Lei Chic

Walk This Way

Ohana walking tours

December 17, 2008

Your houseguests are crowding all your spare bedrooms, couches and futons, and it’s making you want to avoid home for the holidays.

So send them walking. No, seriously.

Book them off on a walking tour all over downtown Honolulu, and get them out of your hair for a couple hours while they learn Hawaiian history.

Just a month old, Ohana Walking Tours is the brainchild of Casey Hewes, a Lana‘i native who now works as a nurse at Castle Hospital. Inspired by the enthusiasm of his guide on an Onion Walking Tour while on vacation in New York City, Hewes came home and decided to launch his own company on O‘ahu.

The toughest part was finding the right guide. After trying out an actual UH History major, Hewes found amateur history buff Richard Wong, a retired Honolulu Police officer who loves to talk story and knows the town inside and out. The tour is a balance of Hawaiian History 101 and 201, from ancient myths to current politics. Hewes says even locals will learn something new.

Like how to make your houseguest headaches history.

Ohana Walking Tours, 808. 204.7331, www.ohanatours.org. Tours are offered every Saturday and Sunday, beginning at 9 a.m. at the King Kamehameha statue downtown, then proceed to Iolani Palace, down King Street and to the border of Chinatown. Count on walking about 1.3 miles.

Call to RSVP, but tours are free for the month of December.

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