Treasures of Kalihi Street

If Aiea has Aiea Heights, Ewa Beach has Ewa Beach Road, Waipahu has Waipahu Street and Waipahu Depot Road and Kahala has Kahala Avenue, Kalihi has its own Kalihi Street.  But what is special about Kalihi Street?  Join me in discovering what a 13-mile long street has to offer.  This street starts high from the Koolau Mountain down to its end at sea level near Sand Island Access Road.  It is not a very long drive but what I found was interesting enough that many of the establishments are worth having their own write-up.

You can find interesting food establishments in Kalihi Street: one that serves good old local favorites to the community for decades--Ethel’s Grill and 2 known to serve gourmet dishes--Monarch Seafoods and Kahai St. Kitchen.  And just across each other are the top 2 famous manapua bakeshops, Libby Manapua Shop and Chun Wah Kam Noodle Factory.   You can also find Kentucky Fried Chicken or KFC and Puka Café along this street.  And speaking of food, you can get wholesale eggs at Associated Producers Corporation-Farm Fresh Island Eggs (Ka Lei Eggs) and meats at Young’s Meat Market.  There are neighborhood markets such as the Valley Center Market, KC Market, Ono’s M Market, Kay’s Fish Market, Chong’s Market, and Dyke’s Market.

If you trace Kalihi Street you’d also find Kamehameha Shopping Center.  This shopping center is pretty much a one-stop shopping center where you can find everything that you need.  It has Times Supermarket and Long’s Drugs for groceries and household items.  For places to dine or to take out food, there are many to choose from such as Kenny’s Restaurant, Liu’s Chop Suey, Yummy Korean BBQ, Ba-Le Sandwich Shop, McDonald’s, Subway, Starbucks, Jamba Juice, Sumo Ramen & Curry, Shogun Sushi & Kam Drive Inn, Baskin Robbins, and Pizza Hut.  In this center there are six banks or financial establishments such as American Savings Bank, Bank of Hawaii, Hawaiian National Bank, Territorial Savings Bank, Kamehameha Federal Credit Union, and Finance Factors.  For electronics needs there’s a branch of Radio Shack and a Mobi PCS.  For dry goods need there’s the Everblue Casuals and Payless Shoe Source.  The Fun Factory still remains in this center where generations of children in Kalihi have enjoyed.  And because video games are here to stay, there’s an added entertainment center—the Game Stop.  For health and beauty, you can go to Fantastic Sams, Bobby’s Barber, Pro Nails, GNC, Gold Plus, and Vision.

Photo:keikiokaina.org

If Kalihi doesn’t get much respect from the locals, it does get respect from the rest of the nation because of an institution called Keiki O Ka’Aina Family Learning Centers located along Kalihi St.  According to their website, Keiki O Ka’Aina Learning Centers aim to strengthen the family by communicating to them the importance of education, advocating for literacy, supporting parents as their child’s best teachers, and empowering families to undergo leadership roles in their communities within the context of Hawaiian language, culture and traditions. Because of years of community service, they were awarded the building of new classrooms and other buildings by the hit TV show, Extreme Makeover in 2007.  The property was the biggest project of Extreme Makeover out of the nearly 100 households awarded by the show with rebuilding of homes all over the USA.

Photo: Frank Langit

Kalihi Street tracks by 3 public elementary schools (Kalihi Uka, Kapalama, and Kalihi Kai), an intermediate school (King David Kalakaua), and a high school (Wallace Rider Farrington).  I found 5 religious establishments situated along Kalihi Street:  Daihonzan Chozen-ji, Central Samoan Assembly of God, St. Anthony Retreat Center, Jikoen Hongwanji Hall, and Church of Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  The office of the Seafares International Union is at 606 Kalihi Street diagonally facing a branch of Bank of Hawaii. There are also two medical offices tracing Kalihi Street, one of husband and wife’s Dr. Rodrigo G. Bristol and Dr. Zita A. Cruz-Bristol and the other is the Dr. Erlinda M. Cachola Medical Clinic.  Many of the large homes in Kalihi Street are also Care Homes.  There are 3 gasoline stations in this street—Tesoro, Chevron, and Aloha.  There are businesses that people like me haven’t had the chance to visit along Kalihi Street and they are Kenjo, Inc. and Super Threads, Thermal Engineering Corporation, The Video Store, A-American Self-Storage,  Lex Broadie’s Tire and Brake Service Center,  J & D Auto Body Shop, Hawaii Glass Block, Stonecraft, The Shaka Business Center which houses at least 7 businesses, the Print Proz, and Whittle Signs among others.  Along Kalihi Street you can also find the Kalihi-Palama Public Library followed by the Kalihi YMCA, and The Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum and towards it’s 2^nd half you can find the Board of Water Supply’s Kalihi Uka Pumping Station.

Besides the Kalihi YMCA, there are places that’s free for the public to exercise in such as the 3 public parks that can be accessed from Kalihi Street: one by turning to Perry St and the park is at the end of the street, towards the mountain.   Another one is Kalihi Uka Park at 2329 Kalihi St.  And the biggest park along Kalihi Street is the Kalakaua District Park with indoor and outdoor basketball courts, tennis courts, volleyball courts, boxing and weight gymn.  Of course you can also hike up the mountain to Kamanaiki Hiking Trail which can be accessed from Kalihi St. by turning to Manaiki Place and the hike starts at the end of the road at the foot of the stairs on the side of a house with an address 1801 Manaiki Pl.  Actually, the local kids could tell you that there is also another trail around here but it’s not made public.  Another option and probably the more exciting one is to hike about 2 miles at the end of Kalihi Street and enjoy the best kept attraction in Kalihi, the Ice Ponds.

I just came to realize that Kalihi Street is actually self-sufficient with homes and apartments to live in, schools to go to, places for food and clothing supply as well as a little entertainment, places to exercise and even places to work in.  That is not bad at all for a street named after the whole section of Honolulu that seldom gets respect, isn't it?

Why we love Kalihi in video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsXCmWE8Qzg

KALIHI STREET DIRECTORY

Associated Producers Corp-Farm Fresh Island Eggs (Ka Lei Eggs)

439 Kalihi St

Honolulu, HI 96819

 (808) 841-7695

Dr. Rodrigo G. Bristol      
General Practice
634 Kalihi St.  Fl 1
Honolulu, HI 96819
(808) 845-3911

Dr. Erlinda M. Cachola

Internal Medicine

936 Kalihi St.

Honolulu, HI 96819

Chan Wah Kam Noodle Factory

505 Kalihi St

Honolulu, HI 96819

(808) 841-5303

Chong’s Market

243 Kalihi St

Honolulu, HI 96819

 (808) 842-5726

Dr. Zita A. Cruz-Bristol

Internal Medicine

634 Kalihi St., Suite 201

Honolulu, HI 96819

Dyke’s Market

298 Kalihi St

Honolulu, HI 96819

(808) 845-0406

Ethel’s Grill

232 Kalihi St

Honolulu, HI 96819

 (808) 847-6467

Kalihi-Palama Public Libraray

1325 Kalihi St,

Honolulu, HI ‎96819

(808) 832-3466

Kay’s Fish Market

2326 Kalihi St

Honolulu, HI 96819

(808) 847-7298

Keiki O’ Ka’aina

3097 Kalihi St.,

Honolulu, HI 96819

(808) 843-2502

KC Market

2317 Kalihi St

Honolulu, HI 96819

(808) 845-4170

Libby Manapua Shop

410 Kalihi St
Honolulu, HI 96819

(808) 841-2253

Puka Café

2402 Kalihi St
Honolulu, HI 96819

(808) 845-2828

Valley Center Market Inc

2803 Kalihi St

Honolulu, HI 96819

(808) 845-2155

YMCA-Kalihi

1335 Kalihi St.,

 Honolulu, HI ‎96819

(808) 848-2494 ‎

Young’s Meat Market

303 Kalihi St

Honolulu, HI 96819

(808) 842-4277