Names and Places in Hawaii

Last updated Jun-30-05

This page was always one I meant to update and never got around to it. When I originally wrote it, I based my information on several travel guides from the library back in 1998. Unfortunately I seem to have lost the source to what I quoted below. I do believe it was a Frommer's type guide and I xeroxed the relavent pages. You can try Googling all these place names, but be warned - you'll come up with a lot of city guides that are kind of ho-hum.

Like some Las Vegas hotels, the Kona Inn no longer exists. All that remains is the Kona Inn Restaurant. HST spent a great deal of time in the bar, although whether it was in the hotel or the restaurant, I don't know:

"The building is fondly remembered as the site of the wonderful old Kona Inn, which, unfortunately, was torn down in favor of yet another shopping center. This restaurant got the best of the deal - it overlooks the manicured lawns with a million-dollar ocean view. The proprietors did teh site justice by building a beautiful bar, a patio area (great for sunset cocktails), and an open-air dining room with lots of rich koa wood. Less imagination went into the menu, which relies on the unfailingly repetitive catch of the day (expensive here), other seafood dishes such as Kailua prawns and kabobs, plus steak and prime rib."

Huggo's - yes, there is a place called Huggo's, where the sailors laughed at HST after he gave the proprietor a dozen roses because he kicked him in the groin. Happily the peeps at Huggo's are online! Go visit them.

"This oceanside restaurant is yet another where the setting surpasses the food, though the entrees have improved in the past few years. Fortunately, if you don't like your entree, you can feed it to the manta rays that play in the floodlights right outside. The lunch fare centers around sandwiches and such, with prime rib, steaks, and seafood (including, when available, fresh lobster and prawns)."

The little piece of Britain Ralph Steadman so eagerly sought is also in Kona - the Captain Cook Monument. This great white pillar was erected near the spot where Cook fell. Ralph illustrates it in Curse as having an unhappy face and a cigarette holder ;-)

"The site is marked by a 27-foot-high white pillar, accessible by boat or arduous hiking trail, but visible from the south shore of Kealakekua Bay, a popular marine preserve. From the Mamalahoa Hwy take the Napoopoo Rd."

And let's not forget the King Kamehameha's Kona Beach Hotel, where poor Rupert suffered with his red fleas. The dog had been given to Ralph Steadman's daughter Sadie as a Christmas present and was left behind after Ralph and his family fled. It never does say what poor fate befell Rupert, but I like to think he made it through quarantine...

"If shopping and sightseeing are more important to you than secluded white sand beaches, look no further. The "King Kam" is located at the head of Kailua-Kona's main street, Alii Drive, in easy walking distance of Kailua Pier and the town's shops, restaurants, and historic sites. The hotel's twin buildings have 451 rooms and suites with lanais, TVs, air-conditioning, phones and refrigerators. Adjoining the lobby is the Kona Coast's only full air-conditioned mall, containing 15 shops. The hotel offers guests and nonguests free tours of the grounds."

Then of course is the City of Refuge. Curse ends with HST having so offended the locals that he has taken to typing in one of the grass huts. The natives bring him food and women, and he partakes of them on the rocks.