THINK TROPICAL THOUGHTS

Spring is having a hard time getting started in a number of places. While the weather may sometimes take a turn for the worst, I'd rather be in a Hawaiian tropical storm than a frozen midwest. 

And I know I'm not alone.

Just sayin'.

MAUI CHANNEL, HAWAIIAN ISLANDS - WHALE WATCHING

Whales come to this area of the Hawaiian Islands for the warmth 

and relative safety in order to birth their calves.

Keeping a respectful distance, tour boat operators give visitors the chance to follow these leviathans and learn a little something about the world of these gentle giants.

POIPU BEACH, KAUAI, HAWAII - MEMORIES GROWN UP

Three decades ago my wife and I honeymooned on Poipu Beach, southeastern corner of the island of Kauai. Not long after hurricane Iniki had devastated the area. It was a beautiful and somewhat remote area of the Hawaiian Islands. In many ways it still is.

We returned a few years ago to find that Poipu, like so many wonderful and 

remote areas of the world, has grown up.

KE'E BEACH, KAUAI - END OF THE ROAD

As with most islands, if you drive far enough you're likely to find the end of the road. Kauai's Na Pali Coast is far too rugged (and beautiful) to permit a road completing the circumnavigation of the island.

This is where the northern road comes to an end: Ke'e Beach.

It's a spectacular place, and a beautiful beach. Hiking trails take you up into the shear cliffs of the Na Pali.

Now...if you can only find a parking place. 

(Sorry, that's a joke only the people who have been to Ke'e will understand. You drive for miles through what seems to be a very isolated road, ending up in a parking area packed - i mean packed - with cars. The trick is to get there very, very early.)

HONOLULU, HAWAII - A LITTLE WINTER DREAMING

View of the Halekulani Hotel on Waikiki Beach from her sister property 

the Waikiki Parc, our favorite spot to stay for visits to Oahu.

We were gifted with two nights at the Halekulani for our honeymoon. The hotel is listed
among the very best in the world, and deservedly so. We stay at the Parc for budgetary
reasons and, frankly, the view. As you can see, it's tremendous.

Just the thing for wishful thinking on a cold winter day.

PRINCEVILLE, HAWAII - THERE'S A KNOCK AT THE DOOR

Another stylized October Country image.

The story begins as "There's a knock at the door..."

KA LAE, SOUTHERNMOST POINT, HAWAII - DEFYING GRAVITY

This fabulous tree, seeming to defy gravity itself, can be seen along the road on your journey to Ka Lae, the southernmost point on the Big Island of Hawaii, as well as southernmost point in the United States. (Sorry, Key West.)

The gently rolling pastures allow a constant and brisk wind to blow through the tree's branches, virtually "laying it down" over the ground.

On hot days, THIS is a shade tree!

BIG ISLAND, HAWAII - SOUTHERNMOST POINT IN THE U.S.

There has to be a place which is the furthest north. The furthest east. The furthest west.

This is the furthest south (all apologies to Key West).

On the Big Island of Hawaii, a rocky cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean, facing south across thousands of miles of empty ocean.

Good fishing spot.

THE DAILY ESCAPE: LATE AFTERNOON AT THE BEACH

With all due respect to the snow-clogged Coloradoans out there, the rest of the country is headed for Spring and then Summer, when millions of people worldwide will descend on beaches for a cool and fun day in the surf.

Poipu Beach, Kauai, Hawaii.

Double Nickels - Part One: Getting Under Way

“Wherever you go becomes a part of you somehow.” 
                                                         ― Anita Desai








(For reasons about to become very obvious, most of the photos in this column were not taken by me. Used with permission.)

I have to wonder how many people are going to recognize the meaning of the title of this column. Yeah, it means 55, of course -- the age I turned on my latest completed spin around the sun.

But it also harkens back to the days of CB radios (if you remember them, we are contemporaries). Double nickels referred to the speed limit on most American freeways and highways. The connection, of course, is to a life on the road.

Getting under way also refers to the process of a ship preparing to leave -- and leaving -- dock.

Early memories of Japan

I began traveling at the very earliest possible age. Though no one remembers precisely when it happened, within six months of my birth I was loaded onto a commercial airliner -- probably propeller driven -- to go from Norfolk, Virginia to our new home in Palo Alto, California, via a short stop for a family visit in Los Angeles.

My father was a Navy officer pursuing an advanced education, which at that point was taking him from the massive Naval Station in Norfolk to Stanford University to get his fourth degree/first Doctorate -- in International Relations. Dad is a bit of an overachiever, but more about that later.

The move was the first of many in my youth. By the time I was eighteen and looking at my college years, I had lived in ten different cities -- probably thirteen houses. Norfolk and Palo Alto were just the first.

Dad climbing Mt Fuji

From Palo Alto we moved across town to Mountain View, then a massive relocation to Yokosuka, Japan. Aboard a Lockheed Super Constellation. A brief stop in Alaska for refueling (remember when aircraft had to do that?) and down to Tokyo International Airport.

Back yard in Japan

I was far too young to truly appreciate the cultural opportunity, but I do have vague memories of the house and the surroundings. A few flashes of Japanese culture -- Tokyo and a visit to the Great Buddha in Kamakura, a few Japanese gardens here and there, and a view of Mount Fujiyama from our Naval Housing back yard. There are several specific recollections which tell me the images are more than just something I conjured after hearing a story -- the are a few things no one else would have known, or had cause to recall.

I wish I remembered more, but that's enough to have gotten me off to a good start.

From Yokosuka we traveled back across the Pacific aboard the troop (and family) transport ship U.S.S. Patrick, stopping for a few days in Honolulu -- where I discovered that Batman, much to my surprise, spoke English. After a couple of years of Japanese television and comic books, this was the biggest shock of my young life, and probably a pretty welcome one. From a cultural standpoint, however, it made the impression that cultures differ -- and that I could appreciate that fact.

Christmas, Hawaii style...

Long Beach - my current hometown -- was our next destination. After Japan we settled into a pretty normal American life. I started Kindergarten at a school only a couple of miles from my current home, and yes I've been back to see my old school. And our house. Both are notable for their humbleness and normality. But in my memory, they stand out as very important.

Long Beach led to a two year stint in Pearl City, Hawaii. Terrific memories and wonderful place for a kid to grow up. Across the street from our house -- a Naval Housing duplex -- was a thick tropical rainforest. And a short ways away was a rocklike outcropping, where on numerous occasions my father would be met by a boat -- a "gig" -- from his ship. By this time he had gained his first captaincy, commanding a crew of a couple of hundred men aboard the U.S.S. Hissem, DER 400. I would accompany him a few times on his commute, riding on the bow as the gig sped through the waters of Pearl Harbor. I learned a deep respect for the Navy and for that way of life. To this day I am wonderfully comfortable at sea, on a boat or otherwise riding with the wind in my face and the smell of the ocean in my nose.

Visiting Plymouth, MA

Keeping the maritime tradition, the Navy soon sent us to what at the time I thought of as the opposite end of the world: Newport, Rhode Island. Hawaiian warmth became New England cold. Snow and allergies and the introduction of our first dog: Pandora, the Dalmatian. (Again, are you seeing a pattern in my life? Those things that impressed me as a child are still favorites well into adulthood, and probably into senility if I get that far. My family has had something like nine Dals over the years. Very much a family tradition my wife and I continue to this day.)

After the deep freeze and smallish town of Newport we returned to Southern California -- to Seal Beach, a town directly adjacent to Long Beach. Again, patterns. It was here I completed out Elementary School. In six grades (plus Kindergarten) I had attended fully five different schools. It forced me, and my sisters, to be outgoing and open. Unlike my wife, my friends were pretty much two year engagements, not the lifelong commitments more stable lifestyles permit. But we didn't know any better and each new school was an adventure of some kind. Some good, some bad, but each a different and exciting change.

Sledding outside DC

After graduating from sixth grade the family was transferred to Washington, DC. The longest tour of duty we had ever spent -- four years. After a temporary home in Reston, Virginia we moved into a neighborhood called Cinnamon Creek, which was at once both wonderfully diverse and cosmopolitan -- people from all walks of life ranging from military families to employees at government think tanks, corporate relocations and -- in at least one case -- a well-known reporter, minister and government "gadfly".

And it was here I began to develop more permanent relationships. I attended Joyce Kilmer Middle (Junior High) School, and George C Marshal High School. I am in touch, and enjoy getting together with, several of my friends from those days. (There's an amusing story about how I regained touch with one of them. One of my best High School buddies, Wes. I was at a trade show in Los Angeles when a guy walked up to me after a presentation and asked if I went to Marshall. Wes. 2500 miles and years away, he still recognized me. Now, nearly fifteen years later, we still try to get together whenever possible, and it's still a comfortable and genuine friendship. Forty years after I moved away from Marshall.)

My final tour of duty before I moved away to college was in San Diego. Two years there and I was attracted by the bright lights of Los Angeles, where I have lived in or near ever since.

And while I can certainly be considered to have "settled down", as far as a life on the road, this was only the beginning.

Up next, Tentative Steps.

Hawaii, the year I met...and the year before I married...my wife and Traveling Companion

Film Sites: Location, Location, Location

"Cartagena? Angel, you are hell and gone from Cartagena. Cartagena's over there on the coast."

                                              - Michael Douglas, Romancing the Stone




Because we live in the Los Angeles area, we see a lot of filming for television and movies. Just part of the experience here. Long Beach, my home town, is a hotbed for production given the city's diversity of looks and neighborhoods. You've seen "The LBC", as we are called in rap culture, in many shows and films, playing everything from a midwestern small town to Miami Beach. (Both Dexter and CSI Miami shot the majority of their external scenes here in the LBC.)

But we are exposed to the film industry all over the LA area.


As such I am working, very slowly, on a photography article for the Project Torchwood website, detailing for them the filming sites for the 2011 cable tv show TORCHWOOD: MIRACLE DAY. It's a slow process, and I'm roughly 2/3rds of the way through (though I suspect that much progress will surprise even them!).

In previous columns I have written about the impact films and television have on the public's perception of places, and how, more directly, films (and tv) altered and invigorated my own perceptions of travel and different cultures.


But if I am to be truthful about it, rare are the movies (and tv shows) in which the location of the action is itself a character in the story. As much as I love the Bond films, and as much as they fed my youthful desire to see exotic places, the locations of these films are not really more than window dressing. It's not essential for Bond to be on a particular Caribbean island. Or European city. Or Asian city. They're all there solely to show you how cool Bond is, and how big his world is.

The locations don't drive the stories, they simply are background against which the story evolves.

Some films, however, rely upon the location to itself be a character. It frames the story and is an essential element of it. The story could not be told in another location without significant rewrites.


Taking as our example, the scene in MISSION:IMPOSSIBLE -- GHOST PROTOCOL where Tom Cruise's character of Ethan Hunt dangles precariously from the upper floors of the Burj Khalifa building, currently the world's tallest. The argument could be made that scene HAD to take place in Dubai, given that's the location of the building. But Dubai isn't actually a character, it's a location. Cruise could just as easily been dangling from the Petronas Towers in Singapore; the Eiffel Tower in Paris; or the Seattle Space Needle. Each could have fulfilled the role of location, and the story would be essentially unchanged.

On the other hand, as I have written before, the locations in the movie UNDER THE TUSCAN SUN are essential to the plot. They drive the narrative and are themselves characters in the movie. Simply moving the movie's location to Antigua, Guatemala -- a similarly historic and vibrant location -- isn't possible. The dynamics would change as would the story.

The tv series I mentioned before, TORCHWOOD, takes place to a very large extent in Cardiff, Wales. And that city is very much party of the overall look and feel of the show. Cardiff was itself, over the first three series, very much a character.


For the film side of things, where the budgets are bigger and the production more elaborate, it's the smaller, more intimate movies which allow the location to thrive and become something more than a simple canvas for the story. Batman has his Gotham City, and STAR TREK IV needed San Francisco as their modern day setting. But the Bond films, TRANSFORMERS, the FAST AND FURIOUS franchise, and so many other big budget movies could be transplanted without damage to the plot or visuals.

But the smaller, more intimate stories often rely heavily upon the location to give the audience a view into the characters. PACIFIC RIM doesn't really need Hong Kong to destroy. It could take out Tokyo or San Francisco or New York. All it really needs is a waterfront city with bright shiny lights.


On the other hand, George Clooney's THE DESCENDANTS would be lost without Hawaii, and a completely different story altogether if moved somewhere else. Sherlock Holmes without London wouldn't be Sherlock Holmes in anything more than a name. (A quick comparison of the BBC's SHERLOCK and CBS' ELEMENTARY demonstrates the point perfectly. Elementary's main character is as much Sherlock Holmes as was primary character Dr. House in the tv series HOUSE. A kissing cousin, perhaps, but not Sherlock himself.)

The very best films are models of connectivity. The characters, the locations and the story all have to coalesce into a cohesive and compelling experience for the audience.

Some of my favorite movies -- ignoring television for the moment -- are those in in which the location is as much a character as the people are. Oh, and if you catch that two of the movies feature Kathleen Turner, it's completely coincidental. Completely.

Some examples.

The aforementioned UNDER THE TUSCAN SUN (about which I've already written extensively).


THE DESCENDANTS

This film, starring George Clooney, takes place on the Hawaiian Islands of O'ahu and Kaua'i. The locations play a fundamental part of the overall storyline, as do the typically Hawaiian characters within the film.

The plot deals with an extended family with a multigenerational history as descendants of Hawaiian royalty. They collectively own a vast area of undeveloped acreage on Kauai, which is the subject of intense intra-family debate. Some relatives want to sell and collect their millions, others want to honor the family tradition.

As such, the location is deeply integral to the storyline, and the islands themselves become aspects of the story, not just background. If you haven't seen this film and have never been to Hawaii, this will give you a taste for the islands like few other movies have managed.


NOTTING HILL

Notting Hill is what Americans would refer to as a suburb of London.It's a wonderful little pocket neighborhood with an artistic side. It's the site of the nearly two-century old Portobello Road Market, while at the same time full of of trendy shops and culinary hot spots.

The film of the same name honors that location and tradition. While Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts emote in the foreground, the Notting Hill district plays more than simply a backdrop. Todays' Portobello Road is both traditional (Hugh Grant's character, a bookseller) and cosmopolitan (Julia Roberts', a Hollywood actress). Notting Hill is the mesh of the old and the new, providing a unique playground for the characters at first seemingly very disparate, but by the edge finding a way to integrate their lives and their values.

Much like Notting Hill itself.




ROMANCING THE STONE

There is no pretending that the Colombia of this film is the Colombia of today. Nor is Cartagena anything like the small city with rough edges.

But the movie relies heavily upon the Colombia which existed at the time, and it would be nearly impossible to relocate the story to another place. There is a danger and mystery to Cartagena, so very intense in the 1980s, that continues to this day, though it's enshrouded by a friendly and cosmopolitan veneer that shows that the city -- and the country -- are stepping into the 21st century.

The film deals with kidnapping, drug deals, nefarious and mysterious strangers, and the theft of a massive emerald. Colombia's countryside, traditions and people are a key element to the story which plays the stereotypical South American drug lord culture against the sleek streets of New York City.

Cartagena of today is vastly different from the city in the movie, but when watching the movie and then comparing it with the modern day, you can still see some of the rough around the edges.


CROSSING DELANCEY

New York has long been the subject of little films which take place in a handful of streets in one neighborhood. Most of Woody Allen's films are that way. There used to be a joke that the humor in his films was really only understandable if you came from a four square block area in midtown.

Crossing Delancey makes full use of the Lower East Side of Manhattan. The location of the film is essential. A good portion of the film's story revolves around the clash between classic New York values and what would likely be called "New York intelligentsia". Amy Irving's character isn't interested in a particular man because he seems too traditional, too reserved for her: her world is much more about books and writing and parties in Midtown. She imagines herself attracted to a famous author (Jeroen Krabbe), rather than the humble pickle salesman (Peter Riegert).

But in the same way the two aspects of Notting Hill, above, frame that story, the difference between characters in this film are reflected by the aspects of New York as a whole. The traditional values of the Lower East Side win out over the transitory and shallow world of Midtown.

In that regard, there are few other cities in which this story -- relying upon decades of viewer familiarity with these neighborhoods of New York - could be told.

L.A. STORY

Okay. The title gives it away. This one is pure L.A. and relies so heavily upon the city's neighborhoods and known stereotypes that to transpose the story to another place would be an impossibility. Whole scenes rely upon "L.A." for their impact. The earthquake. The freeway sign. The freeway shootings. The colonics.

The main character is a weatherman who, unfortunately, relies a bit too heavily upon Southern California's renowned sunny skies. His love interest is a British woman who, sadly, just doesn't understand L.A. at the beginning.

Steve Martin captures the city and the vibe beautifully, allowing those of us who live here to recognize those sillier parts of ourselves without being mean about it.

As a love letter to a one-of-a-kind city, this is second to none.




BODY HEAT    

One of the last truly great film noir movies, Body Heat is a tremendous movie in which Florida's vaunted heat and lifestyles play into the story itself. Evocative of such other great movies such as Key Largo, Body Heat ups the...well, heat. Both from an intensely physical way, to the environment of Florida's oppressive summer months.

Heat. Humidity. Stifling nights, and characters right out of a Sam Spade story, Body Heat captures seductive Florida, allowing the characters of the film to play against an interactive and visceral environment, not just a movie set.

THE DAILY ESCAPE: Lava

Lava field, slopes of Mt Kilauea, Big Island of Hawaii.

Pic of the Day: Cows and Windmills

Seriously. Cows and windmills. Okay, "turbines".

Near the southernmost point in the United States...Big Island of Hawaii.

The Sunset Collection

One of the newer items we've added to the online store is a collection of five greeting cards featuring sunsets from California and Hawaii -- who doesn't like a beautiful sunset?

The central image was taken in Dana Point, a very upscale part of Orange County overlooking the Pacific Ocean.

Clockwise from upper left we have a view from Ka'anapali Beach on Maui; a view across Queensway Bay in Long Beach. The lower right -- featured as a pic of the day just yesterday -- is Malibu. The the final lower left image is from the town of Kapalua, also on Maui.

Enjoy.

Pic of the Day: Elvis was Here

On our last trip to Kauai e indulged in a daylong tour of island film and tv locations. Those places we've seen in films like Jurassic Park and King Kong as well as tv shows such as Fantasy Island or Gilligan's Island.

If you're  a little on the "older" side you probably spent a portion of your life listening to the music of Elvis Presley, and you may recognize the below as the setting for the film Blue Hawaii. The Coco Palm Resort, where much of the film was shot, has been closed for years after being heavily damaged by hurricane Iniki.

The resort may have some life left in it after decades of neglect and court battles. It is now hoped to reopen some time in 2017.

But until then, we have the movies the remember it by.

Pic of the Day: Kilauea

Kilauea is the most active volcano on the planet, being in near constant eruption for decades.

That fact alone explains why they call it The Big Island.

(If you look in the background you can see a small ribbon of road with a vehicle on it. The crater is a bit bigger than you might have expected.)

Pic of the Day: Moving Pictures...

The first video "Pic of the Day".

The beach at Waikiki.

Pic of the Day: Elvis' Blue Hawaii

If you're a fan of Elvis Presley you've probably already recognized the Coco Palms Resort in the town of Wailua, Kauai. The canoe at the bottom is a reconstruction of the one which ferried Elvis and his bride Joan Blackman on a music-filled journey through the lagoon.

The hotel was badly damaged by Hurricane Iniki in 1992. A subsequent fire and years of neglect threatened the property with being torn down, but rumor is it is going to be refurbished and reopened as a Hyatt sometime in 2018.

Pic of the Day: Finding Aloha

As I have mentioned before I spent a good part of my youth traveling with my family. Dad was a career Navy man, and one of the deployments took us to Pearl Harbor. 

It was in the mid-sixties, and the "Jet Set" were in full fashion. As an impressionable six year old I saw the airport as an amazing and wonderful place. It was an exciting world which led everywhere you needed. We would go to pick up a visiting relative and I would hear announcements for flights to Hong Kong, and Tokyo, and San Francisco...etc. Then the roar of 707 engines as they taxied to the gate, and the spilling out of people to be greeted by friends and relatives -- at the gate! -- there on the island. The excitement was palpable, the energy unique. It was the the jet age, and the golden era of air travel, with Honolulu as one of the most exotic destinations.

It made a profound impact, I'm sure, on the Traveler I am today. Constant excitement and a desire to find out what's just over the next ridge. To me, the tower below is an icon of my childhood, but also a gateway to where I want to go next. The word Aloha, as displayed on the control tower, holds a very special place in my heart.