A Native New Yorker, who came to Hawaii on vacation over 40 years ago and never left! Ira is the Director/Founded of Volcano Garden Arts, created on a historic 1908 Garden Estate. Today, it boasts a beautiful Native Hawaiian Garden, Art Gallery and Award winning Café Ono, which has a gourmet vegetarian menu. As a full-time Artist, Ira’s work is collected throughout the US, Europe and Japan. The Art gallery features Ira’s works as well as works from over 100 local artists.
Ira enjoys hosting visitors from across the globe, sharing his beautiful gardens and art work. He is a gracious and open host and enjoys sharing stories.

Volcano Village has been hailed as a model "gateway town" to a major national park. Instead of strip malls, fast food restaurants and hotel chains, visitors approaching Hawaii Volcanoes National Park see...trees. Most houses, and even businesses, are tucked back in the cool high-altitude tropical rainforest. They're surrounded by native ohia trees, luxurious giant tree ferns, and native birds found nowhere else on earth. It's place where you can have all the privacy you want. At night, guests at the Artist's Cottage share the grounds only with Nobel the rescued rabbit—but are still only a short walk from the village center. It’s the sort of place where people not only feel safe to go for a walk at night but will give a friendly wave to strangers.


Such a place draws a unique breed of resident. Geologists, artists, nature lovers from all over the world, as ethnically diverse as they are tolerant and creative, call Volcano "home." It's a great place to have fascinating chat over a leisurely meal at one of the village's five restaurants, including award-winning Cafe Ono, here on the grounds. (There no fast food chains here, and people like it that way).


A few minutes' drive away is the summit caldera of Kilauea, the world's most active volcano, where thousands of visitors a year come to stare down from the observation platform at the glowing, sometimes fountaining lava in the crater below, or to hike through the park's lush rainforests and stark black lavascapes. Many visitors often drive down to the coast in Puna to see the steam cloud where the lava flow meets the ocean.


About 45 minutes away from is the City of Hilo and a string of picturesque small beach parks, perfect for snorkeling. Just south of the park are the volcanic black sand beaches and spectacular mountain scenery of rural, sparsely-populated Ka'u District, whose farmers are renowned for producing delicious macadamia nuts and some of the best coffee in the world.