Posted by on Jan 16, 2013 in Personal | 0 comments

It was a “cold” 60 degrees this morning in Hawaii. I actually quite like it. The only odd thing was just less than 12 hours earlier I was sweating in my car blasting my A/C on full blast. It just doesn’t seem normal here in Hawaii where everything has been so even and temperate all year round. It got me thinking of all the other things that have changed here in my hometown since I was in diapers.

  • Beach space is shorter now. The actual space to sit down on the sand has eroded away in some of the more popular beaches I used to frequent as a kid. Natural part of erosion but it’s still sad how mother nature has reclaimed areas that I used to love to play.
  • No more puka shells. No, it’s not like I want these necklaces to come back into fashion. But I haven’t seen anyone wear them since the 70’s. But these shells were once so easily available you could just pick them up off the beach. I haven’t seen a single puka shell in 30 years.
  • Vog. Go back just maybe just about 5 short years ago there was no such thing as “Vog” – volcanic fog.  Now we gotta contend with having sulfurous fog every once in a while whenever our trade winds shift the wrong direction.
  • It used to be possible where you could leave your car doors unlocked or leave your backpack at the beach all day long and never have to worry about anything being taken. Go body boarding for 3 hours and come back…all your stuff is still there. Now I don’t know if it’s just modern paranoia, but I don’t feel comfortable leaving my stuff 20 feet away from where I swim.
  • At Kapiolani Park there used to be a wooden playground structure with a chain linked platform bridge that was super fun to run and play. I have pictures of my playing on that structure as a toddler. That was taken away at some point a few decades ago. I only assume it was because of safety. It’s still sad because that bridge was super fun to play on.
  • Our local zoo has gotten a LOT better than it used to be. But one thing I’m nostalgic about is it once had this concrete observation deck for the elephant area that used to have a small spiral staircase where you could climb up and see the elephants from above. I think it was only big enough for small children. Maybe some kid fell off because I haven’t seen that for a long time too.
  • My dad used to be able to catch little exotic fish right off the beach shore. I remember just being in awe seeing a cowfish he’d caught off of the Ala Moana beach shoreline. Now no more. Maybe it’s my dad’s fault he caught all the fish.
  • Beach BBQs. OK, this one is not really gone, it’s my fault. Back in the day my parents used to take a Hibachi grill down the beach in the morning and start firing the grill around sunset to BBQ some chicken and grubs for our dinner before we headed home. I don’t think I’ve had a day like that in decades. These days we know better about sun damage and whatnot, but there was still nothing like the smell of a good BBQ on the beach after you’ve been swimming all day long.

I’m sure I’ll think of more things to be nostalgic about later. /sigh