Sooooo, locals what are your thoughts? (taxi driver, price, dangerous)

[medicpaige]

We've been here three years now and for the most part I love it. There are so many friendly people and the island of Oahu is beautiful.

Unfortunately we had an incident a few months back and I don't know exactly what to make of it. We (my husband and our three friends, two guys and another woman) got seriously jumped downtown on Kuhio. I know (now) that street is notorious for issues after midnight, we were just happily making our way to Mad Dogs.

I am fairly sure they were iced out, but the fight started by a really big local guy punching me in the friggin face (this altercation started because one friend in our group had waaaaay too much to drink and unfortunately got in some sort of argument with a guy who bumped into him) I tried to apologize to the guy's friend and BAM! Right in the face. (I'm 5'2, so yeah, he had to punch down, lol) Then out of nowhere a huge group of people (who could not possibly have heard the original argument, they came from the alley and across the street) mobbed us and beat the crap out of us, sending my husband and I to the hospital. They were shouting that us 'stupid haole's' etc (add colorful language here) should get off the island, etc. (We even had a local girl with us, and she got beat to the ground as well)

SO, I was just wondering if it was because most of us were white or because they are ice-heads or just morons? Combo off all three? Who starts a fight punching a woman when there are three big guys right there? Alright, thanks for whatever input you have. Aloha!

[OpenD]

Funny... big fight like that, people going to the hospital... I can't find the story about it in the Star-Advertiser archives. When did you say this happened?

[medicpaige]

Happened in July but it wasn't reported in the news. No stabbing or weapons, so I guess it wasn't interesting enough. When the cops showed they all scattered and (surprise) no one was taken into custody.

[OpenD]

And this happened down in the part of Kuhio that smells fishy?

[timbo31958]

The key point or points to me are walking down Kuhio after midnight, bar hopping?? drunk, starting argument with local, Dont matter if drugs involved or not you dont know that for fact. What you do know is that your "friend" who had waaaay too much to drink started some sort of argument, with a local who bumped into him??/ Are you sure wasnt the other way around?? and your whole group paid the price for his mistake. That kind of math just dont add up to a positve number. Maybe some good advise would be to not be in areas you are not sure about, and know when you have had too much to drink. And, usually that time of night people who are out and about probably shouldnt be. Just my thoughts.

[medicpaige]

Timbo I totally agree that it wasn't a good idea to be out that late in that area. We'd been to Maddogs before and never had a problem, but we weren't keeping an eye on the time. Yeah, I saw the guy bump into our friend but it wasn't something worth blowing up over. Like I said, I just thought they might be tweeked but of course I don't know for sure. My friend acted a fool for sure, but that mob of guys (hard to count exactly when you're gettin' knocked in the back of the head a bunch, but I think between 8-10) I was just curious to see what local people thought was the deal with these guys. I know it sounds crazy, trust me I still can't believe it. No way will we be down there again at that hour. Sorry if any of my question sounded offensive, no way meant it to be and I know these guys don't represent the people of Hawaii.

[Tenzo]

My thoughts?

There are haters everywhere. Learn from your mistakes (looks like you have) and move on.
Late night, drunk people, fight, <insert town here>.

[Jonah K]

Originally Posted by medicpaige

We've been here three years now and for the most part I love it. There are so many friendly people and the island of Oahu is beautiful.

Unfortunately we had an incident a few months back and I don't know exactly what to make of it. We (my husband and our three friends, two guys and another woman) got seriously jumped downtown on Kuhio. I know (now) that street is notorious for issues after midnight, we were just happily making our way to Mad Dogs.

That must've been some "beat down" since Kuhio Avenue and Maddog Saloon are in Waikiki, not "downtown." In any event, most of the folks on Kuhio after midnight are drunks, druggies, hookers, homeless, or clueless and those that prey upon them.

[Honolulu21]

Sorry to hear about your unfortunate exprience. However I don't think it was racial because the down side to "local" culture is how a lot of locals will use any racial epithets when involved in a fight. I have heard locals say while in a fight, "you damn japs, flips, pa-kes, etc., etc.."

Besides, your local friend was also beat down, right?

True story. It was 1997 and I was at Liliuokalani Gardens for a BBQ. My friend who invited me was an older european guy who hosted a weekly bbq composed of mostly ex-pat europeans like himself and japanese who resided there. The potluck as well as the bbq itself was an epicurean delight because of the variety of dishes representing france, italy, holland, different prefectures of japan, etc..

Anyway I drank too much, and my friend told me to sleep overnight on his sofa. I woke up at 3am, and wanted to go home. I walked down to kuhio ave. and was kind of spooked at how deserted it seemed, although I heard what sounded like a brawl happening a few blocks away. I flagged down a taxi, and and taxi driver started talking to me about how he used to smoke ice years ago and just started up again! In fact he was tweaking while driving me!! On date st. the taxi driver had a collision with another car,hitting that car's right front side. I heard and saw a baby crying on a man's lap in the car that was hit.

I was still "feeling" it from all the booze I had imbibed earlier, and just wanted to get home. I flagged down another cab and got home.

When I called my friend later in the morning he scolded me saying, "Don't you know how dangerous it is out there in the streets at that time!!?" (This said by my friend who is built like a very muscular sumo wrestler who I've seen take down two local mokes in a bar fight when they tried to cause trouble to him) When I told him about the taxi accident he scolded me again, " You should've called the police and made a report, and the taxi company would've had to reimburse you!"

I scanned the news reports and papers for several weeks, but didn't see anything about the accident so I didn't report it to the police.

What I'm trying to say is Waikiki is dangerous during the wee hours of the morning, and I'm local. I heard of beat downs, gang fights, assaults and rapes happening there all the time. It's always best to have your guard up and be aware of your surroundings wherever you are.

[PacificFlights]

Originally Posted by medicpaige

Who starts a fight punching a woman when there are three big guys right there?

Its called Equal Rights.