American Savings Bank had free parking for bank members with a debit card for the Lunar New Year festival.
Many booths.
A map.
And a schedule.
Discouts on local merchants.
American Savings Bank was celebrating 100 years.
Spin the wheel to win a prize.
Same with sticky darts.
Sushi.
Clothing.
Taiko drummers. According to the schedule, they're supposed to be at the park stage. I wonder why they changed it?
Ben Franklin.
A temporary Chinatown gate.
Boba.
There was lots of grilled food.
More.
Even BBQ.
That looks good, but since this is a Chinese festival, I should eat something Chinese.
A dog fell in the canal, so they got a ladder and pulled it out.
The other end of the festival.
More boba.
More food.
Even more.
Fusion.
That's a lot of food.
This looks more Asian.
I don't know about grilled squid, though; it looks rather rubbery.
The other meats on a stick are more my style.
I've walked from one end to the other and browsed all of the booths; now to go back and pick out what I want to eat.
There were a few non-food vendors as well.
Japanese pudding.
Rows of food.
The entire family dressed up.
Year of the Snake gold bills for sale.
More traditional food.
Lunch.
When they turned, one of the police officer's sunglasses flew off, and they didn't notice. So I jumped up, grabbed the glasses, and ran them back to her.
Martial arts demonstration.
2023 was the year of the rabbit, 2024 was the year of the dragon, and 2025 is the year of the snake.
I wonder if the panda suit has some sort of fan inside. If not, that has to be hot.
Children's area in the park.
And the park stage. But nobody was using it; they had the park stage events on the street stage. But since they both were supposed to have events going non-stop, how did they deal with that?
Some lions walking by.
The Chinatown Cultural Plaza also had some events.
There were many vendors here as well.
Some rather sketchy electrical work to get power down to all of them. Almost nobody came up to this floor as there was nothing going on here, though, so maybe it's not so bad.
Queens and princesses.
Food.
A massive pot of soup.
Then a dog show. The judges' dogs checked each other out.
This was the family I saw earlier, although before, the kid was wearing the Magikarp hat; now the dog is.
49ers jersey.
Willy Wonka.
Pink helmet and goggles.
Lion.
White outfit.
Fireworks wanted to go check out the judges' dogs.
Traditional dress.
This restaurant ran out of something.
Dragon and Lion dance association at the Maunakea street stage.
Martial artists.
Individuals.
With different weapons.
A fan.
A blade on one end...
... and a spike on the other.
The rope dart was especially amazing to watch.
Lion dance. A funny part: lying on the ground and kicking its feet.
There are two people in this lion. The one in the back lifted up the one in the front.
More lions and a monk.
You feed money to the lion for good luck.
The kids liked to pet it afterwards.
More money over here.
Chomp.
All of the lions at the end.
The one on the right side of the stage was a father and daughter team.
A video of some of the festival.
The parade was at 4:30pm a few blocks away.
Small fireworks to start.
The first banner.
Grand marshall Ann Teranishi, president and CEO of American Savings Bank.
American Savings Bank.
Many flags.
A lion.
They allowed traffic to keep flowing on the perpendicular roads between every few groups.
Governor Josh Green, MD.
Lt Governor Sylvia Luke.
Mayor Rick Blangiardi.
The Royal Hawaiian Band.
Miss Chinatown Hawaii queen Jacelyn Ho.
Miss Hawaii Chinese queen Amily Tam.
Miss Hawaii Chinatown princess Ellie Feng.
Lung Doo Benevolent Society, which was established in 1891.
Nice outfits.
Drummers.
Sing Yung Dragon and Lion Dance Association.
Some lions.
Another group.
Taipai Economic and Cultura Office of Honolulu inspector general Jerry Chang.
United Chinese Society president Ivy Yeung.
Chinese Society Hall of Honor recipient Eddie Flores.
Association of Chinese from Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos.
Chinse Chamber of Commerce Hawaii president Sarah Moy.
Narcissus queen Alycia Abordonado.
Narcissus first princess Victoria Hung and second princess Jenny Liu.
Third princess Tiffany Tong and fourth princess Eva Chee.
Hawaii Lion Dance Association.
With a dragon.
And lions.
Wong Kong Har Tong of Hawaii.
McDonald's. I wonder why they have the Hamburgler instead of Ronald?
Associated Chinese University Women.
Karl Rhoads, state senator.
Councilmember Tyler Dos Santos-Tam.
Au's Shaolin Arts Society.
Lions.
Eating money.
Girl Scouts.
Chuk Kai Tai Chi Club.
Yeung Dak Dragon and Lion Dance Association.
Kams' Society, a non-profit benevolent organization that perpetuates Chinese culture and assists members in times of need in Honolulu.
Honolulu Chinese Jaycess president Sarah Liu.
Oo Syak Gee Lu, a village in China.
Elite Miss Universal Petite Puerto Rico Evan Salcedo.
Miss Waikiki Teen USA Alexandria Bogatay.
University of Hawaii Board of Regents emeritus Stanford Yuen.
Downtown Chinatown Neighborhood Board #13 Ernest Caravalho.
Another lion.
I liked the lions because there was always a small band with them.
Miss International Hawaii Melody Higa.
Miss Hawaii Hayeley Cheyney Kane.
Miss Hawaii Teen Nicole McClain.
Hong Kong Business Association of Hawaii.
Lung Kong Kung Shaw, to perpetuate Chinese martial arts and Chinese culture for youths.
Another group.
Some people in martial art gis.
Ching Clan Benevolent Society.
Battery Bill's.
Kids Hurt Too.
More lions.
With their band.
Bugs.
Cosplayers.
Falun Dafa, also known as Falun Gong, is a Chinese spiritual practice that involves meditation and gentle exercises.
Tang Physical Culture Association of Hawaii.
A dragon and some other animals.
It's a long dragon.
Another band.
Some portable seats.
They fold up very small.
A video of the parade.
This parking garage says don't back into stalls.
Everyone backed into the stall. It is Hawaii, after all; backing into parking spots is normal here.
Ogii leaving LAX.
Flying over Playa Del Rey.
Neat clouds above the mountains.
Sweeping up the balcony.
Ogii was arriving at 8pm. I don't know if any of the lei stands at the airport are open that late, but Target has fresh leis.
Greeting Ogii.
Some bugs at a gas station.
Chocolates.
A big Aloha at the southern side of the Royal Hawaiian Center.
By the Waikiki Food Hall.
It looks like there are only a few restaurants there and most of the stalls are empty.
Inside.
We were looking for this Italian place, Allegrini. According to the location on Google Maps, it should be at the other end of the center, but according to the pictures, it should be here.
There's the yellow Meataly Boys sign as shown in the picture, but the booth where Allegrini was is now empty.
Even though the address still says it's at the Waikiki Food Hall in the Royal Hawaiian Center, the "located in" says Stix Asia.
That's the Asian food court across the street.
Ah, it's off to the side of that.
They should really change their address on Google Maps.
In addition to food, they also have some groceries.
Meats.
Pasta.
A cute table.
We got a charcuterie plate and lasagna.
A lamborghini outside.
And another.
And a Ferrari.
You almost never see expensive cars like these here.
A very low rainbow in the valley.