Photo: Aaron Yoshino Tuesday, 9:49 AM 1723 Kalakaua Ave. Photo by Aaron Yoshino Carpenter Helaman Miyamoto attaches the male side of a form saver during construction of a 17-story senior living facility kitty-corner from the Hawaii Convention Center. The facility is being built by Swinerton Builders and will include 168 rental units with 216 beds. Completion date is scheduled for…
YOU PROBABLY KNOW THAT Newell’s shearwaters, the birds native to Hawaii that are also known as Hawaiian shearwaters, are a protected species. But did you know their protection extends beyond the shore, including enforcement on Norwegian Cruise Line’s Pride of America, the cruise ship that sails Hawaii’s waters each week? “The boat’s bright lights were attracting the birds at night,”…
WHILE TRYING TO SAVE his home from foreclosure, what was most difficult to handle for cattle rancher Jeffrey Medeiros was not knowing the person on the other end of the phone line. “Every time I called the bank, I spoke to a different person,” he says. “They didn’t know me or my situation. They said they sent stuff, but I never…
The Hawaiian Trio band performs in the Deck 5 atrium. Photo: Josiah Patterson 10 years after Norwegian Cruise Lines went all-American with its around-the-Islands cruises, the Pride of America still sails every week, each time at least 90 percent full of passengers. Writer Powell Berger took the cruise and asked: What impact does it have on the local economy and our…
“It’s sensory overload. Eye candy for the geek,” enthuses Rusty Baily, 42, as he describes Gecko Books & Comics for newcomers to the local world of fantasy and fandom. “It’s very well-organized, but it’s got things everywhere. And it’s just disorganized enough to make you think you can find that little treasure in the corner if you look hard enough.” Baily…
IF YOU’RE LOOKING to record a moment in time, a photograph will do. But there’s nothing like a painting to capture a person uncharacterized by age or current fashion, says Kauai artist Isa Maria. “It’s a romantic, timeless version of yourself,” she says. “People can be without wrinkles and lose weight in a portrait. My goal is to have them look…
AS LEADERS, it’s the risks we don’t take that we regret the most, says professional coach Mary Kuentz. She suggests you can begin to get more comfortable with risk by changing how you think about it. 1. Question your relationship with comfort There’s a reason they call it the “Comfort Zone”; it’s comfortable! Yet growth and innovation occur when you…
David Segarra, co-owner of Grondin: French-Latin Kitchen. Photo: Courtesy of David Segarra RESTAURATEURS SEEM TO lead charmed lives. They pick where they work, set their own hours, create a pleasant atmosphere and run a place where people pay good money to have fun and eat delicious food. In reality, restaurants usually come with high rents and overhead costs, and “set…
YOU ARE ENGROSSED IN the latest action movie, noise-canceling headphones in place, halfway through your book chapter or, worst, sleeping. The flight attendant comes down the aisle, interrupting everyone’s mid-flight routine, and says, “Please fill this out.” You get the familiar two-sided form, but never anything with which to write. For more than four decades, state law has required that…
WHEN OAHU’S LAST dairy closed in 2008, Monique Van der Stroom started her own. “I went to college at the University of Arizona in dairy science. It’s what I really wanted to do with my life, so I just figured, if I wanted to stay in the dairy business, I had to create my own opportunity,” she says. Naked Cow Dairy…
While at Bentley University in Waltham, Mass., Deanna Rose grew skeptical of conventional body products. “I was seeking solutions to my thick Armenian hair and dry Northeastern skin that I could feel good about using, and so around my sophomore year I started concocting fresh masks and scrubs out of produce from our family garden.” By her senior year, in…
LAST YEAR, THE TOPIC was growing Hawaii’s economic pie. This year, the annual conference of the Hawaii Economic Association will focus on how to expand other facets of prosperity, such as environmental well-being, sustainability and social quality of life. Everyone is invited. Gross domestic product, or GDP, is the standard measure of prosperity, says John Knox, an HEA director at…
“I wish people would fully understand the ‘No boobs, No butts, No bellies’ policy when getting dressed for work … unless you work from home like I do. Then you can just let it all hang out.” This comment has two interesting ideas. One, how to tactfully remind a subordinate about proper clothing? Second, is it really OK to let…
IT LOOKED LIKE the end of an era. Maui Land & Pineapple shuttered its agricultural operations after 90 years and laid off the few farm workers left out of a workforce that once numbered more than a thousand. In what many saw as a hopeless effort, a group of former ML&P executives gathered financing to take over the 1,350-acre Haliimaile plantation…
A lot of collaboration takes place around the main work table at WATG’s Honolulu office. From left are Craig Takahata, VP and managing director for Honolulu; Tiffany Lee, associate operations manager; and Brittany Meyers, administrative assistant. Photo: Olivier Koning THE LOCALLY FOUNDED FIRM’S first hotel project was the renovation of the Royal Hawaiian in 1945. Today, the worldwide company has expanded beyond…
JANET GRACE CAME to Hawaii in 1984 aboard a Navy fast-attack nuclear submarine and was so taken with the Islands that she stayed. “It sounds corny, but I couldn’t believe I was living here among all this beauty and unique aloha spirit,” recalls the 50-year-old sales and marketing director for Attention Plus Care, a home health-care agency accredited by the Joint…
IT WILL TAKE a lot to pull us out of Hawaii’s housing crisis, but here are thoughts on some partial solutions. ADUs are a good idea, and each county has different rules on what are formally called accessory dwelling units. Honolulu City Council is considering legislation to make it legal for Oahu homeowners to add ADUs to their property, which could…
George Atta, director of the Department of Planning and Permitting and a former principal at the architectural firm Group 70 international, knows just how swamped Honolulu’s permitting system is. Hideo Simon can barely contain his frustration. “It took me six months,” he says, “just to get my building permit for this place.” We’re speaking in Square Barrels, his new restaurant…
Barber had been Hawaiian Telcom’s COO since 2013. He was promoted this June when former CEO Eric Yeaman left for First Hawaiian Bank. Your career began more than three decades ago as a phone company lineworker in California. What was the biggest factor in your rare rise? Early in my career, a plant manager asked if I had a suit…
High-rises in Kakaako, condos and a new wing at Ala Moana Center, development in and around Kapolei, rail, sewers and a host of other projects are keeping developers and construction companies hopping. However, they know from long experience that what goes up must come down, so they wonder when the construction boom will peak, a concern that factors into their…
The $572 million Ewa extension of Ala Moana Shopping Center, which is scheduled to open on November 12, has been an enormous undertaking. As Francisco Gutierrez, director of development at General Growth Properties, explains, the project will add 330,000 square feet of retail space to the mall. The footprint along ala moana boulevard of Park Lane, a six-story luxury condominium…