shave ice & gelato

I guess you could call Ewa Beach my new hometown. I can't believe it will be 15 years this June that I have lived here in Ewa Beach.

There once were two distinct towns; Ewa and Ewa Beach.

Ewa's history includes the sugar cane plantation, a sugar cane mill, and the Ewa Railway. My friend's mom grew up on this plantation.

Ewa Beach was a little town with houses all built near or along the beach. I don't know much of the history of Ewa Beach

When I first moved to Hawaii, I lived in Honolulu. I worked out in Ewa Beach for one school year, 1984-1985, as a Speech Pathologist, while living in Honolulu. I can remember driving by all the sugar cane fields down Fort Weaver Road to reach Ewa Beach. I even drove through a couple of controlled sugar cane burnings, which were a little scary. The sugar cane fields are now all gone.

After living in Honolulu for a few years, I grew tired of all the traffic and buildings and decided to move out to the "suburbs". At first, I rented in Waipio Gentry and Mililani. After a few years, I finally decided to buy. I purchased my little studio out in Ewa Beach. I have been very happy living in my quiet townhouse community (except for the traffic which I will get to) and have been very fortunate to have wonderful neighbors.

When we all first moved into this new townhouse development, we were warned that Ewa was to be part of the "New Second City". It was something none of us really could imagine. It was such a quiet peaceful area. There were only a few new developments built in the area. The traffic was wonderful, at least until we reached the freeway. It only took about 10 minutes to get to the freeway, 15 when the traffic was really bad. Since then, more and more developments have been built. It now takes me 10 minutes just to get through one stoplight!

Right now there are about 25,000 homes built in the Ewa/Ewa Beach area. There really is no distinction anymore between Ewa and Ewa Beach. There are now houses the entire stretch of Fort Weaver Road where there used to be sugar cane fields.

There are two beaches in Ewa Beach, with one more talked about "being built", whatever that means, and at least four golf courses. I am not a golfer, but I am very thankful for the golf courses, as that means no houses on those sections of land.

Two new schools have opened up since I have moved to Ewa Beach. There are now six elementary schools, one intermediate school, and one high school in Ewa Beach. We also have three shopping centers, one of which is within walking distance from my house. The shopping center by my house has both a Starbuck's and a Coffee Bean, which are located about 20 feet away from each other.

You would think that the roads would have been built as the developments were built. Don't even get me started on this subject. It now takes me 20-25 minutes minimum and sometimes up to 45-50 minutes just to drive 3 miles down Fort Weaver Road, never mind all the extra traffic on the freeway. They are working on widening the road by one lane and building one more road out of Ewa Beach, but the math is just not adding up, not with 35,000 more homes in the works to be built!

I really would love living here forever if I only had a "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" car, but the traffic is definitely getting to me. The problem is the cost of housing everywhere, especially where I would want to live. But someday I will be moving out of Ewa Beach, unless those roads come with those houses.

Here are a couple of photos (taken a few years ago) from one of the beaches in Ewa Beach. It's difficult to see but Diamond Head is in the background of the photo with the little girl.