ASD icon blue inverse lighter

ASD Staff

Hawaiʻi Scene on Social

duunnn dunnn… duuuunnnn duun… duuunnnnnnnn dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dunnnnnnnnnnn dunnnn

I Stock 1252738271

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

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

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

Kveekz on Instagram is today's social media find, celebrating some pleasant surprises.

I Stock 1146983674

Hawai‘i Scene on Social: "A good day in Hawai‘i"

<title>Hawai‘i Scene on Social: Surfer gets dropped</title>

Glad jackakrop19 is doing OK after this big wave wipeout at Jaws, on Maui's north shore.

Hawai‘i Scene on Social: Surfer gets dropped

duunnn dunnn… duuuunnnn duun… duuunnnnnnnn dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dunnnnnnnnnnn dunnnn 

Kelli Shiroma Braiotta Headshot

Kelli Shiroma Braiotta

Food & Dining

Looking back on how their sourdough business — 

 — began, Tyler and Kelly Kimura say everything started when they purchased a manual dough sheeter so they could learn to make croissants.

“We had some baking experience and simply wanted to challenge ourselves,” Tyler says. “At the time, we never imagined we’d eventually open a bakery out of our own home.”

The couple had run a bakery from 2012 to 2017 — before they had kids, according to Kelly, who says she and Tyler liked sourdough because of its simple ingredients.

After a lot of trial and error, the couple reached a point where they were making croissants they were proud of. They would often give their baked goods out to people in the neighborhood, in order to get feedback on their recipes.

Around the same time, they noticed the growing popularity of cottage bakeries on the Mainland.

“That’s when we had our ‘aha’ moment,” Kelly says. “We realized this could become more than just a hobby.

“Ever since our first child was born, we’d been looking for a business we could build together — one that we both enjoyed and that would also give us the flexibility to spend more time at home, and eventually, homeschool our children,” she adds. “It took us a while before we felt confident enough to take the leap.”

[{"type":"text","text":"The business’s name was chosen by the couple’s three daughters."}]

“We gave them a few ideas, but they were set on ‘742’ because those were their ages at the time — 7, 4 and 2,” Kelly says. “The idea actually came from our oldest, and the younger two agreed. After making sure there wasn’t already another Seven4Two Bakery, we decided to roll with it.”

 officially launched last April with its first pick-up day for orders. The business’s opening menu featured croissants, sourdough bread and sourdough dark chocolate chunk cookies.

“Since then, we’ve expanded to include scones, cinnamon rolls and sourdough English muffins,” Tyler says.

The business’s sourdough English muffins ($10 for a bag of four) are the business’s most popular item, according to Tyler.

“They’re thick, fluffy and make a great breakfast sandwich, but they’re just as good toasted with butter and jam,” he says. “If you’re ambitious, try making eggs Benedict with them.”

The business’s assorted croissant boxes (around $18 for four assorted pieces) are also customer favorites. Seven4Two Bakery offers butter, chocolate, ham and cheese, origami and apple origami croissants. The origami ones are inspired by the Kouign Amann (a pastry known for its caramelized sugar crust), according to Kelly. The origami croissant is sprinkled with sugar, folded and baked in a muffin pan to create a flower-like shape.

“They’re buttery, flaky and made from dough that’s folded and layered over multiple days,” she explains.

The apple origami features a sweet apple, brown sugar and cinnamon filling. Kelly notes that the apple origami and chocolate croissants — made with three batons of rich, dark chocolate — are the most popular flavors. She recommends the ham and cheese croissant, which is made with Gruyere, for those who want a savory option.

Customers can also opt for the business’s original sourdough ($10) and cheddar and roasted garlic sourdough ($13). The loaves are known for their soft interior and crust, according to Tyler.

“They have a nice crust, but not the kind that’s going to hurt your jaw,” he says. “By the time they make it to your home, the crust has usually softened just a bit.”

The business’s cinnamon rolls ($18 for four) are swirled with cinnamon and brown sugar, then topped with cream cheese frosting.

“The cinnamon rolls are kind of my passion project,” Kelly says. “We weren’t going to sell it — I just used to make it for people — but people were like, ‘You need to sell them.’”’

Customers can also opt for sourdough dark chocolate chunk cookies (six cookies for $12) — which feature the nutty flavor of browned butter — and sourdough mac nut chocolate chunk cookies (six for $12). Buttermilk scones (six for $18), which are hand-crafted in small batches, come in flavors like blueberry, pumpkin chocolate chip, bacon cheddar, matcha white chocolate and lilikoʻi.

The business is usually open for online pre-orders and pick-ups on Saturdays. Follow the Instagram account for updates; Seven4Two Bakery’s menu and pre-orders are available via 

. Orders usually open on Sunday mornings and close on Wednesday nights, giving the couple enough time to prepare.

“What makes us unique is the story of how we got here,” Kelly says. “We didn’t start out with the goal of opening a bakery. It started as a challenge to see if we could make croissants at home, and now it has grown into a little bakery serving our Pauoa Valley community every Saturday morning.”

Seven4 Two owners 100626

<title>Seven4Two Bakery offers a variety of sourdough pastries</title>

The husband-and-wife owned bakery, located in Pauoa Valley, is usually open for pre-orders online and pick-ups on Saturdays. Customers can choose from sourdough English muffins, breads, croissants, scones and cookies.

Seven4Two Bakery offers a variety of sourdough pastries

Ray Tsuchiyama

Columnists

 of this look at childcare in Hawai‘i, I wrote about the part of our childcare system that never shows up in a State government spreadsheet — my 4:30 p.m. pickups as "Jiji" among thousands of grandparents and aunties providing "free kūpuna labor" worth hundreds of millions of dollars a year.

The next question: Who in the Hawaiʻi State government is actually responsible for overseeing 

Early childhood touches education, health, human services, workforce development, and economic growth. Without a central structure, these responsibilities easily become fragmented across government — one office tracking licensed slots, another administering subsidies, a third running public pre-K, with none of them necessarily talking to each other, let alone to the informal network that fills the gaps everywhere formal systems fall short.

Other states have recognized this coordination problem and responded in strikingly similar ways, even when their local politics and funding mechanisms look vastly different.

New Mexico created a dedicated Early Childhood Education and Care Department and paired it with a 2022 constitutional amendment — approved by over 70% of voters — that redirects a share of the state's Land Grant Permanent Fund into early childhood programs on a permanent, self-sustaining basis. New Mexico also wrote a crucial policy into its eligibility rules: grandparents raising grandchildren can access childcare assistance without meeting standard work or school requirements. That is a state 

 rather than relying on it as free kūpuna labor.

Voters in Multnomah County, Oregon, approved a dedicated income tax on high earners to fund universal preschool, directing funds specifically toward raising early childhood educator wages. The rationale was simple: you cannot expand access to care with a workforce leaving for better-paying jobs elsewhere. Fund the wages first, and the available seats will follow.

Washington, D.C. folded pre-K into its per-pupil public education funding formula, treating early learning as a foundational grade level in the city budget — a decision that helped it achieve the highest early-learning coverage in the nation.

These jurisdictions took different paths — some built cabinet-level agencies, others modified tax codes or school funding formulas. But the broader lesson for Hawaiʻi isn't to copy any single model. It is simpler: Every one of these places decided early childhood was important enough to organize government around, rather than leaving it scattered across disparate agencies.

If early childhood is a top State government priority in Hawaiʻi, it deserves a dedicated agency, a permanent funding mechanism, or at minimum a unified mandate tasked with overseeing the complete system.

Hawaiʻi should seriously consider establishing a Department of Early Childhood.

However, I would strongly advise against starting with another lengthy strategic plan. First, we need to build a comprehensive map.

Hawaiʻi should create a real-time Early Childhood Dashboard that brings the entire ecosystem together. It should tell us: How many keiki are there, and where do they live? Who cares for them during the day? Where are the licensed childcare slots, and where are the geographical deserts? What does care actually cost families relative to local wages? How many parents could return to or advance in the workforce if care were accessible? How much informal care is being provided? And ultimately — are Hawaiʻi's children entering kindergarten ready to learn?

This dashboard would also allow Hawaiʻi to benchmark itself against peer states — not for the sake of comparison, but because New Mexico, Multnomah County, and D.C. all had to answer these same questions before taking action. None of them had perfect baseline data, but they moved forward using the best available numbers. Hawaiʻi does not need absolute precision before starting; it needs enough clarity to stop guessing.

 If Hawaiʻi's childcare affordability is worse than comparable states, we should know. If parental workforce participation is lagging due to coverage gaps, we should know. If specific regions — like Windward Oʻahu or the Neighbor Islands — face acute shortages, the data should reflect it. If a new state initiative works, the numbers should prove it. If it fails, we should pivot.

The objective is not another static government website full of statistics nobody outside an agency reads. The objective is to move the needle for local families.

Only after we understand the full structure of our childcare system should we decide where to invest state resources:

I do not have all the answers yet, and that is the point. We shouldn't select the solution before we accurately measure the problem.

Tomorrow at 4:30 p.m., I will be back in that preschool parking lot. I might be answering an email from a client in New York, and then I will fasten my granddaughter into her car seat.

Her preschool teacher will have done her part. Her parents will do theirs. Jiji will do his.

Hawaiʻi needs to see how all these pieces fit together. Before we decide what to build, what to subsidize, or whom to pay, we should first understand the childcare and early-learning system we already have.

ay Tsuchiyama’s series explores one central question: How does Hawai‘i use the wealth and land it already has to create its next economic future? He can be reached at 

child care costs I Stock 2177795279 16x9

<title>Before we subsidize: Mapping Hawaiʻi’s childcare economy</title>

In the second of a two-part series, ASD columnist Ray Tsuchiyama looks at how other states have taken comprehensive approaches to early childcare. Hawai‘i's first step should be gathering data before rushing to copy what others have done, to know exactly what we need.

Before we subsidize: Mapping Hawaiʻi’s childcare economy

De Soto 2025

DeSoto Brown

Hawai‘i History

Do you remember Ward Warehouse? It was something of a landmark in Kaka‘ako once, but after being demolished nearly 10 years ago it’s now on its way to being forgotten.

The Ward family is foundational to the history of Kaka‘ako. Back in the 19th century, the clan came to own a large tract of land stretching from their private home that was just across King Street from Thomas Square, all the way down to what is now Kewalo Basin. This ownership, of course, is the origin of the name Ward Avenue for the street that formed most of the boundary of the property on its ‘Ewa side.

By the middle of the 20th century, the Ward land contained a mix of private homes and a variety of business tenants. The family-owned corporation that managed the property, Victoria Ward Ltd., started taking small steps towards more lucrative tenants in the 1950s but ramped up its redevelopment goals in the early 1960s by constructing a series of modern, low-rise structures.

A major new commitment came in early 1974 with the start of construction of Ward Warehouse on a 4.1 acre site between Ala Moana Boulevard, Ward Avenue and Auahi Street. The location had some special considerations in that it was covered by two very different types of zoning: one was for retail while the other was strictly for wholesale and industrial uses. The latter category was slightly problematic for what was intended as, essentially, a shopping center open to the public, and initially required a careful selection of tenants.

Designed by architect Steve Au, Ward Warehouse had a notably 1970s appearance. The hippie movement in the USA by this time had popularized more earthy, natural materials, so the complex’s exteriors were dark-stained wood, inspired in particular by a trend-setting development called Sea Ranch in California from the late 1960s. The only outside decorations were sections of bold painted “supergraphics” in geometric patterns. Industrial elements were not covered up but were openly displayed; on the outside, pipes and fittings were painted in bright colors to show them off, along with some oversized machine parts that were installed purely as decor. Inside the rental spaces, high ceilings showed undisguised conduits, light fixtures and air-conditioning ducts. Floors were concrete and walls were mostly unpainted wood. The effect was “honesty” in materials vs shiny synthetic surfaces.

Ward Warehouse opened with 87 tenant spaces; some interiors had the potential for the construction of mezzanines. Parking on the ground level accommodated 250 vehicles while the four-level concrete garage had 400 more spots. A soft opening for some businesses took place in time for Christmas 1974. By April 1975 the complex was placing large display ads in the Honolulu newspapers.

Those who are old enough to have patronized Ward Warehouse will undoubtedly remember particular stores or restaurants they regularly visited. For many people, the Old Spaghetti Factory at the far ‘Ewa end, with its two-story interior spaces, was surely a favorite (it has since moved to Aloha Tower). Embellished by numerous antique light fixtures and other old-time props which the company had been able to accumulate when such items were mostly inexpensive salvage goods from the demolition of 80- or 90-year-old structures in the USA, the low-cost restaurant had a unique feeling in its diverse seating areas.

Of course many other businesses came and went through Ward Warehouse over the years. There was the Liquor Collection which was filled with limited-edition figural ceramic specialty bottles, stores just for outdoor furniture, kitchenware, and flags, and the Nohea Gallery for local artwork of all kinds.

Ward Warehouse was never intended to last throughout the ages. A 1969 newspaper article quoted a statement from Victoria Ward Ltd that said offices and high-rise structures were eventually planned along Ala Moana Boulevard. Closure of the shopping center came on July 31, 2017 followed by demolition that began in November.

Howard Hughes Corporation, by then the owner of the site, first announced that two “ultraluxury” towers would soon rise here, the Ward Village Gateway. One of these was to be the 

 with units offered for prices ranging from $1.3 million to $23 million; these were first put on sale in 2015. But in 2018 the entire project was dropped, even after Howard Hughes had spent $29 million on it, and 28 of the 125 apartments in the Cylinder had been sold. In 2019 Victoria Place was approved for construction on the Waikīkī end of the property. Next to it was the start of the new Victoria Ward Park which would eventually occupy what had been the center part of Ward Warehouse.

However, it wouldn’t be until 2025 that one of the familiar construction cranes would finally be erected on the rest of the former Ward Warehouse, signaling yet another of the Kaka‘ako condominiums to come: Kalae.

1 Ward ad 1 16x9

<title>Changing Kaka‘ako: Remembering Ward Warehouse</title>

Ward Warehouse was never meant to last — even the previous owners who built it, Victoria Ward Ltd, always intended for offices and high-rises to take its place. But it had a four-decade run from its 1975 opening to its 2017 demolition, featuring such businesses as Old Spaghetti Factory, Orson's, The Liquor Collection, Nohea Gallery and more. Here's a look back at the shopping center, including a glimpse of the neighborhood before Ward Warehouse came along and fishing, rather than shopping, was the area's industry.

Changing Kaka‘ako: Remembering Ward Warehouse

You can barely see it today, but once Kaka‘ako was largely composed of numerous individual homes. Constructed of wood starting around 1910-1915, and surrounded by yards with abundant trees, these houses were the signature of the district. Nobody was rich in Kakaako and this low-income population was, not surprisingly, prone to unsupervised children and a problem with crime. But this would start to change after the end of World War II in 1945 when the varied businesses already present would begin to gradually take over from residents as their property leases ended. Land owners sought the higher rents they could receive from commercial tenants, and Kakaako shifted mostly to this use.

Back when Kaka‘ako was home to thousands of people, necessary services and amenities were provided for them. Two examples of these were the Pohukaina Elementary School and its one-time playground /park, and the Kewalo Theater. The school is gone, the park remains, and the theater still exists although no films have been shown there for very close to 70 years.

By 1912, enough children resided in Kaka‘ako to justify the construction of a school there, leading to the completion of a two-story concrete building for the new Pohukaina School in January 1913. Over decades, other structures also came to occupy the grounds, but as the number of students in the area dropped the Department of Education pivoted to accommodating handicapped children at the school by 1967. Eventually, these were shifted to Waialae Elementary and Kaimukī Intermediate and Pohukaina at this location closed in 1980. By January 1987 only 14 school-aged kids were determined to currently be living in Kaka‘ako.

Debates about the Pohukaina site took place after its closure. As plans for the massive redevelopment of Kakaako were projected in the 1980s and ‘90s, some argued that a new school would be needed for new residents, but not surprisingly, a highrise condo today occupies part of the property.

An important historic figure in Kaka‘ako’s history was Mrs. Margaret Waldron, an Irish-Hawaiian woman who labored tirelessly for decades as a social worker in what was then a notoriously tough district.

Known to all by the affectionate nickname of “Mother Waldron” she began her time in Kaka‘ako as a teacher at Pohukaina School for 18 years before becoming the Director of Recreation at a neighborhood park. Her devotion to combating gangs and crime, particularly when it touched children, and serving as a positive and helpful influence was honored in June 1930 with the naming of the Pohukaina School’s playground as Mother Waldron Park. There she continued her instructional work, speaking of how she would be teaching girls the skills of sewing and cooking in a small structure in this new park. 

Her life came to an end in May 1936 but the following year, improvements and new structures in Mother Waldron Playground would be dedicated in September 1937. These cost $50,000 (or $1,162,417 in 2026 dollars) in government funding and the labor was provided through the federal government’s Works Progress Agency (WPA), an anti-Depression body that constructed innumerable public improvements all over the USA. These are still in place today; most immediately recognizable is the low zig-zag cement block wall on the ‘ewa side of the site.

In 1976 the Hawai‘i Community Redevelopment Agency was created to make over Kaka‘ako, and in 1981 its first plans for this project were presented. A foundational part of this government body’s goal was to improve the district’s infrastructure and in 1988 this led to the widening of both Pohukaina and Cooke Streets by 10 feet along with a major realignment of the latter. Along with condemnations and the clearing of former structures on its Waikīkī side, Mother Waldron Park approximately doubled in size.

The removal of Coral Street along the park’s other boundary added even more land to it in 1992. This was a wise move for the recreational needs of the increasing number of condo residents around it who would come in the future.

Kaka‘ako’s population in 1937 was significant enough to warrant the construction of the Kewalo Theater at the corner of Cooke and Queen Streets. Newspaper publicity for this event stated that the neighborhood was then “one of the largest and most densely populated sections in Honolulu.”

Consolidated Amusement, the biggest cinema chain in the Hawaiian Islands at that time, spent $75,000 ($1,743,626 in today's dollars) to open the latest of what it called “Neighborhood Playhouses” which served residential areas. Programs changed every day, which was true of all of Consolidated’s small theaters then, and admission was 25c for adults and only 10c for children ten years old and under.

Less than 20 years later, the Kewalo Theater was closed due to dwindling audiences as Kaka‘ako lost residents displaced by commercial tenants. Consolidated retained ownership of the empty structure for years and used it for storage, and surprisingly it still exists today. Currently occupying what had been the theater’s auditorium is the Lonohana Chocolate Company, and visitors who take a tour to see the variety of machinery which processes raw cocoa beans into tasty treats can also see remnants of the Kewalo’s 1930s interior decor still present on the walls and ceiling.

Kaka‘ako’s future growth will continue to displace the small industrial businesses that the area has been known for over the past decades, just as these displaced residents and private homes starting after World War II. As this process continues, we’ll see the diversity of Kaka‘ako today — as messy as it sometimes is — disappear as increasingly sterile new towers continue their takeover.

1 Ahui SP 31143 16x9

<title>Changing Kakaako: Once a residential neighborhood</title>

More than a century ago, the modern development of Kaka‘ako started as modest, wooden single-family homes. Over time, these were displaced businesses. ASD historian DeSoto Brown takes down these streets of Kaka‘ako as they looked then, and now.

Changing Kakaako: Once a residential neighborhood

[{"type":"text","text":"Kam Bowl is now open in Pearl City."}]

The restaurant opened in Times Square Shopping Center, in the former space of IHOP. The eatery 

 and re-opened in July under new ownership and under a new name, Aliʻi Diner.

At the new Pearl City restaurant, customers can expect the same signature dishes Kam Bowl was known for according to co-owner Ryder Yoshida, who says the menu is currently limited to the most popular dishes.

“It’s smaller and more simple,” Yoshida says. “We’re concentrating on getting the stuff people like before adding more things.”

Kam Bowl Pearl City did some renovations to the restaurant’s interior, such as adding new booths for seating.

“The kitchen was pretty much empty; we had to re-do the whole kitchen,” he says. “The hard part about it is the restaurant is big and the kitchen area to prepare food is small, compared to the Kalihi location.”

The menu features dishes like the eatery’s famous oxtail soup ($24.95), hamburger steak ($18.95), loco moco ($18.95) and Japanese breakfast ($18.95). The latter includes miso soup, toss salad, two eggs and a choice of mahi or salmon.

The restaurant now uses wagyu beef to make its hamburger patties, according to Yoshida.

“This is the first time we’re using wagyu beef,” he says. “We’re trying to keep prices reasonable.”

Dishes like hotcakes and sweet bread French toast are available from 7 to 11 a.m. Many plate lunch-style entrees come with white rice and a choice of toss or mac salad.

On the eatery’s opening day — Aug. 1 — regular customers from Kam Bowl’s Kalihi location were eagerly eating breakfast. Yoshida encourages diners to check out the new space.

“I was sitting in here before we opened, and people would ask, ‘Are you guys open yet?’” he says. “I kept on saying, ‘Pretty soon, pretty soon.’ Just come and try our food.”

[{"type":"text","text":"Kam Bowl Pearl City is open daily from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m."}]

98-1264 Kaahumanu St. Ste. B03, Pearl City

Kam Bowl Pearl City owner 080126

<title>Kam Bowl is open in Pearl City</title>

The eatery is now open in Times Square Shopping Center, in the former space of IHOP. Customers can look forward to signature dishes like oxtail soup, loco moco, hamburger steak and more.

Kam Bowl is open in Pearl City

Lopaka and Tanya Kapanui

Lopaka Kapanui and Tanya Kapanui

There are many stories about ghosts and hauntings in our old Hawai‘i newspapers. Some articles briefly mention someone who claims to have seen a ghost, while others unfold over several days with explicit detail. One of our favorite stories takes place in the area we now know as Kamāmalu Playground.

In 1905, Emma Street, as it was called then, was lined with rows of old wooden houses, and in one of them lived the Camara family. They made a living doing laundry for several prominent members of the community, including the Parker family and Princess Kawananakoa.

One night, in their shared bed, something disturbed the two daughters in their sleep. They awoke to a vision of a woman dressed in a white, floor-length gown with long black hair. Her skin was pale and ashen. The girls told newspaper reporters that the strange woman pulled back the sheets and then lay down next to them. It was that moment they both screamed loud enough to wake their parents, who ran to the bedroom just in time to see the haunting woman leave the bed and disappear into the dark.

After that, the family continued their laundry business during the day but refused to return to the house after sunset. They later found out that previous tenants also had a hard time staying in the home, and one family even forfeited their security deposit to vacate the house.

Reportedly, the description of the apparition matched that of the house’s original owner, who died many years earlier. The woman’s son, hoping to retain the Camara family’s occupancy, arrived at the home and said he wanted to speak with his mother. He thought he could tell her not to come back, as she was not wanted, but the family doubted his ability to reason with the spirit and continued looking for another place to live.

During all the commotion, two men showed up, claiming to be ghost hunters, and asked to be allowed into the house. Mr. Camara obliged but became suspicious when he took the men to the room where the ghost was seen, and they began opening trunks and bureau drawers, and examining the dresses and other articles sent there to be laundered. Finally, one of the men asked if they could spend the night in the house, along with Mr. Camara, to welcome the ghost if it appeared. Mr. Camara replied that he would not sleep in the house for a thousand dollars. He suspected the men were more interested in the valuable garments sent there to be cleaned and refused to allow them to stay in the house overnight.     

After the Camara family moved out, the property owner could not find any other tenants who were willing to stay in the house, and the house was finally torn down the following year. About 50 years later, a public park would be built on the site where that haunted house once stood.

One of the first public parks on O‘ahu was Kamāmalu Park, but it wasn’t always along Queen Emma Street.

Set aside in 1912 for the use and purpose of a public park and playground, the plot was originally on the ‘Ewa/makai corner of Fort and School Streets and was referred to as the “Old Fort Street School Lot.” In 1915, it was officially named Kamāmalu Park after the recommendation of the Outdoor Circle, explaining that all the land in the surrounding area was once the property of Princess Kamāmalu, the sister of King Kamehameha IV and Kamehameha V. A year later, a resolution announced that the park would be equipped and provided with playground equipment and dedicated to public use. The official name would now be Kamāmalu Playground.

In 1932, Emma Street, where the haunted house once stood, was renamed Queen Emma Street, and then, in the late 1950s, the Queen Emma Reconstruction Project was proposed. The 73-acre project was bounded by School, Kukui, and Queen Emma Streets, and Nu‘uanu Stream. The plan was to tear down around 850 tenements, dilapidated houses, and old shops in the area, which were labeled as “a hazard and a threat.” More than one newspaper referred to it as the “slum clearing project.”

In 1958, the Parks Board approved the sale of Kamāmalu Playground at Fort and School Streets from the Free Kindergarten and Children’s Aid Association to the Territory, citing that the area was needed for construction of the Lunalilo Freeway. After six years, when the Nu‘uanu section of the freeway and the Queen Emma redevelopment project were complete, the new Kamāmalu Playground was built on the corner of Vinyard and Queen Emma Street, behind the new Nu‘uanu YMCA.

The project brought Honolulu a larger botanical garden, tall condos, a new YMCA, a small shopping center, and a bigger park and playground. But after more than a hundred years, would the ghost of the Emma Street house still exist?

After one of my nightly ghost tours, a young couple stayed a little longer to ask me about Kamāmalu Playground. Before I could explain any history, they went on to share their own strange story.

As part of their evening routine, Mark and Laura usually walk their German shepherd from their condo on Kukui Street to Kamāmalu Park. One night, just as they crossed the Vineyard intersection, their dog somehow slipped his collar and took off toward the basketball courts. They explained that this was highly unusual after his intense obedience school training, but here he was, running through the overgrown grass like he was chasing something.

The couple tried to catch up, but the shepherd continued to elude them until they lost sight of him completely. As they stood near the back of the YMCA building, they heard the vicious barking and yelping coming from the playground. As they got closer, they saw the German shepherd being dragged through the grass and dirt by something they couldn’t see. Whatever it was, their dog was fighting against it with everything he had. The couple sprinted across the park to rescue their pet, but as soon as they got close, the commotion suddenly stopped. The shepherd turned to face them, sat down, and just stared at them, motionless.

Relieved, Mark started toward his dog, but his wife stopped him, saying something felt off. Laura called out to the dog, but it didn’t move. No wagging tail, no panting, and absolutely no reaction to them, aside from its blank stare.

The couple began to walk backward slowly, questioning whether this was actually their dog. They realized it would be a weird coincidence if their dog ran off and they came upon another dog that looked exactly like him. Then Mark saw something out of the corner of his eye. He turned to look and then alerted his wife. There, under the shower tree, was their dog, lying in the grass, tail flapping, looking completely unbothered. When they turned back to look at the dog that was initially in distress, they couldn’t believe what they saw.

[{"type":"text","text":"“It literally vanished right in front of us!” Laura said."}]

They had no explanation for what might have happened to them that evening, and neither did I. However, I did suggest that, when they do take their dog out for walks at night, it might be best not to go to a place with a ghostly history. I then told them the story of what was once at Kamāmalu Playground.

Kamamalu Playground

<title>Ghostly history of Kamāmalu Playground</title>

A home once stood on the property, then known as Emma Street, and its owner seemed unwilling to stay away even after death. But is she the only spirit that haunts the site?

Hawai‘i Scene on Social: Surfer gets dropped

ASD Staff

Reporter

More in Hawaiʻi Scene on Social

Enter for a chance to win tickets to see Disney’s live action adaptation of the animated film ‘Moana’

Hawai‘i Scene on Social meets Hawai‘i Skies

Hawai‘i Scene on Social: Neighborhood weather updates

Hawai‘i Scene on Social: Island vibes

Most read

Hawai‘i Scene on Social: Surfer gets dropped

Authors

ASD Staff

Reporter

More in Hawaiʻi Scene on Social

Enter for a chance to win tickets to see Disney’s live action adaptation of the animated film ‘Moana’

Hawai‘i Scene on Social meets Hawai‘i Skies

Hawai‘i Scene on Social: Neighborhood weather updates

Hawai‘i Scene on Social: Island vibes

Most read