Tuesday, August 11, 2009

August 13, 1959 - August 13, 2009


According to Wikipedia, Ala Moana Shopping Center ranks as the 15th largest shopping mall in the United States. It is also one of the largest if not the largest outdoor shopping mall in the world. With nearly 300 stores and opening them faster than we can keep up, Ala Moana Center as a retail giant is a force to be reckoned with. Hundreds of thousands of tourists flock there on their Hawaiian vacation and for the locals is it one stop shopping at its best. Ala Moana and I go way back, back to the '70s when my family would head down to the massive mall to purchase just about anything we needed. During my teen years Ala Moana Center opened another level with exclusive high-end Rodeo-drive or NYC based stores and ever since then, it's attracted the best of the best. You want Chanel, they have one. Louis Vuitton, Prada, Tiffany, Jimmy Choo, Neimn Marcus, M.A.C. Cosmetics, and on and on. If its designer and its hot, you'll find it at Ala Moana Center. They also have nearly every store you'd find in most malls -- Banana Republic, American Eagle, J Crew, and coming in October, Hawaii's first Victoria's Secret. No big deal for most of you, but us locals have had to mail order from Victoria's Secret or stop by one of their stores on a mainland vacation. In the shopping department, Hawaii is definitely not deficient. Culinarily speaking, Ala Moana has a massive amount of options sure to satisfy any palette and every budget, including one of the largest International Food courts I've seen.

As an employer, Ala Moana has been providing jobs for local residents dating back to their opening in 1959, August 13, 1959 to be precise. The name "Ala Moana" was chosen because of its location across from the ocean. "Ala" means street and "Moana" is ocean. Of the nearly 300 retailers at Ala Moana Center, there are 11 original tenants. On Thursday, August 13, 2009, Ala Moana will be celebrating their 50 year anniversary, with a BIG birthday celebration followed by a two and a half week long extravaganza that kicks off at Centerstage at 5:30pm. Of course you can't have a proper birthday party without a proper cake! Ala Moana Center hired cakelava to design an exquisite birthday cake to honor their 50 years, and we're having a blast making it! Rick designed them a really beautiful cake!

For those of you who are able to make it to Ala Moana Center on Thursday, there will be goodies galore, including a traditional Hawaiian blessing, a live performance by the Brothers Cazimero, chinese lion dances, Taiko drummers and so much more. Ala Moana will be giving away 1,959 chocolate bars, five of which will contain a golden ticket, worth a $250 gift card. Rick and I are thankful and honored to make their 50th Anniversary cake and can't wait to get the party started! Hope to see you there!

more cakes, coming soon!
visit cakelava.com to get your fix.


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