Hawaii 1/2: The city Honolulu

[mthq]

^yeah I was wondering that myself

[gatt]

great tour.

[citizensf]

Nice photos of my hometown!

To answer one question: The body of water adjacent Chinatown is the River Street Canal.

Also, the pedestrian mall in downtown is the Fort Street Mall.

Iolani Palace gets all the press, but I'm partial to the Aliiolani Hale which you managed to get a snapshot of (two photos below the Iolani Palace photo -- the one with the statue of Kamehameha). Heck, it's the building that's in my profile picture! It was originally planned as a palace for Kamehameha V but ultimately ended up becoming a government building.

Also, you're correct that outside of downtown Honolulu and Waikiki, the urban fabric is much more disjointed. Oahu is a beautiful place but the urban streetscapes of the neighborhoods of Honolulu leave a lot to be desired.

You probably noticed that most of the high rise buildings are setback from the street quite a bit and built atop parking podiums.

The shorter apartment buildings tend to be "dingbats". 2-3 story apartments over streetfront parking. These are peppered all over the place in Honolulu.

But the friendly people, sweet, sweet air and the natural beauty of the islands definitely offset any issues I have with the urbanity of the place.

[Centropolis]

i've never been to hawaii, but this looks reminiscent of a view one might have sticking their head out of a window in miami beach.