Ala Moana Center in Honolulu is the largest shopping mall in Hawaii and the sixteenth largest shopping mall in the United States. It currently holds the distinction of being the largest open-air shopping center in the world.
Located at 1450 Ala Moana Boulevard, Ala Moana Center is part of the commercial, retail, and residential district of Ala Moana, south of Makiki, east of Kakaʻako, west of Waikīkī and across from Ala Moana Beach Park.
In 1959, Ala Moana Center became the largest shopping mall in the United States, only to be overshadowed years later by new retail developments across the nation. General Growth Properties of Chicago, which used to trade on the New York Stock Exchange as GGP, currently owns and operates Ala Moana Center. The company uses photographs of Ala Moana Center as its flagship banner image on the properties page of its company website.[4] Over 56 million people visit Ala Moana Center annually.
Recognized internationally as the premier cultural institution of Hawaii, the Bishop Museum is the largest of Honolulu's museums. It is endowed with the state's largest collection of natural history specimens and the world's largest collection of Hawaiiana and Pacific culture artifacts. The Honolulu Zoo is the main zoological institution in Hawaii while the Waikiki Aquarium is a working marine biology laboratory. The Waikiki Aquarium is partnered with the University of Hawaii and other universities worldwide. Established for appreciation and botany, Honolulu is home to several gardens: Foster Botanical Garden, Liliuokalani Botanical Garden, Walker Estate, among others.
Hanauma Bay (pronounced "ha-NOW-mah", in Hawaiian) is a marine embayment formed within a volcanic cone or crater and located along the southeast coast of the Island of Oʻahu (just east of Honolulu) in the Hawaiian Islands. Hana means 'bay' and uma means 'shelter,' rendering "Shelter Bay" The "Bay" is a tautology: Hawaiians simply call this feature "Hanauma". Hanauma is one of the most popular tourist destinations on the Island and has suffered somewhat from overuse (at one time accommodating over three million visitors per year). In the 1950s, dynamite was used to clear portions of the reef to expand the area available for swimming.
Currently, Honolulu has no professional sports teams. Honolulu has hosted the NFL's annual Pro Bowl each February since 1980, though the 2010 Pro Bowl will be played in Miami.[22] The NCAA football Hawaii Bowl is played in Honolulu. Honolulu also supports the Hawaii Winter League annually from late September to late November, hosting minor league players from MLB, NPB, and Korea. Games are hosted at Les Murakami and Hans L'Orange Park. Fans of spectator sports in Honolulu generally support the football, volleyball, basketball, and baseball programs of the University of Hawaii at Manoa. High school sporting events, especially football, are especially popular. Venues for spectator sports in Honolulu include:
* Les Murakami Stadium at UH-Manoa (baseball)
* Stan Sheriff Center at UH-Manoa (basketball and volleyball)
* Neal Blaisdell Center Arena (basketball)
Recognized internationally as the premier cultural institution of Hawaii, the Bishop Museum is the largest of Honolulu's museums. It is endowed with the state's largest collection of natural history specimens and the world's largest collection of Hawaiiana and Pacific culture artifacts. The Honolulu Zoo is the main zoological institution in Hawaii while the Waikiki Aquarium is a working marine biology laboratory. The Waikiki Aquarium is partnered with the University of Hawaii and other universities worldwide. Established for appreciation and botany, Honolulu is home to several gardens: Foster Botanical Garden, Liliuokalani Botanical Garden, Walker Estate, among others.
Currently, there is no railway system in Honolulu. The last major attempt was called the Honolulu Area Rapid Rail Transit project. Popularly known as HART, the twenty-one station rail system almost came to fruition before Mayor Eileen Anderson canceled the project in 1981 and returned grants and funding to their sources [5] [6], arguing the project would break her VOW of fiscal responsibility .
Several attempts had been made since Anderson's cancellation of HART to construct a fixed rail mass transit system All attempts STALLED in Honolulu City Council hearings. In 2004, the city, county and state approved development of an action plan for a system to be built in several phases. The initial proposed line linking Kapolei in West Oahu to the University of Hawaii at Manoa. However, on December 22, 2006 the city council approved a fixed-guideway system meant to accommodate either rail or buses, running from Kapolei in West Oahu to Ala Moana, with spurs into Waikiki and Manoa.
Honolulu is administered under a consolidated city-county form of government employing a strong mayor-council system. The Mayor of Honolulu holds executive privileges — as opposed to mayors with only ceremonial powers — and the Honolulu City Council serves as the legislature. Mufi Hannemann currently serves as Mayor of Honolulu. His term ends January 2, 2010.
One of the largest municipal governments in the United States, the city and county works with an annual operating budget of over USD 1 billion. The Honolulu Fire Department and Honolulu Police Department are administered by the mayor and city council through appointed officials. Likewise, other municipal departments oversee services which include civil defense, driver licensing, emergency medical, parks and recreation, sanitation, streets, vehicle registration, voter registration, water, among others.
Honolulu is located at 21°18'32" North, 157°49'34" West (21.308950, -157.826182). While the climate is clearly in the tropics, the climate (temperature and humidity) is moderated by the mid-ocean location and some cooling achieved by the California Current that passes through the islands much of the year. The average daily low and high temperatures in January are 65/80 °F (18/27 °C) and in July are 74/88 °F (23/31 °C). Temperatures exceed 90 °F (32 °C) only rarely, with lows in the 50's °F (15 °C) occurring perhaps once or twice in a year. The hottest temperature ever recorded in Honolulu was 95 °F (35 °C) on September 19, 1994 and the coldest temperature ever recorded was 53 °F (11.6 °C) on January 31, 1998, 1972 and 1948; January 20, 1969; February 1 and February 2, 1976; February 9, 1981; and February 12, 1983.
The closest location on the mainland to Honolulu is the Point Arena, California Lighthouse, at 2,045 nautical miles (2,353 statute miles) or 3,787 kilometers. (Nautical vessels require some additional distance to circumnavigate Makapu'u Point.) However, part of the Aleutian Islands of Alaska are slightly closer than California.
Honolulu, is the capital and most populous census-designated place (CDP) in the U.S. state of Hawaii. Although Honolulu refers to the city itself along the south shore of the island, it is commonly designated[citation needed] as the entire island of Oahu. In the Hawaiian language, Honolulu means "sheltered bay" or "place of shelter." It lies along the southeast coast of the island of Oahu and of the City & County of Honolulu. The population was 371,657 at the 2000 census.
Honolulu is the only incorporated city in Hawaii; all other local government entities in Hawaii are administered at the county level. The island of Oahu (approximately 600 square miles/1,600 square kilometres) is under the administrative jurisdiction of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu.
