Travelling again - part five

The next two posts touch on signs and architecture, two of my interests. 

Hawaii's sun and humidity can be enervating, especially while exploring streets in a largish city with plenty of concrete. However, I’ve managed to ‘quarter’ much of Waikiki and a nearby neighbourhood. 

The 2020s often sees standardized, 'corporatized', bland signage, but Honolulu’s stylish mid-century signs on old hotels and apartment buildings are a delight. Below is a small selection, starting with the 1950s. Some pictures may be worth clicking on for detail.

The 'surf' in 'diamond head surf', now a condo, is obscured.

'Hale' in Hawaiian means 'home'.

The 1960 Koa Apartments is one of the few buildings for which I could find a photograph taken shortly after it was built. Although the colour has changed and 'Hotel-Apt.' removed, the main sign and frontage remain much the same.   

Kon Tiki became popular after the 1947 Kon Tiki transpacific expedition. The sign is on what I think may be lava rock, abundant in volcanic Hawaii.

'Sans Souci' reminds me a first class menu from the Titanic's interrupted voyage recently sold for £50,000. On the menu for dessert was 'Pudding Sans Souci'. The building, completed in 1960, has lasted a lot longer than the ship.

Finally, two at twilight. Leonard’s Bakery has been a Honolulu favourite for seventy years, in fact, exactly seventy years as of writing.

And the Rainbow Drive-In, opened in 1961, is where Barack Obama sometimes hung out as a teenager.

Coming up, the area's mid-century architecture.