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Kady Pascual

Hawaiʻi Scene on Social

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"K den, shootz!"}]

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The Real Faevur

<title>Hawai‘i Scene on Social: Mele for the people</title>

Today’s social media find comes from @TheRealFaevur, singing a nice tune.

Hawai‘i Scene on Social: Mele for the people

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Michael Brestovansky

Government & Politics

A Hawai‘i senator tried and failed to salvage funding for emergency broadcasters from a round of public broadcasting cuts.

The U.S. Senate voted Tuesday 51-50 to advance the 

, which slashes $9.4 billion in funds to various agencies including the Department of State, the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Those cuts permanently rescind funds made available to the CPB for the 2026 and 2027 fiscal years, about $1.1 billion in total.

The rescission request from President Donald Trump's administration 

 the cuts because the funds “would be used to subsidize a public media system that is politically biased and an unnecessary expense to the taxpayer.”

 in May specifically demanding that CPB cease funding National Public Radio, or NPR, and the Public Broadcasting Service, or PBS, which are funded partially through CPB grants.

But Senator Mazie Hirono raised concerns about the proposal’s impact to emergency broadcast stations in rural communities.

“Public broadcasters are essential to rural communities, often serving as the only emergency alert system when disasters or emergencies occur,” Hirono said on the Senate floor Wednesday. “These alerts can mean the difference between life or death.”

Hirono offered a motion to recommit the bill Wednesday, recommending that any public broadcasting station that participates in the Federal Communications Commission’s Emergency Alert System be exempt from funding cuts caused by the Rescissions Act.

As of 2023, more than 25,000 radio and television broadcasters participate in the EAS nationwide, according to 

“As natural disasters increase in frequency across our country, this motion will help protect our communities and ensure they can get timely, life-saving information when disaster strikes,” Hirono said.

However, Russell Vought, director of the Office of Management and Budget, had previously testified to the Senate that emergency broadcasting services will be safe from the cuts.

The Senate ultimately voted to reject Hirono’s motion, which failed 48-51. Two Republicans, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Maine, broke with their party to vote in support of Hirono’s motion.

The Senate has not made a final vote regarding the bill. If they vote in favor of it, the bill returns to the House for further discussion. Congress must pass the bill by midnight Friday to meet or else the funds rescinded in the bill must be released to their respective departments.

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Hironohirez 16x9

<title>CONGRESS WATCH: Senate votes against Hirono proposal to protect emergency broadcasters</title>

President Donald Trump's budget rescissions bill would cut over $1 billion from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

CONGRESS WATCH: Senate votes against Hirono proposal to protect emergency broadcasters

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Stephanie Salmons

Real Estate

[{"type":"text","text":"A Waikīkī hotel is on the market."}]

Built in 1972, you can find ‘Ewa Hotel Waikīkī on 15,000 square feet of leasehold land at 2555 Cartwright Road. That's on the east end of Waikīkī near the Honolulu Zoo and Kapi‘olani Park and not far from the beach.

The property is being marketed by a CBRE team that includes Senior Vice President Yasuyuki Kojima and Vice President Andrew Reenders.

, the hotel, which has a total of 92 guest rooms, is currently managed by Aqua Aston Hotels & Resorts, but can be "delivered unencumbered."

Kojima told Aloha State Daily Wednesday that 92 is a "relatively small number of units" and could fit the bill for a boutique hotel.

It's a "select service hotel," he noted, and said there's no pool or food and beverage service. But Reenders says that there is an eighth-floor rooftop deck with some ocean views.

"It's a nice value-add opportunity for someone to come in with some new capital to reinvest in it, renovate, possibly rebrand it and get the ADR [average daily rate, or the room rate] up closer to where the market would be for a newly renovated off-beach property," he told ASD.

"The hotel is being offered unencumbered by brand and management affiliation providing the opportunity to completely reposition and rebrand the hotel in a marketplace experiencing high revenues," the site states.

[{"type":"text","text":"They're targeting a $21 million sale price."}]

Kojima says they're marketing the hotel not only to investors from the U.S. Mainland, but Asian markets as well, including Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore.

Fifty years remain on the ground lease, "with known rent through 2045, avoiding any rent re-openings and removing uncertainty," the site notes.

"It's a very favorable lease, too," Reenders says. "It's well-written."

The team began marketing the property earlier this month and say they've seen a strong response so far.

Only one Waikīkī hotel sold last year, Reenders said.

Waikīkī hotels to come to market like this," he said. "It's a highly sought after as an asset."

Ewa Hotel CBRE 0725

<title>Waikīkī hotel hits the market</title>

‘Ewa Hotel Waikīkī is located on 15,000 square feet of leasehold land at 2555 Cartwright Road.

Waikīkī hotel hits the market

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Kelsey Kukaua Medeiros

Aloha Spirit

Arts & Culture

Obon season is underway in Hawaiʻi. From June through September, local communities will join in celebration of the Japanese Buddhist festival with traditional music and dance, while gathering to honor ancestors.

The annual Obon festival features Bon dancing, which invites the spirits or ancestors as dancers dressed in summer kimono move to the beat of taiko drums and other traditional instruments. For a schedule of Obon dances happening on Oʻahu this year, 

Buddhist leaders and members of Hawaiʻi’s Japanese community gathered on July 14 at Makiki Cemetery for the 39th annual Obon Houyo memorial service, put on by 

The purpose of the event is to pay respects to the first Japanese contract immigrant workers, who came to the Islands in 1885 under a treaty signed between then-Emperor Meiji of Japan and King Kalākaua 

, according to its program. Many died without families and were buried on the slopes of Punchbowl with no one to care for their graves.

The United Japanese Society of Hawaiʻi’s mission is to “advance the welfare of the Japanese and their descendants in Hawaiʻi and maintain their friendly relationship with other ethnic groups through religious, charitable, educational and cultural activities,” 

. The nonprofit has put on the memorial since 1994, after being passed down from Oʻahu Kanyaku Imin Centennial Celebration Committee, officials said.

“For me, it’s a nice event to go to because there’s a significant importance behind it – honoring the first immigrants in Hawaiʻi. … It’s an important part of Japanese American history,” said Keith Sakuda, chair of the Obon Memorial Service Committee and former president of the United Japanese Society of Hawaiʻi.

He told Aloha State Daily that about 30 people were in attendance Monday. The service, which included chanting, burning of incense and a few remarks, was led by Bishop Kenjun Kawata of 

Sakuda said he has served as chair for the past two years. Growing up in Makiki near the cemetery, he noted that the yearly Obon remembrance ceremony is deeply personal.

“Growing up, my family would pass by the ceremony, and I always wondered what it was," Sakuda said. “And in recent years, I got to learn more. As president, it gave me a chance to meet the people involved and broaden my understanding of the local Japanese community.”

The organization, he added, is funded through membership dues, as well as small grants and donations

The event would not be possible without “support from the state for the maintenance of the site,” he said. “I would like to thank those who maintain Makiki Cemetery. There are good people out there doing this work, so we also want to make sure we can support them.”

According to the event program, Makiki Cemetery has three distinct memorials that honor early Japanese immigrants – the Hawai’i Japanese Immigrant Memorial, the Gannenmono Memorial and the Makiki Japanese Naval Cemetery.

, Brian Taniguchi, stepped into the role of president of the United Japanese Society of Hawaiʻi this month. He said his primary responsibilities include managing the organization and maintaining its current event lineup.

“Carrying on the work from past president David Jones, my goal is to help grow [Kenjinkai, or] the other local prefecture clubs, building more constituencies by getting people involved and active,” Taniguchi told ASD. “We sponsor and host quite a bit of events throughout the year, so I want to ensure those are done well.”

He said his grandparents on his dad’s side lived in Hiroshima and that his grandfather was on the outskirts of town when the atomic bomb dropped.

“He didn’t get hurt but jumped in to help,” Taniguchi said. “The summer after 6th grade, I stayed with my grandfather in Hiroshima, which was an eye-opening experience for me to see how the people there lived.”

While there, he attended the Aug. 6 remembrance ceremony and got to see the floating lanterns for the first time. Since then, Taniguchi has helped organize regular visits to Hiroshima, taking groups of local students and teachers, lawmakers and community members, to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, among other historic sites.

“It’s heartwarming to take part in,” he said.

This year is the 80th anniversary of the bombings of Hiroshima and several events are planned in Hawai’i. The first is Tuesday, Aug. 5, at 12:30 p.m. at the Torii at Mōʻiliʻili Triangle Park in Honolulu, which is a scale replica of the gate at Miyajima Island near Hiroshima.

For more information about the United Japanese Society of Hawaiʻi 

Obon Memorial 07 14 25

<title>Community leaders continue celebrations for Obon and plan to commemorate Hiroshima</title>

Obon season is well underway in Hawaiʻi. Learn more from past and current leaders of the United Japanese Society of Hawaiʻi, who share about the recent Obon Memorial Service, the nonprofit's mission and their own family ties to Makiki, the place where early immigrants lay to rest, and Japan.

Community leaders continue celebrations for Obon and plan to commemorate Hiroshima

Kelli Shiroma Braiotta Headshot

Kelli Shiroma Braiotta

Food & Dining

has been open for about a month now, and Aloha State Daily recently caught up with business owner Jeff Nedry about his latest venture. The biz did an online Q&A — in which they answered questions from the public via social media — but we chimed in and asked a few of our own questions. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"How did you choose the name ‘Boarded Up’?"}]

When we couldn’t renew our lease at our old Kaimukī spot, Chubbies literally got "boarded up." The name "Boarded Up" is our playful, rebellious lean into that. It’s a cheeky, edgy way for us to say, "We’re back and here to stay."

How did you find the new location for Boarded Up?

We first heard there might be an opportunity for this space to be revitalized from Chris Kajioka and our friends at Leila, who are now our neighbors next door, at the former Angelo Pietro location. Even though it’s a lot smaller, we really wanted to stay in the Kaimukī neighborhood — a community that has become like family to us. It challenged us to reimagine our brand and launch a new concept, while staying true to our values and quality.

Describe how the menu is the same/different from before.

Our new space presented an exciting challenge: how do we bring the Chubbies spirit into a smaller footprint? We’ve reimagined our offering into a more consolidated menu for Boarded Up and our commitment to quality is just the same. Some ingredients and recipes haven’t changed — we serve the same always-crispy crinkle fries, make the same house pickles, and still use premium vanilla soft serve custard in all our milkshakes, to name a few. You can still expect the same high-quality, never-frozen beef on our fresh, locally baked buns. 

The experience will feel similar to Chubbies, but Boarded Up is something new. We now have double burgers and lettuce wraps as a standard offering, both things that were previously off-menu requests.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"What are some staff favorites on the menu?"}]

When we were testing out the menu, one thing that the staff was really stoked about was our Cali fries — French fries with American cheese and grilled onions, topped with our 1950s sauce and some chopped pickles. This is reminiscent of In-N-Out ‘animal style’ fries. I know that a lot of people were excited to have something like that available to them on island.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"What’s your go-to order?"}]

At Boarded Up, I have a few favorites. The burger I’m loving is the Carolina Onion burger; it has our housemade pickles, some thinly sliced white onions that go on the grill — they get cooked but also stay a little raw — and we have a really awesome dijonnaise mustard sauce on there. Those are all new flavors that we’ve never done before.

We had talked for a long time about doing garlic fries, but I wanted to do some awesome garlic fries — not just standard garlic fries. I came up with the idea for spicy garlic fries that have a really good sauce on them. I love fries with sauce. The [Calamansi] green river lemonade is something that I really love, as well.

Will you have a cookies and cream milkshake at this location?

We had Oreo as a milkshake flavor at our previous location. It was actually our bestselling milkshake flavor; however, we wanted to focus on three classic milkshakes — vanilla, chocolate and strawberry. Oreo is a great shake — I love it, too — but we can’t really improve that recipe. For the vanilla, we’re using local Lāʻie vanilla beans. For the chocolate, we have Ghirardelli chocolate powder. The strawberry is now strawberry guava, so there’s a little spin on that; we use 100% fruit purees in that. We wanted to highlight how we can do these three classic flavors the best they can possibly be.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Did you cook as a kid?"}]

This is a great time to give a shout-out to my mom — thank her for always cooking at home when I was growing up. We rarely ate out. I think what that taught me was that cooking was never a scary thing; it was following recipes, following instructions, going to the grocery store. You’re skill building when you’re making your own tweaks to stuff. Cooking was never intimidating to me and being able to help out at home made me feel comfortable and stoked to make more of my own stuff. And that’s what I’m doing now.

What is one piece of advice you would give someone starting out in the food industry?

It’s not about who’s the best; it’s about working as a team and communicating. The restaurant gets busy; working in food is demanding, and it’s never about who’s right or wrong. It’s just about solving problems and, at the end of the day, working with the team that you have, and everyone doing their best.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"What are you most proud of?"}]

I’m really proud of the brand that we’ve built. The Chubbies brand has become resonant with the community, so much that people are willing to come out and give our new concept a try. They trust that we know what we’re doing when it comes to burgers, and we’re going to make some good stuff. I was really hoping that we would have a good turnout, and it exceeded my expectations.

Boarded Up owner Jeff Nedry 071125

<title>Q&A with Boarded Up by Chubbies Burgers owner Jeff Nedry</title>

From the meaning behind the business’s name and its new offerings to his go-to order, Nedry updates us on his latest venture.

Q&A with Boarded Up by Chubbies Burgers owner Jeff Nedry

Katie Helland Headshot

Katie Helland

Entertainment

Molokai resident Eric DeVine, the owner of DeVine Guitars and ʻUkuleles, started building instruments after his plane was grounded in the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.

Today, he builds guitars and ʻukulele with materials such as koa, mahogany and Brazilian rosewood with inlay that includes opals, black coral and emeralds. His instruments start at $7,500 for a concert ʻukulele, with additional charges for inlay and wood upgrades. Finished instruments feature things such as a 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Many feature opals."}]

“It's really pretty stuff, and it's available in just about every color as well, so there's a lot of freedom in using that material,” DeVine told Aloha State Daily. “The neat thing about the opal over shell, like abalone and mother of pearl, is that opal catches the light in a far different way. ... It will collect light from all sides and project it.”

DeVine will share how he selects wood for his instruments at 10 a.m. on Saturday, July 19, in the next Builder’s Spotlight, an ongoing series that features ʻukulele makers across the state. The conversations are hosted by Kauaʻi musician Kimo Hussey and Hawaiʻi State Archives, which is part of the state Department of Accounting and General Services. 

This week, the Builder’s Spotlight will also feature ʻukulele player Mika Kane, who will demonstrate some of the concepts DeVine describes. The event will also have six ʻukulele he built, which are worth approximately $100,000, according to DAGS representatives.

A previous Builder's Spotlight highlighted the work of 

, who runs the Waiʻanae-based company Pahu Kani 

 and makes instruments that incorporate everything from seashells to parts of kitchen countertops. 

DeVine grew up in Washington, in a family that worked in construction and valued music. When he was about 20 years old, he moved to Hawaiʻi Island. He was visiting his family in Washington when the 9/11 attacks temporarily grounded planes across the nation. Tourism in Hawaiʻi had been at a standstill, so DeVine decided to stay a year on the Mainland. During that time, he signed up for a guitar-making class offered by a retired woodworker at a community college.

“That was kind of it,” he said with a laugh. “It became really clear that's what I wanted to do. I finished that guitar, and then immediately started building three more.”

Eventually, DeVine moved back to Hawaiʻi, where he met Hussey, who saw a few of his instruments at a kids ʻukulele contest at Hula Grill Kāʻanapali.

“He saw them, and he put in a custom order,” DeVine said. “It was my very first custom order.”

Since then, DeVine has built at least a dozen instruments for Hussey over the years.

Today, DeVine creates about 15 to 20 instruments per year, although he plans to increase production so he can double or triple output. He ships instruments across the world.

“It’s interesting because the hot markets have changed over the years,” DeVine said.

In the early years of the business, about 80% of the instruments were shipped to Japan, he said. When the exchange rate became less favorable, the company shipped more instruments to other countries, including Thailand and China.

“Now it’s picking up a bit more in Europe,” he said.

The result of this international demand is musicians around the world own instruments he designed in Hawaiʻi.

“It's kind of cool knowing that there's little towns in Germany that have a number of my instruments in them,” he said. “That's kind of a funny thought.”

 featuring DeVine at 10 a.m. on Saturday, July 19. After the event, the video will be posted to the 

Hawaiʻi State Archives’ YouTube Channel

DeVine Guitars and ʻUkulele

<title>Molokai luthier Eric DeVine to share building process</title>

The owner of DeVine Guitars and ʻUkuleles picked up the profession of building instruments after taking a community college class on the Mainland. Today, his custom guitars and ʻukulele designs feature woods from around the world, along with opals, emeralds and black coral.

Molokai luthier Eric DeVine to share building process

Business & Tourism

Relief is here for local health care professionals fed up with medical product supply chain issues.

, a global health care product and services company, acquired Honolulu-based 

pharmaceutical and medical products business R. Weinstein Inc. in March for an unspecified amount. Earlier this month, Henry Schein leaders and staff, along with community members gathered to dedicate the new distribution center, located at the former R. Weinstein space at 846 Pohukaina St., which displays both entities' names on the exterior sign.

“Our appreciation for the business Richard Weinstein established in Hawaiʻi in 1984 runs deep, and we’ve had a strong relationship with the team for many years,” said Ty Ford, vice president and general manager of sales for Henry Schein, in an emailed response to questions from Aloha State Daily. “By combining R. Weinstein’s trusted local expertise with Henry Schein’s global resources, the new distribution center now offers enhanced ordering efficiency, increased inventory capacity and accelerated delivery times.”

Ford noted that the facility’s location in Honolulu “helps ensure that essential medical products — including vaccines, surgical supplies and equipment — reach providers quickly and reliably across the Islands.”

Next-day delivery will be available for customers, he said, adding that 

 aims to improve “supply chain resilience,” which will free up “medical professionals to maintain consistent, high-quality care” throughout the state. In the coming months, more supplies and equipment, which is currently difficult to source and ship, will be added to the company’s offerings, according to Ford.

Today, Henry Schein provides 300,000 products to more than 1 million medical and dental offices worldwide, 

. The Fortune 500 company supports dental laboratories, government and institutional health care clinics, among other sites.    

R. Weinstein’s local leadership and employees will stay on to operate the new distribution center, Ford said. In 2024, the local business reported sales of approximately $11 million, 

“The local staff have remained the same, continuing to support health care providers across the Island with high-quality medical products," he said. "Though integrated now into Henry Schein’s broader operations, the local team continues to prioritize the personalized service and local relationships that R. Weinstein is known for."

Jeff Weinstein, former president of R. Weinstein, “will continue to help advise and support the team,” as he’s done for more than 40 years, Ford said.

“Because of our shared mission of serving practitioners across Hawai’i, together we offer a broader product range, faster deliveries and streamlined support.”

When asked what overall impact the business hopes to have in the local community, he said that giving back is a key part of 

“We have various signature programs that exemplify our commitment to volunteerism, he said. “For example, our Back-to-School program provides school supplies to underserved children in the local areas to lift their spirits and increase their confidence in the classroom. We look forward to implementing these kinds of programs at our new location in the future.”

Headquartered in Melville, New York, Henry Schein has operations or affiliates in 33 countries and territories, with sales surpassing $12.7 billion in 2024. It was founded in 1932 and became a public company in 1995.

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Weinstein7 1 25 208

<title>Medical distributor Henry Schein opens in Honolulu</title>

The newly opened distribution center in the former R. Weinstein space on Oʻahu offers next-day delivery of medical products — vaccines, surgical supplies and equipment — for health care practitioners across Hawai’i.

Hawai‘i Scene on Social: Mele for the people

Kady Pascual

Social Media Editor

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Hawai‘i Scene on Social: Mele for the people

Authors

Kady Pascual

Social Media Editor

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