The soon-to-be-demolished visitor kiosk

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The visitor information kiosk at the corner of Kapahulu and Kalakaua avenues will come down next month to make way for new, rock wall signs that will help tourists answer the mostly common asked question at the kiosk: "Where is the zoo?"

Acting Mayor Kirk Caldwell said yesterday that the kiosk is staffed sporadically by volunteers. When it is open, the No. 1 question tourists have for volunteers is how to find the entrance to the zoo, which is about 50 yards away.

The new signs will be mounted on rock walls, and one will point visitors to the Honolulu Zoo entrance, Caldwell said.

The other will tell visitors that they are in Queen Kapiolani Regional Park.

They are part of the city's new zoo entrance project, which is scheduled to be finished by the end of the year, city spokesman Bill Brennan said.

The other common questions that tourists ask at the kiosk involve the Waikiki Aquarium, Hanauma Bay and city bus routes.

But Caldwell said that information is also available at Waikiki hotels and the Honolulu Police Department's Waikiki substation, which is near the soon-to-be-demolished visitor kiosk. The work to demolish the kiosk and install the signs is scheduled to cost $72,000, according to the mayor's spokesman. It will cost $3.26 million to remodel the zoo entrance.

In November the city announced the demolition of the kiosk when officials broke ground on a new entrance to the zoo, which is designed to be more visible and closer to the parking lot.

The new entrance will feature multiple ticket lines and a 2,000-square-foot gift shop.

Correction: The cost to demolish the kiosk and install the signs is $72,000 and is part of a $3.26 million project to remodel the zoo entrance. An earlier version of this story said the cost to demolish the kiosk and install the signs is $3.26 million.