Category Archives: Places

Signs: Evil

A sign seen on a truck in Hawi, Hawaii

A couple of days ago, my wife called to alert me to the presence of this truck in Hawi, so I scurried over there and took some photos.

The message was on both sides of the board, but what was it there for? Were they upset with one of the stores, but which one? Was it a court ordered sign for a terrible driver? Was the truck several steps beyond a lemon? Was it a Google Street View vehicle?

If I still had my truck and the necessary materials to hand, I would have fashioned a similar board, painted a word on it, and parked it across the street. One option was ‘Good.’ Another was ‘Knievel.’

It was a mystery, but I’m happy to report that when I passed by later in the day, the evil had been driven out of Hawi.

It’s a nice drive, but…

A woman sitting on a red car in Hawaii

I caught up to this car driving back from Upolu Airport. Toward the top of this stretch of road, some tree roots have created some serious bumps and I was curious to see what was going to happen. As it happened she – dare I say, sadly – wasn’t catapulted into the air. Otherwise, that would definitely have been the top photo!

Urban Honolulu

Traffic reflected in a downtown building in Honolulu, Hawaii
Traffic, which can be brutal, reflected in the glass front of a downtown building.

Yesterday I posted a small town response to this week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme of ‘Urban.’ See more responses here. It wasn’t until after that post went live that it occurred to me I could have used photos from my jaunt to Honolulu a few years back. It’s not the Big Island, but in Hawaii, Honolulu is by far the largest urban area.

When I got home, I had a look to see what photos I could use and came up with these images. The entire population of Hawi could fit comfortably into one of those skyscrapers.

The American Savings Bank Tower in Honolulu, Hawaii
The concrete face of the American Savings Bank Tower
A downtown building seen from the State Capitol Building in Honolulu, Hawaii
A downtown building from the State Capitol
A plane flies above downtown buildings in Honolulu, Hawaii
A plane flies above downtown buildings
The doorway of a downtown building in Honolulu, Hawaii
A doorway to one of the downtown office buildings
A person sits in the open air atrium of the State Capitol Building in Honolulu, Hawaii
A person sits in the open air atrium of the State Capitol Building
The Territorial Office Building with bike rack in front in Honolulu, Hawaii
The entrance to the Territorial Office Building
A railing in Honolulu, Hawaii
A railing in downtown Honolulu
The 1820 Mission Memorial building in Honolulu, Hawaii
The 1820 Mission Memorial building

Downtown Hawi

Downtown Hawi, Hawaii

This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Urban.’ See more responses here.

North Kohala is mostly rural, so in this part of the world Hawi and Kapaau are the only urban centers and pretty small ones at that.

The top photo shows downtown Hawi on a moderately busy day. Some days, the traffic and crush of visitors can make it almost impassible. Downtown is mostly shops and restaurants, though there’s a small local grocery store and, of course, real estate agents.

One kind of store you don’t get in most downtowns is Hawi’s Aloha Man which features items made in Hawaii. There’s even a hammock just out of sight to the left of the store, in case walking the two blocks of downtown is too much for you!

Aloha Man store in Hawi, Hawaii