Community & Economy

Turkey Hunt With a View

Justin Fagala of Pearl City holds the turkey while his son Christian holds the shotgun that bagged it. Hawaii Island’s Parker Ranch offers guided hunts of wild animals for one to four people. You can hunt goats and wild pigs…

Kiteboarding for Everyone

If you have been admiring kiteboarding from afar, David Dorn says it’s time to try it yourself. Dorn is the owner of Action Sports Maui and has been teaching kiteboarding since 1997. Back then, he says, “It was more of…

Ranking Hawaii's Charities

Charity Navigator has been using the same method to rate the nation’s nonprofits since 2002. In this issue, Hawaii Business looks at the 27 local charities on the list. But it’s worth remembering that any such rating system, though valuable,…

Forever Changed

Iselle battered Pahoa, then lava threatened to overrun it. This sleepy Hawaii Island town persevered, as did most of its businesses, but many other things will never be the same PAHOA, Hawaii Island – Petra Wiesenbauer, owner of Hale Moana Bed…

Follow the Money

Dozens of local charities work with homeless people. All have boards of directors and staff. Most have an office and equipment, like a bus or kitchen, to maintain. And almost all face the same need to raise funds and provide…

The Story of Hawaii's Lost Luggage

Brittany Thornton is an experienced interisland flyer. For five years, the licensed nurse lived on Kauai and would visit Oahu nearly every month to see friends, shop or work. Thornton would always check a large rolling suitcase, often half-empty, ready…

Not as Easy as (Pumpkin) Pie

IF CARVING PUMPKINS during Halloween season is too conventional for you, Island Divers Hawaii offers the chance to do it underwater, which is as challenging as you would guess. “You go down there with high hopes that you’re going to…

Out-Of-The-Way

JEANA IWALANI NALUAI calls her business a getaway from the masses. Hoomana Spa is on Piiholo Road near the Makawao Forest Reserve, an hour by car from Kaanapali and Lahaina and 40 minutes from Kihei and Wailua – the places where…

Still Cruise'n

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…

New Ways to Measure Prosperity

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…

The Biggest Getting Bigger

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…

Distant Peak

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…

Stars Above Hawaii

IF YOU'VE SEEN the moon, the rings of Saturn and other galaxies in sci-fi movies, you should check them out in reality. Stars Above Hawaii offers twice-nightly tours with its powerful telescopes and other equipment from the Ko Olina Resort. The…

HB Life: Jazz With Elegance

TUCKED IN A CORNER of the Halekulani is Lewer’s Lounge, where everyone from jazz aficionados to the musically curious can listen to gifted musician such as Na Hoku-award winning singer and pianist Maggie Herron. Add a handcrafted cocktail and the Hawaiian…

Did You Know: Size Matters

The Hawaii Community Development Authority, the agency that oversees development in Kakaako and a few other places on Oahu, runs its shop with a mountain of rules and regulations, as you might expect. Whether you agree with HCDA’s rules or…

Crowded Water

THE TRAVEL CHANNEL named Kona’s manta ray night dive one of the top 10 things to do in your lifetime. As they feed on the plankton attracted to the flashlights held by divers and snorkelers, the gentle yet massive rays,…

They've Earned Their Stars

THE OLD ADAGE still matters in Hawaii’s top hotels: Every little thing counts. That commitment to seemingly small things – greeting you by name when you check in, smiling at you with every interaction – has kept two hotels as the…

2015 BOSS SURVEY

WHAT IS THE BOSS? BOSS stands for the Business Outlook and Sentiment Survey and it’s conducted twice a year for Hawaii Business by QMark Research. It provides a revealing picture of Hawaii’s economy by asking about 400 business leaders twice…