Post #97555 by lanikai on Mon, Jun 21, 2004 1:28 PM

On 2004-06-21 13:03, vegasvic wrote:
Visited the legendary La Mariana Sailing club on a recent trip to Honolulu.

It's a little off the beaten path, which can be good or bad depending on your point of view.

makes no difference; many great Hawaiian locales you gotta see is "off the beaten path" (whatever that is...)
...besides it is a well worn beaten path to la mar for many.
it's on a main road (sand island access ) just along da path from da airport to yer hotel. And with the awful beiruit road conditions the City and County and state like to keep our roads in, you need a maitai or three at about this point.

The taxi drops us off at a gap in a chain-link fence in the middle of an industrial park. As we make our way inside we are quite happy to find a treasure trove of tiki and marine artifacts, including many carvings, blowfish lamps, rattan chairs, colored balls, etc. The collection was simply amazing (without being overwhelming).

Ever-present owner/operator 86-year-old Annette Nahinu was there to greet us. The lunchtime crowd was larger than we expected. The food was okay, and the drinks were decent. My impression was that it was more of a beer-and-shot place catering to regular clientele,

we locals drink da tropicals as often as da beer...

and less of a toursit trap pouring out Lava Flow's and Mai Tai's.

thankfully la mar will NEVER trap tourists.

you want tourist trap, Tiki's is yer cuppatea.

a single visit at lunchtime mid-week can't possibly do justice to this place.

to appreciate the ambiance of la Mar, go at bout 4. you see the place in sunlite and then later the sunset. It's situated on the keehi harbor and the view thru yer maitai glass of the indigenous tropical foliage, boat masts and the Hawaiian setting sun in the fiery reds, yellows, oranges... of the sky.. and the reflection on the water... how you say it; "does it justice."

If in Honolulu, a side trip to this place is highly recommended -- before it's gone forever.

...or even a front trip to this place is highly recommended...

it will never be gone totally forever; just as the decor has filled in for years from the demise of other great polynesian eateries and bars, the artifacts will migrate to its next incarnation.

malama ki'i kahiko

[ Edited by: lanikai on 2004-06-21 13:29 ]

[ Edited by: lanikai on 2004-06-21 13:30 ]