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Taking Hawai’i Seriously

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Martine at the Grace Pauahi Bishop Museum in Honolulu

For most visitors, Hawaii is a playground symbolized by the hedonistic hordes of Waikiki. If you want to take a serious look not only at Hawaii, but also Polynesia as a whole, the place to go is the Grace Pauahi Bishop Museum on the Ewa (i.e., West of Waikiki and Diamond Head) side of Honolulu.

It’s in a big old 19th century stone building, originally used by the Kamehameha Schools for native Hawaiian children (also founded by Grace Pauahi Bishop, who, incidentally, was the last legal heir of the Kamehameha dynasty that had ruled the Kingdom of Hawai’i for most of the 19th century).

The Bishop Museum is not on the route of the trolleys that run up and down Waikiki heading for the big tourist attractions of the city. That’s because it’s for serious tourists only, who really want to know about the cultures of Hawaii and Polynesia. And it’s not just a museum: It is also a scholarly research institution that sponsors and publishes studies. It has been designated by the state government as the Hawaiʻi State Museum of Natural and Cultural History.

Just because the building looks old and stuffy doesn’t imply that that the place is in any sense boring. If you spend two or three hours there, you will learn something about the islands, their ecology, history, and anthropology. There is even a planetarium on the premises.

The #2 Honolulu bus goes from Waikiki to within two blocks of the entrance at Bernice Street and Kapalama Avenue.

When Scientists Go Awry

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The following is from an exhibit at Honolulu’s Bishop Museum of humorous attempts at classifying plants and animals. The surnames of the scientists involved appear in parentheses.

Abra cadabra (Eames & Wilkins) 1957 – A variety of clam

Hebejeebie (Heads) 2003 – A genus of flowering plant that must give people the creeps

La cucaracha (Blesynski) 1966 – A moth that reminds one of a cockroach

Ba humbugi (Solem) 1983 – A snail much beloved of Ebeneezer Scrooge

Ittibittium (Houbrick) 1993 – A mollusc genus even smaller than genus Bittium

Heerz lukenatcha and Heerz tooya (Marsh) 1993 – Two wasps you would rather notencounter

Riga toni (Evenhuis) 2013 – A fly for pasta lovers

Ytu brutus (Spangler) 1980 – Beware the Ides of March!

The Bishop Museum

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The Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum in Kalihi

I do not believe that most people traveling to Hawaii care very much for its history and culture. All they really care about is fun on the beach and copious amounts of booze (and coffee: I have seen lines of almost 100 tourists at Waikiki’s International Marketplace waiting for their morning brew from Kona).

Consequently, mention the Bishop Museum to most tourists, and all you’ll get in response is a look of noncomprehension. While we were there, we saw no tourist buses and no tour groups. In fact, there wasn’t even a free handout brochure with a map of the extensive facilities. In fact, I suspect that the Museum is experiencing hard times.

That is a pity because the Bishop Museum is the place to be if you want to understand Hawaii, the land and its people. To that, I would add all of Polynesia. Particularly imposing is the three story Hawaii Hall (illustrated above) with its outstanding exhibits.

One of the reasons for most tourists not knowing about the Bishop Museum is its 19th century Victorian campus, which make it look (shudder) outdated. And yet, its exhibits are anything but!

I think that if tourists should ever encounter a rainy day on the island, they make a beeline for the Bishop. They will very rapidly get a better idea of where they have landed on that long flight from the mainland. Even on a hot and humid day, such as on the Wednesday we were there, it is a worthy destination.