Independence Day
How a Hollywood star spends a free afternoon exploring the city of Honolulu.
Many people know of Bill Pullman, the American movie star. The consummate character actor has been directed by everyone from comedy legend Mel Brooks to art house auteur David Lynch. He’s forever etched in the pop-culture consciousness as the on-screen U.S. president who saved the human race from a hostile alien invasion. But not many people know the Bill Pullman who loves plants. Adores them, really. During a week on O‘ahu, he visited a botanical garden not once, but twice. Clearly, nature inspires Pullman, who previously had only visited the rugged topography of Hawai‘i Island; this marks his first visit to O‘ahu. While in Honolulu to accept the Hawaii International Film Festival 2017 Halekulani Lifetime Achievement Award for his contributions to cinema, Pullman sat with Living to share his itinerary.
Independence Day
How a Hollywood star spends a free afternoon exploring the city of Honolulu.
Many people know of Bill Pullman, the American movie star. The consummate character actor has been directed by everyone from comedy legend Mel Brooks to art house auteur David Lynch. He’s forever etched in the pop-culture consciousness as the on-screen U.S. president who saved the human race from a hostile alien invasion. But not many people know the Bill Pullman who loves plants. Adores them, really. During a week on O‘ahu, he visited a botanical garden not once, but twice. Clearly, nature inspires Pullman, who previously had only visited the rugged topography of Hawai‘i Island; this marks his first visit to O‘ahu. While in Honolulu to accept the Hawaii International Film Festival 2017 Halekulani Lifetime Achievement Award for his contributions to cinema, Pullman sat with Living to share his itinerary.
Hawaii International Film Festival
“It’s so cool to see how long the relationships have been with Asian cinema here [at HIFF],” Pullman says of attending the festival, specifically noting the connections to Chinese cinema the organization has enjoyed for 30 years. Every fall, HIFF showcases an impressive schedule of screenings, notably world and Hawai‘i premieres from Asian talent. At the most recent festival, master filmmakers Feng Xiaogang and Ann Hui headlined the line-up of Chinese-produced narratives.
For more information, visit hiff.org.
Bill Pullman, American movie star.
Chinatown
Nu‘uanu Avenue marks one of the oldest Chinatown districts in America. The actor wandered its streets with director Jared Moshe to take in the sights (historic buildings, most dating back to the early 20th century), learn about its dramatic history (a spread of the bubonic plague in 1900 forever altered its architectural makeup when the Board of Health ordered a number of infected buildings be burned), and noticed its plethora of lei shops (because, again, flora). As their most recent film suggests, Pullman and Moshe have an interest in preservation; Pullman starred in Moshe’s picture The Ballad of Lefty Brown, a reimagined coming-of-age Western, that screened at HIFF in 2017.
Chinatown is located between River Street and Nu‘uanu Avenue, below Beretania Street
Nu‘uanu Avenue marks one of the oldest Chinatown districts in America.
Frankie’s Nursery
Pullman paid a visit to the hidden gem that is Frankie’s Nursery. His trek to this off-the-beaten-path locale in Waimānalo, on O‘ahu’s east side, further proves Pullman’s enthusiastic plant-lover status. Frankie’s Nursery specializes in tropical and sub-tropical fruit trees and a selection of outdoor flowering plants. The thoughtfully maintained grounds are set with mature trees, both functional and ornamental, that exhibit success in Hawai‘i’s climate. If you visit, be sure to ask about the rare Meli Kalima pineapple, also called the “honey cream pineapple,” which is a hybrid fruit created by Frankie Tsuruda, the nursery’s namesake. It is grown there exclusively.
41-999 Mahiku Pl., Waimānalo
Foster Botanical Garden is the oldest botanical garden in Hawai‘i.
Foster Botanical Garden
When Pullman reveals he lives a few months of the year on a cattle ranch in Montana, his affinity for nature begins to make sense: It is an escape from the demands of a high-profile career. Foster Botanical Garden—a hidden 14-acre garden nestled in the hamlet of urban Honolulu on Vineyard Boulevard—has the same appeal, drawing green-thumbed visitors and local city dwellers on lunch breaks into its welcoming collection of 10,000 rare tropical plants. Here, Pullman perused a variety of orchid species, found shade under a banyan tree, and saw one of the garden’s most exceptional plants, a small loulu, which is surrounded by an iron fence. Dr. William Hillebrand, a physician and botanist who lived at this location, planted this native palm tree in 1851.
180 N. Vineyard Blvd., Honolulu
Hawaii International Film Festival
“It’s so cool to see how long the relationships have been with Asian cinema here [at HIFF],” Pullman says of attending the festival, specifically noting the connections to Chinese cinema the organization has enjoyed for 30 years. Every fall, HIFF showcases an impressive schedule of screenings, notably world and Hawai‘i premieres from Asian talent. At the most recent festival, master filmmakers Feng Xiaogang and Ann Hui headlined the line-up of Chinese-produced narratives.
For more information, visit hiff.org.
Chinatown
Nu‘uanu Avenue marks one of the oldest Chinatown districts in America. The actor wandered its streets with director Jared Moshe to take in the sights (historic buildings, most dating back to the early 20th century), learn about its dramatic history (a spread of the bubonic plague in 1900 forever altered its architectural makeup when the Board of Health ordered a number of infected buildings be burned), and noticed its plethora of lei shops (because, again, flora). As their most recent film suggests, Pullman and Moshe have an interest in preservation; Pullman starred in Moshe’s picture The Ballad of Lefty Brown, a reimagined coming-of-age Western, that screened at HIFF in 2017.
Chinatown is located between River Street and Nu‘uanu Avenue, below Beretania Street
Frankie’s Nursery
Pullman paid a visit to the hidden gem that is Frankie’s Nursery. His trek to this off-the-beaten-path locale in Waimānalo, on O‘ahu’s east side, further proves Pullman’s enthusiastic plant-lover status. Frankie’s Nursery specializes in tropical and sub-tropical fruit trees and a selection of outdoor flowering plants. The thoughtfully maintained grounds are set with mature trees, both functional and ornamental, that exhibit success in Hawai‘i’s climate. If you visit, be sure to ask about the rare Meli Kalima pineapple, also called the “honey cream pineapple,” which is a hybrid fruit created by Frankie Tsuruda, the nursery’s namesake. It is grown there exclusively.
41-999 Mahiku Pl., Waimānalo
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