Honolulu City Information

Honolulu Community
The state of Hawaii is made up of eight major islands and 124 minor uninhabited islands. The eight major islands are add up to about 6,420 square miles:

Hawaii 4,028 sq. miles population 148,677

Maui 727 sq. miles population 128,094

Oahu 597 sq. miles population 876,156

Kauai 552 sq. miles population 58,463

Molokai 260 sq. miles population 7846

Lanai 141 sq. miles population 2800

Niihau 70 sq. miles population 250

Kahoolawe 45 sq. miles population 0

The governments own 38% of the land; 24% is owned by seven trusts and corporations; leaving 38% for other private ownership.

Hawaii is the 50th state of the United States, comprising a group of eight major islands and numerous islets in the central Pacific Ocean.

Island of Oahu is called "The Gathering Place", and is the third largest Hawaiian Islands where 75% of the state's population lives. Capital and largest city, Honolulu.

There are 112 miles of coastline on Oahu, which has an average temperature of 77 degrees. With its fine harbors, Oahu gradually became the state's political, economic, military, educational and cultural center.

The Hawaiian Islands are volcanic, and surrounded by coral reefs. the capital, Honolulu is the most populous and economically important city in the state. Sugarcane and pineapples are the major agricultural products and the basis of the islands' principal industry, food processing. Coffee, macadamia nuts, papayas, are also grown in abundance. Tourism is the largest source of income for the state, with over 4 million visitors a year from north America, and 2 million a year from Japan. About 200,000 come from Korea each year, and several hundred thousand from other countries in the world.

Table 1. DBEDT 2020 Summary Projections HAWAII State
(value and average annual percent growth for the previous five years)

	2005	2010	2015	2020
Resident Population (thous.)	1,304.0	1,366.8	1,430.5	1,494.1
Ave. annual growth rate	1.0	0.9	0.9	0.9
Civilian Jobs (thous.)	656.8	692.3	728.8	767.3
Ave. annual growth rate	1.2	1.1	1.0	1.0
Gross State Product ($mil. 1987)	28,547.7	31,052.3	33,588.9	36,388.5
Ave. annual growth rate	1.9	1.7	1.6	1.6
Visitor Arrivals (thous.)	9,127.4	10,326.9	11,401.7	12,588.4
Ave. annual growth rate	3.0	2.5	2.0	2.0

Honolulu Areas/cities
Many people confuse Honolulu for one small area which is actually called "downtown" by locals. However, you might hear locals say they are going into "town," which could mean a variety of things, but it usually means they are going to the busy commercial areas of town which are primarily the business district and Waikiki.

Honolulu is actually a county as well as a city, so when a person lives anywhere on Oahu, they live in Honolulu county.

However, if you run into a local that lives on the windward side or the north shore, they will never tell you they live in Honolulu, even though technically they do. To make things even more confusing, the "city and county of Honolulu" is a frequently used term to describe the governing body of the island of Oahu, even if you don't live in the city of Honolulu!

So once you move here, you might live in "town" or on "the windward side" or in Ewa Beach (pronounced like "Eva"), but if you live anywhere on Oahu, your address could still be Honolulu.

The areas of Honolulu that are not considered "town" are places that are more suburban like Diamond Head, Kahala, Hawaii Kai, and so on. These place may have Honolulu as their address, but none of their residents will tell you they live in town.

Here is a brief rundown of some of the major areas of Honolulu.

Moanalua
Moanalua is an old community in a large valley and along the hillside of that valley, on the west end of Honolulu. Aloha Stadium hosts football and baseball games with mostly colleges and universities visiting University of Hawaii. A prominent landmark is the bright pink building that can be seen from H1, which Tripler Army Hospital. Within a short distance are the airport, Hickam Air Force Base, the downtown business district, and the Pearl Harbor Navy Base. It’s an older town with older homes, so you when you buy there, be aware that the homes may need some tender loving care.

Downtown / Nuuanu
There are about a million condominiums in downtown, or at least it seems that way. For people who like city life, the hustle and bustle of a busy city, this area is the place to be. Unlike New York, you’ll probably feel safe in most areas, and there are plenty of ways to get off by yourself just be hopping on the freeway or the Pali highway. Most of the condominiums offer beautiful ocean views so you can see Diamond Head off in the distance, or watch the surfers catching waves.

The hills of Nuuanu have single-family homes built in the 60’s and 70’s with city views, but a lot of them, if not most, are single wall construction. Most mainlanders have never seen single wall construction, so I often get asked about it. It’s exactly what it sounds like. A house built with no studs and no space between the outer wall and the inner drywall. No one builds homes like that anymore, but in the old days, people used strong cedar to build their homes without any insulation or studs. To someone new to Hawaii, it might seem really strange, but with the moderate climate here, it was easy to make it work.

Some large estate homes are located on the hills of Nuuanu and Pacific Heights with grand city and ocean views all the way to the end of the bay. Until you’ve been up here in these homes, you can’t understand how beautiful it is.

Ala Moana
Ala Moana is east end of Waikiki and has one of the world’s most famous shopping malls, simply called the Ala Moana Mall. A famous group of restaurants on restaurant row includes Ruth’s Chris steak house and several other high end places to grab an expensive meal. My favorite is Morton’s steak house in Ala Moana mall. The steak in incredible and the service is out of this world. You’ll feel like a king, and your check will make you wish you were as rich as one.

Executive penthouses and condos are all over "Ala Mo", as locals call it, with spectacular ocean views. Some of the best surf spots on the south side is at Ala Moana beach part, including Kaisers, Bowls, Rockpiles, and Threes. Residents enjoy walking to Ala Moana Beach Park and the restaurants in the area.

Makiki
Makiki is a popular bedroom community for those who want a shorter commute to town. If you’ve ever been in rush hour traffic on H1, you’ll understand why people choose to live closer to town, even if the outer areas are nicer. Makiki has many condominiums with a few single family homes also. There are as many condos as there are people and cars, so if you live here, you better like being crowded. Makiki Heights is a nice hillside community with older single-family homes.

Manoa
Driving through Manoa feels like an old New England town, except that it’s 85 degrees with 70% humidity. It’s beautiful tree-lined streets and New England style architecture make you feel like you’re in a different place, until you look behind you and see the ocean. There are plenty of mature trees in this are and nearby the homes have lush green grass everywhere. The Manoa campus of the University of Hawaii is here, and so you’ll see plenty of students cruising around on bicycles and mopeds. Mopeds are considered bicycles here by the law, so riders are uninsured and carry no license. Beware!

Waikiki
It feels like the Vegas of Hawaii. World famous Waikiki beach is 2 miles of the biggest tourist are in the state of Hawaii. Literally millions of tourists come through Waikiki every year. Here you can shop anything from Gucci, Prada, YSL, Armani, to Nike, Hawaiian Island Creations, and about 50 ABC stores. Never been in an ABC store? It’s like a convenience/tourist/whatever junk they can sell store. You can get anything you need as a tourist, and they are on virtually every corner. It’s common to have a corner in town with 3 ABC stores!

Waikiki is as densely populated a place as any. With about 100 condominiums, you would think that you were in New York. Some condominiums allow hotel operations or short-term rentals. The east end of Waikiki is a beautiful tree lined area near Kapiolani Park leading up to Diamond Head crater. This are is referred to as the "Gold Coast." Multi million dollar oceanfront homes line the coast, and makes you wonder where all these people got their money.

Kahala and Diamond Head
If you want a beautiful ocean front home for about $10 million dollars, you’ll find it in Kahala or Diamond Head. Some of the biggest and most amazing homes are in these areas. If you just drive along Diamond Head road, you’ll see some of them, but most are hidden behind their large fortress style walls. Along this strip of coast are the best and biggest, the rich, the famous. At the same time, there are plenty of regular homes, condos, and small apartments in the inner areas of these two towns. When you’ve driven around them a lot, you’ll understand why they are grouped together here. They seem to kind of blend together as you’re driving along. A few good schools are here, and the Kahala mall, which is about 1/10 the size of Ala Moana mall, but much closer for the residents of East Oahu.

In Kahala is the famous Waialae country club, where the Hawaiian Open is help every year. It’s an exclusive golf club with costs about $40k to join and another $5000/yr just to stay a member. For the golf enthusiast and the super rich, it’s the place to be.

I recommend driving Diamond Head road at least once, to see what a beautiful place it is, and to stop at one of the lookouts over the surf. A lot of beginners surf down below at Diamond Head, as the waves are a little mushy and slow. In the summer it can get about 5-7 feet on a big day, but it’s usually a real slow ride.

In the winter there is great diving in Kahala, with plenty of reef and fish. Kahala has some of the best coastline in the world, but unfortunately you can’t see most of it, because there are huge gated homes taking up the view. But for $5 million, you would expect a little privacy too right?

By the way, our office is located on Waialae road, which is the inner part of Diamond Head, otherwise known as Kaimuki business district.

Hawaii Kai
I think this is the best part of Honolulu, and maybe it’s because I live in it. Hawaii Kai is a bedroom community, and was the first master planned community in the state. With about 30,000 residents, it is a quiet, upscale neighborhood with a great bay that allows many homeowners to dock their boat right in front of their house. Hundreds of homes have a marina lot, which means this is a boat owner’s paradise. The marina provides a great view from just about any restaurant in town. Even the Costco in town has an ocean view! Some great restaurants on the water are Blue Water Grill and Kona Brewing company. You can even sit and watch the boats go by at Panda Express! ?

Hawaii Kai has some of the best schools in the state, and it’s the only place in Oahu where you can jet ski and waterski in protected water. Mauna lua bay is huge protected bay for all kinds of water sports.

The homes in Hawaii Kai are very expensive. An average 1800 ft single family home will cost you about $900,000 as of today. Even the condos are expensive, at about $400,000 to start. However, life in this quiet town is well worth the expense if you ask me. The people here enjoy outdoor living like nowhere else. Any morning you get up, you’re going to see people with kayaks and surfboards on their way to the beach.

2000 Census Info Marital Status

Divorced ~ 8.99%
Never Married ~ 31.33%
Now Married ~ 46.50%
Separated ~ 6.55%
Widowed ~ 6.64%

The 2000 Census Median Household Income for this geography was $ 48,757. The Average Non-family Income was $ 40,938.

This geography included a total of 207,834 Housing Units in 2000, of which 45% were Owner Occupied, 45% were Renter Occupied, 10% were vacant, and 19% were mortgaged.

The Median Cash Rent for occupied rental units in 2000 was $ 740, and a total of 18,748 Rental Housing Units had a rent in excess of $1,000 monthly. The Median Housing Value for owner occupied housing in this geography in 2000 was $ 291,927, and a total of 12,822 homes were valued at $500,000 or more.

US Census 2000 Race and Ethnicity

Total Population: Race
American Indian, Eskimo, Aleut Population	0.2%
Asian	54.8%
Black Population	2.0%
Hispanic Ethnicity	5.1%
Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander Alone	7.0%
Not or Latino	94.9%
Other Population	1.0%
Two or More Races	15.7%
White Population	19.2%

Hispanic Ethnicity: Race
American Indian/Alaska Native Alone	1.1%
Asian Alone	13.9%
Black Alone	1.9%
Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander Alone	4.3%
Some Other Race	16.8%
Two or More races	42.0%
White Alone	20.1%
Hispanic Ethnicity Population	27,249

US Census 2000 Family Status: Family Households

Family Households	124,598
Natural Born or Adopted Children in Family Hhlds	135,656
Grandchildren in Family Hhlds	18,330
Step Children in Family Hhlds	4,595
Married Couple Family	93,092
Married Couple Family w/ Children < 18	37,898
Married Couple Family w/ no own Children < 18	55,193
Male Householder	8,026
Male HHldr, no wife present, own children < 18	2,885
Female Householder	5,590
Female HHldr, no husband present, own children < 18	9,019

Honolulu Transportation
Below you find some stats like how long the average time it would take to get to work. How helpful is that?! Just to give you some insight, there are about 1,933 miles of streets and roads. About 525 buses travel these streets on a day to day basis.

2000 Means of Transportation to Work
Bicycle	1.12%
Bus or trolley bus	9.8%
Carpooled	19.0%
Drove alone	59.5%
Ferryboat	0.0%
Motorcycle	0.8%
Other means	0.8%
Railroad	0.0%
Streetcar or trolley car	0.0%
Subway or elevated	0.0%
Taxicab	0.2%
Walked	6.0%
Worked at home	2.8%
Workers Age 16+	258,003

2000 Travel Time to Work in Minutes
Median Travel Time To Work	21.9
0 to 5	1.6%
5 to 9	8.0%
10 to 14	14.4%
15 to 19	17.8%
20 to 24	16.1%
25 to 29	5.2%
30 to 34	16.3%
35 to 39	1.8%
40 to 44	3.1%
45 to 59	6.9%
60 to 89	4.5%
90 or more	1.6%
Worked at home	2.8%

Honolulu Culture
Ua Mau Ke Ea O Ka Aina I Ka Pono, which means "The Life of the Land Is Perpetuated in Righteousness." is Hawaii's state motto.

Hawaii is also commonly referred to as the "Aloha State". Here are some other fun facts that you would like to know about Hawaii. The state bird is the Hawaiian Goose, state flower the Hibiscus, and state tree in the Candlenut. Honolulu itself also has it's own state flower which is the Ilima.

Honolulu Recreation
Activities in Honolulu – surfing, scuba diving, spearfishing, deep see fishing, shark diving, kayaking, snorkeling, hiking, parasailing, kitesurfing, bodysurfing, body boarding, luau, you name it, we got it.

2000 Educational Attainment
College: Associates Degree	7.57%
College: Bachelor's Degree	19.48%
College: Graduate Degree	9.42%
College: Some College, No Degree	20.38%
School: High School Graduate	26.84%
School: 9th to 11th grade no diploma	7.92%
School: Grade K - 9	6.48%

Honolulu Climate
Hawaii, being in the tropics, has a length of day and temperature that stay about the same throughout the year.

Honolulu History
What some people may not realize is that Hawaii has a history of it's own before becoming US state on August 21, 1959. It was previously ruled by King Kamehameha I, who had conquered Oahu around 1804 and then moved into what is now known as Honolulu in 1809.

Hawaiian Real Estate History

Hundreds of years ago, all the land in Hawaii was owned by the king and controlled by the ali’i nui, the high chiefs of the feudal system. Commoners, the kanaka, couldn’t own land, but they farmed it as they were allowed on their ahupua’a, which wasa parcel of land that they were given by the king. An Ahupua’a was a pie shaped wedge of lend that went from the top of a mountain all the way to the ocean. Each ahupua’a in theory had every type of land in it and provided everything the people needed. In the mountains there were trees and olona for fishing line, pigs and other animals for eating, fruit and vegetables, taro plants for food and other things in the valleys, and coconuts on the plains. Finally, and perhaps most importantly to the Hawaiians, the fish and everything that is in the sea. You would be surprised at what you can eat out of the ocean!

A Land Commission was created in 1846 by King Kamehameha III. Then in 1848, the Great Mahele, began to divide the land among the people. The King gave land to the "chiefs and the people for the use and benefit of the Hawaiian Government." Chiefs were given lands they had previously retainers of. Even commoners purchased the land they had been farming.

The King kept some of the land as his own property exclusively and for his heirs. These were known as the Crown Lands, but were sold by the King to raise money. All the title to land in Hawaii is traced back to the Great Mahele.

Only since 1850 have non-Hawaiians been able to own any land in Hawaii.

Today the State Land Use Commission divides land into four types: Agricultural (47%), Conservation (48%), Urban (4.7%), and Rural (0.2%). It’s hard to believe when looking around Honolulu that only about 5% of the land is taken up by buildings.

The island of Hawaii is the largest island, and is about 7 times the size of Oahu. Maui is second largest. Kauai County is the third largest, least populous county, and consists of the islands of Kauai and Niihau. The City and County of Honolulu (the island of Oahu) is the smallest island, but has about 3/4 of the state population.

Tony Kawaguchi, M.Div., R.A.
REMAX 808 Realty
The best Real Estate office in Hawaii!
808-395-5776
alohatony@gmail.com