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Hawaiʻi Scene on Social

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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.

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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

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Lopaka and Tanya Kapanui

Lopaka Kapanui and Tanya Kapanui

Hawai‘i History

Columnists

In its original conception in the 1960s, the H3 highway was to pass through Moanalua Valley, with another tunnel to be bored through Maunakapu and the Ko‘olau Range. Plans for the six-lane highway, meant to ease traffic buildup on the Pali and Likelike Highways, became entangled in a decade-long dispute leading all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The State Department of Transportation promised a scenic highway that would open up the privately held lands and, at the same time, would coordinate with the landowners to develop a historic and botanical park in the valley. While many people who claimed to be authorities on the subject said that Moanalua Valley held little archaeological or historical importance, one woman spent her lifetime recording extensive oral histories of the valley.

As early as 1902, Gertrude MacKinnon Damon kept a diary of interviews with the people whose families had been stewards of the valley, including Nāmakahelu Makaena, a kumu hula who passed on the mo‘olelo of Moanalua. The Damon family, who have lived in the valley since 1890, created the Moanalua Gardens Foundation and, by using extensive oral histories and enlisting help from conservationists, residents, cultural practitioners, and the general public, kept the plans for H3 tied up in court for nearly a decade. Finally, in a 1976 ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld an appeals court injunction. The Court effectively stopped the original H3 construction through Moanalua Valley when it ruled that the Department of Transportation had failed to adequately prove there were no feasible alternative routes to Windward O‘ahu.

Despite testimony that Moanalua was of little importance to Hawai‘i and her people, this sacred valley is rich in history and legend. The Moanalua ahupua‘a extends from the ridges of the Ko‘olau Mountain Range down to Āliamanu and Āliapa‘akai, through Māpunapuna to the Honolulu Airport and industrial center to Māmala Bay. One of the most sacred wahi pana within this area is Leilono.

Located on the northern side of the famous hill of Kapūkakī, now known as Red Hill, this entrance to the afterworld was in line with the burial hill of Āliamanu, where O‘ahu’s ali‘i were buried. There at the portal to the underworld stood he ‘ulu o Leiwalo, a breadfruit tree of Leiwalo. A soul would climb the tree and, from one of its two branches, would leap into pō pau ʻole, the everlasting night. However, these branches were deceiving. If a spirit was lacking an ‘aumakua and climbed onto a branch on the western side of the tree, the branch withered at once and broke off, and the spirit would plunge down into a pit of darkness. But if he climbed the other, it would bring help from ‘aumakua, and the soul would see his ancestors in the afterworld from time immemorial.

Moanalua was also the site of intense battles. In the 1780s, Kahekili, the ali‘i of Maui, attacked O‘ahu. Kahahana was the ali‘i of O‘ahu at the time, and after evading Kahekili’s warriors for two years, he was finally caught and killed. After his death, a plot was laid to kill all the ali‘i from Maui, but someone warned them, and the attack was unsuccessful. In retaliation, Kahekili and his warriors massacred all opposition and their families.

Kalaikoa, an ali‘i from Maui, built a long house and named it Kauwalua. He stripped the bones of his enemies, bound them together, and set them up inside and all around the outside of the house. The gruesome sight of this hale iwi, house of bones, stood at Lapakea on the slope into Moanalua and was visible from the shore. A housing development was built over this site, just below Tripler Army Hospital.

In a 1972 interview, Hawaii’s Living Treasure, Dr. Rubellite Johnson, shared a tale of night marchers who came down from the top of Moanalua.

Rudolph Tai, a patriarch of the Mormon Church in Hawai‘i, used to live in the old Damon Tract housing, which is now the airport industrial park. One night, he heard the ghost army approaching from the uppermost part of Moanalua. He could hear their chants, and as they grew closer, he could even hear the hiss of their burning torches as the night marchers made their way toward the sea. For two long hours, Rudolph Tai held his hands over his ears, trying to keep the sound of the ghostly procession out, until the chants and the marching slowly faded away.

But at the same time, Dr. Johnson said, the late watch on a small ship that was anchored in Pearl Harbor recorded in his log a curious event. From midnight until 2 a.m., the man saw a string of torches moving slowly from the top of Moanalua Valley, winding toward the sea where they disappeared.

There are dozens of haunting stories throughout Moanalua, including the high school, stores in Mapunapuna, and businesses in the airport industrial center. My own story took place at Moanalua Gardens.

As we were preparing for a hula festival, our kumu held practice at the gardens a few days before the event. On the way to practice one afternoon, I came across a Hawaiian woman in the parking lot wrapping cords of olonā on a spool. She sat on a chair propped up against the hedges while people walked past her without any acknowledgment.

As I started to pass her, we made eye contact, and she asked me, “Pahi? You get pahi?”

[{"type":"text","text":"She was asking if I had a knife."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"“ʻAe,” I replied, “Loaʻa ka pahi.” Yes, I have a knife."}]

I removed a small knife from my pocket and showed it to her. She pulled a cord taught in front of her and nodded. I opened my knife and cut the olonā cord in the place she wanted.

She seemed relieved when she thanked me and went back to wrapping the olonā on her spool.

When I met with my kumu, I explained what happened, and he immediately pulled out his own pocketknife.

“When you go back out to the parking lot after hula, she’s going to ask you to cut the olonā again. Instead of using your own knife,” my kumu instructed, “Use mine.”

He took my knife and placed his own in my hand. Nothing more was said, and we proceeded with our hula instructions for the day. After three hours, the lessons were done, and I made my way back to the parking lot. Just as my kumu said, the Hawaiian woman was still there, winding her olonā on a spool. And just as my kumu said, the woman again asked me to cut a cord of her plant fiber.

Using the knife he gave me, I cut the olonā without incident, but instead of being thankful, the woman scoffed and spat on the ground.

She gathered her olonā fibers and her spool and walked off into the park. I watched her walk right past the security guard who was telling people that the park was closed. He didn’t even glance in her direction, and I wondered if he even saw her.

As soon as I got home, my kumu called and asked about the woman. I told him exactly what happened and asked why he gave me his knife to use.

My kumu explained that the woman was a mo‘o wahine, a very kolohe one. He said that once I used my knife to cut the woman’s cord, it became dull. If I tried to use it again to cut her olonā, it would not have worked. Then, she would have asked me to do something else.

“Whatever that something else was,” he said, “It would lead to another task, then another, until finally, it would cost you your life. Especially now, since you’re under hula kapu.”

The lesson learned that day was that even while in the process of spiritual education on the middle path, there will always be someone or something that will try to lead you astray.

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Moanalua Gardens

<title>Moanalua’s Haunting History</title>

If an old Hawaiian woman asks you to cut a cord for her in Moanalua Valley, be very, very careful what you do next. That's just once of the eerie tales of this part of O‘ahu where many battles have raged, from the invasion of Kahekili from Maui to the dispute over the route of H3.

Moanalua’s Haunting History

Daily Smile

Now, let's all enjoy watching Bowser the Bulldog play with the door-stopper thing...

Smile 26 6 30

<title>Daily Smile: Tuesday, June 30, 2026</title>

Daily Smile: Tuesday, June 30, 2026

Kelsey Kukaua Medeiros Headshot

Kelsey Kukaua Medeiros

Viewpoints

Aloha Spirit

 party over three years ago and declined to show, according to the Office of the Governor.

 from the 2022 legislative session, Gov. Josh Green was asked “to establish a Hawaiʻi Commission on the United State Semiquincentennial.”  

The commission formed by the governor did not receive any government funding

 “to coordinate a statewide effort commemorating and celebrating the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States of America,” per the executive order.

Leading the 19-member Hawai‘i America250 Commission is Peter Young, a member of the Hawaiʻi Society of the Sons of the American Revolution, along with lawmakers and other representatives.

The commission is responsible for soliciting donations to bring local events and activities to “communities across the Islands [that] will reflect on our shared past, celebrate our diverse heritage, and honor our veterans and ancestors through events grounded in local culture and the Spirit of Aloha,” its website notes.

To donate, volunteer and learn more, go to: 

Hawaiʻi opts out of Great American State Fair

Hawaiʻi has no official government representation at 

, a block party on the National Mall in Washington D.C., running now through July 10.

It features attractions like rodeos and a 110-foot Ferris wheel, with more than 150 exhibits for all 50 states plus U.S. territories, as well as "businesses, innovators and civic organizations," according to 

, the organizer of the fair and other semiquincentennial events.

The decision for the Hawai‘i America250 Commission, which includes Green as an honorary chair, to say, “No can” to participating in the fair appears to have grown more apparent as the travel commitment grew “from a few days to two weeks with 12-hour days,” 

Green told Aloha State Daily in a statement Friday, “The Hawai‘i America250 Commission is not operating a pavilion at the Great American State Fair in Washington, D.C., which is 5,000 miles away. No funds were earmarked by the state, or by Congress.”

One Mililani resident wrote in to ASD after hearing Hawaiʻi would not be at the fair.

“Especially with what's been happening in Hawaiʻi, participation in this national event would have been a great opportunity to formally and informally educate and share the history and Aloha of our people; to garner support/supporters from outside our state for the causes of the Hawaiian people and the legacy of its past monarchs,” the reader wrote.

Another ASD reader from Honolulu wrote, "

Wouldn't this have been a great opportunity for the state's Hawaiʻi Tourism Authority (HTA)? According to their annual budget, they expend [millions] of our taxpayers’ money annually on branding and marketing!"

At least 10 mostly Democratic-led states decided against sending official government delegations to the fair, which including Hawaiʻi are: Connecticut, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington, according to 

“Most of the states that opted out are led by Democrats. But all cited financial considerations, saying they'd have to spend at least $100,000 (and in some cases up to half a million dollars) of their own money and preferred to prioritize celebrations at home,” 

, noting, organizers offered to help cover basic booth setup.

 that “the decision came down to resources”; Illinois sent representatives from the Peoria Riverfront Museum to run the state's booth instead; and Oregon Gov. Tina Koteck cited both cost and concerns that the event is "a more partisan affair than originally presented,” per the The New York Times; while Young of the Hawai‘i America250 Commission has shifted focus to local initiatives.

New Hampshire, which has a similar population size to the Aloha State at about 1.4 million, found a way to participate by having its Department of Natural and Cultural Resources staff an official booth showcasing “historic documents, a presentation and a video featuring state political figures reading the Declaration of Independence.” It is the only New England State with a presence from local government, per the 

 and photos over the weekend from the Great American State Fair, Alaska and Hawaiʻi both have empty booth displays boasting red, white and blue backdrops, though, Hawaiʻi’s included a couple of rocking chairs. 

Makes sense, since they chose to sit this one out.

Hawaii at Great American State Fair

<title>Hawaiʻi says ‘No can’ to Great American State Fair in Washington, D.C.</title>

Hawaiʻi government officials will not be present at the Great American State Fair, put on by Freedom 250 now through July 10, along with at least 10 mostly Democratic-led states citing cost, staffing and for some, political reasons. Gov. Josh Green says no funds were earmarked for the fair by the state or Congress and instead, has thrown support behind local celebrations.

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Hawai‘i Scene on Social: Surfer gets dropped

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Reporter

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Hawai‘i Scene on Social meets Hawai‘i Skies

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