Lovin' It...The Red Corvette

          At the far end of the North Shore is a little village called Haleiwa (that’s Ha-lay-eeva).  It is full of artisan shops, restaurants, galleries and the usual tourist traps.  Visitors love the area because to the casual observer it reminds them of the old Hawaii…a time when life was a little slower and the only important thing was great food, the brilliant sun and the blue, blue sea.

          I often drive my visiting guests to Haleiwa for lunch.  The drive itself is beautiful…a country road with the aquamarine ocean on one side and majestic mountains on the other for close to an hour.   

          One of our favorite lunch places to dine is at the very beginning of the village and we usually prefer to sit outside on the lanai where we can see the passing parade.  This is where we saw ‘The Car’ the first time and many times since.

          Our server told us The Car had become quite a fixture, parked outside the restaurant nearly every day of the week.  So much so, tourists had been known to frequent the restaurant just to get a look at The Car.

          The first time I saw The Car, I was so fascinated that a girlfriend and I hurried through our lunch so we could introduce ourselves to the owner and find out more.

          ‘The Car’ is a bright red Corvette.  The owner is a University professor who uses the restaurant as a sort of ‘office away from home’ each day while having his lunch and preparing for his classes the next day.  He admitted with a great laugh that his car had become quite a talking point around the restaurant and in fact, the Haleiwa area.  I would think so.

          I asked him what his wife thought about it all…the car, the notoriety, the tourists ogling her husband’s car.  He smiled and admitted she thought it was all a wonderful joke.  He told us his wife drives an SUV with a vanity plate that states:  ‘Lovin’ It.’ When he parks The Car next to his wife’s car in their double garage, passersby grab for their cameras and start snapping away.

          I can see why.

Me and The Red Corvette