7 Best Sights in Chinatown, Honolulu and Pearl Harbor

Some of the trees in this botanical garden, which opened in 1931, date from 1853, when Queen Kalama allowed a young German doctor to lease a portion of her land. More than 150 years later, you can see these trees and countless others along with bromeliads, orchids, and other tropical plants, some of which are rare or endangered. Look out in particular for the cannonball tree and the redwood-size quipo tree. A docent-led tour is available every day at 10:30 am (call for reservations).

Opened in 1922, this theater earned rave reviews for its neoclassical design, with Corinthian columns, marble statues, and plush carpeting and drapery. The so-called Pride of the Pacific was rescued from demolition in the early 1980s, underwent a $30-million renovation, and is now listed on both the State and National Registers of Historic Places. The 1,400-seat venue hosts concerts, theatrical productions, dance performances, and film screenings. Guided tours of the theater end with a miniconcert on the historic orchestral pipe organ and can be booked through the box office. If you're interested in the first Tuesday of the month tours at 11 am, call a few days ahead to reserve.

From Chinatown Cultural Plaza, cross a stone bridge to the Izumo Taishakyo Mission of Hawaii to visit the shrine established in 1906. It honors Okuninushi-no-Mikoto, a kami (god) who is believed in Shinto tradition to bring good fortune if properly courted (and thanked afterward).

A couple of blocks mauka (toward the mountains) from Chinatown is the oldest Buddhist temple in the Islands. Mistakenly called a goddess by some, Kuan Yin, also known as Kannon, is a bodhisattva—one who chose to remain on Earth doing good even after achieving enlightenment. Transformed from a male into a female figure centuries ago, she is credited with being particularly sympathetic to women. You will see representations of her all over the Islands: holding a lotus flower (beauty from the mud of human frailty), as at the temple; pouring out a pitcher of oil (like mercy flowing); or as a sort of Madonna with a child. Visitors are permitted but should be mindful that this is a practicing place of worship.

On the corner of Maunakea and Hotel Streets is this busy plaza surrounded by shops and an air-conditioned indoor market and food court where you can buy fresh seafood and seasonal local produce or chow down on banana lumpia (spring rolls) and fruit smoothies or bubble tea (juices and flavored teas with tapioca balls inside). It gets packed during Chinese Lunar New Year.

Both Chinatown's main mauka–makai drag and Bethel Street, which runs parallel, are lined with art galleries, restaurants, tattoo parlors, bars and pubs, an antiques auctioneer, dress shops, one small theater/exhibition space (The ARTS at Marks Garage), and one historic stage (the Hawaii Theatre). You can also take in the unique early 1900s architecture of the buildings.

In this tenant-owned market founded in 1904, you'll find a taste of old-style Chinatown, where you might spot a whole butchered pig, head intact, on display, and where glassy-eyed fish of every size and hue lie forlornly on ice. Bizarre magenta dragonfruit, ready-to-eat char siu (Cantonese barbecued pork) and pork belly, and bins brimming with produce add to the color. You'll find some of the cheapest Oahu prices on fruits and vegetables in this and other Chinatown markets.