A NICE SUNDAY AT 15 CRAIGSIDE

Nothing of any great import occurring in the world today, and not much, actually, can today be anticipated for the rest of the week. However, I noticed that in my posting yesterday of my life highlights, I did not include my two homes, where I have lived for 44 years.  These are two important ones.

They are adjacent apartments on the corner of Nuuanu Avenue/Judd Street/ 15 Craigside Place.  We are surrounded by graveyards, but my view was of Honolulu and the Pacific Ocean.  I could not see any tombstones from my apartments.  The brown 27-story building is 2101 Craigside, while the green one of 13 floors is 15 Craigside.

In 1982 I was working in the U.S. Senate for Spark Matsunaga.

• I had been living in a nice apartment in Falls Church, Virginia.  But getting to work on the bus/metro system was difficult.
• However, a new Metro line was building with the ending Huntington Station of this Yellow Line adjacent to Montebello, a new condo that was building.  Appropriately enough, translates to beautiful mountain in Italian.
• The structure was on a the only hill in this part of Virginia close to Alexandria.

• 
  The market was up in this period, so all you could do was put your name as an interested buyer and wait for the lottery.  
• We lucked out and got a penthouse.  From our apartment, we could see the Potomac River, and a hint of the Washington Monument.  The view would have been forever, for nothing would ever be built to obscure our line of sight.
• 
  Unfortunately, I was on leave from the University of Hawaii, and they had already given me a three-year leave of absence.  I had to return at the end of this period, or lose tenure and a full professorship.
• So the month before we were supposed to move into Montebello, we returned to Honolulu.
• So in 1982 we owned two condos in the DC area, and a penthouse in Honolulu, which was occupied on a one year lease.  
• 
  So we went to First Hawaiian Bank and explained to them that we were planning to sell those three condos, and we needed a loan to purchase a fourth place.  Coming from being a staff of Senator Spark Matsunaga, no problem, so we moved into 2101 Craigside, a two-story penthouse with a glorious view of downtown Honolulu.  The sunsets and rainbows were incredible.  Our neighbors Debby and Dan Bent.  He was the Hawaii Federal Prosecutor.

• 
  Our other neighbors were also special people:  Donald Johanos, who was the Honolulu Symphony conductor, Aaron Placourakis, who owned a bunch of restaurants,(married Tina Machado, Miss Hawaii USA--their first son was born on my birthday, so I became kind of a godfather to him), and I've forgotten their names, but an art gallery owner (who displayed some amazing, and expensive, art on our floor--you needed a special key to enter here), one of the partners in the company that built this building, and an old-time Hawaiian family which owned a hotel in Waikiki.
• The night view was particularly spectacular, and during the 32 years I lived there, the color dramatically changed. From a earlier posting:

At 2101 Craigside, we had a view of Honolulu City Lights for nearly three decades.  The color was bluish in the early days, but shifted to orange when the sodium vapor bulbs replaced the mercury vapor lamps.  The scene was ethereally relaxing.

Honolulu City Lights was written by Keola Beamer around 1970, and opened their album of the same name with brother Kapono.  This is my anthem of living nearly four decades at two Craigside sites.

• 
  My wife passed away in 2009.
• The following year, as I went to throw my trash away, I noticed that a building was coming up next door.  
• In 2011, a senior's community, 15 Craigside opened for occupancy.
• I was then 71 years old and not interested in moving.
• In December of 2013, it was a Saturday morning, and on a lark, decided to take a look at 15 Craigside.
• 
  The sales person happened to be there, so she showed me around
• She said that a new apartment just opened up, which was long reserved by someone who finally decided not to move in.  Was thus never occupied.
• Was on the top floor, had a view of the Pacific Ocean, and the two taller buildings were faced in a manner that not not look my way.   That red marker is where I live.   If I were the first to sign up for a room in 15 Craigside, this is the apartment I would have picked.  So I gave her a check for $20,000 and finally moved in in May of 2014.  So I've now been here for 12 years.
• 
  One thing that occurred to me when I moved into 15 Craigside was that we were surrounded by graveyards and churches.  
• I wondered:  COULD 15 CRAIGSIDE BY PURGATORY?
• On 3January2016:  MY LIFE IN PURGATORY.
• And on 14July2019:  JUST ANOTHER WEEK IN PURGATORY.

• I've compared living at 15 Craigside to various cruises.
• Seabourn Odyssey 53-day cruise.

While I have tried to compare 15 Craigside with the Seabourn Odyssey, that is not the point.  The beauty of having both experiences is that they complement each other.  15 Craigside is a secure and comfortable environment with decent cuisine and a lot of activities.  I do very little, but enjoy the freedom to do so.  A cruise opens up the world to opportunities not available in Nuuanu and Hawaii.  Now on to the rest of my life.

• There were others, but the incredible conclusion after all those meals of caviar, steaks, truffles, foie gras and a lot more, if I had to pick the one place I would forever want to live because of the cuisine, it would be 15 Craigside.  Why?  Because you quickly get sick and tired of that extravagance.  15 Craigside serves mostly local food, meals you with which you grew up.

So with all the above, here is a typical day at 15 Craigside, my Sunday yesterday.  

We have a new resident on our 12th floor, Cookie, seen here with Irene, Kathy and John.

The weather looked so great. Photo of the ocean side and video from our roof.

I then went see what we had for lunch.

Last night we had Doug Oshiro, the best karaoke jockey in Hawaii.

A Thousand Stars.

My Way.

Kawano Nagare No You Ni.

Thus ended a nice Sunday at 15 Craigside.

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