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Hawaiʻi Scene on Social

[{"text":"No need post bail, when cell phones exist in jail.","type":"text"}]

Firefly funny illustration of a bald man in prison giving advice on a cell phone 125937

<title>Hawai‘i Scene on Social: A comedy crime saga in two parts</title>

Today's social posts come from howsdisguy: Part one and two of talking story with your roughboy philosopher relative.

Hawai‘i Scene on Social: A comedy crime saga in two parts

No need post bail, when cell phones exist in jail.  

De Soto 2025

DeSoto Brown

Hawai‘i History

Columnists

As Aloha Tower moved into the middle years of the 20th century, tourism was increasing, and it was recognized that future infrastructure improvements were going to be necessary. Although travelers arriving in Hawai‘i by ship were gradually diminishing while those arriving by air were increasing, discussions in 1958 determined that Honolulu's main docks needed major reconstruction. Piers 8 through 11, at the base of Aloha Tower, should have facilities for passengers moved to a second level while cargo handling should be confined to the ground floors of the wharves. 

Unfortunately, this assessment did not take into account two trends that were already identified at the time — jet planes would be starting service to Hawai‘i within a year or two, and ocean cargoes would soon be shifting exclusively to standardized shipping containers, which Matson had begun using this same year. The latter would eventually require all of Honolulu's cargo movements to be relocated to Sand Island.

So even as visitors were moving away from ship travel in favor of faster and cheaper jet airplanes, in June 1963 a bid of over $5 million was accepted for the revamp of the pier complex. On July 11, 1963 the work started, and in June 1964 a controversial elevated traffic ramp's construction began. This structure was to allow access by vehicles to and from the second-story passenger area that filled in the former open space between Piers 8, 9 and 10. The ramp was criticized for how it would block the view of the harbor when looking down Bishop Street, since to keep the degree of its rise gradual, it would have to extend from a base some distance away at Pier 6.

Even worse, to many people, was how the base of Aloha Tower was completely obscured by the new addition, which also left the ground level here perpetually in shadow. Regardless of complaints, the finished project was dedicated on March 29, 1965.

The anticipated need for accommodating increased ocean travelers at Aloha Tower turned out to be incorrect. Their numbers consistently decreased, and in 1970 Matson ended its once-famous passenger service completely, to focus exclusively on cargo transport from then on. The enlarged dock facilities were unused most of the time.

By 1981 came the start of Aloha Tower's next transformation, which truthfully is still going on today. But this process has been so complex and troubled that it's impossible to even attempt to recount it in any detail here. We'll just focus on what happened starting with the closure of the Tower and its docks on November 1, 1993 in preparation for demolition and then new construction. The overall plan for the area was a massive, multi-stage development, which would start with a "festival marketplace" of the type that had already been successful in other US cities like the first one at Fanueil Hall in Boston from 1976, or Baltimore's Inner Harbor. Planned to follow this at Honolulu Harbor would be an office building, a 350 unit condominium, a maritime-specific office structure, a 350 room hotel, a "historic park" and an elevated bridge over Nimitz Highway to Fort Street. Needless to say, none of the latter ever came into existence.

Starting off the redevelopment process was the tearing-down of everything that had been constructed in the 1960s, along with the pier structures at Docks 8 and 9. On July 14, 1994, Aloha Tower stood entirely by itself for the first time ever, with the two-story concrete & steel wharf buildings at its base entirely removed. This was seen as a very positive step in the anticipated creation of what was to become Aloha Tower Marketplace. Intense work was necessary to meet the opening date of November 19, 1994, when about 50,000 people came to see the new $100 million shopping center. Consisting of a very attractive group of two story buildings with open walkways between them, the mix of tenants included retail stores, bars, restaurants and an open area dedicated to kiosks and pushcarts, with total tenants planned to number 200. The unique, scenic setting and the substantial number of Honolulu residents and visitors as potential customers seemed to indicate a bright future.

Except...the bright future never happened. The immediate problem was parking, which was limited and expensive. The rejection of having to pay to leave your car someplace, when lots of other places fairly nearby were free, pretty much doomed the Aloha Tower Marketplace. Within a few weeks came the first worried complaints from tenants, particularly from the pushcart owners. By May 1995 the developer, Aloha Tower Associates, was in arrears to various unpaid vendors as well as to the State of Hawaii, its landlord.

For years afterwards, the marketplace limped along through bankruptcies, lawsuits, failed proposals for parking improvements, different owners and managers, and dwindling tenants. A few of the latter did well, but many failed.

Finally in 2011, Hawai‘i Pacific University — which occupied numerous rented spaces in multiple downtown buildings, mostly along Fort Street — purchased the lease to Aloha Tower Marketplace along with a commercial investor. The following year the complex was 70% vacant, and by 2013 HPU had bought out its partner and had full control. Thereafter the center was redeveloped into student housing and various other school uses.

A handful of commercial tenants are present today, but in February 2020 the last of the original businesses from the 1994 opening finally closed, which was the controversial Hooters bar and restaurant.

And so we conclude in 2026, Aloha Tower's 100th birthday, anticipating that discussions for the future of the tower and its surroundings will be ongoing indefinitely (perhaps), with probably few actual changes to take place. We can say with certainty that someday the Skyline elevated train will be traveling along nearby Nimitz Highway with a station at Bishop Street, but its effects cannot be anticipated, and if anything can be learned from history, it would be unwise to try to guess them in advance.

(For Part 1 of Aloha Tower at 100 Years, click 

For the latest news of Hawai‘i, sign up 

1 Aloha Tower 60s 16x9

<title>Aloha Tower at 100 years old, Part 2: It seemed like a good idea at the time ...</title>

In the early 1960s, the State of Hawai‘i invested millions in harbor upgrades that included modernizing Aloha Tower as a terminal for passenger liners. But jet planes soon replaced passengers liners, rendering the terminal obsolete. In the 1990s, those structure were torn down to create Aloha Marketplace, a shopping and dining destination that would never draw the anticipated crowds. ASD history writer DeSoto Brown brings us to the present day as Aloha Tower celebrates its centennial.

Aloha Tower at 100 years old, Part 2: It seemed like a good idea at the time ...

Kelli Shiroma Braiotta Headshot

Kelli Shiroma Braiotta

Food & Dining

Baking was always a shared hobby for business owners Joshua and Skye Nakamura, but they only did a “deep dive” into it this year.

“Skye always enjoyed baking cookies and cakes for her friends, while I grew up eating amazing bread baked by my mom,” Joshua Nakamura says. “My mom taught me how to make her very popular shokupan — Japanese milk bread — a few years ago, and I supplied that bread to a local katsu restaurant.

“After I started baking for our friends and family, that very quickly snowballed into (creating) Naks Pan,” he adds.

 business started around March. The mascots on the logo features the “bread-ified” versions of their dogs, Hana and Libby, according to Nakamura, who says they took the required Department of Health food safety course, per home food standards.

“A lot of my friends refer to me as Josh Naks, and ‘pan’ is the Japanese borrowed word for bread,” he says. “Put those together and you get Naks Pan.”

The business offers shio pan, or salt bread, and cream pan. The breads are known for soft, pillowy texture, according to Nakamura.

“Salt bread is the viral, originally Japanese, bread roll that’s taking over Korea,” he says. “It combines the best contrasts of both texture and flavor — it’s sweet and salty, while also being pillowy soft and super crunchy all at the same time.

“There’s a little piece of butter in the middle (for the shio pan),” he adds. “If you watch any social media videos on shio pan, it’s a roll with a little piece of butter, and then as it bakes, the butter melts out. It keeps the inside (of the roll) nice and moist.”

The shio pan comes in flavors like the OG ($4), ube cheezu ($6), pan au chocolat ($5), garlic cheezu ($5), and its newest flavor, ham and chib, or ham and cheese ($6).

“I would say our most popular flavor would be the ube shio pan, which has the same dough with ube flavoring and is also stuffed with our homemade ube halaya,” Nakamura says. “The ham and chib has a piece of a ham (inside) and little 

“The OG shio pan has a little piece of butter in the middle,” he adds. “The shio pan au chocolat is like a play on words, like pain au chocolat, the chocolate croissant; I just added the word ‘shio’ in front. It has a piece of chocolate in the middle and chocolate shavings on top.”

The business’s cream pan is Japanese-style bun stuffed with custard. The dessert is light and delicate without being overly sweet.

“Our version comes with three distinct homemade custard flavors,” Nakamura says. “I developed the recipes so that it fits as much custard as possible. Our cream pan flight ($12) comes with one of each flavor — vanilla, matcha and ube. Some of our most loyal cream pan customers really love the ube cream pan, so we offer a mix-and-match option to fulfill their ube cravings.”

Naks Pan currently does pastry drops on Saturdays. Customers can see the menu and order via 

“We try to have a drop every Saturday; we may also do Sunday drops if there’s a special occasion, or if there’s enough interest for it,” Nakamura says.

The business will be popping up at the Taste of Aloha at Waterfront Plaza on Saturday, July 11. Since that market will have a matcha theme, the biz will be featuring a new matcha shio pan with azuki inside.

[{"type":"text","text":"Naks Pan is looking to pop up at more markets, according to Nakamura."}]

“We appreciate the opportunity we’ve been given to feed our community,” he says. “The best part of our days is hearing and seeing how happy people are, after they consume our bread.

“Naks Pan is a home bakery that’s only run by Skye and I,” he adds. “I’m typically baking along on Saturday, and if things go wrong, I tend to scramble to correct them. We hold ourselves to a very high standard so our customers get the very best bite of bread that we can provide.”

Naks Pan owner 063026

<title>Naks Pan is a new salt bread business on Oʻahu</title>

The home bakery specializes in shio pan, or salt bread, and cream pan. The Japanese bread rolls are available in a variety of flavors, while the cream pan buns are filled with custard. The biz will be popping up at the Taste of Aloha market on July 11.

Naks Pan is a new salt bread business on Oʻahu

Square Mike Brestovansky Headshot RGZ3736 Large

Michael Brestovansky

Crime & Courts

A man’s blurted apology to a police officer arresting him has overturned his conviction for assaulting that officer, the Hawai‘i Supreme Court decided.

Henry Tolentino told a Honolulu Police officer “I’m sorry, I was just trying to get a Zip Pac” one night in September 2019.

The officer had pulled Tolentino over for speeding, but after Tolentino left his vehicle, the traffic stop escalated into a brief pursuit: Tolentino fled, the officer followed, and Tolentino reportedly kicked and punched the officer in the struggle. In turn, the officer reportedly punched Tolentino in the face repeatedly to subdue him until a second officer reached the pair and ended the scuffle.

As the officers handcuffed Tolentino, he reflexively said his apology. But, as a prosecutor later told a jury, “[he] knew he did something wrong by saying ‘I’m sorry.’”

Tolentino’s “unsolicited excited utterance” was used to suggest admission of guilt and contributed to him being found guilty of second-degree assault of a law enforcement officer, a misdemeanor offense for which he was sentenced to 30 days in jail and fined $155.

Tolentino appealed the ruling, arguing that a reflexively spoken phrase is not admissible in court without proper hearings on whether it was voluntarily made, hearings that did not happen in Tolentino’s case.

The state, meanwhile, argued that “excited utterances” may be involuntary, but not compulsory. That is, because Tolentino was not forced to say “I’m sorry,” it was still admissible, even if he didn’t mean to say it.

Tolentino also protested that prosecutors had stated during his trial that he was drunk during the 2019 incident, using only circumstantial evidence like the smell of alcohol and the redness of his eyes.

But it was the question of the reflexively spoken phrase that reached the Supreme Court. And on Tuesday, the court 

 that the guilty verdict against Tolentino was reached in error.

Writing for the opinion of the court, Associate Justice Todd Eddins concluded that, because there was no evidentiary hearing to determine whether Tolentino’s apology was voluntarily made, his conviction must be vacated and the case remanded for a retrial.

“An inculpatory statement must flow from the defendant’s free and voluntary choice,” Eddins wrote. “Custody or no custody. Interrogation or no interrogation.”

Associate Justice Lisa Ginoza wrote her own opinion partially dissenting with Eddins’ majority opinion. While Ginoza agreed that the lower courts had erred in allowing Tolentino’s apology to be admissible as evidence without an evidentiary hearing, that does not mean the case should be retried right away, she argued.

Only after a voluntariness hearing is conducted that determines Tolentino’s apology was involuntary should the case be retried, which Ginoza said is the constitutionally recognized procedure.

Ginoza added that the majority ruling now requires trial courts to hold voluntariness hearings for any known statement by a defendant that might admit guilt, which she wrote will be “a tremendous burden on our already overburdened trial courts.”

Nonetheless, with the Supreme Court verdict, Tolentino will get a new trial, although a court date has not yet been scheduled.

I Stock 178835830 16x9 Large

<title>Supreme Court: 'I'm sorry' doesn't mean you're guilty</title>

Honolulu man's reflexive apology to a police officer in 2019 shouldn't have been admissible in court, the Hawai‘i Supreme Court ruled.

Supreme Court: 'I'm sorry' doesn't mean you're guilty

 recently launched its summer menu. This menu will be available until September and features a variety of seasonal ingredients, especially summer produce.

Customers can enjoy a variety of new hot and cold appetizers, entrees, specialty pastas and desserts.

The Kona kanpachi crudo ($22) has been one of the more popular orders so far. It features sashimi-style kanpachi topped with toasted rice and ginger and curry leaf oil, and is served in a refreshing raspberry nuoc cham (a classic Vietnamese sweet-and-sour sauce).

Other new appetizers include the burrata caponata ($23) — sweet and sour-braised summer vegetables with lemongrass chili sa te, Chinese black vinegar gastrique and shrimp chips — and local O

ahu farm vegetables ($20). The latter features lotus seed hummus, salsa Negra, pickled daikon and carrots, and the eatery’s house banh tieu bread for dipping.

The house banh tieu bread is like a Vietnamese pita bread with sesame seeds. You can dip it in the hummus, or open it — it’s hollow — to create a pita pocket filled with the hummus, veggies and salsa.

The eatery’s banh xeo ($24), or a Vietnamese crepe, is always a popular choice. The summer version pays homage to the popular elote, or Mexican-style street corn. The crepe features sweet corn, jicama (Mexican turnip), scallions, Cotija, shrimp, tajin, kewpie and herbs. It’s served with lettuce wraps on the side, along with Viet pickles in nuoc cham.

Guests can cut the crepe into bite-sized pieces, then use the lettuce and nuoc cham to create their own wraps.

Other new appetizers include Peruvian scallop en croute ($23) — a medley of roasted farm carrots, summer orange, cilantro and tarragon, aji amarillo and yellow bell pepper coulis — and stuffed piquillo peppers ($19) with pork and mushroom, tamarind tomato sauce, crispy squid, Thai basil and lime zest.

New entrees and pasta include the shutome filet ($38), “Vietnamese huli huli half chicken” ($37), squid ink linguine ($37) and summer squash gnocchetti sardi ($32).

The “Vietnamese huli huli half chicken” features a five-spice tare and is served with fries. The shutome (swordfish) dish comes highly recommended; it’s served with curried corn rice with aromatic coconut fumet (a blend of fish stock and coconut milk) and a celery herb salad. The flaky fish is tender with a hint of sweetness from the creamy coconut sauce.

The specialty pastas are made with fresh pasta by Onda Pasta. The squid ink linguine ($37) includes Kauaʻi shrimp, garlic, roasted shrimp head and saffron butter, eggplant, cherry tomato, chives and Meyer lemon.

The summer squash gnocchetti — literally “little gnocchi” — features bite-sized pieces of a ridged pasta. Fresh squash chunks are braised in lemongrass, fish sauce, ginger and white wine; the puree is made with green zucchini scraps, mint and basil. So far, the dish has been popular for its lighter flavor and smooth mouthfeel.

No visit to The Pig & The Lady is complete without the eatery’s iconic soft serve. A popular flavor is back for the season, according to chef de cuisine Kristene Moon.

“We had to bring back the soft serve,” she says. “We did that (sticky rice custard with mango sorbet) last year for summer.”

The P&L soft serve swirl ($15) currently features sticky rice custard with mango sorbet, topped with a salted pandan caramel. It’s a refreshing, balanced combo with the right amount of sweetness.

Other summer desserts include Laughing Cow panna cotta ($15) — topped with Hilo lychee, nata de coco, almond streusel, Aloun’s watermelon ice, li hing powder and lime zest — and corn and blueberry banh flan cake ($17).

The latter features a layered baked corn egg custard and cornbread cake with popped sorghum and salted Chantilly.

“I really like the cornbread,” Moon says. “It’s like blueberry corn bread on the bottom and corn flan on top. It’s based off a Mexican and Filipino dessert.

“We had a Laughing Cow soft serve for the last menu; we were talking about how it would be so good as a panna cotta,” she adds. “Then we kept thinking about flavors; we gotta have shave ice with panna cotta. It makes me think of a picnic.”

Open 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesdays to Sundays, 5 to 9:30 p.m. Tuesdays to Saturdays

The Pig and The Lady mango soft serve 063026

<title>The Pig & The Lady launches its summer menu</title>

Customers can enjoy dishes featuring a variety of seasonal ingredients. Highlights include Kona kanpachi crudo, local Oʻahu farm vegetables with hummus, swordfish filet with curried corn rice, squid ink linguine and the return of the eatery’s popular mango sorbet.

The Pig & The Lady launches its summer menu

Katie Helland Headshot

Katie Helland

Arts & Entertainment

Consolidated Theatres will bring back its summer “Keiki Film Hui” series, which allows families to enjoy movies — and air conditioning — for 

The shows run at 11 a.m. on Tuesdays and Wednesdays from June 3 through July 30. Movies will be featured at various locations, including theaters at Ward, Mililani, Pearlridge and Kapolei. 

"We are so excited to welcome our local families back to the theaters this summer for this one-of-a-kind movie event,” said Jenna Mimaki, promotions and events manager for Consolidated Theatres, in a written statement. “Audiences can cool off from the summer heat, enjoy family-friendly films and snack on their favorite treats—all at an incredible value!”

Consolidated Theatres operates almost 100 screens on Oʻahu. The company has had a presence in Hawaiʻi since 1917. 

"Kung Fu Panda 4"

<title>Keiki Films Return: $1 Family Movie Deals Across Hawai‘i - Aloha State Daily</title>

The entire ʻohana can enjoy classics, such as “Sonic the Hedgehog 3,” “The Wild Robot” and “Shrek 2” on the big screen for just $1 per ticket this summer as part of Consolidated Theatres’ Keiki Film Hui.

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Hawai‘i Scene on Social: A comedy crime saga in two parts

Authors

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