01-21-2017, 08:02 AM
I have not been to Honokaa in over a year, and even then was on a Sunday when most things were closed up. I had imagined it to be a nice place on the average day/evening though, maybe me and the family will make our way up there soon enough.
As for Pahoa, I can only tell you that I stayed out of town other than for banking.
When I first moved to Pahoa (Lielani), I thought I would love the town and made every attempt to patronize the shops there. That changed pretty quick.
Driving down the main drag was like a slalom course with the constant fear that someone was just going to fall over in front of your vehicle from being too damned high or their legs just giving out under the weight of their own mental ineptness. Nowhere to park! Sure, you could pull down this alley or that side street. But when the only available parking space is littered with the broken glass of the last poor bastard that parked there... no thanks, I think I'll keep going. And if you did find a place to park you'd have to walk through the most vile cloud of cigarette smoke and body odor to get to any of the shops. The food at the eateries was completely inconsistent from one meal to the next. And if I had a nickel for every time I turned someone down asking for pocket change or wanting me to give them and their filthy dog a ride to Kalapana then I could afford to live in Waimea. But at least the book store was a nice place.
I'm sure the place had its charm at one time. But it would seem to me that the only charm left is in the nostalgia of those who remember such days.
As for Pahoa, I can only tell you that I stayed out of town other than for banking.
When I first moved to Pahoa (Lielani), I thought I would love the town and made every attempt to patronize the shops there. That changed pretty quick.
Driving down the main drag was like a slalom course with the constant fear that someone was just going to fall over in front of your vehicle from being too damned high or their legs just giving out under the weight of their own mental ineptness. Nowhere to park! Sure, you could pull down this alley or that side street. But when the only available parking space is littered with the broken glass of the last poor bastard that parked there... no thanks, I think I'll keep going. And if you did find a place to park you'd have to walk through the most vile cloud of cigarette smoke and body odor to get to any of the shops. The food at the eateries was completely inconsistent from one meal to the next. And if I had a nickel for every time I turned someone down asking for pocket change or wanting me to give them and their filthy dog a ride to Kalapana then I could afford to live in Waimea. But at least the book store was a nice place.
I'm sure the place had its charm at one time. But it would seem to me that the only charm left is in the nostalgia of those who remember such days.