WHY DO PEOPLE LOVE HAWAII?

Every Friday in the local Star-Advertiser, Bob Sigall has a column about Hawaii.  Here is the bio of the man behind the Rearview Mirror stories.

• Can't find a Wikipedia page or anything official, but he came from California, owned four businesses before graduating from high school.  
• At the age of 8, found golf balls from a course near to his home, cleaned them up and sold for 10 cents each.
• In the 10th grade made a lot money washing windows.

• 
  Went to the University of Hawaii.
• After grad school, opened a practice as a therapist for entrepreneurs.  Three years later joined a business consulting firm.  
• Never took a class in journalism, and has a master's degree in psychology.   Taught marketing classes at Hawaii Pacific University.  For his final exam, at the end of his courses, had a party.  Early on published four books:  The Companies We Keep, 1,2, 3 and 4.  His student reports were used to write these.

• 
  Has largely been a business consultant for 40 years, helping 1000 clients.
• Was a director Small Business Hawaii.
• Began his Rearview Mirror column in 2011, with first one published on April 15.
• After a while, he had fans, who sent questions and stories.
• Also has a newsletter:  www.RearviewMirrorInsider.com.
• The Companies We Keep 5 came in 2018, largely drawn from Rearview Mirror. 
• Listen to Bob Sigall on PBS Hawaii.

So with that background, I largely quote his column of today, 1August2025, for only he can do it best.

            Those of us who live in Hawaii know it’s a special place. We know we’re “lucky we live                 Hawaii.” But isn’t that true of people everywhere?

Mark Twain

    We’ll start back in 1866 with Mark Twain. He came to Hawaii when he was 31, writing articles for the Sacramento Union newspaper. This was before any of his great works were written.

    After six weeks in Hawaii, he gave a lecture in San Francisco about Hawaii. The audience loved it. They showered him with laughs, applause and so much money, he repeated it more than 100 times. Hawaii helped him get his career on track.

Named after Hawaii

    Hundreds of places on the mainland are named for Hawaii. In North Carolina, there’s a city named Honolulu. Nine people live there.

    You can find “Aloha streets” in Seattle; Los Angeles; Camarillo and Carlsbad in California; Corpus Christi, Texas; Oklahoma City, Okla. There are “Aloha avenues” in Oakland, Calif.; and Knoxville and Memphis in Tennessee.

Tiki bars

    Every major U.S. city had a Polynesian tiki bar or restaurant. Los Angeles had more than 50.

Hawaiian music

    Hawaiian music has made a huge splash beyond our shores for more than 100 years.

    The radio show “Hawaii Calls” was carried by over 750 radio stations around the world from the 1930s to the 1970s.

    “Aloha ‘Oe” was the last song played at the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics, as the sun set during the closing ceremonies.

    Bing Crosby sang the hapa-haole tune in his movie “Waikiki Wedding.” It won the 1937 Academy Award for best song and sparked countless cover versions.

    Israel Kamakawiwo‘ole’s version of “Over the Rainbow” has been used in over 300 commercials, TV shows and films outside Hawaii.

Poke

    Bowls of diced raw fish, tossed in sauce with seaweed and salt, seem to be sold everywhere. IBISWorld, a market research company, estimates that there are more than 3,000 poke shops in the U.S.

    Paris has more than a dozen poke shops, as does London, Moscow, Vienna and nearly every major European city.

Television

    There has been one or more Hawaii TV shows on the air since the late 1950s until 2025, including “Hawaiian Eye,” “Hawaii Five-0,” “Magnum, P.I.” and “Dog the Bounty Hunter.” They have been dubbed into many languages and seen around the world by millions.

Natural beauty

    Hawaii has mesmerizing volcanic landscapes, beautiful waterfalls, diverse marine life and frequent rainbows. Our warm Pacific waters are great for swimming, fishing, boating, paddling, diving, surfing and sunbathing.

    We grow some of the world’s most beautiful flowers and string them into lei to wear around your neck. Our weather is something of a perpetual summer.

Aloha Spirit

    Does our “it factor” derive from our aloha spirit? Our culture is warm and welcoming. We mean it when we say ohana is important. Is it the aloha we feel for each other that is so compelling? Is it our natural, tropical beauty or perpetual summer weather?

Does the world have a crush on Hawaii because of all these factors, or is it something else? Readers, what do you think? ——— Bob Sigall is the author of the five “The Companies We Keep” books. Contact him at Sigall@Yahoo.com or sign up for his free email newsletter at RearviewMirrorInsider. com.

Finally, here is a video from earlier this year of a talk Sigall gave to the Engineering Association of Hawaii addressing on what Honolulu would look like today if many of those visionary projects were successful.  Something I've also wondered about, for the state of Hawaii has a way of killing great ideas.  I highly urge you to to watch this.  Fascinating.  Hawaii as the home for the United Nations, 1948 Summer Olympics to be held inside Diamond Head crater, 500-foot statue of King Kamehameha and John Craven's Floating City for 100,000, among many other concepts.

The Naked Gun is back, earning 91/88 ratings from Rotten Tomatoes.  The original detective Frank Drebin was played by 63-year Leslie Nielsen in 1988.  Started well with Rotten Tomatoes scores of 88/84, then dropped to 77/65 on the sequel, falling to 65/54 in the final trilogy.  The new blockhead, his son, is role twisting 73-year old Liam Neeson, well-aided by slinkstress Pamela Anderson.

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