If you ask a local about the things we like about Honolulu, we’ll list really simple things like our Asian food and aloha fridays. Nothing beats spam musubis for lunch!
Aloha Fridays
Fridays are revered in Hawaii. Everyone is so excited that it’s Friday, we named it aloha Friday. “Aloha” means love or welcome in Hawaiian. The aura is a really happy upbeat vibe, especially because even during the winter months it’s still sunny. At the end of every work week, everyone is just getting excited to hit the beaches on the weekend and lay out in the warmth. Locals are excited to hit downtown on Friday night and then go hiking the next morning. It’s a fun time. I feel that people in Hawaii like Fridays more than places on the mainland do. For example, schools in Hawaii will have student events on Fridays or relaxed wear on Fridays.
Maui Sunset by Saal is licensed under CC0 1.0. Image may have been resized or cropped from original. When the sun sets on Thursday evening, it’s officially Aloha Friday time!
Island culture
Island culture encompasses a relaxed, qualitative, healthy lifestyle. No, island lifestyle isn’t about hanging from palm trees and picking coconuts or building grass shacks. Although on the weekends, you might be lounging around your house in a bikini after having been to the beach all day. There’s a good possibility of that. Island culture prefers a lot of outdoor environments. For example, almost all of the restaurants in the islands offer outdoor seating and that seating is usually preferred over the indoor seating. Or, if you’re getting fast food, you’ll want to grab it to go so you can eat it at the beach or after a hike. I can’t remember the last time I actually ate food inside a fast food restaurant. I’ve always got it to go so I can have it for viewing the sunset at the beach or china walls.
Tight knit community
Neighborhoods across the islands are very tight knit community. A lot of people in Hawaii own dogs as pets so when everyone is out walking their dogs in the evenings, you get to know others in the community very well. Your neighbors will start to remember your other family members and ask how the kids are doing the next time they see you. It’s a tight knit community in that sense.
Tight knit communities, like the knitting of this scarf.
Knit Fashion Skinny Scarf – Cranberry by Sedie Maruska is licensed under CC BY 2.0. Image may have been resized or cropped from original
Everyone knows everyone
Because of the nature of tight knit communities, everyone knows everyone. It’s even more so the case if your kids are involved in school sports teams. If your child plays basketball, or paddles, you’ll get to know other families and parents in the community. The surfing community is even more tight knit. Family names are a big deal and are recognizable by other figures in the community. For example, certain figures like Eddie Aikau, are renown throughout the islands. If you see the bumper sticker, “Eddie would go,” that’s the guy. You can search up his heroic story of a rescue mission back in the late 70s. It’s things like this – reveering a heroic lifeguard decades later – that makes the island lifestyle so unique and special.
It’s a small island. Pixabay image. No attribution required
Asian foods
A multitude of Asian foods are available throughout the islands. It’s part of the island culture because of our large Asian population. For example, milk tea, korean bar-b-que, udon, pho, and ramen noodle restaurants are in every shopping center on the island. It’s part of the island lifestyle. Although it might not be the stereotypical “Hawaiian food,” Asian food is very much part of island culture.
