Local Traffic Only: Proverbs Hawaiian Style

In 1985 the renowned muralist Martin Charlot was commissioned by McDonald's corporation to paint a wall mural for the company's restaurant in Kane`ohe. The result was "Hawaiian Folkways," a 5x24-foot work depicting a day in the life of Waiahole Valley, the lush rural community a few miles up the coast in the heart of windward O`ahu.

Peopled with farmer and fisherman, keiki and kupuna, cops and robbers and many others, Charlot's charming mural illustrates more than 100 proverbs—Hawaiian, biblical and others. All the people featured in the mural are real-life friends, family and acquaintances of the artist. From siblings and children to local firefighters and an unsuspecting deliveryman to McDonald's Hawai`i CEO Pat Kahler, to then-actor, now-Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, Charlot's models acted out for him in person the proverbs depicting the good and bad sides of human nature.