Lee Cataluna’s column in today’s Honolulu Advertiser looks at the trouncing that veteran politico John Henry Felix took in the special city council election that wrapped up this week.

She concludes that it was the district presence of Ikaika Anderson that rocketed him past Felix, who had garnered a long list of substantive endorsements.

Cataluna recites the key Felix endorsements.

Felix had the big endorsements from the State of Hawaii Organization of Police Officers, the Hawaii Fire Fighters Association, United Public Workers and Hawaii Carpenters Union. His picture was all over the news recently for being nominated for the Jefferson Award, a big national honor for volunteerism.

What her column somehow didn’t include in the list was the Advertiser’s own endorsement of Felix, right up there with the others. And take at look at that endorsement. Nowhere does it mention anything about any role Felix might have played in the district itself. It seems that the thing Cataluna identifies as the key factor in the election failed to occur to the Advertiser as they contemplated their endorsement.

Sometimes looking at the big picture misses that essential reality that all politics is local. That’s certainly what happened in this case.

I’m going to devote the rest of this post to a shameless plug for my favorite spot in downtown Honolulu, Celia’s Gift & Gourmet. It’s tucked away in that walkway through the Arcade Building, across the aisle from the Subway just off the corner of King Street and Alakea. Not much to be seen from the outside, for sure. But walk through the unassuming door and you’re in a different world. You’ll be greeted by Celia herself, always busy at one thing or another, but she’ll take the time to learn your name and introduce you to other visitors. By then you’ll have time to take in the incredible array of diverse goods packed into a tiny space. Coffee is the draw, and things coffee-ish. But some people come for the chocolate (“heart friendly”, the research says), or the cat/dog food back in the corner, or the local T-shirts, or…the list goes on and on.

I took some pictures when I stopped by after lunch on Friday so that you can do a virtual walk through the store. Just click on this photo to begin.

And when you stop by Celia’s this week, let her know Ian sent you. Oh-ask her about her cats.