Base in Honolulu, serves the island’s older western suburbs, and turns north across the O‘ahu Central Valley to the North Shore. At the North Shore, Kamehameha Highway heads northeast around the northern tip of O‘ahu, then southeast to and just beyond Kāne‘ohe Bay on the windward coast. The road was named after King Kamehameha I. A short detached segment of the Kamehameha Highway exists for a few blocks in the Honolulu neighborhood of Kalihi. This segment runs as a short extension of Dillingham Boulevard from Pu‘uhale Road (near the O‘ahu Community Correctional Center) to exit 18B on Interstate H-1. This section was contiguous with the rest of the highway before the construction of the H-1 viaduct.   read more…

Aloha Tower in Honolulu

2 November 2020 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  7 minutes

© Gerald Watanabe/cc-by-sa-4.0

© Gerald Watanabe/cc-by-sa-4.0

The Aloha Tower is a retired lighthouse that is considered one of the landmarks of the state of Hawaii in the United States. Opened on September 11, 1926, at a then astronomical cost of $160,000, the Aloha Tower is located at Pier 9 of Honolulu Harbor. It has been, and continues to be, a guiding beacon welcoming vessels to the City and County of Honolulu (Oʻahu). Just as the Statue of Liberty greeted hundreds of thousands of immigrants each year to New York City, the Aloha Tower greeted hundreds of thousands of immigrants to Honolulu. At 10 stories and 184 feet (56 m) of height topped with 40 feet (12 m) of flag mast, for four decades the Aloha Tower was the tallest structure in Hawaii. It was built in the Hawaiian Gothic architectural style.   read more…

The Royal Hawaiian Hotel in Waikiki

1 May 2020 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, House of the Month, Hotels Reading Time:  6 minutes

© flickr.com - Janine/cc-by-2.0

© flickr.com – Janine/cc-by-2.0

The Royal Hawaiian Hotel is a beachfront luxury hotel located in Waikiki in Honolulu, Hawaii, on the island of Oahu. One of the first hotels established in Waikiki, the Royal Hawaiian is considered one of the most luxurious and famous hotels in Hawaiian tourism, and in its 90-year history has been host to numerous celebrities and world dignitaries. The bright pink hue of its concrete stucco façade with its Spanish/Moorish styled architecture and prominent location on the wide sandy beach have earned it the alliterative nickname of “The Pink Palace of the Pacific”. The Royal Hawaiian Hotel is a member of Historic Hotels of America, the official program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.   read more…

Lanikai Beach on Oahu

12 December 2018 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  7 minutes

© Cristo Vlahos/cc-by-sa-3.0

© Cristo Vlahos/cc-by-sa-3.0

Lanikai Beach is located in Lanikai, a community in the town of Kailua and on the windward coast of Oahu, Hawaii. The name Lanikai means “heavenly sea.” This small ½ mile strip of beach is consistently ranked among the best beaches in the world. Adjacent to Lanikai Beach is a primarily upper-class residential area because of this it is accessible through public beach access paths. Although the beach itself is public property, it is not state land and is not a county beach park like many beaches in Hawaii. There is no public parking lot and the area lacks facilities like restrooms, showers or lifeguards.   read more…

The Pride of America

1 February 2018 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: Cruise Ships, Yacht of the Month Reading Time:  9 minutes

© Teh tennisman

© Teh tennisman

MS Pride of America is a cruise ship built in the United States and is operated by Norwegian Cruise Lines. Inaugurated during the 2005/2006 cruise season as the first new US-flagged cruise ship in nearly fifty years, Pride of America was designed to pay homage to the spirit of the United States of America, from the patriotic artwork on the hull to the American-themed public spaces. Pride of America is a one-off ship design. She was originally designed for United States Lines under the class name Project America. Project America was originally to have two ships in the class.   read more…

The Aloha State Hawaii

10 May 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  8 minutes

Oahu - U.S. Federal Court © D Ramey Logan

Oahu – U.S. Federal Court © D Ramey Logan

Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states (August 21, 1959), and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of Australia. Hawaii’s diverse natural scenery, warm tropical climate, abundance of public beaches and oceanic surrounding, and active volcanoes make it a popular destination for tourists, surfers, biologists, and volcanologists alike. Due to its mid-Pacific location, Hawaii has many North American and Asian influences along with its own vibrant native culture. Hawaii has over a million permanent residents along with many visitors and U.S. military personnel. Its capital is Honolulu on the island of Oʻahu.   read more…

Oʻahu in Hawaii

30 January 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  13 minutes

Pearl Harbor - USS Arizona Memorial © US Navy - Petty Officer 1st Class James E. Foehl

Pearl Harbor – USS Arizona Memorial © US Navy – Petty Officer 1st Class James E. Foehl

Oʻahu, known as “The Gathering Place“, is the third largest of the Hawaiian Islands; however, it is the most populous of the islands in the U.S. state of Hawaii, and is the home of Honolulu International Airport. The state capital, Honolulu, is on Oʻahu’s southeast coast. Including small close-in offshore islands such as Ford Island and the islands in Kaneohe Bay and off the eastern (windward) coast, it has a total land area of 596.7 square miles (1,545.4 km2), making it the 20th largest island in the United States. The island is home to about 977,000 people (approximately 72% of the resident population of the state, with approximately 81% of those living on the “city” side of the island).   read more…

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