Planning a Trip to Hawaii on a Budget

Tips for Doing Hawaii on a Budget  By Joe Kukura Hawaii is rich with exotic culture and beauty, and you don’t need to be rich to enjoy it all. For all of the talk of Hawaii as an expensive place to visit, the reality is that any smart vacationer can find affordable...

Colorful Canoe Pageant Honors Polynesian Legacy

From its very beginning in 1963, the Polynesian Cultural Center has featured traditional canoes and, soon after opening, launched a canoe pageant that remains an important part of our daily program. The canoes and pageant not only pay tribute to the islanders’ ancient...

All Hawaii Honors King Kamehameha Each June 11

In 1871 King Kamehameha V set apart June 11th as a national holiday honoring his great-grandfather, King Kamehameha I, who first established the unified Kingdom of Hawaii through a series of military victories and alliances with other island ali’i or rulers between...

My Stint as a Royal Prince

During my senior year in high school, I was chosen to be the first ever prince in the royal court on the Big Island of Hawaii. While sitting directly across of Uncle George Naope (former kumu hula, master Hawaiian chanter, co-founder of the annual Merry Monarch...

Polynesian Men Do All the Cooking?

Up and until the time I entered college, I had no idea that men do all the cooking anywhere.  Certainly not in my home, though my dad was a good cook himself.  Unfortunately, his genes never got passed down to me.  It wasn’t until I started working at the Polynesian...