I took a stroll around downtown Honolulu to test out my new EF 50 1.2L USM lens and snapped this view of an inner courtyard at the King David Kalakaua Building, AKA, Downtown Post Office. It's next to Ali‘iolani Hale (State Supreme Court) and across the street from Iolani Palace. Although its architectural style evokes the Old World (Spanish colonial), it was built in the 20th century (1922), later than most of the surrounding buildings. It originally housed US Federal Government offices.

In 2002 our spendthrift state contracted Par Development LLC to purchase this building from the Postal Service for $7 million and restore and modernize it. They, in turn, sold 120,000 square feet of the 160,000-square-foot property to the state for $32.5 million. The Postal Service swooped in and bought back the remainder of the greatly improved space for a buck. Yep, a single greenback. Una George Washington. Musta been some serious backroom dealin' heah...

After spending 32.5 million the state renamed the United States Post Office the King David Kalakaua Building. The final ironic twist is good olde King David, Hawaii's last king, did double duty as both king and postmaster. Well, it sure is a purdy buildin'.

Canon EOS 5D and EF 50 1.2L USM