One of the best things about Hawaii Five-O was its use of the local sights as part of each episode. And no trip to Hawaii is complete without a tour of the islands, Five-O style. If you're planning a trip in the near future, or if you've never been to Hawaii, take a few minutes to "see the sights" with us . . .
This just in . . . It appears the Five-O Fun Page has been featured in the news! Read the newspaper article that mentioned this page as it appeared in the "Vancouver Sun." Many thanks to Mike Quigley who was kind enough to send me a copy of the article. Avid Five-O fans interesting in seeing what a real Five-O web page looks like may wish to visit his home page, appropriately known as The Hawaii Five-O Home Page.
Feel free to send any comments, corrections, or suggestions you might have. Click here for my e-mail address along with other useless information. By the way, if these pictures look a bit grainy to you, don't blame me!!!
Ever wonder what Steve McGarrett and God have in common? Enjoy a free sermon at no extra charge.
Now, on to the tour!
Here we are at the hotel--and look at what's on
TV--how apropos! We'll start our trip headed east up the islands.
Our first stop, of course, is to the mythical home of
this great Hawaiian crime-fighting force, the
Iolani Palace. This is undoubtedly one of the most familiar to
Five-O fans as it appeared in just about every episode of the program.
Another familiar stop is a few blocks away at the
Ilikai hotel. It's on the top floor
of this hotel that Jack Lord can be seen at the beginning of each episode.
Several episodes contained scenes which were filmed on-site at the Ilikai--
most notably "Bomb, Bomb, Who's Got the Bomb?" In this episode McGarrett
rappels from the roof to rescue a woman trapped in a stuck elevator.
(One of the many services Five-O provides.)
Right next door to the Ilikai is the Rainbow Tower hotel
which hasn't changed much in appearance since it was shown in "And a Time To Die..."
and countless others. A few things have changed--the beach now extends all the way
to the hotel and the Ala Wai heliport is gone. Ah well, that's progress I
guess. The Rainbow Tower is now one of four towers in the massive Hilton Hawaiian
Village complex and is where Danny's aunt stayed in "Retire in sunny Hawaii--forever"
if my memory serves me correct.
Moving right along we'll proceed down
Kalakaua Avenue towards
Kapiolani Park, which was featured in several episodes including
"Anyone Can Build a Bomb." In this episode, Five-O calmly
evacuates the crowded park by hovering over in a helicopter and
announcing from a bullhorn that there is a bomb somewhere
in the park. (That usually does the trick.) Here's a picture
inside of Kapiolani Park at the Shell which was also featured
in many episodes and--hey, look who's at the podium. Isn't that
the President? I didn't know he was a Five-O fan!
Okay, here's our obligatory shot of
Diamond Head along with a few lesser-known pictures from
atop the crater looking towards Kawaihoa Point,
and from the inside of the crater itself.
Diamond Head crater was the supposed location of the intelligence command
center where McGarrett met with Jonathan Kaye in "The Jinn Who Clears
the Way." The tunnel shown in this episode is real
enough, but inside the crater lies only a few government establishments such as
the FAA and the state-run Civil Defense. (At least, so far as
we know . . .) This same tunnel was used in countless other episodes
--including "30,000 Crooked Miles to Honolulu," in which we are
supposed to believe it is somewhere in Colorado!
Just past Diamond Head is the ever-popular Hanauma Bay. You can't
drive down to the bottom like McGarrett did in the first season--
these days you have to pay to get in and only tram cars are allowed
to drive down to the bottom.
Just up the eastern coast is the
Byodo-In Temple which appeared in
several episodes including "The Singapore File" and "Hara-kiri:
Murder". In "The Singapore File" we are supposed to believe
that the temple is somewhere in the Far East--ha! The truth of the
matter is that it is on the far end of the "Valley of the Temples"
mortuary. Judging by the gun-battle which ensued in this episode,
I gather this is one way the mortuary gets its customers.
Heading further north we eventually reach the
beaches of the North Shore
where the waves, as we know from "The Banzai Pipeline,"
are normally much more impressive than this.
Heading back south towards the city means a trip past the
National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific,
or perhaps better known as the
Punchbowl Cemetery. You should recognize
this face from the start of
each episode!
Heading back towards where we began, we might as well stop off
at the Aloha Tower. This tower has
been the center of attention in more than one episode. It has
housed everything from a crazed guy and his rifle to a nuclear
bomb hidden in a refrigerator crate!
Heading up the northwestern coast is Makaha--home of the Makaha Inn, which
was featured extensively in "Kiss the Queen Goodbye". The Makaha Inn
is now the Sheraton Makaha, but it looks
exactly the same as it did in the episode. The distinguished guests
were entertained by the Governor just to the left of the main
building and restaurant--right next to the swimming pool! The
helicopter which was used to catch one of the crooks at the end
flew past the golf course and landed
right about here, if I'm not mistaken.
Just a mile or two past Makaha is the beautiful western coast--
somewhere on which, the crook in this episode was apprehended.
And back down the coast we go, this time just a few miles short of
Honolulu. Yes, it's Honolulu International
Airport, which was seen in countless episodes. And I'm afraid
our stop here also marks the end of the road for our trip around the
island, Five-O style. Aloha!
