Marti had finagled a pass for admission to the Honolulu Academy of Arts, so shortly after 8 this morning, we headed for Honolulu. The museum opens at 10, so we had time to make a side trip to Manoa Valley to Mid-Pacific Institute, where we both attended high school. We drove around the campus and compared what it looks like today to what we remembered from 40 years ago.
Bakken Auditorium has been refurbished, and these decorative murals have been cleaned:
I don’t think I remember this depiction of a phoenix:
Atherton Hall was the Girls’ Dorm when we attended high school here in the early seventies; you can see Diamond Head in the background:
When we arrived at the Academy, at 900 South Beretania, we discovered that there was no admission charge today, so we didn’t need to use our free passes. Founded in 1927 by Anna Rice Cooke, the Honolulu Academy of Arts is
dedicated to the collection, preservation, interpretation, and teaching of the visual arts, and the presentation of exhibitions, films and videos, performing arts, and public programs specifically relevant to Hawai’i’s ethnically diverse community.
The museum’s Asian art holdings are extensive, so we decided to spend most of our time in the Japanese galleries. We took in the exhibit of Hina Matsuri dolls from the Tsuji family collection and viewed the exhibit of modern Japanese prints in the ukiyo-e tradition, as well as “Girl Talk: 20th Century Japanese Prints Depicting Women.” The dolls were exquisite, and I have always loved prints, so I was especially pleased to have seen these exhibits.
After lunch at Jimbo’s, a Japanese noodle restaurant on South King Street, we drove via Manoa and Nehoa Roads to Round Top Drive. On the way to the top, we stopped to admire the view, but the best panoramas were from the lookout at Pu’u Ualaka’a State Park.
Iconic Diamond Head is the city’s backdrop:
On the left below, we’re looking at parts of both the MPI campus and the University of Hawaii campus; on the right, we’re looking toward Pearl Harbor and the airport:
Since we wanted to do some hiking, Marti and I decided on the Ualaka’a Trail because the trailhead is right there. We walked up to the 4-way intersection with Makiki Valley, Moleka, and Maunalaha Trails and then looped back to the car. A couple of groups of hikers passed us on the trail, but the beaches in Hawaii are probably more popular than the mountains. We didn’t see any endangered species of birds; in fact, a common sight was the Shama’s Thrush which is not native to the Islands.
The giant banyan trees, genus Ficus, were impressive. These trees are not native to Hawaii but rather to the Indian subcontinent, Central and South America, and the Caribbean Islands:
By shortly after 3, we were ready to head back home in order to avoid rush hour traffic, which in Honolulu and on the roads out of the City can be quite aggravating.