Currently in its final season, the critically acclaimed series is shot almost entirely on location around Oahu. The island’s dense rainforests and sandy shores figure prominently in the show.
From the beginning, tourists showed intense interest in Lost — so much that a local company, KOS Tours, Inc., created a Hummer Movie/Lost Adventure, which I joined on a recent visit. And even though the show is winding down — the finale airs May 23 on ABC — KOS tour guide Matt Morici predicts fans will remain “obsessed” for years to come.
“Lost fans are like Star Trek fans,” Morici says after he picks me up near my hotel.
For about five minutes after climbing into the Hummer, I feel slightly self-conscious being chauffeured through the streets of Waikiki the shiny white behemoth, but after a stop to collect our companions — Tony and Sarah Denham from Ventura, Calif. — we hit the highway for a scenic drive to our first two Lost sites — Jacob’s house and the place where Mr. Eko is killed by the smoke monster.
En route, Morici tells us the tour draws people from “all over the world,” including Canada, England, Spain, Germany, France, South Africa, Israel, Mexico and Brazil, adding that he is a “huge Lost fan and a huge movie fan” and that guiding them is a “dream job.”
“It’s a very intelligent show. If you miss even one episode you are, well, lost,” Morici says, adding that tour guests see how “every corner of the island is used. ... It’s cool how they make it look like it’s in the middle of nowhere.”
His enthusiasm is infectious and even if you haven’t seen every episode — or any episodes — Morici explains what you are seeing in a very engaging way.
Each tour is partially tailored to the guests, Morici says. If people are “Lost obsessed” he focuses mainly on that. If participants are also interested in other productions made on the island, he provides information on those as well.
It’s not hard to come up with material. Oahu is been featured in so many productions, it’s almost a star itself. Television shows include Hawaii Five-O, Jake and the Fatman, Magnum PI, Baywatch Hawaii and Dog The Bounty Hunter. On the film side are the Jurassic Park films, George of the Jungle, The Karate Kid: Part II, Mighty Joe Young, Pearl Harbor, 50 First Dates, Windtalkers, Godzilla, A Very Brady Sequel, Tora! Tora! Tora!, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, and You, Me and Dupree.
Much of the tour takes place in the scenic Ka’a’awa Valley, where we visit the Kualoa Ranch to see the sugar mill ruins, enter the Cooper Battery — a World War II bunker that was used in Lost and Pearl Harbor and is now a small museum — and go off-roading through the working cattle ranch’s 1,620 hectares.
Morici has brought props — still photos to compare movie and TV scenes with real locations, a Hurley action figure that can be inserted into our photos, and a toy van that he positions “just so“ to make it look as if we are “pushing a blue van down a hill, just like the characters Sawyer and Jin did in the show.”
Morici takes pictures of us as well — beside various movie signs and inside the 2-metre “dinosaur footprints” left over from Jurassic Park.
At the end of the tour we are tired but happy. It turns out it’s impossible not to have fun getting lost in Oahu.
LOST AGAIN
You won’t find luxurious Turtle Bay on any tour but the family resort is a frequent filming spot for Lost and other productions; Lost art director Scott Meehan and his crew from Grass Skirt Productions were setting up to film episodes for the last season when dropped by the North Shore property for lunch.
With 356 hectares and almost 8 km of beachfront, there is plenty of space for the Lost cast and crew to get lost. But only guests staying in the 443 rooms, beach cottages and villas get a glimpse of the action, and use of the resort’s two landscaped pools, two championship golf courses, tennis courts, hiking and mountain bike trails, and surfing school. Turtle Bay was also the main shooting location for Forgetting Sarah Marshall. See turtlebayresort.com.
IF YOU GO TO OAHU
WHERE TO STAY
Upscale hotels in Waikiki have never been more affordable. Located between Waikiki Beach and the busy boutiques and restaurants of the Beach Walk, the newly renovated Outrigger Reef on the Beach is a refined oasis of calm with rates from $169 US per night. Winner of the Hawaii Tourism Authority’s 2008 Keep It Hawaii award, the hotel offers cultural activities, most of them free, year-round. For information and reservations, call 1-800-OUTRIGGER or visit outrigger.com. Packages are also available.
The Sheraton Waikiki offers great room rates — from $189 per night until March 31 for stays through May 31 — right in the middle of the beach action. A recent renovation has added an infinity pool to the trendy but sophisticated hotel. See sheraton-waikiki.com.
KOS TOURS
There are two-hour, five-hour and eight- and 10-hour circle tours to choose from. Adult prices range from $69 US to $209. See hummertourshawaii.com.
FARMERS’ MARKET
Co-sponsored by the Hawaii Farm Bureau Federation and the Culinary Institute of the Pacific at Kapiolani Community College, the
Saturday Farmers’ Market is held at KCC Parking Lot C, 4303 Diamond Head Rd., Honolulu. Call 808-848-2074.
TRAVEL INFORMATION
For details on travel, visit the Oahu Visitors Bureau at visit-oahu.com.
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