Post #640845 by Phillip Roberts on Sun, Jun 17, 2012 8:17 PM

Aloha,

2002...

http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/1023/p02s02-ussc.html

Lure of the lei: Hawaii's resurgent cultural appeal

By Alex Salkever, Special to The Christian Science Monitor / October 23, 2002

The twin eight-foot tiki statues standing sentry outside Waikiki Wally's would fit in perfectly on many islands. Manhattan is not one of them. Yet gawkers in Gotham's boho-hip East Village seem unflummoxed at these wooden icons guarding the new Hawaii-themed bar.

Call it the revival of the paradise pleasure principle. Hawaiiana and South Pacific chic seems to be everywhere, from Miami's glam South Beach to the malls of Middle America, where surf retailers Quiksilver and Gotcha flourish. On the silver screen, girl surfers wowed the masses last summer with their wave moxie in "Blue Crush."

This is hardly the first time America has fallen in love with the islands. But for this revival, the roots seem deeper and more varied, with serious students of Hawaiian culture toiling alongside tiki dilettantes.

During the Roaring '20s, hula dancers toured the country with ukulele-toting ensembles. Hawaii-themed bars popped up in big cities in homage to the rollicking nightlife of Waikiki. In the late 1940s, returning GIs carried island customs – and floral shirts – home with them, and "tiki culture" swept suburbia.

Now, mainstream retailers Pottery Barn; Bed, Bath & Beyond; and Crate & Barrel have caught the island bug with a Hawaii-themed barrage, proffering everything from Aloha Girl cocktail plates to grass-mat rugs to Hawaiian-style quilts.

But beyond catalogs and home décor, the phenomenal rise of surfing and other board sports has popularized island styles. According to Southern California market- research firm Board-Trac, 2.4 million Americans surfed in 2001 – up by one million from 1998. Women make up a growing portion of those surfers – and they've been the fastest-growing outlet for island-style surf apparel, as evident in Quiksilver's wildly popular Roxy line.

Hollywood, too, has played a role. Aside from "Blue Crush," there's Disney's animated "Lilo & Stitch" – a tale of a lonely girl and a homely dog set on the surf-happy island of Kauai – which was the ninth highest-grossing film of 2002. The surf-themed video for Sheryl Crow's "Soak Up the Sun" was filmed on Oahu. And this February, a two-hour "Baywatch" TV movie will be set in Hawaii, centering on a cast reunion.

At the same time, Americans have gravitated to more relaxed fashion and the ethos of a calmer lifestyle throughout the 1990s, says Marie Case, Board-Trac's managing director. Witness the rise of Tommy Bahama's. The purveyor of elegant island wear has grown from $3 million in sales in 1995 to an estimated $300 million in 2002.

Then there's island food. Americans have grown far more adventurous in the culinary realm, and many have imported Hawaiian palates. In Timonium, Md., Jay Caragay runs a shave-ice shop that dishes up snow-cones poured over adzuki beans and topped with sweetened condensed milk, a Hawaiian staple. He's enjoyed 20 percent annual growth since opening in 1999.

"Our customers who have been there come by and tell us freely about their vacation or their honeymoon," says Mr. Caragay.

Naturally, this is good news for Hawaii. The number of mainland visitors has fallen only 1.2 percent in 2002, a remarkable showing considering dramatic declines elsewhere. After a decade when Japanese visitors dominated the Hawaiian economy, mainlanders are now the tourism mainstay.

But beyond beaches and snow-cones, this revival seems deeper than earlier ones. Dozens of serious hula halaus, schools devoted to traditional Hawaiian dance, dot the country. Hawaiian music, too, flourishes on the mainland – and runs far deeper than the idle ukulele strumming of past revivals. Today, students learn ki ho'alu or slack-key guitar, a style pioneered in the 19th century by Hawaii paniolos (cowboys) that requires dexterity and commitment.

At Stanford University, music professor Steven Sano has seen the waiting list for his 12-slot class more than triple in the last several years. "It's not just playing the guitar," he says. "It's readings and lectures and critical analysis of video. We see a tremendous amount of interest."

And even 2007!

http://www.thesomervillenews.com/archives/2902

Hawaii comes to Union Square
On September 21, 2007, in Uncategorized, by The News Staff
By Kim Geronimo

Tiki music, Polynesian dance, Hawaiian shirts, and leis filled Union Square during last Friday’s “Hawaiian Nights” festival. Plastic palm trees graced the stage, along with colored paper lamps and two surfboards. Scenes of surfers and crashing waves played across a projection screen behind the performers.

But despite the décor and sounds of Hawaii, there was no forgetting the true location of the show. Cars zoomed by endlessly along Somerville Avenue – the four-lane road that tightly hugs one side of the square – and the white strips of the parking lot were still visible beneath the fold out chairs arranged in front of the stage. Swaying gracefully to the music, one of the Polynesian dancers had tattoos fully covering her bare forearms and stomach; a strange sort of metaphor for Union Square’s blend of cultural initiatives in its gritty landscape.

Hawaiian Nights was produced through ArtsUnion, a three-year-old Somerville Arts Council (SAC) initiative designed to boost business in Union Square through the arts. It has organized a host of cultural events in or near Union Square, such as “Project MUM: Meet Under McGrath!” a seventies dance party under McGrath Highway and “Project YUM: A Union Square festival celebrating local crops and global shops,” a food festival planned for October.

Mimi Graney, Executive Director of Union Square Main Streets (USMS), one of SAC’s partners in the ArtsUnion initiative, explained the thinking behind the creation of ArtsUnion. Back in the beginning of the 20th century, “Union Square was the traditional downtown of Somerville,” she said. Unfortunately, one hundred years later, it has lost much of its former vibrancy. No longer pedestrian friendly, the square is surrounded by “lots of unused lots, buildings or undeveloped space,” and has an industrial component that is “way off the charts” compared to other more commercial squares like Harvard and Davis, she said.

As a result, USMS has begun to sponsor many initiatives, including ArtsUnion. Union Square is filled with artists and cultural resources, said Graney. “If they all focus attention on one space, it will boom even more.” Crammed into one word, the final goal is revitalization, she said.

And so far, Graney certainly thinks the effort has worked. Union Square is “seeing change in the business mix” she said. “New businesses are moving into previously underused properties,” like a new cafe and art gallery moving into the old buildings in the square. Woodman has also seen success: enthusiastic participation in events like Project MUM and more visitors in the ethnic markets have been encouraging signs for the ArtsUnion program.

Residents too, have noticed a change for the better. Theo and Lee Marston, life-long residents of Somerville, remember Union Square growing up. It was a “gritty” area, part of a “working class city,” and most certainly “not artsy.” Over the decades though, it has become evermore art friendly and even just in the last year, with the Project SUM: Sculpture Under McGrath, there is “art popping up everywhere” even under highways.

The overriding sentiment at the show floated between enthusiasm and calm approval as residents milled about in their token Hawaiian shirts and plastic leis. Sean Sullivan, a Somerville resident of three years was impressed with the production. “It’s nice seeing an area that’s usually a parking lot turned into an events stage open for creative work” he said. Considering Hawaiian Nights and other ArtsUnion events in general, Sullivan highly approved: “this is part of the vibrancy a community really should have”.

Adam Chamberlain, a recent Wesleyan graduate and new to the neighborhood, was also thrilled with the show. Pulling out his best hula dance moves in a corner, he was full of praise for his new neighborhood. “It’s really great to come into a community that feels like a community”. Events like Hawaiian Nights gave the area “a really great vibe”.

 
P

Good fun!

Waikiki Tiki; Art, History, and Photographs.
Available now from Bess Press Hawaii.

[ Edited by: Phillip Roberts 2012-06-17 20:28 ]