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Hawaiʻi Scene on Social

But hold on, is it bad luck to even joke about this? Oh no, now we've repeated the joke! Ahhh!

Pali Tunnel i Stock 182908571 16x9

<title>Hawai‘i Scene on Social: Pork over the Pali</title>

Today's social media find comes from kenekethegreat, tunneling his way to laughter.

Hawai‘i Scene on Social: Pork over the Pali

But hold on, is it bad luck to even joke about this? Oh no, now we&#039;ve repeated the joke! Ahhh!  

Kelsey Kukaua Medeiros Headshot

Kelsey Kukaua Medeiros

Viewpoints

Aloha Spirit

For nearly two decades, Kumu Earl Kawaʻa, 81, has offered Board and Stone, cultural workshops for ʻohana across sites on Oʻahu, where he currently resides, and most recently on Molokaʻi, where he was born and raised.

Growing up in Hālawa Valley, the Molokaʻi High School graduate said, “Cultural ʻike and connection to the land and ocean has served me well. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have had the depth, which is something I realized later in life.”

“I left Molokaʻi [when] I needed to. I didn’t want to be the best pineapple picker, but I was headed that way,” Kawaʻa said with a laugh, noting that soon after he served in the Molokaʻi National Guard and in the Peace Corps. He received a bachelor’s in psychology and master’s in social work by 1982 and followed his passion working with nonprofits and schools, serving as a cultural specialist for Kamehameha Schools for 18 years. Later, he went on to help address public housing, homelessness and economic development, particularly advocating for Native Hawaiians.

In 2010, the cultural practitioner started teaching Board and Stone out of a garage. It took a couple years to formalize the program, which teaches families how to carve a wooden board (papa kuʻi ʻai) and shape a stone poi pounder (pōhaku) using only hand tools. Its mission — his “lifeʻs work” — is to put at least "one board and one stone in every home,” Kawaʻa told Aloha State Daily.

Across the Islands, Board and Stone gatherings take place weekly over about four months. Classes are primarily for instruction, including some outings on weekends, while most of the work on the boards and stones is done at home, according to an alakaʻi (leader).

“Board and Stone is a class I offer to people, but people have to make the choice to do it,” Kawaʻa said. “The orientation is designed to give them enough information. But they have no idea what they are in for — and thatʻs when the learning takes place.”

Alakaʻi Eric Keawe told ASD that during his own upbringing, his parents taught Hawaiian music more than culture, language and religion. “I’ve been here at Board and Stone for at least 10 years, so have some of the other alakaʻi, who are all like family. Because of his ʻike (Kawaʻa’s knowledge), I have gained knowledge and skills, even in public speaking, that I didn’t have before. I’m always learning and relearning.”

Beneath the surface, the classes perpetuate Hawaiian language, culture and traditions —

Kawaʻa’s other skills in hale and rock wall construction, canoe building, farming, fishing, which he learned from his parents and community. His latest venture is learning the healing practice of hoʻoponopono, which his parents, Walter and Georgina Kawaʻa, were known for.

Earl Kawaʻa added: “But I am the only one left in my family, my two sisters died and my brother. My wife [Patricia] has always been my rock.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"The pair have a daughter, Yahna."}]

Looking back, “the ’60s and ’70s were the best time of my life, and what that means is that the knowledge and skills that I had, even teaching, was being refined. Of course, that was about when I met my wife.”

Today, Kawa‘a continues to be recognized for his “life’s work,” which has reached thousands of people through various speaking engagements and teaching opportunities.

“I love telling stories; but I am also learning to not talk so much.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Recent recognition"}]

Last month, the Hawaiʻi House of Representatives honored Kawaʻa during the 2026 legislative session “for dedicating his life to preserving Hawaiian language and culture, mentoring future generations, and strengthening communities throughout Hawaiʻi.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"This was not something he was expecting."}]

Rep. Lisa Marten of District 51, which includes Waimānalo, Keolu Hills, Lanikai and a portion of Kailua, experienced Kawaʻa’s expertise in traditional hale building firsthand, which she shared briefly with lawmakers on April 2. Watch the full presentation (HR210), 

Kawaʻa asked four individuals to join him on the House floor that day, dressed in lei, to be recognized: Board and Stone Alakaʻi Kekipi Imamoto, a retired combat soldier who lives in Papakōlea with his ʻohana; Board and Stone Alakaʻi Kahiau Paik, a 2025 KS graduate who works with Hoʻokuaʻāina; Keoni Peters, a hale builder who worked on Marten’s project in Hāmākua; and longtime partner, Jenna Umiamaka, Human Resources director at Keiki O Ka ʻĀina (KOKA).

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"What’s next for Board and Stone?"}]

Expansion, both nationwide and globally, Kawaʻa said, noting that it’s his dream to bring the classes to Japan, though, it will take sponsorship to help make this a reality.

And eventually, who will take over? “There are several people in place who will rise to the job. The opportunity is in their hands,” he added. “The foundation is already solid.”

“‘E ola mau ka hana a me ka ʻike o nā kupuna.’ The work and the knowledge of our ancestors must live on.”

In transparency, I graduated from Board and Stone in spring 2021, invited by a former co-worker and alakaʻi, Roger Vistart.

I started at KOKA but finished with the Papakōlea class, due to restrictions to gathering sizes during the Covid-19 pandemic. What would have been a four-month class was extended to nearly one and a half years. But in that season, I never felt forgotten.

Kawaʻa was and is my kumu, and Keawe and Imamoto are my alakaʻis, among others. What I took away from their guidance, patience, selfless service and humility both in class and beyond was newfound confidence as a Hawaiian and a contributing member of this community.

In April, I visited KOKA’s Board and Stone class, greeted by the sound of metal hitting wood, warm embraces and the aroma of blooming puakenikeni. It was good to be home.

A circle of alakaʻi had formed around Kawaʻa, who was hunched over a wooden board, sharing the technique of shaving down its rough corners using a koʻi (ax-like tool with metal blade). He invited some of them to try and gently corrected, as needed. The shavings should “curl,” he explained, while tapping lightly on their backs to help them keep rhythm.

Meanwhile, ʻohana were arriving with their own papa and pōhaku; parents set up their work stations and greeted one another, while keiki played together throughout the evening.

At the call of "Hūi!" kane and wahine lined up for Hawaiian protocol (loina or ha‘akoa) and prayer (pule). Next came instruction from alakaʻi about inoa (name) and moʻolelo (story), in which ʻohana will call their boards and stones and share their journeys, respectively, at an upcoming celebration, or hōʻike (to demonstrate one’s knowledge).

The hana (work) began and Kawaʻa, along with the alakaʻi, dispersed to assist families. Class concluded with moʻolelo presented by keiki in both ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi and English.

Afterwards, the alakaʻi-led debrief meeting allowed for reflection on their own personal growth, in addition to observations from those whom they worked with. The overall sentiment was gratitude for kumu’s “master class” in working the board and celebrating “how far the families have come along.”

In time, Board and Stone has taught me the importance of ʻohana, finding beauty in imperfection and finishing what you start through hard work, self-discipline and perseverance. I also learned how to pule and respect the ʻāina, honoring Ke Akua, those who came before me and those journeying alongside. Everyone has a moʻolelo that can be used to uplift and bring value to one another’s lives.

Those interested in learning more about Board and Stone can visit 

For the latest news of Hawai‘i, sign up 

Board and Stone 2020

<title>Kumu Earl Kawaʻa, haumana recognized for Board and Stone</title>

Born and raised on Molokaʻi, Kawaʻa has offered Board and Stone to ʻohana across the Islands since 2010. The cultural classes teach families how to carve a wooden board (papa kuʻi ʻai) and shape a stone poi pounder (pōhaku) using only hand tools, while perpetuating Hawaiian traditions, language, moʻolelo and more. Last month, the Hawaiʻi House of Representatives honored him and his team for their dedication to community.

Kumu Earl Kawaʻa, haumana recognized for Board and Stone

Higa headshot white shirt square

Sterling Higa

Government & Politics

Columnists

At a quarter past eight on a wet Monday morning in January, Anderina Petero boards the Handi-Van outside the Jack in the Box on McCully and falls asleep against the window before it reaches the freeway. She has just finished her sixth graveyard shift of the week. Her daughter Marianeina, twenty-one, the cashier at the same restaurant, sits beside her. They are going home to a shelter in Waiʻanae.

Civil Beat sent more than a dozen reporters and photographers across the island for this year’s Point-In-Time count. The count is an annual tally of homeless people on O‘ahu. The reporters went to meet the people the counters were looking for. It is a 

 from a paper that leans left. It is unflinching about the homeless.

The count ended with 4,539 homeless people on O‘ahu. This number can be spun to suit one’s narrative. The stories underneath are less obliging.

A mother and daughter work the Jack in the Box graveyard shift in McCully. They commute by Handi-Van from a shelter in Waiʻanae. A man cycles in and out of the state hospital. Each time, he is released under Act 26 because he is not mentally fit to stand trial for the petty crime that brought him in. A meth user in Pāwaʻa park has tried every rehab program. They are “just on replay,” he says. His friend died at the park of an overdose a year ago. Two men sit on the District Court steps, newly out of jail. They scrounge bus fare while their girlfriends remain inside, soon to be released. A woman with a bad knee and a medical history of three strokes lives under a bridge. She has cleared the trash from a fouled stream and seen an eagle ray return to the water.

The progressive account of homelessness is mainly a cost-of-housing problem. It fits the mother and daughter exactly. A fifty-dollar rent increase was the final straw for them. It does not fit the man in the park. He has tried every rehab program and remains in the park. It does not fit the insane man. He is the heir of a twentieth-century reform. That reform closed the state hospitals and promised something else would replace them. Nothing did.

The conservative account says homelessness is moral failure, and the answer is to clear the encampments. It fails when it meets the woman living under a bridge. She had a job and a home before three strokes took both. She exercises more visible dominion under an overpass than most of us in our homes. It fails against a working mother praying her way through six graveyard shifts a week.

There is real work here for the state, and conservatives who pretend otherwise are not serious. Honolulu’s housing supply has been throttled by zoning, permitting, and policy that protects the property values of the already-housed. A median one-bedroom rent above $2,000 is a political achievement. Only policy can undo it.

The state can also restrain the publicly destructive, and currently does not. 

 sends a man who cannot stand trial back onto the same streets to commit the same offenses. We call it compassion. But it is the abandonment of a legitimate sphere of state authority in the name of compassion. The man and the public both pay for it.

What the state cannot do is reform a soul. The drug rehab programs that succeed tend, it turns out, to be religious. The man in Pāwaʻa park does not need another program. He needs what no program can deliver. A program that addresses conduct without aiming to save his soul has missed the point entirely.

Every person in the count is an image-bearer of God. Every person in the count is also fallen. To remember one without the other is to slide into sentimentality or contempt. Neither has ever helped anyone.

God works ordinarily through families, through churches, and through the small voluntary associations. They gather to meet needs without being asked. The modern welfare state has spent six decades displacing these little platoons. It is now puzzled that it cannot replace them.

This does not excuse those little platoons, many of which have failed to serve the needy. Anderina wears a bracelet that reads John 3:16. She is a member of a church in Kailua. She has not been there in two Sundays. The Handi-Van takes 90 minutes each way from McCully to Waiʻanae, six nights a week.

Does her church know? Do they care? It is not clear.

At a quarter past eight on a wet Monday in January, on a Handi-Van rolling west toward Waiʻanae, she sleeps with her head against the window. Perhaps today will be a day for rest.

Anderina Marianeina

<title>The stories underneath</title>

ASD opinion columnist Sterling Higa explores how an extensive story on homelessness by Civil Beat raises issues where both the political left and political right can do better on their approaches to solving the problem.

The stories underneath

Kelli Shiroma Braiotta Headshot

Kelli Shiroma Braiotta

Food & Dining

Known for its speakeasy atmosphere and vintage aesethic, Kaimukī-based 

 recently relaunched its brunch service under a new chef.

Executive chef Keith Endo is now at Vintage Books Hawaiʻi. Endo is originally from Hilo and graduated from Kapiʻolani Community College. His previous culinary experiences include leading the kitchens at Vino and, most recently, Ki Club.

His goal is to bring a “fresh and simple menu with Italian and Asian influence” to the Kaimukī eatery.

Some of the dishes on the menu from the eatery’s previous chef still remain, but their presentation or ingredients have been updated.

The Hau ‘ula Farms tomatoes ($18), Hawaiʻi venison tartare ($24) and Island farmer salad ($16) especially highlight locally sourced ingredients. The tomatoes are topped with a fried curry leaf, pineapple vinegar and cilantro.

The Island farmer salad comprises Sensei greens, local vegetables, citrus dressing, Burmese trail mix and Thai basil. If you want to enhance its creamy consistency, add mozzarella ($3 more).

The Island fresh catch (market price) is a new entree, according to Endo. During our visit, mahi mahi was featured, but sometimes shutome or kanpachi is used. The mahi is light and flaky, while the leek caper oil gives the dish a slightly briny, savory flavor.

The house karaage ($23) is not a new dish, but it’s a customer favorite. It’s served with kewpie mayonnaise and kimchi catsup for dipping. Crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside, the chicken is flavorful in and of itself.  

Customers can look forward to a rotating selection of specials. During our visit, Endo featured an herb-roasted lamb ($36) served with porcini mushrooms, gnocchi, shiitake mushrooms and foie gras demi glace.

The lamb is tender without a strong gamey flavor. The gnocchi — a nod to Endo’s travels to Italy to master pasta-making and explore the country’s regional cuisine — boasts a slightly chewy texture, especially when eaten with the mushrooms. The foie gras demi glace enhances the dish’s umami flavor.

The dessert menu features one new addition — chocolate creme brulee ($14). This re-imagined rendition features a white chocolate custard, which boasts a creamy, cheese-like texture, topped with a sugar crust.

Vintage Books Hawaiʻi paused its weekend brunch shortly after the new year, but re-launched it with Endo’s new menu on April 11. Brunch highlights include jumbo lump crab Benedict with yuzu hollandaise ($25), smoked salmon avocado toast with edamame hummus ($21), steak and eggs with chive hash browns ($32), French-style omelet with lemon ricotta and shiitake mushrooms ($22), and buttermilk pancakes with fruit compote ($20).

Brunch is served from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. Customers can also enjoy a variety of brunch cocktails that were designed to complement the menu.

Validated customer parking is available in the restaurant’s lot.

Open for dinner from 4 to 11 p.m. Sundays to Thursdays, 4 p.m. to midnight Fridays and Saturdays

Vintage Books chef Keith Endo 051226

<title>Vintage Books Hawaiʻi relaunches brunch service with new chef</title>

Chef Keith Endo, whose culinary background includes leading the kitchens at Vino and Ki Club, is now the executive chef at this Kaimukī speakeasy. Vintage Books Hawaiʻi re-launched its weekend brunch with a new menu in mid-April.

Vintage Books Hawaiʻi relaunches brunch service with new chef

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Ben Sasse is bleeding from the face."}]

He’s seated across from New York Times columnist Ross Douthat, 

, and he pauses to note it. He’s dying of stage 4 pancreatic cancer. One side effect of the treatment is that his body can’t grow skin.

“Yeah, you look terrible,” says Douthat.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"“Thank you,” says Sasse with a smile."}]

Since his diagnosis, Sasse has appeared on 

 stage, and a parade of podcasts. He uses the time to say what most politicians never dare to.

He talks about faith. He quotes R.C. Sproul. He discusses Tocqueville with the ease of someone who has actually read him.

Sasse is a two-term Republican Senator from Nebraska, a Harvard graduate, a Yale PhD in History. He voted to impeach Donald Trump and took the consequences. Though popular with voters in his home state, he left the Senate to serve as President of the University of Florida.

Now he spends his last days making one argument: American political life has gone badly wrong. Not because the wrong party is winning. Because the whole enterprise has lost its bearings.

Sasse starts with something most politicians would rather ignore: the pace of technological change. Previous economic transformations — industrialization, electrification — unfolded across generations. This one won’t. Robotics and automation will wipe out whole careers within a single working life.

Sasse sees a second shift: disembodied consciousness, the way screens let people leave their world. Families are breaking apart. Communities are dissolving. The local ties — churches, civic groups, the small-scale institutions Edmund Burke called “little platoons” — that help people absorb hard times are being stripped away. The formation of souls and citizens is at risk, and government is mostly ignoring it in favor of clickbait and rage.

He thinks our loves should be ordered, first to God, then to those nearest us, rippling outward from family to neighborhood to state to nation. Caring about a national political party more than your own community isn’t just confused. It’s a disorder of affection.

What’s true of the nation is true in Hawai'i. The legislature introduces three thousand bills a year. How many of those take the large challenges seriously? The demographic shifts, the cost pressures squeezing local families, the slow hemorrhage of young people off the Islands? The floor speeches and press releases gesture toward these problems, but the lawmaking doesn’t match the problem.

Sasse’s example suggests why. He can sit for an hour-long interview on dense political and theological matters because he has a clear philosophy — a disciplined way of working through problems. It also gives him the power to persuade, which is the precondition for coordinated action.

The founders studied rhetoric and philosophy with the same care they gave the law, because republican government runs on argument and clear speech. Most of Hawai‘i’s lawmakers couldn’t sustain an interview like Sasse’s, and the laws show it. There’s no clear direction. No will to rally the public. Few signs that anyone has thought hard about what government is for. What fills the vacuum is performance: press releases, floor speeches written for social media, outrage timed to the news cycle.

Sasse has a simple framework for what a coherent politics looks like. He describes four ways of valuing government, measured in cheers. No-cheer people — hardcore libertarians — don’t understand that government exists to secure liberty. Three-cheer people believe in a state that controls everything. Republicans, he says, are the one-cheer party. Democrats are the two-cheer party. Each has an extreme wing. Hawai‘i’s loudest voices are at the extremes.

What we lack are the one-cheer leaders: those who see government as necessary but flawed, able to secure order but not to deliver salvation.

Government should do a small number of important things well. It should get out of the way of the little platoons. It should never present itself as the path to utopia. Hawai‘i’s government casting itself as humanity’s last best hope has always been faintly comic.

Sasse’s sharpest line comes when he describes what voters already sense about the way their leaders talk.

They know it’s bullshit, he says — and they don’t want to be lied to. Why can’t politics do a small number of important, long-term things?

There is something clarifying about a man making that argument while bleeding from the face. He has no election to win, no caucus to protect, and by his own reckoning, weeks or months to live. What he’s chosen to do with his time is sit down and think hard about what government is and isn’t for, and what we’ve lost by confusing the two.

In watching Ben Sasse die, Hawai‘i might learn something about how to live.

Ben Sasse Getty Images 1231346544

<title>Ben Sasse is dying in public</title>

The former U.S. senator from Nebraska is talking about big ideas everywhere he can as pancreatic cancer takes his life. Hawai‘i's politicians could learn from what he has to say about government doing fewer things well, says ASD opinion columnist Sterling Higa.

Ben Sasse is dying in public

Katie Helland Headshot

Katie Helland

Arts & Entertainment

, which is held the last Monday in May, brings with it opportunities to honor those who have died, particularly in service to the country.

, the event was planned for spring, to ensure flowers would be available across the country and could be placed on soldiers’ graves, according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

Here are some of the events coming up for Memorial Day this month, which include opportunities to make lei and attend a floating lantern ceremony.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Thursday, May 21"}]

Donate lei for the graves of service members. 

Following WWII, Pūowaina, also known as Punchbowl Crater, was designated the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. Each year, about 38,000 lei are placed on the graves of the service members laid to rest at the cemetery. To support the cause, drop fresh flowers or lei made of fresh flowers or ti leaf 

 on Thursday, May 21, through Sunday, May 24. Students who graduated are also encouraged to donate their lei at any of these locations. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Friday, May 22"}]

Want to help create the 38,000 lei placed on the graves of the service members laid to rest at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific? Join one of these lei-making events across the island from Waiʻane to Waimānalo. There will also be lei making from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Thursday, May 21, at Kāne‘ohe Community & Senior Center. Free. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Monday, May 25"}]

The event starts at 8:30 a.m. and features ceremonial presentations and tributes. There will be an oli, a speech from Mayor Rick Blangiardi, a presentation of wreaths, a firearm salute, a military aircraft flyover, and performances from the Royal Hawaiian Band and Sounds of Aloha Chorus, as well as 

 The ceremony also features taps. Parking is limited. Additional parking is available at Abraham Lincoln Elementary School and Robert Louis Stevenson Middle School, starting at 7 a.m. and a courtesy shuttle will take attendees to the cemetery. Free. 

Spend Memorial Day at the Pearl Harbor National Memorial, where you can visit the 

 (reservations recommended, although some standby admission is available) or the 

 submarine. Visitors can also book a tour to Ford Island, where they can visit the 

, where authentic WWII hangers hold a variety of aircraft and visitors can step into flight simulators. The Pearl Harbor National Memorial’s visitor center is open from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. 

Join Gov. Josh Green, Maj. General Stephen Logan, and Lt. Col. John Alamodin for the Governor’s Memorial Day Ceremony at 1 p.m. at the Hawaiʻi State Veteran’s Cemetery in Kāneʻohe. There will be a musical prelude by the 

Cruise over to the Hawaiʻi Kai Towne Center and check out this showcase of classic cars in the parking lot in front of Costco. The event starts at 2 p.m. Free. 

This Memorial Day ceremony brings thousands to the water’s edge at Ala Moana Beach, where they release floating lanterns into the ocean. The free public event, which includes a ceremony that starts at 6:30 p.m., is officiated by Shinnyo-en, an international Buddhist community with Japanese roots. It is presented by the group’s locally based community support arm Nā Lei Aloha Foundation. 

Jacob Kam and his mother, Betty Lou Kam, have been volunteers

 for several years and share what keeps them coming back. 

Individual lanterns are free and available on a first-come, first-served basis

 starting at 10 a.m. at the Lantern Request Tent at Ala Moana Beach Park. Community members can also 

add a message to the collective remembrance lantern

For the latest news of Hawai‘i, sign up 

Pearl Harbor

<title>7 things to do for Memorial Day 2026</title>

Looking for ways to celebrate Memorial Day? The City and County of Honolulu is looking for help creating 38,000 lei for service members laid to rest at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. There are also opportunities to visit Pearl Harbor and attend a Memorial Day lantern floating ceremony.

7 things to do for Memorial Day 2026

Stephanie Salmons Headshot

Stephanie Salmons

Business & Tourism

When Greg Pronko and his business partner Mike O'Reilly bought Tiki Home in Hanalei nearly two decades ago, they saw potential.

Pronko told Aloha State Daily that their business is industrial design, fabrication and material science, "so we have a really good background of design aesthetic, as well as how to build things. When we saw that house, we saw the diamond in the rough — like this is such a weird art home. It's totally neglected, but it's so different and strange that it could definitely attract a certain clientele to come rent it. That's been the story."

The 4,500-square-foot home, just 700 feet from Hanalei Bay and close to the town center of Hanalei, was one of 15 recently recognized as Vrbo's 

Now in its fifth year, homes on the annual list are chosen from more than 2 million Vrbo based on guest reviews, host performance and unique amenities. See the listing 

"Over the years, I like to say we've been slowly winning the war against entropy," Pronko continued. " ... When you're 700 feet from the North Shore of Kaua‘i, or any of the Hawaiian Islands, there's massive waves that come in in the winter, there's tons of rain, the sea spray and salt, everything's constantly dissolving and rusting and falling apart, so we're winning that war. Every year, the house gets a little bit better and better, and I guess that's shown this year because we get really good reviews and we won that award."

[{"type":"text","text":"Pronko and O'Reilly acquired the property in August 2006."}]

"We both, at the time, were really into surfing here in San Francisco and went out there [to Hawai‘i] for his brother's wedding and fell in love with Hanalei specifically," Pronko says.

Tiki Home was "really run down" when they bought it. Pronko says they knew they could afford a portion of the mortgage, but would likely have to offer it as a vacation rental.

"It became a passion project for us, where we would take turns, one of us covering the company, the other going out and working on the house."

Today, Tiki Home offers "very unique woodwork and artistic funky flair," the Vrbo listing notes. You'll see lava rock in various locations and the home features custom ohi‘a and Tiki-carved beams. The house sleeps eight and has four bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms, and an outdoor shower.

According to Pronko, the home was built after Hurricane Iniki, which hit the Garden Isle in 1992.

[{"type":"text","text":"It's a \"funky art home,\" he says."}]

Some things, like the shag carpet, have been replaced, but other things, like the lava rock and "weird art" were kept.

"All the beams in the house have carvings in them, so when people stay there and they really just finally relax, and they're staring up at the ceiling, they'll just start seeing really weird things, so it becomes kind of an adventure — and I think kids just love it because it's such a weird house."

Pronko says it's important that they let people know in the listing "that this is a funky, weird house. You're coming for a different experience. But we try to pair that with really nice bedding, really nice towels and linens, and we're constantly buying new appliances and dishware for the kitchen. That's one easy place where you can put money into a vacation rental and it really pays off."

Pronko says he comes to Kaua‘i quite often — he'll be here for a week or two every four to six weeks, usually working on the house, doing upgrades or maintenance.

"We're really excited," Pronko told ASD. "I'm very proud that we won that award. Ultimately, it comes down to making sure that our guests have an incredible experience."

Hawai‘i Scene on Social: Pork over the Pali

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Hawai‘i Scene on Social: Pork over the Pali

Authors

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