Room at Pakalana Inn, Hilo, Hawaii

Spacious, clean, simple. Architect Neil C. Erickson, Hilo Hawaii rennovated the quaint relic and resurrected its bygone name: Pakalana Inn, Hilo Hawaii. Located Downtown in the old timey part of Hilo, adjacent to Hilo Farmers Market. Walk everywhere. Close to Ocean. Give Neil a call @ (808) 969-4945 or check out the website to book a room http://www.pakalanainn.com/.

The transformation of Room two.

The head rests on the pillow but the cerebrum conjures dreams of Coconut Island, a petite jewel festooned with Coconut Palms wherein tidepools nestle and miniature white sand beaches beckon children to feel the warm sand on their bare feet as well as the soothing lap of wavelets transparent as blown glass. You can gaze towards Coconut Island from Room Two of the Pakalana Inn, Hilo Hawaii to your hearts content as you plan a day picnic to the little Island, an easy walk from Banyan Drive where gynormous Banyan Trees tranform the road into a tunnel of shade.
If you chance to cross the foot bridge to said Coconut Island on a sunlit afternoon, you will likely see Hawaiian sea turtles rise up for breath.
A favorite "jumping" spot for local children, their distant laughs merging with the slide of waves over the breakwater into the receiving billows of the deeper ocean.
If you suffer from insomnia, as does this writer, you might try counting sea turtles, or jumping children. But if it's the Fourth of July, forget that idea. Coconut Island is where they launch the County's fireworks. Calling all patriots: One can enjoy a birds eye view of the Fourth of July Spectacle from Rooms One, Two and Six and of the Pakalana Inn. You can certainly call out the windows to passersby and even spray them with your uncorked champagne.

Picnic Table Hawaii Parks

Thinking about the picnic tables I have known. Friends I have laughed with, passing a shared bottle . . .or . . . whatever.
Nights under a full moon. The ocean all lit up silver. Ironwood pine needle Campfires. Sparks ascending upward seeming to merge with the stars. A guy with braids who could shimmy up a coconut tree. There is something about coconut milk sucked from the husk, fresh tradewinds and wood smoke. They go together. And they are enough. Work? I'd rather sit at a picnic table and watch the ocean, thank you. Poking a little driftwood fire with a stick is a lovely past-time. A great way to commune with the ghost of Jack London. One can walk to many a deserted picnic table from the Pakalana Inn and contemplate such notions. You can think about a lot of things. Or nothing at all. Doesn't really matter much.

Surf Hilo Hawaii

Room 2 at the Pakalana Inn, Hilo, Hawaii

There is something about the simplicity of Room 2 at the Pakalana Inn. Maybe its the ocean breezes fluttering the window shade. An invitation to reflect. The muted surfaces soothe the travel or world weary soul. The clutterless golden tan woodwork has a rubbed glow. It's the corner room. Out one window is the Farmer's Market. And the Ocean and Hilo Bayfront beckon from the other. A tropical place, with the pulsations of village activity about you. People going about their little lives, in little Hilo, on a little Island, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

But not you.

You are in Room 2. And in your blessed solitude, you stretch out with a new book, a pulitzer prize winner you always wanted to read, slightly used. The paper smells like those stacks in the University library in Seattle you used to love. Nice.

You found the book, a romance, after a midafternoon capucino at that funky hippie coffeeshop just around the corner from the Pakalana Inn. Down another street, the fresh trade winds blowing back your hair you ventured into the clean woody bookshelves of a San Franciso style transplant - used book store - art gallery. So many nooks! So many lovely little caves of books! The quiet as you immerse yourself in books is a respite. You flutter pages undisturbed, peering into the doors of imagination, places and pictures and words. Someone brushes past you - with a start you wonder if it was someone you once knew - his sunbleached hair now frosted with grey falling in springy coils down his back. But no, apparently just another surfer/closet intelligencia hiding in Hilo.

Still the way he whispered "Excuse me" as he passed . . . .

Now with the richness of your books nestled in your new handwoven lahala basket purse, you are at peace in Room 2 of the Pakalana Inn.

Pakalana Inn, Hilo, Hawaii Web Site

Click on link to website below for more information about Pakalana Inn, new Suites now available:

http://www.pakalanainn.com/

Hawaiian Ginger

Tender young ginger grown in volcanic soils.

Local vegetable include fern shoots.

Hawaiian Canoe Club

Hawaiian Canoe clubs thrive at Hilo bay, where teams of paddlers practice and race.

Pakalana Inn, Hilo, Hawaii

After your walk to the beach, enjoy vibrant tropical flowers fresh daily at Hilo Farmers Market.

Downtown Hilo Restoration

The sawdust was certainly flying as local Hilo Architect Neil Erickson tackled the restoration/recreation of historic Pakalana Inn, in downtown Hilo, Big Island of Hawaii.
The entirely new, relocated and reimagined stairwell encourages one to linger. A pleasant ghost of the Victorian Age seems to pervade the space. The mind is persuaded to rest in the memory of a slower time, before institutional "beehive" hotels became the norm. This is the kind of place Jack London or Mark Twain might have stayed. Genuine explorers, whether literary or rapacious, true originals, will appreciate the Pakalana Inn. And yet anyone who ventures into this space will feel the sensations of a slower time. A time when the tropic days unfolded in their own heated splendor, untouched by human visitors.

Not to say that the Pakalana is so chaste that it does not have flat screen television or internet access. It has both. Long term visitors, including writers, professors, astronomers and doctors will appreciate both the ambience and the convenience of staying in old downtown where everything is within walking distance, including the Ocean front, as well as fresh locally grown fruits and vegetables from the Hilo Farmer's Market. If you don't want to feel like a tourist, if you prefer not to rush to the same old franchises with their vast parking lots that appear in every city with little alteration, If you truly want to be in Hilo, you may find the Pakalana Inn is your place.
www.pakalanainn.com

Restoring Historic Pakalana Inn

The restoration of the historic Pakalana Inn in downtown Hilo Hawaii by local Architect Neil Erickson began with creating ideal tenant spaces on the ground floor for expanding "Hilo Guitars and Ukeleles", as well as "Sponge and Son" Bodyboards. Decades long tenant "Kojis" had already been enticing everyone in the vicinity of the Pakalana Inn with savory aromas daily. Guitar and Ukelele lessons are a natural for former flower child cum guitar virtuoso, now revered proprietor and guitar and ukelele walking enclyclopedia "Ken", a once upon a time pop sensation in the British Isles and beyond. You can see his Album cover displayed modestly if you peruse the gorgeous instruments.

Impressions of Hilo, Hawaii

Sometimes when the sun at this latitude emerges after a dousing of rain that drips off banana fronds and Taro leaves as big as elephant ears, it caresses steam like a conjurer to rise from hot asphalt. Glistening Wet sidewalks and the shushing of cars spraying water as they pass seem incongruent with such warmth and sparkle, but that's Hilo. Literally at the end of the rainbow. I've seen double rainbows and triple rainbows here. Sights no camera can catch and no words can describe.

Inhaling early morning air from my room on the second story of the Pakalana Inn, I felt I was intaking molecules of sea air mixed with mown grass and the exotic spices Mr. Koji was cooking up.

The pecular coo of the dove and the cackle of the Myna Byrds gurgled up in an aural mix that drew me to lanquid musings over my half papaya. Squeezing my petite Hawaiian lime over the blaze of ripe fruit, I narrowly missed squirting myself in the eye, just as throaty "pidgin" english laughter rolled into the air below me. Hawaiian farmers hollered and bantered exuberant greetings as they carted their fresh tropical fruits, flowers, and vegetagles to the open air market below me. They communicated in a sort of "creole" tongue - a mish-mash of Hawaiian, English, portugese and Asian with deep resonant base tones, as deep and rich as the ocean they crossed a thousand years ago to get here from the myriad Islands of Polynesia. Though I could not discern what they were saying, their festive jokes and bustle were a balm.

Come to Hawaiian Paradise

If you are looking for authentic, Hawaiian local charm on the Big Island, check out historic Pakalana Inn at www.pakalanainn.com

Feel free to call our intrepid designer/proprietor (Neil) at (808) 896-7564 or (808) 969-4945.

We would love to talk to you about Hawaii!

Big Island Downtown Hawaii

The rich volcanic soils of the Big Island above the historic Pakalana Inn produce delicious coffee, bananas, and macadamia nuts.

Stroll from the Pakalana Inn to Beach Parks, charming sleepy downtown surf shops, or the Hilo Canoe Club.

Antheriums Hawaii Farmers Market

What about Hawaii? Big Island?

Deep red Antheriums seem unreal. They have glistening "Plastic" red petals. Tropical Hawaii on the Big Island, East Hawaii. Hilo side. Locals mostly. You can enjoy such botanicals in abundance everyday at Hilo Farmers Market - just a short walk from historic Pakalana Inn.

Hawaii Tropic Funky Jungle Beach

descending from the soothing earthones of the quaint Pakalana Inn, in Hilo, I snapped picture after picture, dazzled by saturated tropical colors, a feast for the senses. The timeless vignette of a Hawaiian boy surf fishing. The splash of surf on volanic rocks, sun drenched lazy days and whispering palm fronds. Strolling in the torpor, the gentle wash of the waves, and the feeling of warm sand between my toes, lolling in the shade of palms seemed brilliant.

Hawaiian words roll off the tongue devoid of harsh consonants, a language that flows, and expresses a culture that is still very much alive on the Big Island of Hawaii, especially in downtown Hilo, home of the biggest and best Hula festival in the world. The Pakalana Inn is proud to host hula dancers every year.

Here adjacent to the Farmer's Market, you will find the Pakalana Inn, Architect Neil Erickson's very personal special project. Lovingly restored and funky. A tropical sanctuary with whirring fans and the sounds and scents of Farmers Market directly behind you. The fragrant ginger and gardenia triggering memories, perhaps of moonlit romance. Globes of succulent fruit await the artist, the seeker of health, the lover of nature, the gormand, or all of the above.

A place to recreate yourself, refresh, relax, slow down in the tropic langour. A place beloved by King Kamehameha. A time warp.