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Kady Pascual

Hawaiʻi Scene on Social

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"No one wants a foot full of wana!"}]

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TheRealHong

<title>Hawai‘i Scene on Social: Stepped on</title>

Today’s social media find comes from @TheRealHong, who misstepped.

Hawai‘i Scene on Social: Stepped on

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Kelli Shiroma Braiotta Headshot

Kelli Shiroma Braiotta

Food & Dining

It’s the first day of the Wednesday okazuya pop-up at 

, and there’s a steady stream of customers. With okazuya items like teri beef sticks, char siu pork belly, fried saimin, cucumber namasu and roast pork hash tempura, though, it’s no surprise. In particular, the roast pork hash tempura ($3) and inari ($5.50) were hot commodities on the okazuya’s first day.

Customers who have missed the cooking and flavors from chef Jason Peel — formerly of Nami Kaze Hawai

i, which closed its doors at the end of October — can look forward to the return of favorites like Grandma’s potato salad ($4) and ginger fried chicken ($4) on the okazuya menu. Other options include kimbap ($8.95), furikake Goteborg musubi ($3.25), bittermelon namasu ($4.50) and buttermilk fried chicken ($6). The okazuya launched on Dec. 17 and is currently available from 7 to 10:30 a.m. (or until sold out) on Dec. 24 and 31.

While the okazuya is only one day a week for now, customers can look forward to additional days in 2026. That’s just one of the concepts that Peel — who is now the chef/partner at Diamond Head Market & Grill, with owner Kelvin Ro — is working on.

We recently caught up with Peel, who shares more about his new role at the iconic destination.

ASD: Congrats on your new role, chef! Can you tell us how this came about?

: I’ve known Kelvin [Ro] for quite some time from when I was teaching at KCC (Kapi

olani Community College). We always kind of thought of doing something together, but I got into Nami Kaze.

We had our three-year lease … in the closing, I was talking to Kelvin to see if he needed help. I knew a lot of good people that I would need to find jobs for. We started talking about a transition.

It was a really hard decision [to close]; I kept my core management and had to shrink the foundation of our team, and re-grow. But I’m super excited; Kelvin’s next year will be 25 years he’s been running his business. There are so many great things about his business, and I’m trying to add what I can do without getting in the way. I want to see what we can do with local products and showcase them in a different way.

I want to start with the basics first because it’s an established business; I want to learn what their culture is. It’s been good; the team there has been so welcoming. I worked with them three years ago when I was remodeling Nami Kaze. I had some free time and I worked with Kelvin a bit.

It all kind of fell into place, as far as me transitioning to something more in that realm, as opposed to a full-service dining establishment. It kind of just aligned. [Now] it’s like I came back, which is nice. There’s a lot of things that he wanted to do, but never had the support to do it, so we’re trying to work on all these projects together, which has been fun.

ASD: What are you looking forward to in this new role?

: I really want to get out more and work with more people in the field. And that’s high schools, and getting closer to seeing what the farmers are dealing with. Just going at this industry from a different perspective. There’s so many different worlds and parts to this industry.

ASD: What are some of the most popular dishes currently on the market’s menu?

: They’re known for their chicken and kalbi, and their burgers are made from scratch. To me, it’s all about the grill. Everything’s being cooked to order on the grill. I like how they have brown rice and salad. I love mac salad and potato salad, but to have healthier options on your plate lunch that’s made to order is so awesome.

They have a lot of classic things in the marketplace; they do a great job with their desserts. They’ve had beef stroganoff on there (the menu) forever. They have a lot of nice salads; I love somen salad, so I’ll eat that sometimes. We want to not take away, but add to it. I want to get some of our sauces in there to go with the food; we’re working on that.

ASD: You recently did a Thanksgiving plate special for the holiday. How did you come up with that?

: That is all Kelvin. More than three years ago, they were doing turkey dinners. We’re going to work together in keeping his culture and nostalgic flavors along with me doing what I do, and collaborating in that manner. I like to learn first what he likes. We’ll see what kind of fun we can have next year.

ASD: Tell us more about the return of the weekend breakfast menu. Did breakfast stop for a while?

: Breakfast stopped around the Covid-19 pandemic; it was nice to bring it back. The breakfast (menu) uses his classics; as the weeks go on, we’ll probably start adding some dishes that are more my style. We’ll make more stuff as we go.

What’s cool about this staff is they’re so dedicated; they’ve been here for a long time. You can see that they have so much passion in what they’re doing. They’re working really hard. They brought so many years of nostalgic and homestyle food to everybody.

ASD: What are some dishes or ingredients you’d like to bring to the menu?

: I love using ‘ulu and anything that the island grows. What we grow in Hawai

i is what I want to get on the menu. The land makes what the land makes. When you live somewhere, those are the things you’re supposed to eat and the things you grew up on and want to share with the rest of the world. What makes me feel good is when we’re taking products that are naturally grown here and make it into something that people want to eat every day. That’s what’s cool; that’s what I’m looking forward to.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"ASD: What are some of your other plans?"}]

: We’re working on a coffee/drink program. They’re getting some high-quality coffee, so we’ll do some cold brew. We got a slushy machine.

We’re also slowly working on our event spaces. One’s upstairs [of the market]; it’s not necessarily a restaurant, but we’ll do little pop-ups here and there. There’s an indoors and outdoors; it’s a nice, homey area. We’re trying to get that renovated — just painting, cleaning and patching. We’re not trying to run a restaurant, but trying to do some collaborations with some chef friends and people we partnered with before, and get back to showcasing all the local products.

There are so many things that we can do, it gets overwhelming. We’ve been trying to look at things as far as getting a timeline on what’s first, what’s next. “Let me look at this, is that feasible to do right now?” It’s a lot.

ASD: Will pastry chef Bev Luk eventually have her pastries at the market, too?

: She’s taking a little break. She deserves it; she’s been pushing hard the last few months. I had a ton of catering and events; I wanted to let her relax for a bit. She’d love to pop up one day and do some dessert tastings.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"ASD: Is there anything else you wanted to add?"}]

: We want to keep it [Diamond Head Market & Grill] alive for as long as possible. Hopefully, we can keep it going as it’s been for 25 years, and add some new, nostalgic flavors to it.

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Weekend breakfast served from 7 to 10:30 a.m. Saturdays and Sundays

Okazuya from 7 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. (or until sold out) Dec. 24 and 31

Diamond Head Market and Grill chef Jason Peel 121725

<title>Diamond Head Market & Grill now has a new okazuya pop-up and weekend breakfast</title>

Chef Jason Peel — formerly of Nami Kaze Hawaiʻi — has now joined chef Kelvin Ro at Diamond Head Market & Grill. Peel gave us an update on what he’s doing at the iconic market, and we recently stopped by to check out the market's first okazuya pop-up.

Diamond Head Market & Grill now has a new okazuya pop-up and weekend breakfast

Lopaka and Tanya Kapanui

Lopaka Kapanui and Tanya Kapanui

Government & Politics

Viewpoints

Centrally located between downtown Honolulu and Waikīkī, the Neal S. Blaisdell Center occupies an entire city block at Ward Avenue and King Street. Originally called the Honolulu International Center when it opened in 1964, it was renamed after Honolulu Mayor Neal S. Blaisdell, who oversaw its development as a multi-purpose entertainment and convention venue. Today, the center boasts a 50,000-square-foot arena, a concert hall, exhibition halls, meeting rooms, and landscaped outdoor spaces, including its famous brackish ponds that are home to a wide variety of fish. Concerts, sporting events, expositions, graduations, and community celebrations continue to attract residents and visitors to the entertainment center.

The land beneath the Blaisdell Center lies within the ‘Ili Lele (a subsection of an ahupua‘a) of Kewalo. In pre-contact times, this area was shaped by pūnāwai (freshwater springs), lepo pohō (marshy ground), loko ‘ia (fish ponds), and very little dry land. The waters of Kewalo sustained daily life, but they also carried a dark purpose.

The area was once known to contain a pond called Kawailumalumai, or Drowning Waters. Members of the kauwā, the outcasts who were often used as sacrifice, were drowned there as part of a ritual known as kānāwai kaihehe‘e or kekaihe‘ehe‘e, meaning “sea sliding along,” which suggests the victims were slid under the sea.

If there were any signs of struggle, the kahuna performing the sacrifice would say to his victim, “Moe malie i ke kai o kou haku.” 

Lie still in the waters of your superiors.

The lifeless body would then be brought to Kānela‘au Heiau on the slopes of Puowaina. Today, the remnants of this heiau lie beneath Robert Louis Stevenson Middle School, and Puowaina is now known as Punchbowl Crater. The school is definitely haunted, but that’s a story for another time.

Following the Māhele, the ‘Ili Lele of Kewalo passed from traditional stewardship into private ownership. In 1870, Curtis Perry Ward and his wife, Victoria Robinson Ward, purchased the property and transformed it into a large estate known as Old Plantation. Curtis Ward died in 1882, but Victoria and their seven daughters continued to maintain their home and the family businesses. After Victoria’s death, the estate remained in the care of the daughters, who lived on the property for decades, preserving both the house and its operations even as Honolulu expanded around them.

In 1958, the City and County of Honolulu purchased the mauka portion of the Old Plantation Estate as part of a plan to create a major civic and cultural venue. The old estate buildings were removed, the wetlands filled, and the property prepared for large-scale construction.

The Honolulu International Center opened in 1964, transforming the entire block. What had once been sacred waters, ritual ground, and later a secluded family estate became a place of public gathering and performance. Yet beneath the concrete and steel, the land retained its earlier identity and its long memory.

When I was half a decade out of high school, I attended Leeward Community College. I usually had lunch with a few people in my English class who worked part-time at the Blaisdell Arena, and they would talk about the exciting events from the weekend. They told me they often saw what appeared to be the spirits of the dead drifting beneath the surface of the fishpond. The figures looked like Hawaiian men of different ages and builds, but they could see right through the bodies, and the men didn’t seem to belong to this era. I took it as just a few fun stories, and didn’t think much more of it at the time.

Life moved on after college, and we all went our separate ways. Some years later, I found myself walking through the Blaisdell Center late one night. Although it had been a while since college, it was still years before I had discovered ghost tours and long before anyone would ever call me “the ghost guy.” The event I was attending at the Honolulu Museum of Art School had just let out, so I was cutting across the grounds from South King Street toward Kapiʻolani Boulevard, where my car was parked. It was after 10:00 p.m., and all was quiet.

I wasn’t on edge. I wasn’t tuned in. I wasn’t looking for anything strange. I was thinking about hitting a drive-thru and getting home.

As I approached the fishpond on the parking lot side, the water glowed with decorative lights placed around the edges. I slowed down to see the ulua and papio, ʻōmilu, a good size barracuda, and hundreds of tilapia moving through the water in circular patterns. At first glance, I thought the fish were clustering together because someone had tossed in food.

[{"type":"text","text":"Then I saw what they were swimming around."}]

Just beneath the surface, drifting slowly, were bodies; face up, face down, turned on their sides. They were the same Hawaiian men I had heard described years earlier in college. Different ages. Different builds. All unmistakably dead. Their bodies were motionless, some naked, others wearing malo, and every one of them was transparent, suspended in the water like reflections that didn’t belong.

[{"type":"text","text":"There was no swelling of fear or the urge to scream. I simply ran."}]

My keys were already in my hand. I reached my car, opened the door, started the engine, and pulled away as smoothly as if nothing had happened. Only once I was moving and the radio came on, did the sound escape me. The first scream was short and broken. The second was longer, pulled from somewhere deeper. The third came after I pulled over at the Golden Duck restaurant, stepped out of the car, and let my voice tear through the night.

[{"type":"text","text":"It would be years before I set foot inside the Blaisdell again."}]

When I finally did, the place felt unchanged on the surface, but the memory of that night lingered just beneath it all. Back then, I had no words for what I had seen, no framework for understanding it. I hadn’t yet learned the old names of the land or the stories behind them. I didn’t know about Kewalo, or the spring called Kawailumalumai. Only later did the pieces begin to align.

The Blaisdell wasn’t simply a venue built on filled land; it stood over land that had witnessed ancient ritual, suffering, and the silence of sacrifice.

Looking back now, I understand that night was just a beginning. Long before I led ghost tours or told stories, the land had already introduced itself. It just waited patiently until I was ready to listen.

Blaisdell Pond Large

<title>The dark history beneath Blaisdell Center</title>

The Kewalo area where this entertainment complex now stands was once home to a pond called Kawailumalumai, or Drowning Waters. Members of the kauwā, the outcasts who were often used as sacrifice, were drowned there. People have reported seeing faces in the water of the present-day pond, including our ghost column author.

The dark history beneath Blaisdell Center

Stephanie Salmons Headshot

Stephanie Salmons

Business & Tourism

You’ll find even more options for familiar food in the Ninth Island next year, when Zippy’s Restaurants opens two more locations in Las Vegas.

Zippy’s Summerlin at 10810 W. Charleston Blvd. and Zippy’s Camino Al Norte at 5485 Camino Al Norte are set to open in early 2026, the restaurant chain announced Friday.

“These two locations are a testament of our commitment to our Zippy’s guests here in Las Vegas. We hear you and we’re committed to serve our ‘ohana in the north side of the city,” Regional Operations Director Belma Soliven said in Friday’s announcement. “Zippy's is committed to providing our guests with exceptional service through the spirit and hospitality of Hawai‘i. We cannot wait to welcome our guests on the north side of Las Vegas and invite them to try a taste of Hawai‘i comfort-food.” 

 in 1966, brothers Francis and Charles Higa opened their first restaurant on King Street in Honolulu. There are now 25 locations on O‘ahu, Maui, Hawai‘i Island and in Las Vegas.

Zippy’s currently has three locations in Las Vegas — its only locations on the Mainland, a restaurant spokesperson confirmed to Aloha State Daily.

, the first Zippy’s outside of Hawai‘i, opened in October 2023. Zippy’s 

 opened in March of this year, while Zippy’s 

Zippy’s also is hiring for all positions at its new Summerlin and Camino Al Norte restaurants, including back-of-house, front-of-house and management roles, the announcement noted. Hiring events for the Las Vegas community will be held from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Dec. 9 and 16, at the Sahara West Library, 9600 W. Sahara Ave. in Las Vegas. You can find 

 about how Zippy’s Restaurants is using technology to help bring kama‘āina home.

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2023 1007 Zippys Architecture Key Lime Photo 114

<title>Zippy's to open two new locations in Las Vegas</title>

The restaurant chain currently has 25 locations, including three Las Vegas — its only locations on the Mainland.

Zippy's to open two new locations in Las Vegas

Real Estate

[{"type":"text","text":"Looking for some oceanfront acreage? A home with a Hollywood heritage? "}]

An oceanfront estate on Kaua‘i's North Shore has hit the market with a $29.5 million price tag, listed by Hawaii Life's Neal Norman. A recent article from 

 notes that Oscar-winning actress Julia Roberts and her husband, cinematographer Danny Moder, owned the property from 2009 to 2020.

Located at 5-8192 Kūhiō Highway, Limahuli Ocean Estate sits on 8.29 acres at "the end of the road" in Hā‘ena.

The property has a total of four bedrooms and four bathrooms. There's a 3,123-square-foot main home with lānai and floor-to-ceiling windows, as well as a one-bedroom, one-bathroom caretaker's cottage and a 490-square-foot pool, 

Norman told Aloha State Daily in an email that 360-degree views that include the beach, the ocean, mountains and waterfalls, are part of what make the property, which also has more than 400 linear feet of beachfront, special.

"The view is unimaginably beautiful — I cannot exaggerate enough how gorgeous it is."

Norman said the home, which was built in 1970, was "masterfully remodeled" in 2011 by San Francisco architecture firm 

"The pool, the grounds, the stream and the ability to build more structures and homes is unequaled in perhaps the whole state for a location as magnificent as this," he told ASD. "The home has also been meticulously maintained and updated with solar and Tesla systems and other state-of-the-art mechanical systems."

[{"type":"text","text":"The property is 20 minutes from Hanalei town."}]

"It nearly joins the Nāpali Coast trail, which is known as one of the most wild, rugged and beautiful parts of Kaua‘i," Norman said, adding that the property sits quite literally at "the end of the road," just on the edge of Hā‘ena State Park and, past that, Nāpali Coast State Wilderness Park.

"The proximity to these parks makes some of the island's most incredible beaches, hiking and waterfalls part of the lifestyle of residing in this area."

Norman says the ideal buyer is one who appreciates "privacy, legacy, amazing architecture and enjoys the amazing water sports that the ocean in this area has to offer."

"This is as rare as it gets," he said of the property. "Once every 10 years something like this might become available. It is the combination of the majestic location, architectural significant, level of privacy, 360-degree views, and ability to improve the land further with other homes or structures that make this so exceedingly rare."

Hawai‘i Scene on Social: Stepped on

Kady Pascual

Social Media Editor

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Hawai‘i Scene on Social: Stepped on

Authors

Kady Pascual

Social Media Editor

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