Lost 2014 Tour: Finale

On the way to airport I stopped off for a few minutes at Sacred Hearts Academy, a private all-girls school on Waialae Ave.  The school's entranceway and courtyard were used for exterior shots of the church where our awakened survivors (and Penny) gather before moving on.

In fact I had first stopped in the night before with fellow LOSTies on the way back into town from our cross-Island adventure.  Unfortunately when we arrived around 9pm the courtyard had already been locked (no pun intended).

Academy of Sacred Hearts at night.

Academy of Sacred Hearts, daytime.

Locke arrives at the church.

Ben waits outside the church.

Church exterior from the Sacred Hearts courtyard.

Ben looks on as Locke enters the church.

Based on the position of trees and the rotunda in the screen cap above I believe Ben sat at the centre table (the one further from the lens) in the photo below.

Ben's table (at the back).

Ben speaking with Locke (reverse angle)

A similar reverse angle at Sacred Hearts.

A great #1 and a good #2.

The same staircase used to enter the church, from a different angle.

Although one wing of Sacred Hearts served as the church exterior, the church interior was filmed just across the street within Saint Patrick church.  Several groups at LOST 2014 visited St. Patrick and at least one filmed a brilliant recreation of the LOST finale church scene there.  Unfortunately I missed the chance to see inside; on the bright side, one more reason to return.

Ben's not quite ready to move on.

I'm not quite ready to leave Hawaii.

Lost 2014 Tour: Seoul Gateway Hotel

The Royal Garden at Waikiki is a Honolulu hotel which stood in for the Seoul Gateway Hotel in the season 2 episode "... And Found".  Jin is hired as a doorman at the hotel, but later resigns to protest his boss's treatment of a village boy and his Father.

The Royal Garden at Waikiki

The Royal Garden has a beautiful emerald exterior and, with a few strategically placed Oriental props, served nicely as a Korean high-end hotel. 

The Seoul Gateway Hotel, as it appears in "...And Found" 

Beautiful entrance to the Royal Garden at Waikiki

Doorman at the Seoul Gateway Hotel

Either the Royal Garden remodelled it front entrance after shooting took place, or the LOST prop department did another bang-up job.  In 2014 the Royal Garden has automatic doors instead of the pull-door, and the external vertical green pillars are nowhere to be found.

Wider shot of the Royal Garden entrance.

Jin at the door with the just-entered Sun over his shoulder.

Lost 2014 Tour: Jin there, Sun that

The Ala Wai canal featured in several LOST episodes, most notably the one in which Jin met Sun for the first time.  See my previous Ala Wai post for more details.

It was particularly special to re-visit the canal with Chris and enjoy his reaction as well.

Walkway along the Ala Wai canal.

Chris standing under some familiar trees.

Michael and mini-Walt.

View from the "other" side of the bridge.

Lost 2014 Tour: G'day for a Visit

No trip to Honolulu would be complete without a visit to the Hawaii Convention Center, stand-in for Sydney Airport in LOST.  One of the only disappointments of my 2011 stay on Oahu was the fact that the convention center was under construction and I didn't have a chance to ride the escalator.

Happily the convention center was open this time around and I giddily rode up-the-stairs, down-the-stairs several times.

The iconic escalators -- fully operational.

Looking up.

Beautiful view from the escalator.

Almost at the top.

Looking down into the convention centre.

A familiar POV.

Jack at the Oceanic Airlines counter.

Lost 2014 Tour: Locke's Landing

I saw the Waikiki Landmark from a distance back in 2011, but this time around Chris and I got up close and personal with the building that served as a backdrop to one of the most dramatic moments of the series -- when Locke is pushed out of an 8th-story apartment window by his Father.

Waikiki Landmark establishing shot.

Waikiki Landmark.

Long way up.

Scene of the crime.

Locke's landing pad. (Sans shrubs and Jacob's bench.)

Jacob to the rescue.

Lost 2014: Day 8

Wednesday September 24th, 2014 was (for the most part) my final day in Oahu.  It was a morning of farewells and final location visits, an afternoon of relaxation interrupted by a frantic rush across town, and lastly an evening of delays and reflection.

The day started off well, with a last breakfast at Lulu's.

Last breakfast at Lulu's

Yum!

Afterward it was off to the Hilton Waikiki Beach to say good-bye to a few friends leaving that morning, and to meet up with Chris & MJ for a mini-tour of nearby LOST locations.  Although he had criss-crossed (no pun intended) the Island with us, Chris hadn't seen some of the key locations within Honolulu itself.  MJ and Chris were both flying out that afternoon, so after an hour or two of touring we said our good-byes and they dropped me off in Central Waikiki so I could check out one additional location that was on my list.  (As usual, I'll cover each of these locations in separate follow-up posts.) Afterward I walked back to my hotel, checked out, stored my bags, and found a comfortable location to hang out and wait.  It was another hot day and I didn't want to be sweaty and dehydrated on my flight which was scheduled to leave in the early evening.

A tweet from Jorge Garcia changed my plans.  As fate would have it, he and Daniel Dae Kim were shooting scenes for Hawaii Five-O at the Royal Hawaiian Waikiki (a.k.a. the pink hotel).  After hemming and hawing for a few minutes I decided to head over on foot to check things out.

Pink hotel in the distance.

Getting closer.

Almost there.

Unfortunately I arrived just after the shoot wrapped and spotted neither Jorge nor Daniel.

Missed it by that much.

Yet it was still interesting to see the bustling crew, the many cables snaking through the hotel grounds, and the equipment that minutes earlier had been used to shoot scenes.

Lights.  Camera.  No action.

I made my way back to my hotel and, after cooling down and re-hydrating, picked up my bags and called a taxi.  I wasn't quite ready to let go yet, however.   On the way to the airport I had the taxi stop off at one final, very special, LOST location.

Then it was off to the airport.  Usually I'm pretty good at double-checking flight times, but on this busy day I forgot. Unfortunately on arrival I was told that the flight had been delayed by several hours, and wouldn't be leaving until shortly after midnight!  I considered heading back into town for a few hours but ultimately decided just to chill out at the airport, review my photos, and reflect upon the wonderful week that had been.  Eventually I boarded my Air Canada flight to Vancouver, first stop on the way home.

If only the story ended there.  Unfortunately, tragically, the epilogue to the LOST 2014 experience was not a happy one.

LOST 2014 Tour: Beach Camp

Police Beach is a pristine stretch of sand just off the Kamehameha highway on Oahu's North Shore.  It served as one of LOST's most-used outdoor locations -- the Oceanic 815 survivors' beach camp.

I've heard that some folks have had trouble finding the beach camp; luckily we had the inside scoop from Amy, a former Oahu resident -- turn left onto Papaiola Road from the highway, park, walk via the access corridor to the beach, then turn left and walk about 10 minutes to your destination.  Theoretically you can also park in the public lot near Puaena Beach then go right along the beach, but that is a much, much longer journey.

Police Beach was the must-see location for my second trip to Oahu, and it did not disappoint.  The sand is soft, the water clear,  and when we arrived there wasn't another soul in sight.

Police Beach

Almost hypnotized by the sights, I made my way across the hot sand and rocky outcrops.  The start of the beach camp is marked by a bush that extends out onto the beach.  Often it was used to dramatically reveal the return of one or more of the survivors.

Beach camp "reveal bush", far left, from the camp's POV

The camp itself covers an area about 200 feet wide by 80 feet deep.  A strand of trees growing nearly to the sand line provided shade for the characters (and the actors!)

Looking into the beach camp.

Another angle into the beach camp.

Looking out from the beach camp.

Paradise.

I believe Sawyer's tent was built against the large multi-trunk tree with the affixed white sign in the pictures above.  And if memory serves this is a close-up of the that tree.

Sawyer's tree (I think).

Several other key locations near the beach camp are the graveyard and the site of Eko's church.    I'm not certain where either of these were located, but this slightly overgrown area just adjacent to the beach camp may have been the graveyard.

Graveyard?

Though the sun was hot I couldn't resist hiking further up the beach, the strains of Giacchino's epic music playing in my head.

Looking back at the beach camp

At the very end of this stretch of beach I happened upon several sunning sea turtles.  I recall these were mentioned in some of the DVD special features, and it was so cool to see them in person.

Dude!

Later in the day, just before sundown, I returned to Police Beach to watch the sunset.

Waiting for the sun to fall.  (Photo: Ian)

As advertised, it was pretty spectacular.

Not long now.

Touch down!

I had high expectation for Police Beach -- it was at the top of my list of must-see LOST locations.  I'm happy to say that all of my expectations were met, and then some.

Pretty as a postcard.