By Jason Genegabus

Jason Genegabus photos

Didn’t realize it going in, but I ended up spending a lot of time in Chinatown last weekend. Fitting, since Friday was 8/8/08 and I am part Chinese (Year of the Snake represent!).

Before I got to the street party on Hotel Street, however, I paid a visit to the Wyland Waikiki for what I thought was the grand opening of a new Spada Restaurant at the hotel.

Turns out Spada is in the soft opening phase, which means you can go in and enjoy a meal, but nothing is official just yet. I’m told a grand opening celebration will be held sometime in the next few weeks.

So, Friday night was really about “Art on the Avenue,” a new exhibit showcasing the work of two Los Angeles-based artists.

I was a little confused when I first arrived, because there wasn’t a whole lot of art on display. I did spot a few surfboards, shaped by the Wyland’s Director of Surfing Keoki Ching, that had gotten the artistic treatment, but not much else:

The mystery was solved by promoter Justin Yoshino, who had been hired to help produce the event. I wasn’t looking in the right place – the artists’ reception was being held in a room that was “down the stairs and on the right.”

Walking off in the direction Yoshino had waved his arm in, I descended down a flight of stairs and discovered this scene:

Didn’t look like an art show reception.

Just down the hall, however, I noticed an open door and the buzz of a crowd talking story:

Here we go. That’s Carl Lindstrom in the foreground with a lei; Kristie Fujiyama Kosmides is in the black dress in the background and is also wearing a lei.

And I spotted Dan Weaver! If you don’t follow Nadine Kam’s blog, “Fashion Tribe,” you might have missed this video from his fashion show a few weeks back:

I stuck around to try some of the new alcohol being served, thanks to Yoshino’s liquor connections. I got to try the new Stoli Blakberi, Kahlua Mocha and something called American Honey.

Not the smartest way to start the night, but I was curious. That theme continued as I took a quick spin through Waikiki to check up on two new bars opening this summer.

The Shack Waikiki looks ready to go, but I couldn’t talk my way into a private party taking place on Friday. One of the bouncers, unimpressed by my attempts to hit him up for details about the place, acknowledged they would “probably be open” for business this weekend.

I hope the staff inside the bar is nicer than the staff at the door.

Also new, or at least under new ownership, is the Lava Rock Lounge inside the International Marketplace. They apparently opened for business last month, but have been trying to keep a low profile while their staff gets a feel for the new surroundings.

I’ll have more about that bar in the coming weeks, once I have a chance to get back inside a few times.

Research complete, I headed for Chinatown, where KHNL anchor Howard Dashefsky had just finished a live shot.

I was impressed to see him picking up cables alongside his camera crew:

I finished the night with cocktails at thirtyninehotel and a failed attempt to get into Indigo, where Tassho Pearce held a release party for his new album.

Along with Friday’s 8/8/08 festivities, the annual “Chinatown Get Down” was in full effect that evening, meaning lines were CRAZY at almost every party in the neighborhood. When I ran into two drunken idiots within a 10-minute span, I knew it was time to go.

But I ended up back there less than 24 hours later:

Augie Tulba headlined for the second time at the Hawaii Theatre on Saturday, and I was in the audience.

I even got there early enough to enjoy a $2 plastic cup of soda and pupus from Chai’s Island Bistro:

Augie’s family was in the second-floor ballroom as well for the VIP reception, which the comedian himself attended for only a few minutes before heading backstage. That’s his wife, keeping an eye on Augie’s parents shortly before the show started:

We had pretty good seats, although you can’t really tell from this picture:

In addition to a nearly sold-out crowd, thousands more watched his set live on KFVE. I’ll have more about Augie’s concert in my column on Friday.

This entry was posted on Monday, August 11th, 2008 at 10:41 pm and is filed under Nightlife, Clubs/Bars, Picture Blogs, Adventures in Clubland. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.