Twofer Tuesday, so let me tell you about our Honolulu hotel room with two views.
When Pam and I checked into the Hale Koa Hotel in Waikiki, we did as we usually do and asked if any room upgrades were available. The desk clerk informed us that there was nothing available as far as ocean front views, but they had a corner room with two windows that offered a partial view of the ocean along with a very nice view of the city.
While disappointed that it wasn’t the other way around, i.e. a good ocean view and a partial city view, we followed the beggars-can’t-be-choosers rule, and took the room.
Sure enough, when we made our way into the room, we noted that our front water view (even if it did feature an occasional rainbow) was not that great. There was a good view of the neighboring Hilton Village Hotel but only a very partial ocean view.
However, a funny thing happened as we stayed there in our sixth floor room at the Hale Koa: the city view became the more interesting and appealing of the two views.
Here are some photos I took on different days and nights during our stay:
The first item that caught my eye was Wyland’s Whale Mural on a building to the left in the above photo. (And yeah, I got a thing for murals.)
I did some research and learned that this was Wyland’s Whale Wall Mural #67 titled Earth Day.
Think that when I go back to Hawaii for another visit, I’ll request this room again.
My Father-in-law Sol just turned 93 last week. He is a big Artie Shaw fan and I’ve caught myself half-way enjoying hearing some of Artie’s tunes. The vocalist on this tune is Helen Forrest (1:10 mark) which is very timely because I’m meeting up with Sonney Forrest later today for lunch. I doubt that they are related because Helen’s original name was Fogel, but she changed it to Forrest because Fogel sounded too Jewish.
Helen has an interesting background and story so check her out (click here.) Note how in this tune, Helen’s vocal is not the center piece and doesn’t appear until one minute into the song. That’s because these big band fellas Shaw and Goodman treated the vocal as secondary to the instrumental portions of the song. Later on in her career, when Helen joined up with Harry James, she insisted that she perform the song’s verses and not just the choruses.