Hilo Writing

This post is dedicated to my friend Dave Young Kim, a visionary artist--see for yourself at daveykim.blogspot.com/--who taught me all I know about what I used to call "tagging" but now know goes by "writing" on the streets.

Some of these works are better seen by clicking the image for a full-size view.

~

Kinoole St. has quite a few murals. Starting with the most striking, which is on the side of Spencer's Gym:


This impressive piece of work features a tiki idol on the left side, an unknown water just to the right of some traveling Polynesians (the golden boat) and the often-seen Pele, goddess of the nearby volcano. This rightmost character has lava for hair and a hibiscus flower behind her right ear.


The mural's title.


Just in case you manage to step off a flight to Hawaii without catching some of the lingo: Mahalo = thanks. Vague words of wisdom courtesy of an island boy who's king of the unofficial state music, judging from the selection of FM stations.



The contributors, with a close-up of the aforementioned lava locks. 2 ladies and 4 gentlemen, but what really interests me about the list of artists is the fact that all but one (second from the bottom) have Japanese surnames.


On the side of supermarket KTA, you can find this version of modern food production, topped by a phrase which seems like a 1930s-era relic to my Bay Area mind. Just beneath it is the idyllic past of Polynesian fishing:


There's also a display of local flora & feathers further up the street:


And now for something completely different! Poi [taro root paste] is the one food that I have a hard time getting excited about due to its bland taste, library paste-consistency and expensive price. Hilo's no LA or Oakland if people have time to put up things like this (just add a few vowels if you can't figure it out):