Greasing the Gears 5:16 pm, Thursday Aloha Tower Clock, Honolulu Harbor Photo: Twain Newhart >> Hermann Allerstorfer, Jr., oils the gears of Aloha Tower’s clock as his father, Hermann Sr., looks on. The senior Allerstorfer, a retired clock and…
10:30 am Monday Aloha Air Cargo Hangar, Honolulu International Airport Photo: Olivier Koning >> Captain Grant Arakawa, the fleet manager, and pilot Jeni Shibata familiarize themselves with Aloha Air Cargo’s latest plane, a Saab 340A turbo-prop named Ke Kela, meaning “excellence.”…
10:38 A.M. Tuesday Peter Carlisle’s private office, Honolulu Hale Photography by Twain Newhart >> Honolulu Mayor Peter Carlisle gets most of his work done in his inner office, not the ceremonial office that you often see on TV. He…
10:00 A.M. Monday, April 18 State Department of Taxation, 830 Punchbowl St., Honolulu Photography by Olivier Koning >> The room handling incoming tax returns was busy but orderly on April 18. That Monday was the deadline for federal returns…
10:00 A.M. Monday Hokua Condominium, Honolulu Photography by Twain Newhart >> For World Wide Window Cleaning, height is never an issue. From cleaning to specialty work, the fear is not height – it’s windy conditions. Cleaning Hokua’s windows takes five…
Local Whey 9:00 A.M. Wednesday Meadow Gold Dairies, Honolulu Photography by Olivier Koning >> Joshua Kauwe of Meadow Gold stirs cottage cheese curds while it drains liquid, called whey. Approximately 20,000 pounds of cottage cheese is made a week. The…
R.I.P. 1:10 P.M. Thursday Affordable Casket, Honolulu Photography by Olivier Koning >> Affordable Casket sells about 30 caskets each month with an average price tag of $1,695. While the company has built a reputation for providing cheaper funerals and…
6:45 P.M. FRIDAY Manoa Valley Theatre, Manoa Photography by Olivier Koning >> Cast members polish their puppeteering skills with Master Muppeteer Pam Arciero (top row, middle) in preparation for Manoa Valley Theatre’s Hawaii premiere of “Avenue Q,” the coming-of-age Tony-Award-winning…
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…
9:10 A.M., Thursday Aiea Photography by Olivier Koning >> Mika Fonoti of Access Information Management Hawaii stands in front of 1,200-pound bales of shredded documents. Every month, the company destroys more than 500,000 pounds of material containing confidential information. Its shredder has…
6:32 a.m. Thursday Basement of Gemini Observatory, Mauna Kea summit, Hawaii Island Photo Courtesy of Gemini Observatory >>Technicians from Hawaii and Chile combine forces about every four years to resurface this 24-ton, 27-foot mirror from the Gemini North telescope. Hawaii…
12:35 P.m., Wednesday Coconut Island Photography by David Croxford >> Last year, more than 4,000 people visited Coconut Island, home to the University of Hawaii’s Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology. One of the institute’s research projects is on the echolocation…
9 a.m., Tuesday Honolulu Zoo > About 550,000 people come to the Honolulu Zoo every year to check out 221 species of animals, including these crocodile-like gharials being fed by Jamieson Martinez. Gharials, a critically endangered species native to the…
Laser Focus 2:25 P.M., Friday, Ala Moana >> Dr. Tyrie Jenkins performed Hawaii’s first Laser in situ Keratomileusis (LASIK) surgery in 1997 and has since completed 10,000 such operations. Here she adds drops to relax the patient’s eyes during the…
Oh Wow, Lau Lau! 11:25 A.M., Friday, Highway Inn, Waipahu >> Highway Inn owner Bobby Toguchi, son of founder Seiichi Toguchi, still hand-wraps the lau lau at his Waipahu eatery. About 150 to 190 lau lau are prepared each day.…
Traffic Central 10:03 A.m., Wednesday Honolulu Traffic Management Center Kinalau Place, near Ward Avenue >> Staff here control more than 350 traffic signals within Honolulu’s central business district. Cameras at major intersections provide live images 24 hours a day,…
6:34 A.m., Monday Hawaiian Airlines MAINTENANCE HANGAR Honolulu International Airport >> This Boeing 717 pulled in at 10 p.m. the night before and the maintenance crew went to work overhauling the right engine. Engines are overhauled after a set number…
7:00 A.m., Friday Sea Life Park, Waimanalo >> Richard Coughlin, Danielle Holland, Amy Dickson, Stephanie Lawrence and Shanen Langowski break apart frozen capelin before feeding it to the animals living at Sea Life Park. Every day, the park processes about…
8:00 A.M., Monday Royal Hawaiian Hotel, Waikiki >> Lou Ellen Kaneshiro, director of housekeeping at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel, and her assistant, Si Jung Wong, hold a pre-shift meeting with her staff. The iconic pink hotel has 495 rooms and…
3:00 P.M., Wednesday Honolulu Community College Photography by David Croxford HCC’s automotive technology program usually has an enrollment of 70 to 80 students training to be Hawaii’s future auto mechanics. This class of 16, taught by Noel Alarcon, will graduate…
7:45 P.m., Friday Duke Kahanamoku Beach, Waikiki Photography by David Croxford >> Ben Pascual, a lead technician with Hawaii Explosives & Pyrotechnics, Inc., lights up the Waikiki sky on Friday nights. He has been a part of the weekly fireworks…
11:15 a.m., Tuesday Hawaiian Moon factory, Iwilei, Oahu Photography by Kevin Blitz >> About 18 employees work together each day to produce what Hawaiian Moon calls “Hawaii’s Finest Aloha Wear.” The company says it maintains a consistently high quality by…
10:30 a.m., Friday First Hawaiian Bank Operations Center Photography by David Croxford >> The Cummins JetScan MPS 4100 currency sorter, which counts, sorts and bands up to 1,000 bills per minute, is the centerpiece of the highly secure operations center.…
5 p.m., Friday Honolulu Broom Factory Kalihi Photography by David Croxford >> Brian Lum, third-generation owner of Honolulu Broom Factory, carefully binds a classic straw broom. High quality, in an era of cheap imports from abroad, has allowed the company…