Waikīkī

Encyclopedia : W : WA : WAI : Waikīkī

For the suburb of Perth, Western Australia, see Waikiki.

Waikīkī seen from the top of Diamond Head or Lēahi. Green area below is the lawn at Kapiolani Park.

Waikīkī (IPA: [ʋaikiːkiː]) is a neighborhood of Honolulu, in the City & County of Honolulu, on the south shore of the Island of Oahu, Hawaii. Waikīkī extends from the Ala Wai Canal (a channel dug to drain former wetlands) on the west and north, to Diamond Head or Lēahi on the east. The name means fetched water in Hawaiian for springs that fed wetlands that once separated Waikīkī from the interior. Waikīkī has long been a place of relaxation. In particular, the area was a retreat for Hawaiian royalty in the 1800s.

Today it is considered the center of the tourist industry in Hawaii, with an abundance of both high-rise resort hotels (including the Hilton Hawaiian Village, the Hyatt Regency Waikiki, and the Sheraton Waikiki) and historic hotels dating back to the early 20th century (such as the Moana Surfrider Hotel and the Royal Hawaiian Hotel).

Waikīkī Beach is the shoreline fronting Waikīkī and one of the best known beaches in the world. The beach has had its problems because of groynes build-out from the shore. This has led to beach replenishment projects in the past. In the 1920s and 1930s sand was obtained from Manhattan Beach, California, and transported via ship and barges to Waikīkī. One disastrous sand replenishment project involved a man-made sand that the gentle surf turned into a concrete-like surface.

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