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Kady Pascual

Hawaiʻi Scene on Social

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CatsuMatsu89

<title>Hawai‘i Scene on Social: Morning kine action</title>

Today’s social media find comes from @CatsuMatsu89, with an accidental car wash.

Hawai‘i Scene on Social: Morning kine action

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Higa headshot white shirt square

Sterling Higa

Columnists

Stand-up comedian Tumua is doing crowd work somewhere on the Mainland, and 

 from the audience. The guy is from Kauaʻi, not born and raised, but “flown there, grown there.” He hasn’t lived there in nine years. While Tumua works the crowd, the guy shouts “chee hoo.” Tumua says, “That’s a solid chee hoo, man.” He does it again. Tumua has to shush him.

It’s a small moment, and Tumua plays it off with dry affection. The guy is playing out what he remembers of a place he left nine years ago. Much of the crowd never lived there at all.

Frank De Lima didn’t have that problem performing locally. Most of his audience hadn’t left. They were in the room — sharing the same plate lunch memories, cringing at the same accents, laughing because every joke was an inside joke. This wasn’t an introduction to local culture. It was a reminder, a celebration, even a reinforcement.

The plantation village was a truly different kind of place — shared land, shared labor, ethnic groups pressed close together with no way out. Filipinos, Japanese, Chinese, Portuguese, and Hawaiians were all crowded into the same neighborhoods and schools. What came out of it — the food, the humor, the pidgin — came from people who couldn’t opt out of each other.

Even as that world was dissolving, people reached back for its symbols. By 1978, a political movement called Palaka Power had taken the plantation worker’s cloth as its name — a clear link to the past. The Palaka Power 

 said so plainly. The writers also noted, in the same breath: the ILWU was declining, sugar and pine would soon be gone, the Democrats of the ‘54 Revolution had mostly left the arena. They chose the symbol precisely because the reality was already receding. The myth was always partly constructed. But it was backed, then, by people who had actually 

The built world that replaced the plantation village included public housing, suburbs, and apartments. The Mainland has all of those. And then came radio, television, the internet, smartphones, and eventually TikTok.

Stand in the Sandy Beach parking lot on a Saturday. A kid near the lifeguard stand is hitting a vape and dancing to a song trending in Atlanta. The shaka sticker on the bumper is working harder than it used to. But social media didn’t cause any of this. It arrived to find the flattening of culture mostly finished and has been tracking it ever since.

The audience for local content skews diaspora: Aunties in Vallejo, Kalihi kids now in Las Vegas, people holding onto something they can’t quite name.

Nostalgia is real. But it runs in one direction. You can package a memory and ship it to Fresno. What you can’t do is put it back. A friend put it plainly: are we our own cover band?

Distinct cultures are not accidents. They grow from particular people living side by side. The plantation village wasn’t a brand. It was a neighborhood. The shaka sticker can travel, but the neighborhood can’t. Something real is lost when a place becomes content.

. He’s reaching for something he actually had, once. What is it, exactly? The memory of a place, a people. The kind of memory that swells within and erupts in shouts — or tears. It’s the memory that many hold of Hawai‘i, even those who visited only for a week.

Nostalgia can become sinful when we deceive ourselves. It’s easy to romanticize farm labor from the comfort of air-conditioned offices, but the plantations were not a paradise. And neither is Hawai‘i. The past is worth a visit, but no place to make a home. 

That’s a solid chee hoo, man — but once is enough. Shush.

Pineapple Plantation housing 16x9 Large

<title>What's in a chee hoo?</title>

Generations removed from the plantation era that forged it, local culture is in danger of becoming a nostalgia-fueled performance of itself, writes ASD columnist Sterling Higa.

What's in a chee hoo?

Kelli Shiroma Braiotta Headshot

Kelli Shiroma Braiotta

Food & Dining

 just opened its second store. The business — whose original location is in Ward Village — opened on Kūhiō Avenue, in the former space of Ice Monster.

The eatery is open daily for breakfast, lunch and dinner from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. It’s bigger than the Ward Village space — it can seat around 70 customers — with an expansive counter, booth and outdoor seating available. Counter seating is first-come, first-served; reservations will be accepted for tables via OpenTable.

The menu at the Waikīkī store is mostly the same as the one featured at Ward Village. For breakfast, customers can enjoy dishes like broiled shio salmon, salmon flakes and ikura set, udon deluxe and the gyudon beef bowl set. The latter is one of the most popular options at the Ward Village location.

Customers who want a grab-and-go breakfast can choose from an assortment of onigiri. Options include salmon ikura ($3.59), salmon kombu ($3.59), crunchy ume ($3.59), shiso wakame ($3.39), salmon ($3.39), spicy negi mentaiko ($3.89) and more. We’re told more gourmet flavors will be added to current selection. Grab-and-go bentos and negitoro bowls will eventually be available.

If you’re dining for lunch and dinner, appetizers range from seared ‘ahi tataki ($16) and hamachi carpaccio ($12) to yakitori chicken skewers. For the latter, you can order by piece ($3.50) or choose sets of three ($10) or five ($15).

The hand roll selection is extensive, including everything from Hokkaido scallop with spicy mayo ($7) and New Zealand king salmon ($7) to blue crab ($7), unagi ($8) and Hokkaido ikura ($6.50). There are also vegan-friendly options like cucumber ($5), creamy avocado ($6.50) and umami mushroom ($8).

Nigiri sushi usually comes with two pieces per order. Choose from blue fin akami ($10), blue fin otoro ($18), seared garlic truffle salmon ($12) and more.

Customers can also opt for a variety of sashimi, including a nine-piece sashimi trio ($22). Meanwhile, the nigiri flight ($28) — a five-piece sampler including akami, chutoro, otoro, New Zealand salmon and hamachi — features Nori Bar’s most popular fish.

The eatery’s chirashi bowl ($33) — comprising maguro, salmon, hamachi, Hokkaido scallop, ikura, uni and tamago — is another customer favorite.

The eatery also offers non-seafood entrees, including spicy miso ramen ($23) and tonkotsu ramen ($19). The latter features a rich, creamy pork broth with black garlic oil and braised pork char siu.

Validated parking is available for customers at Hyatt Centric Waikīkī Beach (two hours of free parking with a $35 spend; four hours of free parking with a $70 spend).

Validated customer parking at Hyatt Centric Waikīkī Beach, floor six (two hours free parking with $35 spend, four hours free parking with $70 spend)

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Nori Bar Waikiki spread 040126

<title>Nori Bar Hawaiʻi opens Waikīkī location</title>

The hand roll spot — whose original location is in Ward Village — just opened a second location on Kūhiō Avenue, in the former space of Ice Monster. This store is bigger than the Ward Village one, but features the same menu. Nori Bar Waikīkī will be open daily for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Nori Bar Hawaiʻi opens Waikīkī location

Katie Helland Headshot

Katie Helland

Government & Politics

Aloha Spirit

At the Otake Store, it was dark yesterday morning. There still was no power.

And Wendell Toki, who lost almost everything in the recent Kona Low storms, was keeping track of one generator, which was being loaned out to run electric power tools that are helping families rebuild.

By about 12:30 p.m., the lights were finally back on in the store and a few residences, he told Aloha State Daily by phone Tuesday.

His house, which is part of Otake Camp, located off Farrington Highway in Waialua, is now in demolition condition. He also lost mamaki and plants he uses for food and medicine, plus 180 chickens in the flood.  

On Monday, March 30, the sun was shining. Birds were chirping. Toki was standing in dried mud explaining how a green house slid parallel to the Kaukonahua Stream, past other residences and straight into homes that now sit vacant.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"A muddy puzzle"}]

There are plans to rebuild, but the houses sit abandoned. Doors open. Inside, the floors hold mud thick with things: plastic bottles, a shoe here, a puzzle there.

The mud surrounds a chair in the middle of one of the rooms. It preserves handprints on the walls.

The community needs generators, lumber and food for workers, Toki said. He pauses at the front of the door of the house closest to the stream. Parts of the wall are missing, creating windows to the brown water below.

A nearby house has a desk covered in mud. It holds bright crayons, markers and paper flowers, and something there is not much of: color.

In the house next door, there bright puzzles on the wall. One — a pink and yellow jaguar — is peeling. Where the water was, the design is gone and only cardboard remains.

[{"type":"text","text":"Many, including Toki, don’t have flood insurance."}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"A birthday to forget"}]

Down the road, the military is helping farmers like Thy Cavan, who had about two acres of green papayas and bananas, and lost nearly everything in the flood.

Cavan remembers the day the storm hit because it was his birthday: Friday, March 20. The day he lost two cars, his home and the entire papaya crop.

[{"type":"text","text":"“Lost almost everything,” he said. “Some bananas survived.”"}]

National Guard were deployed alongside the Navy

 to remove flood debris from Waialua. They helped Cavan shovel mud out of his house.

He stands next to a mud-covered blue tractor. It was a total loss. So was his generator. And his cell phone.

With a cigarette in hand, he pointed to a spot on a wood beam, which supports the roof over his tractor, to share how high the water got.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"“About right here,” he said."}]

The line is above the steering wheel. It is higher than his shoulders.

It is also visible on the side of the house, where muddy water got nearly to the roof. When it receded, it left tracks on the top of the tractor, like a dried up mud flat.

Cavan realized he could not stay and went to the main road, where a rescue group picked him up. Now, he is staying with friends, and gets to his farm by walking or getting dropped off.

Without a car, he can’t travel easily. Two days ago, he started a 

. His top priorities are fixing the tractor and getting back wheels.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"A new start "}]

Back up the road, near the Otake Store, Toki points to the space upstairs where he will live while he puts together a new life. Toki also has a 

, which was set up by Nicole Correa, his hānai niece.

 and is imagining a shipping container as a home, with a deck built by a neighbor.

“I'm hardly home anyway,” he said. “Only sleep there, and then the rest of the days I'm working.”

Outside, the birds are still chirping. The sun beats down and Toki is reflecting on how to help farmers.

“They need local support,” he said. “More local support.”

Otake Camp

<title>What’s next for Otake Camp?</title>

Some residents of Otake Camp are still in the dark. Farmers lost crops. Families lost homes. And everywhere, the mud prevails. They are seeking generators, lumber and funds to restart.

What’s next for Otake Camp?

Christian Shimabuku Headshot

Christian Shimabuku

Sports

Preseason practices recently began for University of Hawai‘i softball team. For head coach Bob Coolen, his 34th and final season at the helm is set to begin on Feb. 6 against Santa Clara at Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium.  

With some of the nerves Coolen has been feeling recently, Year 34 as UH's head coach may as well be his first. 

"I was anxiously awaiting that first day, and had all kinds of reservations and butterflies. I'm like, this is like my 36th year here, 34th as head coach, and I felt like it was my first day meeting the team, and so I was a little anxious having an expiration date on myself," Coolen says. "It's just something that is inevitable. I've been doing all of the paperwork to retire, so it is kind of a reality in my mind now."

Coolen's collegiate coaching career started as the head coach at Bentley University in 1984. Prior to the 1990 season, he left his native Massachusetts to join the staff at Hawai‘i, becoming the head coach by 1992. 

Coolen, who turned 67 last Friday, has spent more than half his life in the Islands. It's where he met his wife, Nanci, and raised his two children, Bo and Demi. He has no plans to leave Hawai‘i permanently following the season.

"My wife and I are planning our evolution, as she calls it. We're evolving into retirement. We're not retiring, we're evolving. That's what she always tells me now," Coolen said. "She's retiring with me, and I'm excited about that, but I'm really excited about the season. We've had some good scrimmages. We have some good pitching. I have a whole new infield thanks to the (transfer) portal, and we've had some upperclassmen step up, and we've been hitting the ball, pitching well and playing well."

Coolen's run at UH thus far includes a record of 1,110-715-1 with 11 NCAA Tournament appearances, including the program's lone Women's College World Series appearance in 2010. The Rainbow Wahine haven't reached the NCAA Tournament since 2013, but Coolen's thinks the teams chances of getting there have increased with the advent of the Big West Conference Tournament from May 7-10 in Fullerton, Calif. 

Before this season, the conference's automatic NCAA Tournament bid went to the regular season conference champion. In 2025, the top six teams in the conference standings will battle for a spot. 

"Everyone's going to be fighting for those six slots, and it's not going to be easy," Coolen said. "Anything can happen in the tournament. ... We want to be playing that last week before NCAA selections, and get the automatic bid."

On the field, the Rainbow Wahine return ace pitcher Addison Kostrencich, who went 12-11 in her first year with UH after transferring in from Long Beach State. Coolen noted a pitcher of Kostrencich's caliber is more likely to level up in the transfer portal rather than return to a mid-major school like Hawai‘i for another year. Kostrencich, a senior, is heading into her final season of college softball. 

"We definitely want to make sure that his last year is the best one yet. We've all talked about that, and I think Bob's just really on board with making it fun, making it a good way to go out," Kostrencich said. "This year in the Big West, it's a little different with the tournament at the end of the year, and that's something that Bob has fought for. I think he's really excited for that to be on his way out. That's really our goal for the year: To make it to that tournament and do as best as we can in it.

"The sentiment is genuine, with it being his kind of last dance, but I'm sure the coaching or the approach doesn't change when it comes to getting prepared for this season."

Echoing that sentiment was senior catcher Izabella Martinez, who like Kostrencich, hopes to send Coolen off a winner. 

"Coach Bob is the same coach Bob that we all know," Martinez said, "but I think this year, if anything, he may be just a little bit more relaxed and looking forward to his next coming years. But I definitely do see the same coach that I've had since my freshman year coming out here and pushing us and motivating us and trying to get us better."

Hawai‘i Scene on Social: Morning kine action

Kady Pascual

Social Media Editor

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Hawai‘i Scene on Social: Morning kine action

Authors

Kady Pascual

Social Media Editor

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Hawai‘i Scene on Social: Island vibes

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