Laenani Neighborhood Park

We visited Laenani Neighborhood Park on a whim after searching for a place to eat our chicken and sushi lunch. When this came up on our search, we knew that this was the place to eat and relax. There are tables and restrooms here, in addition to an amazing beach. There is limited parking here, so you may have to arrive early on a weekend or come on a weekday like we did.

Somehow, all of the reviews for this business page refer to Kualoa Park -not Laenani Neighborhood Park.There's a big difference.I don't know what went wrong.I don't know how to fix this.So - for those of you who wonder where your review of Kualoa Park (and the view of Chinaman's Hat) went - this is one reason: The business page was renamed... Uhg!Anyway, Laenani Neighborhood Park is also a Beach Park. It's located next to the ocean and has a basketball court, outdoor shower, free parking stalls, and restroom facilities. It's hidden in a residential area - off a steep, one laned road.This park does have a view of Chinaman's Hat, but it's not as close of a view as it is from Kualoa Park.

Beautiful place to enjoy a family day! I grew up here as my family lives within the area! Fished,grabbed and dived from this very park. Caught my 1st tako (octopus) here.

We were looking for a place to eat after ordered food from the Poi Factory and stumbled on this park.It's a neighborhood park so it's quiet, has a restroom, and launch area for kayak... but no shade beside the ones beside the coconut trees, ~1.5ft width. It's doable for 1 person to sit and have their meal but not suitable for more than 1 person unless you have chair/towels and umbrellas.The beach is along a stone wall and no sand if high tide. When the tide goes down it's kind of dirty.

Nice little local beach on the Windward side. Small and very little parking, tranquil but a small stretch of sand, nothing to lay out on. Does have a picnic table to have your lunch, read a book or just watch the water and take in the beautiful view of Chinaman's hat. It's always a nice to pay tribute to loved ones and throw flowers or leis into the ocean. Overall, it's a nice getaway spot to get away too...

This scenery at this park is gorgeous. You get a great view of the crystal blue water and Chinaman's Hat. It's across the street from Kualoa Ranch and has a big parking lot. This is a great place to take pictures. I saw a couple taking their wedding pics. It's not overly crowded. It was us, another couple, and the wedding couple. We came on a weekday and no one was in the water. As I was walking in the sand, I noticed that it was soft and fine.

Beautiful view of Chinaman's hat.It was a great place to take my dog to run around. People can go camping in 2 areas.

Date: Sunday, October 9, 2016Time: Approximately 1330 Hours While driving along Kamehameha Highway on a beautiful Sunday afternoon, we had to pull over at this park as I was looking at the gorgeous mountain ridge to my left. That's when I realized that we had reached Kualoa Ranch, the location where they filmed Jurassic Park. I knew it looked familiar. Across from Kualoa Ranch is Kualoa Regional Park, 153 acres of beautiful beachfront land with white sand. There's plenty of parking and I made sure to park underneath a shade of trees and do it local style parking, or fancy parking where I come from. Here's a tip: Even if you have to park farther in order to find a shaded parking space, it's so totally worth it as the heat of the sun bakes the car without a shade. Local style parking means parking your car in reverse so it's easier and safer to get out when it's time to go. One thing I also noticed immediately about Oahu is the amount of abundant wildlife around, especially all types of wonderful birds getting up close to humans. This place was no exception as there were different types of herons, egrets, tropicbirds, terns and many more species just walking around and chillin' on the beach and grass minding their own business without a care in the world. You have a great view of Mokoli'i, a basalt islet (AKA Chinaman's Hat) is about 1/3 of a mile from the shore and was once connected to the island as a basaltic ridge until erosion separated it from the island. You can reach the islet by boat, kayak, paddle board, surfboard or swimming. Unless you're a great swimmer like Duke Kahanamoku, I wouldn't suggest it. Mokoli'i means "little lizard" in Hawaiian, and legend has it that the islet is the remains of a lizard's tail that was chopped off and toss to the ocean by the Hawaiian goddess Hi'iaka. (Thanks to local Hawaiian Yelper Fran C. for the 411 on the 808)The park is popular for locals as there were a lot of my peeps speaking Ilocano and Tagalog as we passed by their picnic areas. The smell of chicken BBQ and fish being grilled felt like I was home there for a minute. It's also popular for local kids to fish and they showed me a couple of bone fish that they caught. And if it's popular with the locals it also means that the tourists are not too far behind. We were enjoying a nice and quiet time taking photos until 3 large buses filled with Asian tourists pulled in and they started flocking everywhere like an invading army of ants invading a pantry. Although we spent about 30 minutes wandering around, we could have spent more time exploring everything it had to offer, but those buses kept coming with more tourists and it was time to go and explore somewhere else. However, I would love to return here and maybe spend some real QT and have some picnic with the locals **wink wink to my Waipahu fam bam** and rent a kayak to explore Mokoli"i up close and personal.

This place is amazing and because not a lot of people know about this place makes it even more special. I think people probably don't go here because it's a very small park and it's not the typical Hawaii beach like Kailua, Waikiki, Waemea, etc... I still loved it and released my Lei Po'o into the ocean for my passed away relatives.

WOW! What a spectacular beach park!!! I don't often come here, but whenever I'm taking guess around the island, I'll be sure to stop by the Kualoa Regional Park to look at Chinaman's Hat, and the beauty of this park!For those who live close to Kualoa Regional park, I'm so envious of you, as you truly have access to one of the most beautiful, clean, & spacious beach parks on the island! This beach park is truly unspoiled, as it's pretty & not over crowded. I found out you can even camp here (provided you get a permit) from the City & County on Honolulu, and if you like outdoor activities, this is the place to be!______________________________________There is a legend about this place, so I looked it up on Google so that I can share this interesting info. with you folks. Written by M. Keala Milles Jr. -Legend of Mokoli'iThe story of Chinaman's Hat or its Hawaiian name, Mokoli'i, had nothing to do with a Chinese man or his hat, but a lizard and his back. As I have come to understand it, this story tells of the time Pele's sister, Hi'iaka, slew a giant lizard and threw its tail into the ocean, just off the wayward shore. The island of Mokoli'i remains a remnant of the lizard's back, poking through the water. Even though I only recently learned of this story, the imagery takes me back to when I was twelve years old and first heard the legend of Hanauma Bay--which also refers to lizards--and never saw that bay the same way again.______________________________________So in other words, the Chinaman's Hat is actually not a hat............ but a Lizard's Tail. To me.........I still think of it as a Chinaman's Hat..........like the kinda of hats that the hard working plantation workers use to wear while working in the plantation fields. Lol!