The first thing you see driving into Kailua is Kimo’s Surf Hut. It’s on the Kawainui Marsh corner of the Kailua Road/Hamakua/Kainehe intersection. I, of course, drool seeing all those longboards lining the windows. Takes me back to my ’62 Hobie Waimea Gun, single fin, pre-thruster days. You already know that surfing is God’s chosen sport, and Kimo’s is its house of worship. There are over 750 boards at Kimo’s, and the way they’re all lined up and stacked here and there reminds me of a choir, preparing to lift you up to heaven. There’s a faint waft of foam and fiberglass and wax permeating the place, like incense in a church. This isn’t one of those “gee, I want to look like a surfer” kind of places. This is the real thing. A throwback to the old days. This is a real working surf shop. Pulling into the parking lot behind the store, you have to maneuver around the benches, where there’s always a board or two in various stages of shaping, glassing, or ding repair. You can buy or sell or trade or rent surfboards and stand up paddle boards, and you can get wax and leashes and all the other stuff you’d expect, but take some time to appreciate the vintage boards. What caught my eye was the bare wood, solid balsa longboard near the entrance that’s many decades older than I am. Look, but don’t touch. This is a genuine artifact to be revered. Duke would have been comfortable in Kimo’s.