Hawaiians moving to LV in droves

Ken Ritter

Tuesday, Nov. 23, 2004 | 10:54 a.m.

LAS VEGAS -- Joel and Melodi Kekauoha began hearing the term "ninth island" when their flight from Honolulu descended over the Nevada desert toward the lights of the Las Vegas Strip.

They learned the meaning later that morning, when they bumped into a neighbor from their hometown of Kaneohe, which is on Oahu, one of Hawaii's eight islands. Suddenly, Las Vegas seemed awfully familiar.

"It looks like we're back home," said a surprised Joel Kekauoha, 37, making his first trip to Las Vegas. "You see all your friends up in Las Vegas, not at home."

More people from Hawaii moved to Nevada from 1995 to 2000 than the combined populations of the islands of Lanai and Molokai, and the equivalent of half the Hawaiian population travels every year to and from Las Vegas.

Coming to Las Vegas "can be like a reunion," said Paul Kosasa, who found a ready market in the desert for three of Waikiki's ubiquitous ABC stores. The Las Vegas branches -- part hotel-style gift shop, part convenience store, part drug store -- remain the only three of the 67-store chain in the mainland United States.

Indeed, when 200 transplanted Hawaiians gather every two years from their adopted homes in California, Washington, Oregon and Minnesota, they rendezvous in downtown Las Vegas.

"Hawaii people are natural gamblers," said Ted Kamada, a reunion organizer who graduated from high school in Maui in 1950. "Las Vegas is a natural thing for them."

Steven Lum, a Las Vegas real estate businessman, estimates there were a few hundred Hawaiians among the 600,000 people living in Southern Nevada when he arrived in 1986.

Since then, about 25,000 people have swapped Hawaiian driver's licenses for Nevada licenses, according to Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles records. Today, Nevada has 2.3 million residents.

From 1995 to 2000, some 12,079 people moved from Hawaii to Nevada, according to the U.S. Census, outstripping the combined number of 10,597 residents on Lanai and Molokai.

"In Vegas, you have a higher standard of living," Lum said. "In Hawaii, the quality of life is better. It depends on what the person wants."

Melissa Nahooikaika's family chose opportunity. When the 18-year-old and her parents were looking to move before she entered high school, they put Kona and the Big Island behind them and put down roots in Southern Nevada. Her dad found work building houses in one of the nation's fastest-growing areas.

"The price of living was really high there," Nahooikaika said as she stepped from a Jeep Cherokee with "Hawaiian By Blood" stenciled on the rear window.

Everyone in Hawaii knows someone who moved to Las Vegas, said tourist Melodi Kekauoha, 36. She said that while visiting the city she and her husband planned to see friends who made the leap across the Pacific.

To meet increased demand, Hawaiian Airlines plans to add a redeye flight in April 2005 and Aloha Airlines launched a direct daily flight this year between Vegas' McCarran International Airport and Honolulu. Air travel from the islands is up nearly 27 percent from January to August this year.

McCarran, which tallies both commercial and charter passengers, reported 690,772 traveled to and from Hawaii in 2003. For such a small state -- Hawaii has a population of only 1.2 million -- it is in the top 12 for visitation to Las Vegas.

"The demand for Las Vegas travel in Hawaii is huge," said Keoni Wagner, marketing vice president for Hawaiian Airlines.

For many Hawaiians, their first trip from Honolulu to Las Vegas was on a cheap 1970s charter flight and a $9.90 room-and-meal package arranged by Boyd Gaming Corp., owner of several downtown hotels.

Today, about 80 percent of Boyd's customers come from Hawaii, said John Repetti, a company vice president. Company charters bring 10,000 travelers a month from Hawaii.

"Customers who come in, I used to deal to their father or grandfather," Repetti said. "People come to our properties because they've been coming for generations."