It's Ice not snow in Hawaii

Nico and I are headed to Haleiwa. I want to photograph Liliuokalani's clock at the church named for her, the last reigning monarch in Hawaii.(more in another blog) and take Nico to the little library hidden away in Wailua. (Hmm. Another blog?) Nico has been very, very patient with me while I've taken every photo I could with my two cameras, and talked and questioned the very patient secretary, Kuulei. He's even taken photos too. Mostly of the church door.

As a reward I tell him I am going to take him for a Shave Ice. Not Shaved Ice, as some say who don't live here. I look across the street at Matsumoto's. It is in direct line with the Church where I am currently photographing the clock. As you can see there are people siting and standing and they are eating Shave Ice. If you look closely, (click on the photo to enlarge it) you can see, there is a line in front of the store. I wonder if Nico will be patient again, this time to wait for his treat? We enter the line.

This is a photo of the inside of the store at the head of the line looking out. As we entered the store Nico was amused. It was as though we had gone back in time. There were glass cases cramed with odds and ends, enough to fill any tourist suit case. Old photos of celebrities, arm around owners, workers etc. There were towels, books, post cards and of course tee shirts.
As I stood in line I looked up at the menu. Mainly this store sold shaved ice. I've read that they sell on a good day maybe 1000. Now you do the math. Average sale $2.50? and that's on the inexpensive side. Not to mention all of the tourist gobbledy goop. That's not bad for a treat that used to be something that the Japanese immigrants made with a machete to quench their thirst while working on the plantations. This ice cone was a part of their culture as far back as the 1500's. Now it is a staple in the Hawaiian community thanks to these first immigrants.

I made my choice. The Matsumoto Special and Nico, whom I had to interrupt as he looked longingly at all the merchandise (no problem entertaining him in this line) said he wanted a cherry snow cone because "that's my favorite color".)
With flavor decided I turned back to look at all the tchotchkes. There was something about these pleasant beige keychains that I found attractive. I almost stepped out of line to get one for myself. But I was not going to loose my place now as the line was even longer then when I first got into it. Meaning it had gone out the door and turned down the street.
The old advertisements on the wall were amazing. Can you imagine how many years they had been up there. I think as long as the store has been there. I believe it originally opened in the early 1950's.

Now were up to the front. Notice the big block of ice on the machine. She churns out the ice and then someone else puts the flavor. Unless you want the black bean and ice cream.

This is the way you order your Shave Ice. Number of Shave Ice you want, size and if you want the beans and or ice cream that would be next, then flavor last. Oh and if you want the fancy plastic cup you bring that up to them and they add the finished product to that. There's an extra charge for the cup but I eat mine to fast I don't need it. (it keeps juices from flowing onto your hands which can be a problem.)
Here is a finished product. This would have been a rainbow as it has more then one flavor.
And last but not least, here is Nico, enjoying his red cherry cone with his red shirt in front of a red sign. It was a red letter day for him. Oh and mine was just delicious.