WHY LIVE ON THE EAST SIDE?
WHY LIVE WINDWARD SIDE?
Ask anyone on Oahu where they'd go if they wanted to get away from the urban sprawl that runs from downtown Honolulu to Waikiki, or the suburbs of Central Oahu and the Ewa side, and most would say the Windward side.
No matter how you get there — the Pali highway, the Likelike highway or the H3 — the ride to the other side of the island is an amazing drive that'll put you in a different state of mind. It's not unusual to see waterfalls in the Koolau Mountain Range if it was raining, but no matter when you take the drive, the lush greenery and the view of the Windward side of the island from the highways and freeway is like going to a different island.
The mindset on the Windward side, encompasses Waimanalo, Kailua, Kaneohe and Kaawa, is very different than that on the other side of the island. Residents enjoy their slower pace of life and their isolation from the hustle and bustle of Honolulu.
Landmarks
Like the rest of Oahu, the military has a sizeable presence on the Windward side of the island with Marine Corps Base Hawaii, located in Kaneohe. Kaneohe and neighboring Kailua are the more developed real estate of the area.
If you're a fan of movies, you probably have seen the Windward side in movies like Jurassic Park and Jurassic World, and the TV series Lost, via the Kuuloa Ranch. The area around Chinaman's Hat, or Mokolii, was the stand-in for Okinawa in Karate Kid II.
It's also home to the Valley of the Temples Memorial Park, at the foot of the Koolau Mountains. Its cemetery inters those of the Buddhist, Shinto and Roman Catholic faiths, but its memorable feature is a reproduction of an 11th century Japanese Buddhist temple. There are also catholic statues depicting Jesus Christ and Mary. It was also featured in Lost, and the original Hawaii Five-O and Magnum, P.I. used the park as a location.
Hawaii's most famous son, Barak Obama, preferred the Windward side of the island and rented an estate in Kailua, aptly named "Paradise Point". Reportedly, the beachfront real estate goes for $4,500 a night and the median sales price for a single family home in the area is $830,000. For those who don't just want to live on Oahu, but who want to live in a paradise in paradise, finding a house for sale on the Windward side may fit the bill.
*median sales price of single family homes sourced from HBR windward coast median sales price average between January 2018 and January 2019