Frommer's shopping in Oahu

International Market Place

"What it once was, it can be again," said Mark Hastert, president of the Queen Emma Foundation and owner of the International Market Place, on the renovations and resurrection of this once proud and famous shopping area.

In the past few decades, this 4.5-acre open market, squeezed in amongst the high-rises of Waikiki, became a sea of small carts selling trinkets (most, cheaply made overseas), shoddy T-shirts, and lots of junk.

Those days are gone. At the end of 2005, the International Market Place and all the vendors were shut down and a $150 million total restoration began that is expected to be completed at the end of 2007. The Queen Emma Foundation is bringing back the stream that used to run through the area (albeit as a water feature), and building an amphitheatre and a hula mound. Surrounding the area will be clusters of 8 to 10 buildings, from one to three stories tall, featuring shops and restaurants.

"We want it to once again be an exciting place, a central gathering place for Waikiki," said Hastert. "The aim is to re-create this once historic spot were visitors and residents can come for ceremonies and performances, to shop and eat and enjoy Waikiki."

Oahu's Vibrant Gallery Scene

Like restaurants, galleries come and go in Chinatown, where efforts to revitalize the area have moved in fits and spurts. Two exceptions are the Ramsay Galleries, Tan Sing Building, 1128 Smith St. (tel. 808/537-2787), and the Pegge Hopper Gallery, 1164 Nuuanu Ave. (tel. 808/524-1160). Both are housed in historic Chinatown buildings that have been renovated and transformed into stunning showplaces. Nationally known quill-and-ink artist Ramsay, who has drawn everything from the Plaza in New York to most of Honolulu's historic buildings, maintains a vital monthly show schedule featuring her own work, as well as shows of her fellow Hawaiian artists. A consummate preservationist, Ramsay has added a courtyard garden with an oval pond and exotic varieties of bamboo.

Pegge Hopper, one of Hawaii's most popular artists, displays her widely collected paintings (usually of Hawaiian women with broad, strong features) in her attractive gallery, which has become quite the gathering place for exhibits ranging from Tibetan sand-painting by saffron-robed monks to the most avant-garde printmaking in the islands.

Newcomer Bibelot, 1130 Koko Head Ave., Suite 2, in Kaimuki (tel. 808/738-0368), is small and smart, with an impressive selection of works from new and emerging artists, as well as those well established. More than 30 artists, almost all from Hawaii, are represented. Jewelry, ceramics, glass, and Japanese tansu and antiques are among the treasures here.

The Gallery at Ward Centre in Ward Centre, 1200 Ala Moana Blvd. (tel. 808/597-8034), a cooperative gallery of Oahu artists, features fine works in all media, including paper, clay, scratchboard, oils, watercolors, collages, woodblocks, lithographs, glass, jewelry, and more.

Hawaii's most unusual gallery, listed on the Hawaii Register of Historic Places, is perched on the slopes of Punchbowl. The Tennent Art Foundation Gallery, 203 Prospect St. (tel. 808/531-1987), is devoted to the oeuvre of artist Madge Tennent, whose paintings hang in the National Museum of Women alongside the work of Georgia O'Keeffe. Tennent's much-imitated style depicts Polynesians from the 1920s to the 1940s in bold, modernist strokes that left an indelible influence on Hawaiian art. Open limited hours and by appointment, so call before you go.

Art lovers now have a wonderful new resource: a 34-page brochure offering an overview of the music, theater, history, and visual arts of Oahu. The free brochure, which includes a map, phone numbers, websites, and more information, is put out by Arts with Aloha, representing 11 major Honolulu cultural organizations. Send a legal-size, self-addressed, stamped (55¢) envelope to Arts with Aloha, c/o Honolulu Academy of Arts, 900 S. Beretania St., Honolulu, HI 96814, or call the 24-hour hot line at tel. 808/532-8713.

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