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A gracious family property on Makiki Heights overlooking Honolulu has become a world-class art center, showcasing cutting-edge work. There are delightful gardens, a quirky gift shop, and an exceptional café.

The historic 1922 movie palace, the interior of which has been fully restored, is a perfect Rococo jewel box and fills a much-needed niche for a smallish, acoustically sound theater facility in Honolulu. The Hana Hou! (Encore!) Hawaiian Music Series offers first-rate traditional and contemporary Hawaiian concerts.

Honolulu’s newest park – in its most-changed neighborhood on the waterfront between Sand Island and Ala Moana Beach Park – offers grassy knolls, views from ’Ewa to Diamond Head, picnic pavilions, a walking path, and a chance to watch the surfers up close at the infamous Point Panic.

Famous as much for its hair-flying winds as for its blood-soaked history, this vantage point is where Kamehameha the Conqueror did final battle with O’ahu warriors (see King Kamehameha I Unites the Islands). The latter either jumped to their deaths or fought until they were pushed over the cliff edge rather than give in. This atmospheric site is sometimes cold and misty, but always spectacular and spooky.

The gravestones of this hillside resting place founded in 1844 read like a who’s who of Hawai’i history, from the humble to the high-class. Nanette Napoleon, “the cemetery lady,” has written a guidebook and leads periodic tours – both are worth seeking out.

Hānaiakamalama, a modest white, wood-frame house with high ceilings and deep porches, was the perfect warm-weather retreat, just far enough up the Nu’uanu Heights from Honolulu to catch chilly breezes. Queen Emma (née Rooke), who married King Kamehameha IV in 1856, inherited the home from her uncle. It was slated for destruction in the early 1900s, but saved by the Daughters of Hawai’i organization, who now operate it as a historical museum.