Post #719898 by AceExplorer on Wed, Jun 11, 2014 6:20 AM

JOHN-O, thanks for posting your short list of cool things to see and do in Waikiki. There are definitely still some nuggets there for those who care to look and find them.

I need to spend an evening and post photos from my last visit to the IMP. I knew the place probably wasn't going to last, but I don't think I knew yet that it was going to be torn down. And I really enjoyed the cheap souvenirs --- there was so much competition from all the booths that both pricing and selection exceeded what was available at the stores and open air markets pretty much at any of the islands. As sucky and trashy as the booth vendor environment was at times, it was still one of the best places to find neat new stuff to take home. The open-air market at Kona, however, had people selling old stuff, like real vintage (but overpriced) tiki mugs and other swap-meet/flea-market type stuff.

The IMP offered a lot of vendors selling real made-in-Hawaii clothing at unbelievably reasonable prices. If you needed a matching pair of outfits for you and your significant other, no problem, they had all kinds of matching stuff in addition to the usual high-quality island-made aloha shirts and related clothing. Again, because the shops were all so close together, the competition kept prices very reasonable. In one fell swoop you could pretty much find anything you wanted in a short period of time and at very reasonable prices. That's how I came home with a lifetime supply and selection of kukui nut necklaces which I sometimes wear to tiki events.

I keep hoping there will be something like it again later, maybe not on the main drag, but somewhere nearby. A "peoples" marketplace for the non-glitzy craftsmen, artisans, and families to sell their low-end but still very cool stuff. Maybe I'll retire to Hawaii and set something up. "Ace The Old Guy's Bizarre Bazaar." And then somewhere I must have a Dole Whip stand with hollowed-out pineapples overflowing with fresh pineapple chunks and overflowing with soft-serve Dole Whip just like they serve at the Dole Plantation. And right next to it, a refrigerated market that I'd call the "Poke' Palace." Gawd, I miss the poke' in Hawaii where you can walk into a big grocery store and they sell 20 different varieties of poke' in the deli section.

Yeah, I like these ideas. Sometimes progress is actually going back to the past. Kind of like our re-discovery of tiki and craft cocktails.

For all the negative things that have been said about the IMP in the past, there sure were a lot of good things there.