Hawaii (Part I): Lost and Found
by neonconfidential
Honolulu holds a place in my heart. It’s the first place I traveled to while still in my mother’s womb, and up to the age of six, our little family of three visited frequently. While Waikiki may be garish, my childhood memories of it aren’t. When I think of Waikiki, I think of my uncle and aunt jogging along the board walk, going about their daily routine. Both of them have since passed, and my most recent visit to Honolulu after over two decades was a study in retrieving lost and found memories.
Much of Honolulu hasn’t changed in over two decades. The architecture remains frozen in the “Tropical Modernist” style of the 50′s and 60′s post-war boom. Prior to Hawaii’s statehood in 1959, many young Modernist architects arrived on the island to find a solution to adapt the current design style of the era to the tropical climates of island life. Today, the concrete masses of a bygone time are encroached by high-rises lining the strip, and hotels clamoring for real estate on the beach. It remains rampant with Japanese tourists. Macadamian nuts are still the souvenir de jour.
It’s impossible to know what is a memory from the age of six and below, or just fabricated fragments from stories and old photos. But, there are things that will always stick out, like the pool in my uncle and aunt’s apartment, which appeared so much larger as a child, but upon inspection now, it seemed fairly standard, almost small. I recall the zoo, and of course as child, it held no geographical context in my mind. I didn’t visit the zoo on this visit, but I passed its periphery many a time, and now I know its relevance on a map. It didn’t stop me from wondering whether the giraffes and elephants were still there though.
