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During World War II, Hotel Street in Honolulu’s Chinatown was the wildest red-light district of the Pacific. Soldiers and sailors lost themselves in the area’s many brothels, bars, opium dens and gambling halls.
These days, the scene on Hotel Street by night is part Thriller on crystal meth (glazed-eyed people wander the streets but they want crack instead of brains) and part nightlife archetype: seedy and occasionally decadent, propelled by creative collective energy.
The Hawai‘i Theatre and venerable-yet-bumping Indigo Restaurant have long anchored lively evenings around where Hotel intersects with Nu‘uanu Avenue. But around the corner on Hotel, a spirit of youthful bohemianism is putting root down.
thirtyninehotel at 39 N. Hotel St. is one such pioneering space. Established in Aug. 2004, it is an art gallery by day and a nightlife and performance space after dark (select evenings). From the street, a long, narrow flight of stairs leads to a high-ceilinged loft space with uncommon gallery accoutrements including a bar, professional sound system and open-air patio where smokers and their friends can gaze at the backside of the respectable part of downtown. Newjass Quartet on Tuesday nights is mellow yet buzzing.
Hotter, darker and louder than thirtyninehotel is Next Door at 43 N. Hotel St. The design of this “concert hall/cinema lounge” retains the bare brick walls of the original building, once supposedly used as a brothel, in a rough-hewn yet sensually-lit décor. Next Door is the home base of the annual Cinema Paradise movie festival and every weekend night features world-class DJs and bands. The dance floor is comfortable and the drinks flow strong until last call.
Nestled below thirtyninehotel is Bar 35, a plush, usually comfortable watering hole for beer lovers that boasts over 100 kind of bottled beers and a $3 happy hour from 4 to 8 p.m.
Like most bars and clubs in Honolulu, these places all close around 2 a.m., but if you’ve started your evening with the First Friday galley walk and made it til 2 a.m., Hotel Street is a great place to be. The clubs let out and you join the madness on the street.
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