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Hawaii Tourism Authority Steps Up On March 31 2008, Aloha Airlines flew its last passenger flight and laid off 1,900 workers. Customers with flights booked on Aloha Airlines were stuck if they were not completing their roundtrips by that day. Then on Wednesday April 2nd 2008, ATA Airlines shut down operations, stranding more passengers. Tens of thousands of people were affected by the shutdowns and there were not enough flights on other carriers to get people where they needed to go. Aloha Ai... Read Full Post

Los Chaparros Los Chaparros opened in 2005 on Beretania Street in the McCully-Moiliili area. Husband Mario (from Mexico City) and wife Lisa (a Californian) decided to create a restaurant with authentic Mexican cuisine. The Los Chaparros name In Spanish, Los Chaparros means "the shorties." Both Mario and Lisa are, uh "vertically challenged." They're not tall. So the restaurant name reflects their statures. What's on the menu? All kinds of good stuff! We've eaten at Los Chaparros many times. Th... Read Full Post

Hawaii Foreclosures rising This morning's newspaper has an article titled "Isle foreclosures slowly building." The article intrigued me as a Palolo Valley resident and realtor in Hawaii. House for sale in Palolo Valley I live just around the corner from the house pictured in the newspaper article (and pictured above). This house is located in Palolo Valley, a Honolulu neighborhood. Several months ago the house had a garage sale and we stopped by to check it out. The owner told us his story ab... Read Full Post

Varsity Theatre destroyed When Honolulu's Varsity Theatre closed in June, 2007 the owners had planned to renovate the building and use it for another business. Subsequently they found that there were structural problems - cracks going up the walls all the way to the ceiling. Thus the owners decided to destroy the landmark building. I wish they had given us some advance notice. The first time I learned about the demolition was the day after it started. On the second day of demolition (March 26... Read Full Post

W&M Bar-B-Que Burgers This drive-in is tucked in at 3104 Waialae Avenue in Kaimuki. What, you haven't seen it before? W&M is pretty well hidden. You can find W&M by driving to the intersection of Waialae Avenue and Saint Louis Drive (you'll see City Mill on the corner). Continue Kokohead-bound (east) just past City Mill and there's W&M, right next door. What kind of food do they serve? It's pretty much American style with Hawaii style added in. Hamburgers, friench fries and te... Read Full Post

Assessed value and appraised value Today I was corresponding with a customer about a condo he's planning to purchase. We've looked at a few condos in this particular building and the unit in question has an assessed value that's lower than the others. His thinking is that the property is worth less than the others because of the assessed value. That's a common belief and sometimes it's true. Other times it's definitely not true. Assessed value and appraised value are determined by different p... Read Full Post

Maui Gas prices are the highest Hawaii generally has the highest gas prices in the United States. Maui, Kauai and the Big Island gas prices are normally higher than prices on Oahu. In past weeks Maui's price went up to $3.95 per gallon for regular and $4+ for the premium fuels. People on the outer islands (the islands other than Oahu) sometimes feel that they're getting ripped off. The truth is, nearly everything shipped to Hawaii arrives on Oahu first. From Oahu, freight is reloaded onto shi... Read Full Post

Be careful about MLS violations Last week I received an e-mail from the local Board of Realtors, informing me that I had committed an MLS violation. That caught me completely by surprise. The infraction: Posting a link in Tempo to my video of a listing. That in itself wasn't an infraction, but including my contact information in the video made it a violation. Wow! Were you aware of this? I remember our Board having informed members about putting contact information in the remarks section of a... Read Full Post

P90X and how to get a great body Have you seen the P90X commercials? They're the type that come on late at night or on obscure cable channels. The commercial shows people with Before and After pictures. What a difference! The Before photos show flabby or average guys and girls. Some of them have a bit of muscle. The After pictures show these people lean and mean with six pack abs. You can easily tell that the same person is used in the Before and After photos. The commercials also show live v... Read Full Post

Dee Thai Restaurant in Kapahulu This restaurant is located at 829 Kapahulu Avenue. Dee Thai has been around about a year or so. A food court was in its place prior to Dee Thai. The decoration of the restaurant's interior is... interesting. The walls are pink. Paintings appear to be traditional Thai mixed with some felt portraits that remind me of the paintings seen in Tijuana. Parking for Dee Thai Dee Thai does not have a parking lot. Vistors park on the street or at Bank of Hawaii's parking ... Read Full Post