How bad is living in Waianae? (Honolulu, Kaneohe: new home, legal, moving to)

[Dthraco]

Originally Posted by patrick.quenga

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.

At the water's edge there is no reef, but Makaha is all reef once you are in the surf zone. It's just fairly flat and deep till you get on the inside.
Yoke's is amazing, but breaks on a reef shelf that is more shallow than Pipeline...VERY dangerous. Same story there, lots of sand on the beach till you go to the surf zone. They call the right Hamburger Reef for a reason.

Originally Posted by patrick.quenga

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.

Be sure that alot of the initial response is because you are of pacific island decent, and next that you have a good attitude/respect. As a very caucasian guy the initial reaction I usually get from the local westside surfers is getting dropped in on the first 4-5 waves a session, or "Haole better get out o' the way". After they see I know what I am doing they are very chill and nice, and usually talk story. It's not much different than a skatepark scene where the good kids are mean to the new one's till they see they know how to skate, then they want to be your best bud. The MAJOR difference here is that if you LOOK like you are of Pacific Island or Asian decent, you get a "Welcome aboard free" card. This prejudice is more amplified on the WestSide than the rest of the island in my experience. I'm not whining, that's just the way it is.

I would not mind living in Waianae if I had a good job there and did not have to drive past the refinery because the traffic would wear on me and the car. The second time I went there my car battery died because I left my lights on. The FIRST guy that pulled up gave me a ride to Longs to get jumper cables and gave me a jump from his car. He refused the $20 I offered him. I agree with the thread that there are some really good people on the Westside.

[whtviper1]

Originally Posted by Dthraco

I would not mind living in Waianae if I had a good job there and did not have to drive past the refinery because the traffic would wear on me and the car.

You don't have to worry about the refinery much longer.

Tesoro closing Kapolei refinery in April | KHON2 Hawaii's News Leader

[VOCABULAMARIA]

Hey so I've been reading the posts and it sounds like a broad range of thoughts. My wife and I and son are moving to Oahu in the next year. I really want to go to the West side. Good surf, cheaper, more open land from what I've heard. Were in Cali now. We are 100% ocean people. The ocean is our religion basically. Anyway, I have heard from some of the more pale fellows here that Makaha area is NOT the place for a Hoale, which I guess I would be considered as a main lander that's not black or hispanic though the only people that have ever called me that were whiter than the driven snow. My wife is Asian south pacific and our son is basically Hapa if that even matters. Im not really down with the slang I know because its all from movies and a lifetime of beaches made up of tourists from Iowa and then local surfer "dudes"...Anyway my point to this is I feel like this area is pretty much a haven for us.

[patrick.quenga]

(I have no clue why my earlier post was all messed up with HTML code)...


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.

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.
What I can say from my observations, and most of the early posts have covered a lot of this.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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).

I don’t know, I just know I like it. I live in Maili (between Nanakuli and Waianae).

[patrick.quenga]

You should be fine if you choose the West Side, or they also call it the Leeward side. I live in Sea Country, totally nice area, all new housing, cheaper than the rest of the island, but our house is as big as a normal mainland house. I would say 3000 sq. ft, 3 bedroom, and all bedrooms have a bathroom. Closets are a little small, but everything is totally brand new. I think my roommate (he bought the house) paid about 480k for the place, which isn't that bad for the island. We live about 1/2 mile from Maili Point (surf spot and great hang out area).

Like many said, living on the west side is different, there is probably 99% locals (Hawaiians and people born and raised on the island, generations) here, but in my community, it is majority non-locals. It all depends what you are looking for and where your work is.

The worst thing about living on the west side, is the drive into town and the traffic. A majority of the events on the island do not take place in Waianae, so you will be driving into town (Honolulu/Waikiki), or to North Shore, or Kaneohe Bay or whatever...so if you are into events taking place on the island, you will drive, and you will feel the grind of traffic.

[patrick.quenga]

Originally Posted by VOCABULAMARIA

I know because its all from movies and a lifetime of beaches made up of tourists from Iowa and then local surfer "dudes

Us surfers don't refer to ourselves as "surfer dudes"...lol. We are just surfers. I grew up surfing my entire childhood and again now that I have returned to the Island. My friends in the service that never grew up around the water would always refer to me as "the surfer dude"...and I was always correcting them, "It's just surfer, brah, just surfer. I'm not a "surfer dude"...lol"

[patrick.quenga]

Originally Posted by VOCABULAMARIA

Be sure that alot of the initial response is because you are of pacific island decent, and next that you have a good attitude/respect. As a very caucasian guy the initial reaction I usually get from the local westside surfers is getting dropped in on the first 4-5 waves a session, or "Haole better get out o' the way". After they see I know what I am doing they are very chill and nice, and usually talk story. It's not much different than a skatepark scene where the good kids are mean to the new one's till they see they know how to skate, then they want to be your best bud. The MAJOR difference here is that if you LOOK like you are of Pacific Island or Asian decent, you get a "Welcome aboard free" card. This prejudice is more amplified on the WestSide than the rest of the island in my experience. I'm not whining, that's just the way it is.

You're probably right, because I do also speak a bit of swag. Often the guys tell me "I thought you were from here", and I tell them, I lived here when I was a kid, but my nationality is Chamorro (Guam) and I lived most of my adult life in Europe and deployed with the Army.

[fumbling]

Does the Farrington Highway going north past Waianae connect to the Farrington Highway going to the North Shore? Is it a dirt trail requiring 4wd or is it just impassable or locked off with a gate?

[whtviper1]

Impassable and blocked off

[laughing traveler]

I lived in Waianae 26 years ago. People were just horrified. But I survived. It was my first time in hawaii and I learned a lot.