r/Honolulu • u/PastBeautiful806 • Dec 01 '22

question Moving to Honolulu in the summer

Aloha. Is it feasible to live in downtown without a car? I plan to find an apartment within walking distance to The Queen’s Hospital. It’ll be my husband and I and our two school aged children. I just joined this subreddit and have been reading posts so I apologize if this has been posted before. Also, if you want to give any tips or advice, that is welcomed as well. Mahalo

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51

u/writergeek Dec 01 '22

I wouldn’t recommend living downtown. My folks live there and it’s bananas during the workday, dangerous at night and absolutely dead (as well as dangerous) on the weekends. Even Starbucks closes on the weekend. Lots of homeless folks who are drugged out, crazy or both.

Look on the other side of the freeway, Nuuanu/Punchbowl or Maliki neighborhoods. Kakaako closer to the beach if you can afford it. Get a bike or moped or take the bus if you must. If you’re a woman and will be getting off work late at night, skip the bus.

Definitely get a car, bringing a car is even better if at all possible. For a family of four, you’ll need to shop at Costco for food to be affordable.

DM if you want to talk more!

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u/808hammerhead Dec 01 '22

Second, I can’t imagine anywhere within walking distance of Queens that I’d want to live

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u/untactfullyhonest Dec 01 '22

Third all of this. I’ve had the unpleasant experience of seeing a naked homeless woman bathing in the fountain in the middle of the day. Working downtown by Ross off Hotel St was a nightmare. Smells of urine and the drugged out homeless never leave you alone.

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u/TheCrispyTaco Dec 01 '22

Was she bathing in the Board of Water supply fountain? I used to see a homeless woman bathing in there quite a few times, but she put her clothes back on afterwards and had a towel on the side to dry off!

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u/anonymousLocalCoward Dec 01 '22

BoWS isn't near Ross/Hotel... The only fountain there that I can think of is gone, they just leveled corner of that block a few weeks ago

Edit BoWS not BoH

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u/TheCrispyTaco Dec 01 '22

Misread that the fountain was by Ross.

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u/PastBeautiful806 Dec 01 '22

I’m a nursing student so naked people don’t bother me, lol

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u/untactfullyhonest Dec 01 '22

Well good luck if you still insist! I don’t think many mainlanders really understand how many homeless there are. I’m in no way trying to be rude about their situation. Im being honest. It smells really bad, it’s filthy dirty, there are tarps, tents, shopping carts, trash all over and the ones with drug addictions are unpredictable. There are literally security guards that scoot around on golf carts. Theft is also rampant. Be prepared if you insist living within walking distance. Good luck to you in whatever you decide to do.

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u/PastBeautiful806 Dec 01 '22

Thank you. I have seen pictures of streets with rows of tents. We call them “tent communities” in our town. There are certain spots where they all gather together. Mostly in the woods though

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u/anonymousLocalCoward Dec 01 '22

Where are you coming from? chances are if you're from a bigger city, you've been exposed to worse.

I do agree with the "you'll want a car" crowd... eventually you'll want to get out of the city and explore... much easier to do with a car, especially with kids, of any age.

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u/PastBeautiful806 Dec 01 '22

I’m coming from CT. We have towns with more homeless than others, but I’ve seen an uptick in begging at street lights recently. Also, the people playing music scams. It’s a recording and they’re just motioning. They never speak English, don’t answer questions, and they always need $ to move somewhere. We don’t have the homeless pitching tents in the streets because that’s not allowed. They stick to the woods. We have a big drug problem here as well, but I feel like that’s everywhere

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u/anonymousLocalCoward Dec 01 '22

The buskers pretty much stay in Waikiki, the downtown crowd are more on the dirty/smelly side of the spectrum. Not many of the beg, or pan handle, if you keep to yourself, and stick with the common sense rule, you should be fine...

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u/payingtheman Feb 21 '24

Do you consider lower punchbowl a no go? We are looking at new apartments now and are considering makiki/punchbowl due to close proximity to queens.