Time Stands Still on Oahu’s North Shore : Years pass but quiet towns and surfing beaches within 90 minutes’ drive of Waikiki remain the same.

While it may come as a surprise to the neophyte, or even the repeat visitor, there is life beyond that glittering Honolulu sandpile called Waikiki.

I’m talking about a lifestyle that turns on vacationers seeking solitude without ever leaving Oahu: near-deserted beaches, sleepy villages, country groceries and laid-back, inexpensive little inns reminiscent of undeveloped hideaways on Hawaii’s neighbor islands.

In May, on a motor trip I took out of Honolulu, I hooked onto the Kalanianaole Highway (No. 72) east of Diamond Head, setting a course for the peaceful Windward/North Shore of Oahu and the plantation-style town of Haleiwa.

It was a trip that took in lovely Hanauma Bay (10 miles east of Waikiki), followed by Makapuu Point and Waimanalo, with a connection onto the Kamehameha Highway (No. 83) at Kaneohe, the only bustling town on the entire windward coast of Oahu. After this came the gentle villages of Kahaluu, Waiahole, Kaaawa, Kahana Bay, Punaluu, Hauula, Laie and Kahuku before sputtering to a stop here in Haleiwa, roughly 90 miles from the start.

Earlier, at Waimanalo (near Sea Life Park), I stopped to watch polo matches that are played each Sunday, spring till September. The matches attract players from Great Britain, India, New Zealand and Australia, as spectators spread picnics and toast their favorite teams with Champagne.

Several years ago, near this place where the polo matches are played, I camped by the sea. With the dawn, sunlight filtered through a rent in the clouds. Nothing disturbed the stillness other than the crowing of a rooster and the tranquilizing voice of the ocean. Instinctively I knew I was home, back in my adopted Hawaii.

I left coffee warming on a butane stove and took a breakfast swim. Later at sunset, I studied the ocean again. A rose-colored path unfolded to the beach; behind me, waterfalls set in wet-green mountains rose high above the highway that borders this stretch of Oahu’s windward side, en route northeast to the island’s famous surfing area, the North Shore.

On this recent trip, I wondered: Had this peaceful slice of Oahu lost its character? Retracing the route I’d followed years earlier, I happily discovered that little had changed, except that the beach where I camped those long years ago has become Waimanalo Bay State Recreation Area. A couple of miles away, I stopped at Chuy’s Hideaway, an island joint where locals gather in the evening to play darts and listen to a juke box that blared out “Waimanalo Blues” and “Pili Aloha” while the owner served up bottles of Watney’s Ale and Beck’s beer, along with heaps of sashimi and crab.

Continuing north, I studied mountains like those seen on Bora Bora, their peaks smothered in clouds. Beyond the village of Waiahole, a lone surfer paddled toward Chinaman’s Hat, a tiny islet on the approach to Kualoa Regional Park. No fast-food joints, no 7-11s. It is a land that’s fanned by trade winds; even weeds growing beside the highway are things of beauty. And when it rains, one hears the squall approach, well before a single drop falls.

As I drove, looking at the tropical, volcanic landscape, I visualized how it all began, this place called Hawaii:

Deep down the ocean split apart. Slowly, relentlessly, the violence worked its way up, lava building toward the daylight above. The ocean steamed. From the very bottom of the Pacific, thousands of feet below, the convulsions continued. Eruptions poured forth lava for long, lonely unfathomable centuries--they say 40 million years, geologists say. And then one day an island appeared, the visible beginning of Hawaii. With fiery brilliance, the first island grew and took shape, and after the lava eroded the islands turned lush and green.

You can still explore “old” Hawaii--its lonely beaches and the greenest of rain forests--just as I did this day on the way to Haleiwa, my favorite town on Oahu. Near Kaaawa, I passed a lava wall protecting an ancient fish pond, and nearby a sign warned ocean swimmers: “Unpredictable Currents, Deep Holes.”

Still, there are safe beaches on the windward shore, gentle beaches with ocean swells breaking against a distant reef. Just as they do at Laie, where Lora Dunn, an ex-legal secretary from Southern California, rents out a studio apartment for $252 a week and a two-bedroom unit for $382. To get a fix on this ocean property, it borders Pounders Beach, half a mile from Oahu’s popular Polynesian Cultural Center at Laie.

Nearby, Catherine Martin, who hails from Seattle, provides other vacation rentals with kitchenettes for 50 coconuts a night (plus tax), or $350 a week. Martin’s property faces a long, gentle beach and a couple of islets to which guests wade at low tide.

Other vacationers take shelter at Pat’s at Punaluu, a “condominium hotel” that welcomes up to four persons starting at $68-a-day per unit. Pat’s sits dead-center on a reef-protected beach, with picture windows capturing ocean scenes, the horizon and, at night, a skyful of stars. Although the rooms are ordinary, the view is inspirational, there’s a friendly staff, and meals at the Banana Beach Bar & Grill get high marks.

Another restaurant that’s a favorite of mine, the Crouching Lion, is a whisper from Kaaawa, a community with a grocery store and little else. At the Crouching Lion, guests seated in high-back rattan chairs face a huge open fireplace (a snug setting on a rainy evening), studying a menu listing sashimi, steamed clams, honey garlic shrimp, escargot bourguignon, Portuguese bean soup, teriyaki steak, chicken macademia, and a dish chef Jomar Galvez calls “Ka Ho’Okoa,” sesame-crusted beef tenderloin medallions served with a Korean kal-bi sauce. Galvez’s banana and macadamia-nut cream pies provide the sinful benediction.

An art gallery adjoining the restaurant displays paintings by singer Tony Bennett and actor Anthony Quinn, along with a rice-paper creation by Venice, Calif., artist He Neng that’s pegged at $19,475.

In Hauula, near Pat’s at Punaluu, one can shop for the exotic at Ching Jong Leong’s Grocery. Shelves groan with jars of kim chu wok bok (salted cabbage in ginger), canned squid, Oriental noodle soup, beef jerky, sesame oil, rice, dried mushrooms, poi wrapped in cellophane, won ton chips and canned bamboo shoots.

Nothing on the windward/North Shore coast, which is that part of Oahu that begins roughly at Makapuu, bends around the island’s northernmost tip and extends southwest to Haleiwa, compares with breakfast at Huevos in the funky old sugar-mill town of Kahuku. Operated by former Southern Californians Robert and Maria Pacheco, Huevos provides sensational country fare (eggs with rice, a couple of buttermilk pancakes and a choice of Portuguese sausage, pork links, bacon or ham) in an early 1930s plantation-style home, which has served at various times as a Japanese bath house, a butcher shop, a barber shop and a bike shop.

Luncheon offerings range from patty melts and steaks to mahi-mahi and homemade beef stew. Two people would be hard-put to part with $15, either during breakfast or at lunch. Huevos is special due to Robert and Maria, a much-in-love team who discourage tour-bus trade in deference to neighbors, who must share a pot-holed road leading off Kamehameha Highway between the Old Sugar Mill and the Kahuku Superette. Because there’s no address, watch for the sign “Huevos” and a white, two-story building with purple window frames.

Sleepy Kahuku is as gentle as a flower petal blowing on the wind. Tin-roof shanties face the mill, which shut down in the ‘70s and now houses clothing and souvenir shops. Also facing the mill is Ahi’s, which serves the best burgers on Oahu.

Only one luxury hotel does business on windward Oahu: Kahuku’s Turtle Bay Hilton, featuring a couple of swimming pools, tennis, golf, scuba diving and a stable of horses. Weddings are held at Kahuku Point, and Hawaiian melodies drift from the hotel’s Hang Ten Surf Bar.

Motorists pass through most of these towns in a wink. Dusty pickups rattle along the Kameha-meha Highway and little shanties sag on foundations beside the sea. Waves collide with lava walls and rainbows bend across the heavens. One can be alone on a deserted beach or detour into valleys with scenes worth every twist and pothole. Frangipani petals blanket the moist earth; waterfalls spill from jungle-covered mountains.

When I reached the North Shore, I stopped at Sunset Beach to exchange pleasantries with surfers George Jackson, a 62-year-old former schoolteacher, and Koapaka Brown, 56, an ex-Air Force hurricane reconnaissance specialist whose adopted Hawaiian name translates to “brave in the water.” Jackson and Brown were schmoozing at the Sunset Beach Surf Shop where famed surfer Rabbit Kekai, 72, drops by whenever huge waves pound the coast. Brown told how he is lulled to sleep by ocean waves and awakened by bird calls. “This is where I found my peace,” he says, “riding waves, sometimes threatening waves that bring me and surfers like me in touch with, well . . . creation itself.”

On this side of the island, there are locals who claim never to have been to Honolulu--even though it’s barely an hour away. Eighteen-year-old Nelson Paolo, who farms near Kahana Bay, insists he simply isn’t curious about “the big city.” I met Paolo when I stopped to buy guavas from his roadside stand.

Instead, the locals relax on the stoops of country grocery stores, taking their fill of local Primo beer while chickens run free and horses graze in verdant meadows. Others ride immense waves. In Haleiwa, a local doctor describes the power behind North Shore breakers as “like getting rear-ended by a car going 40 m.p.h.”

Nearby, weekend crowds line the narrow streets of popular Haleiwa Town with its plantation-style shops. Visitors queue up at M. Matsumoto’s Grocery for shave ice, ice crystals topped with flavored syrup with a dollop of ice cream at the bottom. On a busy Sunday, Matsumoto’s serves up to 1,200 customers at this grocery with its old-fashioned display cases, an antique cash register, sundries, T-shirts and candy.

Haleiwa has been described as “Oahu’s last historic town.” Gravestones at Liliuokalani Church date to the 1830s, and splintered storefronts on the main drag resemble those in a Hollywood Western.

Jameson’s-by-the-Sea continues to turn out the best fare on the North Shore: calamari, fresh oysters, a marvelous fish soup, opakapaka (Hawaiian salmon), mahi-mahi, scallops and seafood diablo, presented on a bed of linguine with a spicy red sauce.

Swimwear and hand-painted clothing are featured at a charming shop called Raising Cane, and expensive oils and water colors are displayed at upscale Wyland’s Gallery. Other clothing with French, Indonesian and U.S. labels is featured at the Silver Moon Emporium, where proprietress Lucie Talbot-Holu serves espresso to customers gathered in her garden.

Health food junkies crowd Paradise Found, a cafe featuring organic apple and carrot juice, fruit smoothies, a “tofu scramble” (with onions, garlic, mushrooms and spices), vegetarian chili and roasted eggplant cooked with olive oil, garlic, lemon and spices.

A mile beyond Haleiwa, in the sleepy sugar plantation town of Waialua, locals gather at the Sugar Bar, in a building that formerly served as the Bank of Hawaii. Now booze, rather than cash, is locked in the vault. Besides drinks, the Sugar Bar serves smoked bratwurst, German knockwurst, Polish kielbasa and footlong hot dogs.

Tiffany lamps cast light on checkered tablecloths, fans spin in the ceiling and melodies pour from a 1930s jukebox beside a bust of a cranky-looking Ludwig van Beet- hoven. Proprietor Peter Birnbaum (formerly of Hamburg) describes the Sugar Bar as a “Bavarian tavern in the tropics.”

Still, customers prefer Hawaiian melodies and country-western music to classical selections from the jukebox. Birnbaum has no quarrel, telling how the Sugar Bar produces more cash than the old Bank of Hawaii did in all its years.

Yessir, bundles of sugar.

GUIDEBOOK

Oahu’s Overlooked Coastline

Getting There: American, United, Hawaiian, Continental, Delta, Northwest and TWA all serve Honolulu from LAX. Through June 11, lowest restricted round trip fare is $229 on Hawaiian (seats may be limited); restricted fares on other airlines start at $279. Beginning June 12, lowest fares rise to $379 on Hawaiian and Northwest; all others rise to $419. Ask about fly/drive packages.

Directions for the Windward/North Shore Drive: From Honolulu (and Waikiki), take the H-1 freeway east, which becomes the Kalanianaole Highway (No. 72) east of Diamond Head. Continue on 72 to Hanauma Bay, around Makapuu Point and Sea Life Park to Kailua Road (No. 61) near Kaneohe, and connect with the Kamehameha Highway (No. 83). Follow 83 north along the coast, turning southwest to Haleiwa. Returning to Honolulu, Kamehameha becomes Highway 99 just beyond Haleiwa. Take 99 south to Wahiawa to the H-2 freeway, then continue to Waipahu Junction and join up with the H-1 for the trip east (past Honolulu International Airport) to Honolulu.

Alternate route: From Honolulu over the Pali Highway (No. 61) or Likelike Highway (No. 63) to Kaneohe to join the Kamehameha Highway for the trip north to Haleiwa.

Where to Stay: Pat’s at Punaluu, 53-567 Kamehameha Highway, Hauula, Hawaii 96717; telephone (808) 293-8111. Rates: $68-$140 nightly. (Limited cooking facilities).

Lora Dunn’s Beach Rentals, 55-161 Kamehameha Highway, Laie, Hawaii 96762; tel. (808) 293-1000. Rates: $252 weekly for a studio apartment, $382-$458 weekly for a two-bedroom unit (sleeps up to six).

Catherine Martin’s Beach Vacation Rentals, P.O. Box 86, Laie, Hawaii 96762; tel. (808) 293-5532. Two one-bedroom units with kitchenettes ($50 per day), only steps from the beach.

Turtle Bay Hilton & Country Club, 57-091 Kamehameha Highway, Kahuku, Hawaii 96731; tel. (808) 293-8811 or (800) 445-8667. Rates: $150-$190 ($320 for a cabana). Tennis, golf, water sports, horseback riding.

Alice Tracy’s Ke Iki Hale, 59-579 Ke Iki Road, Haleiwa, Hawaii 96712; tel. (808) 638-8229. Rates: $85-$165 a day; located on Pupukea Beach between Waimea Bay and the Banzai Pipeline.

Vacation Inn & Hostel, 59-788 Kamehameha Highway, Haleiwa, Hawaii 96712; tel. (808) 638-7838. Dormitory beds $12-$16, doubles $40-$45, studio cottages $70-$150. Discounts on weekly rates. Richard McMahon’s B&B;, 57-531 Kamehameha Highway, Kahuku, Hawaii 96731; tel. (808) 293-2554. Rate: $55 daily.

Sightseeing: Sea Life Park at Makapuu Point (tel. 800-767-8046 or 808-923-1531), admission $14.95 adults, $7.95 children 6-12, $2.95 children 4-5, under 3 years free; Honolulu Polo Club (tel. 808-396-7656), 2-5 p.m. Sundays, admission $6; Polynesian Cultural Center (tel. 800-367-7060 or 808-293- 3333, admission $25 adults, $12.50 children.

Other attractions: There is sensational snorkeling at Hanauma Bay; Makapuu Point is Hawaii’s top body-surfing beach.

Where to eat: Banana Beach Bar & Grill, 53-567 Kamehameha Highway, Hauula; local phone 293-8502. Crouching Lion, 51-666 Kamehameha Highway, Kaaawa; tel. 237-8511. Huevos, Kahuku; no phone. Ahi’s, Kahuku; tel. 293-5650. Jameson’s 62-540 Kamehameha Highway, Haleiwa; tel. 637-4336. Paradise Found (vegetarian), 66-443 Kamehameha Highway, Haleiwa; tel. 637-4540. Sugar Bar, 67-069 Kealohanui, Waialua; tel. 637-6989.

For more information: Maps and other materials are available from the Hawaii Visitors Bureau, 3440 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 610, Los Angeles 90010; (213) 385-5301.