Honolulu Condos: Symphony Tower Wins Variance on Orientation of New Condo

According to the Honolulu "Star Advertiser", online edition, "A developer won state approval today to position a Kakaako high-rise condominium in a way that deviates from a new rule intended to preserve mauka-makai views."

"The planned 400-foot Symphony Honolulu luxury condo was granted a variance from a tower orientation rule of the Hawaii Community Development Authority, the state agency governing development in Kakaako."

Read the rest of the article.

This great Honolulu Condominium, is located in one of the best and most favorite buildings on Oahu. 2BR/1BA (674 sq ft), 1 covered parking in the Prince Tower of Queen Emma Gardens. Queen Emma Gardens is situated on almost 8 lush acres in a prime downtown location. This park-like setting includes grassy lawns, large shady trees, walking paths, and numerous recreational opportunities, AND you can walk to work, restaurants, art galleries, Chinatown, etc!!!

This unit has a spacious living room with gorgoeus wood laminate flooring, large windows with tree-top and downtown views. Great downtown location, near the Y for works outs, lots of restaurants, art galleries, shopping!!

Lovely views from your large windows. Lush greenery surrounds this unit, as the Queen Emma Gardens is an almost 8 acre property. Foilage between condo and the street is also a nice buffer from street noise. NOT in the towers adjacent to the H-1 highway, but in the Prince Tower on the other side.

The Living Dining Area of this Queen Emma Gardens Condo is Spacious and Cool, as this corner unit takes great advantage of the cross breeze beween the lanai and windows.

Original Kitchen with large, spacious wood cabinets, Appliances were new in 2007, large one-bowl stainless steel sink. 66 sq ft. Lanai off the kitchen.

Good-sized Lanai with Downtown views, 66 sq ft, large enough for a table and chairs or a few loungers. Relaaaxxxx!!!

Queen Emma Gardens, Prince Tower

Queen Emma Gardens has 2 lovely Japanese Tea Houses that you may reserve for your parties and other large gatherings. Lovely gardens and koi ponds will delight your guests!

Queen Emma Gardens has a large swimming pool for its residents, as well as a separate, shallow kiddie pool and playground for families with children

CAPTIOL PLACE

2008 built building in Downtown Honolulu, Hawaii which boasts many amenites.  24 hour fitness center, heated pool, theater, music room, yoga room, dog park, BBQ, club room, automobile showroom on bottom and more!!! Walk to your downtown office, restaurants, art galleries, nightlife, Chinatown, parks and shows. 

Immaculate 2-bedroom, 2-bath, 2-parking unit with many upgrades.  Upgrades include removal of wall between living space and den giving living area more space and an open feel, hardwood flooring, ceramic tiles, an over the range Advantium high-speed oven and microwave unit, extra cabinets under kitchen island, closet organizers in bedroom closets and much, much more. A definite must see to appreciate.

Offered at $699,000 FS

For more information, contact Kengo Ueno (R) at:

www.HawaiisHomeBroker.com

Whoever can guess first what building this is wins a prize!

 Have a great Day!

JDS Consulting- Staging Hawaii nei! Providing Real Estate Merchandising services including: Home Staging, Interior Decor, Turn Key, Landscaping, Remodeling, & Open House Hosting. Visit our Blog: Questions for Kimo: Decor Design & all things Hawaiian- www.RealEstateDesignOnLine.com  tel.+1.808.344.1264  Kimo Stowell Copyright ©2009

Kung Hee Fat Choy!

Volume I

In continuation of my blog series celebrating Hawaiians of Chinese desent and their contributions to Hawaii and the world at large, we examine Chinese immigration to the Islands and some of the prominent Chinese/Hawaiians in History.

About 1/3 of Hawaii's population can trace some Chinese heritage in their family tree and about 4% of the population is 1st generation Chinese.

The first Chinese arrived in Hawaii from Guangdong province in 1778 while traveling with Captain Cook. and By 1790, a handful of them were on the island of Oahu,  living as vassals to Kamemhameha I. As Chinese women did not arrive in the first waves of immigration, Chinese men married Hawaiian women instead, and frequently, adopted Chinese-Hawaiian surnames like Ahina and Akaka which are a hybridization of both languages. The practice of taking Hawaiian brides continued up until the mid 19th century, as Chinese women were rare in Hawaii.

European sailing vessels arriving in the Islands following the voyages of Captain Cook required deep harbors to anchor safely. Mamala Bay - later called Honolulu Harbor - was the best anchorage in Hawaii nei; known for it's protection from wind and heavy waves. As trade developed in the late 1700's, the area surrounding the piers and anchorages became the center of business life. Here is where the City of Honolulu began and where China Town developed.

Back in China during the early 19th century, European merchants and explorers discovered China's southernmost province Kwangtung, or Guangdong. There they found abundant pineapple and sugar cane fields growing in areas climatically identical to windward areas of the Hawaiian Islands. In an effort to reproduce Southern China's agricultural abundance, Chinese and European entrepreneurs began to import Chinese workers to Hawaii. In 1802, one such entrepreneur farmer named Wong Tze Chun began an effort to cultivate and process sugar in Hawaii. In 1823, Hung Tai another ambitious Chinese entrepreneur built a sugar mill in Wailuku, Maui. However, sugar production did not become a profitable crop until 1835. With sugar being successfully processed in Hawaii, more Chinese began to see opportunity in Hawaiian agriculture.

46,000 Chinese immigrants, came to Hawaii between 1850 and the annexation of Hawaii to the United States in 1898. Nearly all the Chinese immigrants came to Hawaii as migrant workers, with the belief they would work long enough to make a suitable income and then return to China.

It was at this time that the first Chinese women came to Hawaii. A sizable majority of the pre-annexation migrant workers did indeed return back to their native China. However, several thousand Chinese immigrants became permanent settlers in Hawaii. Many had married or established common-law marriages with Hawaiian women, and the rest took the recently arrived female immigrants as brides, creating families and settling down.

After the United States annexed Hawaii in 1898 the US's Chinese labor exclusion law extended to Hawaii. Many Chinese, however, continued to arrive as teachers, artisans, doctors and entrepreneurs. As the Chinese became culturally acclimatized they abandoned their indifference towards the formal education of women and as a result many Chinese women took on professional careers.

It is commonly believed that the present day Chinese in Hawaii are descendants of the pioneer sugar plantation contract laborers, this is a misconception. A larger proportion of island-born Chinese families are descended from merchants, plantation entrepreneurs, independent farmers, and artisans. The Chinese in Hawaii have made great contributions to Hawaii's multi-ethnic society and are proud of their many accomplishments.

Notable Chinese Hawaiian Americans:

Daniel Akaka (Born on September 11, 1924), Daniel Akaka is the junior U.S. Senator from Hawaii. He is a member of the Democratic Party and the first U.S. Senator of the Hawaiian ancestry and the only Chinese American member of the Senate.

Chang Apana (December 26, 1871-December 8, 1933) was a Chinese-Hawaiian member of the Honolulu Police Department, first as an officer, then as a detective. He is the officially-acknowledged inspiration for the fictional Asian detective character, Charlie Chan.

Rear Admiral Gordon Pai'ea Chung-Hoon (Honolulu, Hawaii, July 10, 1910 - July 24, 1979) was an admiral in the United States Navy, who served during World War II. He is a recipient of the Navy Cross and Silver Star for conspicuous gallantry and extraordinary heroism as commanding officer of USS Sigsbee (DD-502) from May 1944 to October 1945. The Arleigh Burke class destroyer USS Chung-Hoon is named for him.

Don Ho (born August 13, 1930 - April 14, 2007) was a Hawaiian and traditional pop musician and singer and entertainer. Tiny Bubbles was his world famous hit and signature song.

Kelly Ann Hu (born February 13, 1968) is an American actress and former fashion model who held the Miss Teen USA 1985 and Miss Hawaii USA 1993 titles.

Jason Scott Lee (born November 19, 1966) is an American movie actor. Lee was born in Los Angeles, California and was raised in Hawaii. He is of mixed Chinese-American and Hawaiian descent. He currently lives off the grid on the Big Island growing all his own organic produce. 

Dr. Sun Yat-Sen ( born November 12, 1866 or November 24, 1870 - March 12, 1925) was a Chinese revolutionary and political leader often referred to as the Father of Modern China. Sun played an instrumental role in overthrowing the QingDynasty in 1911. His birth certificate issued by the Territory of Hawaii substantiates that he was born in the Kingdom of Hawaii on 24 November 1870, but it is commonly assumed that he was born on November 12, 1866 to a peasant family in the village of Cuiheng, Xiangshan county, Guangzhou prefecture. Dr Sun lived in Hawaii for several years before returning to China. Sun once lived in Honolulu's China Town and attended Iolani and Punahou schools.

Hiram Fong (born October 15, 1906 - August 18 , 2004) The seventh of eleven children born to Chinese immigrants, he worked his way through school, graduating from Harvard Law, and became the first Asian American to serve in the U.S. Senate (1959 - 1977). He was also the first Asian American presidential candidate (1964). He is still the only republican to have represented Hawaii in the Senate. Senator Fong's Plantation & Gardens in Oahu, Hawaii, is a 700 acre, family owned tropical garden named for the former US Senator and is a popular tourist destination open to the public.

JDS Consulting- Staging Hawaii nei! Providing Real Estate Merchandising services including: Home Staging, Interior Decor, Turn Key, Landscaping, Remodeling, & Open House Hosting. Visit our Blog: Questions for Kimo: Decor Design & More- www.RealEstateDesignOnLine.com  tel.+1.808.344.1264  Kimo Stowell Copyright ©2009

Kung Hee Fat Choy! Happy Chinese New Year-Hawaiian Style! part I. Celebrating the Chinese influence on Hawaiian culture!

There are few places in the world that have embraced the Chinese Culture quite like Hawaii. In this three part blog series I will cover how the Chinese have become an integral part of Hawaii's history and culture and the many contributions Chinese Hawaiians have made to our island paradise.

Kung Hee Fat Choy or Chinese New Year is an eagerly anticipated event here in Hawaii and is marked by a number of activities centered in the China Town area of Honolulu. One such event is the New Year's Parade which attracts thousands of locals and tourists alike to the historic and festive down town. To say that China Town is a mob scene during the Parade is an understatement as the raw energy of the event is punctuated by the crackle of fireworks and the push of eager revelers.

The highlight of the parade are the multitudes of Lion and Dragon Dances that entertain the crowds during the event.

One of my earliest childhood memories is of the Lion Dance, a staple performance in the New Year celebrations, here in Honolulu back in the early 1970's. There are several legends surrounding the origin of the Lion Dance but many attribute it's conception to a Ching Dynasty Emperor who had a dream of a dancing lion and instructed his vassals to re-enact the event.

The lion consists of two dancers who are most often Kung Fu practitioners. One dancer controls the head, usually constructed from paper mache and bamboo; whose job it is to animate the lion's eyes, mouth, and ears so as to create different expressions and moods.  The other dancer provides the body and the tail movement and is concealed from view by a colorful cape intimating the lion's fur and body.

In attendance are three musicians who accompany the dance with cymbals, gong, and drum.  An  additional dancer dressed as the Buddha cajoles the Lion into his dance with a folding fan.

As is tradition on-lookers appease and implore the dancing lions for a prosperous year ahead by 'feeding' the lions coins and packets of money.

Chinese American Social and Business organizations proudly march in the New Years Parade which draws thousands of spectators. 

A Dancing Dragon poses for a photo op.

Originally created as ritual rain dance, the Dragon Dance today symbolizes success and good luck in the coming year for all humanity. The Chinese considered dragons to be benevolent creatures who possess the ability to control the weather. As China is primarily an agricultural society the arrival of the rainy season was of great concern to the Chinese population. Legends has it that the Dragon Dance was first conceived as a means of appeasing the "Dragon King" into releasing rain, so as to quench the drought stricken countryside.

The Dragon Dance continues to be an integral part of Chinese New Year celebrations. In the dance itself, a team of dancers carry the dragon effigy on poles. The lead dancers operate the head movements with great thrusts, lifts, and dips. With rhythmic undulations the dancers mimic the movements of the dragon through the street. 

Dragon Dancers snake their way down Hotel street in Honolulu.

China Town closes down to traffic as New Year revelers take to the streets to sample the food, watch the parade, and participate in the various entertainments celebrating the coming year. Dim Sum anyone!

Chinese New Year began this year on January 26th and lasts 15 days ending on February 9th.

JDS Consulting- Staging Hawaii nei! Providing Real Estate Merchandising services including: Home Staging, Interior Decor, Turn Key, Landscaping, Remodeling, & Open House Hosting. Visit our Blog: Questions for Kimo: Decor Design & More- www.RealEstateDesignOnLine.com  tel.+1.808.344.1264  Kimo Stowell Copyright ©2009

man! Someone stole my website! I had to get anothe one!  Sucks!  But I just updated my loan officers and info on my new website.  I was actually a victim of website theft. Someone logged on my account and changed the owner so I could not access my own website. They then waited until it expired and bought it.  Hoping I would go to my website and buy it back from them for thousands of dollars! Messed up! Anyway. So I found out the hard way that you should have the business account setting that perserves your anonymity and allows for better privacy so no one steals you I have a new site now just changed the .com to .info .  Just thought you might want to check it out.

Aloha

sean remos

808-282-4666

loandocter@yahoo.com