Uncle Billy’s has free Wi-Fi.
That’s the theme here but we’ll circle back.
We’ll start first, though, with the drive-by puakenikeni.
Randy Lee is at the Hilo Farmers Market on Saturdays. His booth is more upscale boutique than folding-tables-under-tarp. This past weekend, the new 2017 Merrie Monarch T-shirt and tote bag were on display, as well as exquisite shell lei and hand-woven lau hala hats with stunning feather hatbands.
Lee’s regular customers text him their lei orders and drive by on their way to the airport or the office party. They roll down their window, just like at McDonald’s or Starbucks, and he brings them their orders. Lee’s specialty is single-strand puakenikeni, but he clips the ends of each flower so that the blossoms fit tightly together and the lei is full and sturdy. He sells them two for $16. (I know! For real!)
The newly renovated Grand Naniloa Hotel is another emblem of the ethos of Hilo. The hotel, which just celebrated its reopening last week, is painted bright white like a rental house spiffed up for new tenants. The lobby is open to Hilo Bay, where a group of local guys fish from an outcropping of rocks and tourists slowly paddle stand-up boards across the water. The renovation manages to be classy and comfy at the same time. You could stay there with your family and relax, or you could book your fussy boss there for a couple of days and not hear any complaints.
Across the way, Kamehameha’s statue has his spear restored after a recent act of oddball vandalism. He stands tall and looks no worse for wear.
Hilo is a town where the old and the new seem to coexist peaceably. Even more than that, they seem to blend, to work together. It is not a town overrun with chain stores, but you can stop by 7-Eleven if you want. It is not a seaside community overrun with palatial L.A.-style mansions and pink masonry walls that block the view of the ocean. There is still ample free parking. People still drive around with their windows down. There are cool local bookstores and sophisticated local restaurants and cute local coffee shops where the owners are actually the people standing at the register to ring up your purchase or answer your question. It is a college town, an arts-and-culture town, a surf town where people know your name, know your car, know your kids and have the time to stop by and chat. Things get repaired rather than replaced.
If you think of Hilo only as coqui frogs and dengue, Kenoi’s pCard and TMT protests, you’re missing the heart of Hilo’s impressive social success. Hilo knows how to adapt and change without losing itself. Maybe the community learned how to do this decades ago having to rebuild after the tsunami. Maybe the newcomers who move to Hilo actually understand what they’re getting into and aren’t trying to make their new hometown into their old hometown or a fantasy hometown. Maybe Hilo is getting it right because there’s just so much more room for everybody to spread out on that big island and to do their thing without getting in way of somebody else’s thing.
In any case, Uncle Billy’s hotel is now the Pagoda, but the little sundry store on Banyan Drive that still bears Uncle Billy’s name has free Wi-Fi. That’s Hilo.
Reach Lee Cataluna at 529-4315 or lcataluna@staradvertiser.com.
