Ukulele Experience: Honoring the ukulele

The Ukulele Experience is like no other. In an ode to the great Hawaiian instrument, the ukulele, the Polynesian Cultural Center takes you from forest through instrument design, into the factory and ending with a rich display of beautiful, famous, rare and fun memorabilia, gold records, and stunning and loved ukes from famous artists and local enthusiasts.

Joe Souza, owner and operator of Kanile’e Ukuleles situated on Oahu’s famous North Shore, was one of the inspirations behind this display. Joe has donated all of the equipment found in the factory section. A great supporter of reforestation, the pictorial mural as you first enter is of Joe’s land which he is reforesting with koa trees. Koa trees take over 100 years to fully mature, so Joe’s commitment to environmental renewal will bless generations to come.

Take a moment during your self-guided tour to note the beauty of the inner wall and multi layered bench, which we have designed to represent the beautiful curves and woods of a handmade ukulele. Further in you will see a hand constructed archway built by master carpenter Lanny Lewis. Make sure and locate our Keiki Room where your little ones can unleash the ukulele designer inside of them. If you look up, you can see the strings of our ukulele. Even our support posts are a work of art. Go ahead, touch them – not a one of them are actually wood. It takes an artistic hand to make metal and pvc look like it came from a beautiful old forest. But then again, the Ukulele Experience is all about the wood, and what marvelous things can come out of it.