How bad is living in Waianae? (Honolulu, Kaneohe: skatepark, movies, closing)

[kaimuki]

I used to spend time fishing in Waianae and Makaha and I never had any problems. The beaches are beautiful and I used to talk story with other locals.

[tm13]

It was very interesting reading earlier posts. I grew up in Makaha 5 decades ago. Loved it. People nice, us kids played summertime morning to night -- camping on the beach with no adult supervision, play football on the road between telephone poles, play hide and go seek anybody's house. The negative media portrayals of the Leeward coast of the recent decades sadden me. Growing up I never thought of Makaha as a rough place or bad people lived there. My parents raised us kids to respect our elders, no cause trouble, and leave other people's property alone. Sure, once in a while we heard about poor behavior but that did not seem common. That was the 50's and 60's, but let me share what I hope you will find as some nice behavior.

I live somewhere else on Oahu. One day couple summers ago I drove to Waianae to buy mangos. Found very few at farmer's market and roadside. So I went driving into Makaha valley and saw beautiful mangos on a couple of trees. I went to the house and asked for some. I asked how much. The resident handed me two grocery bags of mangos and just said, "Just enjoy eating them." I think this man is just one of many, many good people on the Waianae coast. You can find good and bad there. But I believe if you just try live a good Christian life, be kind to others and treat them like you want to be treated, things will go OK for you and your good will rub off on others.

Mahalo for maintaining this web page!

[patrick.quenga]

[SIZE=3]I was reading through a lot of the older posts too, back from 2009 and 2010. Well it's 2013 now and I can tell you, I love Waianae. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]I recently PCSed out here from Fort Sam Houston, TX. Yes I am military, but I'm also a Pacific Islander, from Guam. I have been in the service for 22 years now. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]What I can say from my observations, and most of the early posts have coverered a lot of this. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]1. The beaches of Waianae, IMO, are the best on the island. I love Makaha. I surf, so finding out there is no reef in Makaha, just nice sand, made it an attractive place for me (if I wipe out). Also, Makaha is good for regular foot surfers. Great breaks! Plus Yokes (Yokohama Bay) is the bomb too. Great beach, not much coral reef, and lots of mix in nationality on the beach. Maili Point is a bit rocky, but surf can be nice (not a place for novice or beginner). Tracks is nice too, good for the novice and beginner surfers. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]2. Yes Waianae does seem a bit run down (from Nanakuli all the way to Yokes), like the State doesn't put money into the area. I don't understand this, because the beaches out here ROCK, and there is great potential for tourism here, but maybe the locals here don't want that. I don't know.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]3. The homeless problem is just that, a problem. I feel for each and every one of my island brothers and sisters that have come to this. But the cities and locals are trying to help out. They did away with the tent cities along Nanakuli and Maili a few years back (from what locals are telling me), but where did they go? No one knows, or can tell me for that matter.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]4. Whenever I tell anyone on island that I meet that I live in Waianae, they always respond in a few ways. If they are non-local (white or not from Hawaii) they always say "Oh, how is that? Are you safe out there? ... Straight up, it never fails. When I tell locals that I meet (I pass for local really easy being Chamorro, from Guam), they always say "Cool brah, where you live in Waianae? I have family out there...the locals are always cool with me that I live there, and the non-locals have this stigma that it is so bad, they will never go out there. Strange, because I love it out here.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]5. The worst part of living in Waianae is the drive to any other part of the island. You have to go down Farrington Hwy to get to H1, which right there is where the traffic KICKs in. This sucks if you have to hit it at rush hours, but other than that, everything else is fine. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]I have met a lot of locals from hitting the beach and surfing Maili, Yokes, Tracks, and Makaha (my favorite spot), and all have been nice and courteous. I’m not sure if it is because I fit in as a local or not, I let everyone know that I didn’t grow up here, but lived here for a few years as a little kid, but that I’m from Guam. Everyone is way cool. I think it just comes down to respect is all. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Waianae is definitely not the “rich” side of the island, as you can see the State doesn’t seem to pump money into area beautification, but honestly I think it is probably the best side of the island. People are real, rich in culture and family, which is how I was raised on Guam. I would estimate that 99% of the locals here in Waianae are originally from here or grew up here, not first generation per say, because everyone I meet says their grandmother and grandfather grew up here, and they are still here, usually live in the same house with them, reason there is no parking, six cars for one house...haha! (That's just a little joke, but some truth to that).[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]I don’t know, I just know I like it. I live in Maili (between Nanakuli and Waianae). [/SIZE]

[OpenD]

Originally Posted by patrick.quenga

I was reading through a lot of the older posts too...

Yo, that was the most unreadable post I've seen here in years. I have no idea what you were trying to say.

ProTip: Use the default font and color until you are completely sure what you are doing.

[HiloDiver]

Lol, I'm not going to read it either.

[hunterseat]

I struggled through it... default is good. I appreciate the positive things he said about the good folks who live in that area. My supervisor said pretty much what WhiteViper guy said in the post about traffic. Mountains and ocean don't give any alternative routes when there's a wreck.

[OpenD]

Originally Posted by hunterseat

Mountains and ocean don't give any alternative routes when there's a wreck.

This is another point for the "Sticky thread." Outside the population centers, in many places on the islands there is only one traffic route, with no alternatives.

On the BI, I try to avoid the evening rush hour heading south from Hilo whenever possible. It's not just that traffic can be heavy and gnarly, especially on dark winter nights when it is raining hard, but that a crash anywhere between Kurtistown and Volcano shuts down the road until it is cleared. I've been stopped cold on that route for as long as 3 hours.

[CyberCity]

Originally Posted by patrick.quenga

[SIZE=3]I was reading ....[/SIZE]

HUH? A lot of [unreadable] info there, perhaps you can do some editing and repost as a new posting?

Old threads are a wealth of information. But, I have an issue with the title of this thread, "How bad is.....". I think the OP set up the thread in a negative tone in the first place. OP was here just once, with a "one posting" rock throwing.

Personally, if I wanted info on Waianae, I'd start a new thread that had a less biased title, and I'd try to gain info that is current.

[KauaiHiker]

Originally Posted by OpenD

Yo, that was the most unreadable post I've seen here in years. I have no idea what you were trying to say.

ProTip: Use the default font and color until you are completely sure what you are doing.

Maybe it wasn't his fault... You write something in Word or your email, then cut-n-paste here, and all that garbage gets added--and sometimes you can't see it because it looks right (without the tags) in the editor, but then the tags just get printed out by c-d.

Yes, hard to read, but seemed to be an informative post (I don't know Waianae much, only drove through once 20 years ago).

[CyberCity]

Originally Posted by KauaiHiker

Maybe it wasn't his fault... You write something in Word or your email, then cut-n-paste here, and all that garbage gets added--and sometimes you can't see it because it looks right (without the tags) in the editor, but then the tags just get printed out by c-d.

Tip: When making a posting, there is the option to "submit reply" or "preview post". Using the preview option allows you to see the layout of the posting, and do editing for clarity if needed.