Sailboats have been “the other woman” in a lot of marriages. At least Bill Deuchar was wise enough to name his yacht after his wife. Deuchar is a developer whose former construction company, U.S. Pacific Development, built landmarks such as the Aloha Tower Marketplace in Honolulu and the Queen Kaahumanu Center in Kahului. He’s also the owner of Vanessa, a…
How many times have you heard the expression: “Laughter is the best medicine?” Well, get ready to O.D. with a blast from the past. It is the 30th anniversary of “Pidgin to da Max,” Hawaii’s original pidgin-English dictionary. First published by Bess Press in 1981, it sold 25,000 copies in its first month and is still in print 30 years…
$8.30 a pound Monday through Saturday, before the sun rises, independent fishermen bring their catch to Pier 38 for the Honolulu Fish Auction, the only fresh-tuna auction between Maine and Tokyo. The United Fishing Agency quality-control staff inspects and tags hundreds of fish before the brass bell rings at 5:30 a.m. (3 a.m. in the two weeks before New Year’s)…
Your inner rock star has been waiting for this app: Miso Music can teach you how to play several types of guitars, ukuleles, banjos and mandolins. Created by Miso Media – an app development company based in California but made up of musician/techies from Oahu – the iPhone app won the People’s Choice Award at the 2010 TechCrunch Disrupt. Miso…
Angel Keene, who trains aircraft mechanics for Aloha Air Cargo, is used to people’s surprise when they first meet her. Blonde and 5-foot-2, Keene is often told she doesn’t look like a mechanic, but she keeps her sense of humor. “I say, ‘I’m glad I don’t look like a mechanic if it means I’m clean or well-dressed.’ ” Keene grew…
Major nonprofits rarely put paid staff on street corners to ask for donations and recruit members. So when Hawaii Business staff kept seeing youthful Greenpeace employees around Oahu asking passersby for donations, we wanted to know: Is this a cost-effective way to raise money? You may have seen them in their light-blue shirts, waiting on busy sidewalks in downtown Honolulu…
Even with the decline in sugar and pineapple, Hawaii remains astonishingly agrarian. Nearly half the state’s land is still zoned agricultural and more than a third of that is dedicated to ranching. Source: Hawaii Grazing Lands Conservation Initiative Categories: Agriculture
Hope for 10 million people worldwide with corneal blindness may be as close as the Cellular Bioengineering offices in Moiliili. The firm’s Eyegenix division is shepherding development of a biosynthetic cornea that is being hailed as a promising advance for cornea replacements. Eyegenix holds the exclusive worldwide commercial transplantation rights for the artificial corneas. In August, a two-year, phase 1…
Most business cards serve a basic purpose: providing your name and title, and the best ways to reach you. But some cards do more: They help you stand out from the crowd. We got more than a hundred entries for our Cool Cards Contest and many were memorable. (Quick hint for those with dull cards: Start a makeover by using…
Applicants for Oahu liquor licenses must attend two hearings and submit floor plans, tax maps and other documents and certificates. It can take about three to four months to get a license, “assuming no issues arise during the licensing investigation or at the hearings,” says Anna Hirai, acting administrator at the Honolulu Liquor Commission. Hirai offers these tips to help…
John Adversalo and his staff at Architects Pacific sometimes work late into the night or on weekends. He needed a way to get quick answers in the least obtrusive way possible, so he equipped everyone with Apple’s smartphone. HB: Why did you get everyone iPhones? Adversalo: I was at the AIA (American Institute of Architects) convention this year and when everyone…
Q. My wife and I plan to retire in about 10 years. What should we do to get ready to turn over our business to our children? A. The good news is that you have time to carefully plan and execute the leadership transition to the next generation. The challenge is that there are a lot of things that need to…
It seems so easy. Get a truck, create a menu, make a few hundred plate lunches and find a spot in a business district or near a beach. The investment is minimal, the hours are great, the money is easy. Or so a lot of people think. But ask anyone who runs a lunch wagon and they’ll tell you just…
7:00 a.m., Friday Aloha tofu factory, Kalihi Photography by Olivier Koning >> Kam Lan Sou of Aloha Tofu pours water over blocks of freshly made tofu. Tofu mostly consists of water and must be kept from drying out during the journey from factory to consumer. Aloha Tofu says it produces 3,000 to 5,000 blocks of tofu a day, the largest producer in…
ATCO Software’s Web-based technology lets users quickly make real-time reservations for restaurants, tours and attractions without picking up the phone. How it works Tourists can book online before arriving, or visit the hotel’s concierge desk or an ATCOKiosk. For example, the software connects all of Starwood Hotel’s Waikiki properties so guests at the Moana Surfridercan instantly book a luau at the Royal Hawaiian or…
To the Office of the Governor State Capitol Honolulu, Hawaii Dear Gov. Abercrombie: I must admit that I had my vote reserved for someone else when we chatted in August at the Dole Ballrooms. You may not remember our brief encounter before I moderated a debate between you and Mufi Hannemann – after all, it was in the middle of…
The new chairman of the Hawaii Hotel & Lodging Association is Vice President in charge of Marriott’s hotels and resorts in Hawaii, North Asia and the South Pacific. Tatum says growing up in Hawaii has given him a valuable perspective on how the hospitality industry should work here, and how filling hotel rooms helps the economic health of every neighborhood in the Islands. Q:…
Tokyo, Japan — High on the stage of the Hawaii booth, overlooking the hubbub of Japan’s biggest travel fair, the musical group Manoa DNA launches into “Aloha You, Aloha Me.” It’s a catchy tune, sung mostly in Japanese, that has become the band’s signature song here in Japan, and the smiling, enthusiastic crowd gathered at the foot of the stage…
Watching the death of Act 221 was like watching the Superferry ordeal unravel all over again,” says attorney Jay Fidell, president of ThinkTech Hawaii. “Why this state continues to oppose progress and kill measures that so many people and businesses will benefit from just boggles my mind!” But not everyone in the local tech community is sad to see 221 go. Serial entrepreneur…
If civil unions for same-sex couples became legal in Hawaii, what would be the added financial burden on local businesses? A major study on the issue says the average business would face a small increase in the cost of employee benefits – 1 percent or less. What about the impact on the local tourism industry, which earns a lot of…