Hawaii Live-O

Kimberley McGee

Tuesday, March 16, 1999 | 11:27 a.m.

It's considered the ninth island.

Las Vegas, that is.

Our town is the No. 1 vacation destination for Hawaiians, many of whom are moving to Las Vegas, bringing their food, music and "aloha spirit" from their island oasis to this desert oasis.

"So many island people vacation here, this is like their second home," Bob Longwell, general manager of Honolulu radio station KSSK, said.

Longwell brought the station's morning show -- No. 1 in Honolulu since 1983 -- to Sam Boyd's California hotel-casino here last Saturday to broadcast to the islands, a stunt that involved having 300 people, mostly from Hawaii, over for brunch.

Mike Perry and morning co-host Larry Price sat on a raised platform before the audience, ready to broadcast, urging the crowd to get loud for Hawaii, which is not hard. The crowd rallied, clapping, cheering and shouting to friends and neighbors back home between the usual morning show antics with a Polynesian spin: mock sumo wrestling skits, local island bands and singers who have transplanted to Las Vegas.

"It's like a suburb of Pearl City (in Honolulu)," Perry said above the noise the guests made as they swapped island gossip and tips on where to get good Poi, an island staple made of a ground vegetable.

"This is incredible," Longwell said, with Celine Dion warbling in the background as the show took a break to play some contemporary hits. "They do this every Saturday at the Hanohano Room (at the Sheraton Waikiki hotel) and it's the same crowd. ... There are probably people (who) have been to the show there (who) live here and came down."

And it's a growing island population in Las Vegas, with more than 35,000 people having moved from the Hawaiian Islands to Las Vegas, according to the Las Vegas Hawaiian Civic Club.

"It's really grown since 1985, when they started to really come into the community," Oni Onekea, past president of the LVHCC, says.

Still, they want to hold on to their island ways: frequenting local businesses such as the California hotel-casino, as well as Longs Drugstores, which caters to the culture with island favorites such as Aloha Shoyu, fruit juices, spices and Kalua Pig (shredded smoked pork). (Longs is also rumored to be the best place in town for Poi.)

"Hawaiian people are incredibly loyal," Perry said, spreading his hands to include the California hotel and its 80-percent Hawaiian clientele.

"They feel comfortable here, there's the same food as home, it's like being home," Perry said. "You don't have the feeling you are out in the middle of nowhere."

"There's something about Hawaii, and if you ever lived in Hawaii, you want to be a part of Hawaii," Longwell said. He moved to Honolulu three years ago from bustling Washington D.C., and said the kindness of the people there amazed him.

"I had sat through a (green) light talking on my cell phone and no one honked. They just smiled and waved and I was so embarrassed. Everyone is so polite; it really changed me," he said.

It's in the heart

"You have Hawaii at heart. If you have been there once, it stays with you," Mel Ozeki, publisher of Ohana magazine, said. (Ohana is the Hawaiian word for "family.")

Ozeki moved to Las Vegas in 1996 and saw a need for a magazine to keep the burgeoning mainland Hawaiian community in touch with its roots. Three years later, Ohana is distributed in 28 states, and it is even requested by people who have visited the island only once.

"They like the spirit, the attitude which is somewhat unique from any other culture," Ozeki said.

"It's a very close, tight-knit culture in Hawaii," Christine Biaggi, Ozeki's executive assistant, said. She and her husband left the islands in 1997 for work in Las Vegas.

"There were a lot of friends here already," she said. "That made the transplant easier, knowing a lot of local people."

Las Vegas' hospitality industry is attractive to the "aloha spirit," which is loosely translated into "mutual love and respect."

"That's a trademark of islanders, to be giving," she said. "Las Vegas and Hawaii are very similar with the hotel (and) the hospitality industry for visitors."

She sought out Hawaiian festivals and shops to keep the island in her heart.

"I didn't want to get caught up in Las Vegas' (fast-paced lifestyle) and with (her children), they are so young, 5 and 7, and I wanted them to always have Hawaiian traditions instilled in them," she said.

It's in the music

Guy Perez was surfing when he made the decision to get off the island and try someplace new.

His family had made trips to Las Vegas eight times a year, so the move to this home-away-from-home made sense. But he couldn't leave the culture behind.

Perez contributes to the local Hawaiian community by co-hosting, with Tama Silva, "Island Kine Radio," which airs noon to 2 p.m. Sundays on KLAV 1280-AM. It features island music with local singers the Wala'au Brothers and the Island Kine Band. They perform Saturday nights at Lally's Bar on Rancho Drive.

"Home is still Hawaii," Perez, a 10-year resident of Las Vegas, said. "But it will always be there. When you go back home, it's the same feeling."

That feeling is weaved throughout the culture, tying islanders into one community.

"We treat everybody as family, there's one big ohana," Silva said. "What really touches the people is the people."

He and wife, Ipolina, run the local Polynesian dance school Halua O' Moani Keala (which means "Wind-Blown Fragrance"), and pass the traditional dances of their culture to haole (Hawaiian for "mainlanders") and the children of transplanted islanders.

"Being a respectful culture, it's one of the things we miss and we're just trying to keep it," said Silva, who explains the influx of Hawaiians to Las Vegas as financially motivated.

"People in Hawaii can't really make a living, whether it be losing a job or they want to buy a home, and that's why they are moving out here, to make a more comfortable life for them and their family," Silva said, noting that they carry their culture into their adopted community -- that "aloha spirit" again.

"It's the spirit within us all to take care of each other and make sure everybody from the island is in good hands," Biaggi said. "It's that extra effort islanders give to help each other out."

Perez and Silva said that Las Vegans could use "aloha spirit" on the highways.

"It's a small island, there's a lot of people and the roads aren't wide like they are here so you have to work together," Perez said.

Maui Blend, a local island band, plays at functions. The music, its members said, carries the tradition and reminds people of home, which bonds them.

"It brings a little bit of home back to us," Mahi Wahinehookae, guitar player for Maui Blend, said. "It comforts the homesickness."

And how can the nonislander practice this spirit?

"Just be giving," Perez said.

And remember to say Mahalo -- Hawaiian for "thank you."

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