Garden Notes from Hawaii: KAPI'OLANI PARK at Waikiki

Playing fields with Diamond Head behind

A few weeks ago, I spent five nights at a hotel down at Waikiki beach in Honolulu. This was actually my very first time doing it and it was wonderful. It helped me to get my travel groove back again post Covid pandemic shutdown. My hotel was down at the Diamond Head end of Waikiki and so I was right next to Kapi'olani Park which is a large public green space that is popular with locals and tourists alike.

The band stand area

Kapi'olani Park was established by King Kalakaua in 1876 who named the park after his wife Kapi'olani . It was an area of 300 acres with a horse racing course along with ponds and walkways. Of course, the area has previous history from ancient Hawaiian days so that there are memories of ancient heiau/temples and battles there as well. Surfing was also part of the scene as it is today. As Hawaii changed from a royal kingdom, to a republic, to US territory, and now a state, the land was kept as a public area. In 1952, the City and County of Honolulu Dept. of Parks and Recreation did a big renovation of the park area into its modern form. The park is now 160 acres, so I suspect that the other acres got used for all the city facilities I saw next to the north corner of the park......the library, two schools, a fire station, the headquarters and nursery for the Parks and Recreation Dept. etc. There is also a small corner garden across the street that holds many native Hawaiian plants which is worth checking out. Of course there are also the Honolulu Shell for outdoor performances and the Honolulu Zoo, that are on the Waikiki hotel side of the park. The bandstand area, with seating, holds many local events. Right behind the bandstand are lily ponds that are a small reminder of the previous ponds and wet land that were filled in as they dredged out the Ala Wai that runs behind the Waikiki hotels. Out in the large central green fields of the park are held many types of sporting activities.

Most of my memories of going to Kapi'olani Park are around attending rugby tournaments there. It is an hours drive from my side of the island. It was nice to spend more time in Waikiki and be able to observe life around the park and gain more appreciation for this public gem. I enjoyed watching people running and walking around the circumference of the park The tennis courts all seemed busy. Summer school soccer teams were out practicing. Models were being photographed. Grandpas were playing cards at picnic tables in the shade of the banyan trees. Mothers were having outings with toddlers in strollers. The coolest, shadiest part of the park was at the back, on the other side of Paki Ave, where seniors were doing yoga. I made a note of that cool glade for future picnics in town. On the southern side of the park, it continues over the road to an ocean walkway and the aquarium. There are lots of white pigeons in the park, but with careful observation, you will see the beautiful native White Terns who live in the trees and hatch one huge egg that is perched on a branch without a nest. I also noticed lots of invasive green parrots who are roosting at night in the ironwoods along the beach side. Cage escapees who have now grown into a large population that will be attacking your fruit trees if you live in the area and probably will spread around our island. I guess another local problem is the homeless in the area who like to hang out in and near the park. No easy way to solve that. Still, by the end of my stay in Waikiki, I had become a big fan of the park and am very appreciative that the area has been kept for all of us, locals and tourists, to use. Imagine if it was hotels all the way to Diamond Head.