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Hawai'i Skies

Today's Hawai‘i Skies was captured by Cuong Do at Hawaiian Memorial Park. "Of all my years on the island I've never seen such a perfect double rainbow."

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26 1 9 Cuong Do 16x9

<title>Hawai‘i Skies: Double rainbow</title>

Today's Hawai‘i Skies was captured by Cuong Do at Hawaiian Memorial Park.

Hawai‘i Skies: Double rainbow

Today&#039;s Hawai‘i Skies was captured by Cuong Do at Hawaiian Memorial Park. &quot;Of all my years on the island I&#039;ve never seen such a perfect double rainbow.&quot; To submit your Hawai&#039;i Skies photo, visit us online or email: general@alohastatedaily.com For the latest news of Hawai‘i, sign up here for our free Daily Edition newsletter.

De Soto 2025

DeSoto Brown

Hawai‘i History

Columnists

When you’re on vacation, you can cut loose a little bit. This attitude explains why tourists in Hawai‘i can be susceptible to renting vehicles they’d never consider otherwise. Partly this can be due to the benign weather that requires less protection from nature, but it’s also just the vacation mindset. Let’s look at a few of the kooky rental cars that tourists went a little crazy with in the past.

Back in 1947, French auto manufacturer Renault introduced its 4CV model, extremely small and as low-priced as possible for a country still economically depressed from the effects of World War II. In late 1959, as this model neared the end of its production run (which would come in 1961), Renault provided 50 of them to the Italian custom auto body builder Ghia to create what was called the “Jolly” — a completely stripped-down machine with no doors or windows, a fabric top and wicker seats woven onto metal frames.

In the USA, the Jolly was renamed the Beach Wagon. A Honolulu company bought a “fleet” of them - no number specified, but perhaps five or more - and provided each with a small plastic portable tape recorder. Tourists who rented one of these from Tropical Tape Tours had a choice of four different O‘ahu tours to accompany their drives, with a map showing numbered locations where the tape should be turned on for an audio description. Ads described the vehicle as “The car with a voice / Takes you where you want to go / Tells you what you want to know.”

Tropical Tape Tours functioned from at least May to December 1961, when one of its Beach Wagons sustained an estimated $200 in damage when another car being parked nearby jumped a curb and landed on the Renault that was located at a slightly lower level, knocking it on its side.

With only 50 Renault Beach Wagons made, survivors today are extremely rare and sell in the range of $50,000 if they show up in specialized car auctions. Very similar customizations by Ghia of both the Fiat 500 and 600 models, from Italy, look confusingly similar to the Renault at first glance. The Fiat 500 Beach Wagons were definitely also sold and driven in Hawai‘i. While these Fiats are also desirable collector vehicles they’re a bit more common since 650 of them were manufactured. And at least one American company today rebuilds original vintage Fiats to the same look as the historic Beach Wagons.

The Jeep started its life as far removed from carefree fun as possible, since it was invented as a purely military vehicle for use under tough conditions in World War II in the early 1940s. Driven in both Europe and Asia, in situations from bitter cold to steamy heat, the Jeep became immediately famous as a symbol of the American military. Millions developed a real affection for it, and back in postwar civilian life the Jeep moved successfully into a specific workhorse niche.

The Willys-Overland Corporation of Toledo, Ohio, formerly a small manufacturer of standard passenger cars, shifted in the 1950s to focusing on the Jeeps it had been manufacturing since World War II. One of the company’s salesmen in its foreign / export division encountered distinctively-painted Jeeps at the Las Brisas resort in Acapulco, Mexico and thought Willys might make similar models in bright colors for use in warm-weather vacation spots. 

In 1959 this came true with the Jeep Gala, a no-frills model painted green, blue, or pink (by far the most popular of the three colors) with striped vinyl fabric upholstery and a similar top trimmed with a fringe. Hawai‘i seems to have been this car’s first major market with the first 10 cars arriving in late May 1959 to be sold by VHY Motors to Avis Gray Line rental cars. The distinctive and unique pink Jeeps immediately attracted much attention and were instantly popular with tourists, so in succession 40 more were ordered by Avis, then 10 more, and finally 20 more to arrive in January 1960, which included a few blue ones. By September ‘59 the Gala models had spread to Cuba and the Virgin Islands. For some reason, even though Hawai‘i had just become the 50th state, Willys handled these sales through their export division under the Gala name while Jeeps sold to the other states were marketed as the Surrey. The latter name was a reference to the popular song “Surrey With The Fringe On Top” from the 1943 musical play “Oklahoma!” which had been made into a well-publicized big-budget Hollywood film in 1955. Like the horsedrawn vehicle in the song, the Jeep Surrey also sported a fabric fringe around the edge of its vinyl fabric soft top, adding to its carefree spirit that so many tourists were attracted to.

During this period, the extremely wealthy industrialist Henry J. Kaiser was being heavily publicized for his development of the Hawaiian Village Hotel in Waikīkī, which he’d started in 1955. Everyone locally knew that Kaiser’s favorite color was pink, and even the heavy equipment that began building his Hawai‘i Kai subdivision in 1960 was painted that color, so it was assumed that the pink Jeeps must be his doing. This idea was bolstered by Willys having been one of his subsidiary companies since 1953 — but newspaper stories in 1959 made it clear that Kaiser had no personal involvement in the Jeeps, nor were they exclusively available at his hotel.

Approximately 1,083 Jeep Galas were manufactured from 1959 through 1964, and probably the greatest number of these ended up in Hawai‘i. Their moment in history was brief, but memorable.

For decades, people took apart old cars and assembled elements into vehicles they could utilize for farm chores, or for driving on private land and not public roads. In the 1960s this same urge created what we soon came to know as the dune buggy, for fast and fun driving on sand dunes and other off-road activities. Unlike most vehicles, dune buggies were not made in factories but instead came from very small assembly companies, or were put together by private individuals using parts provided as kits. The first such vehicle was the Meyers Manx, invented in 1964 by a Californian who established the dune buggy template of a new, custom fiberglass body mounted onto a used Volkswagen Beetle chassis. Equipped in most cases with pretty much just a windshield and seats, the dune buggy exposed drivers and passengers to exhilarating wind speeds and a ride low to the ground that seemed faster than it was.

The rental companies in Hawai‘i that offered dune buggies in the 1960s and ‘70s probably never authorized customers to drive them off-road in the way the vehicles were originally invented to be used. What a renter got was a sporty-looking car to attract some attention while driving at regular speeds on the same public streets that everyone else drove on.

In the late 1950s, the British Motor Corporation attempted to create a specialized vehicle for military use, likely inspired by the success of the Jeep 20 years earlier. What they came up with was never suitable for military use, however, being too small, light and underpowered. So instead the company repositioned the Mini Moke, as it came to be called, for possible light commercial needs or, more reasonably, recreational use. Made in Britain from 1964 through 1968, the Mini Moke gained a following during the period when anything British was considered automatically cool and desirable. In the following decades it was assembled in Australia, Portugal, Malaysia, Africa and Italy in various iterations, followed by unlicensed versions in China beginning in 2013. The Mini Mokes first used as rental cars in Hawai‘i likely were from the earliest batch, made in England. Surprisingly, today you can again rent a Moke in Hawai‘i, only this time they’re electric and are again from Britain, like the originals were. This is a little machine that seemingly will not give up!

In retrospect, the lack of safety, protection or security in these old-time vehicles is hard to believe. A total absence of doors and windows, not to mention cloth tops with no metal strengthening, are frighteningly unsafe. No seatbelts, headrests or airbags would mean occupants would be thrown against any part of the interior at high speeds in a collision, or — even more likely — would be tossed completely out of the vehicle (which commonly happened). Even just walking away from one of these when it was parked would expose anything left behind to instant theft … and yes, even back then there were robbers waiting around tourist spots to grab unattended purses or wallets.

But when you’re on vacation … the real world can be ignored, or so we sometimes think.

1 Pink Jeep 62 sugar 16x9

<title>Kooky Rental Cars!</title>

ASD history columnist DeSoto Brown takes us on a spin behind the wheels of the wacky, colorful rental cars that tourists loved in 1960s Hawai‘i. Open-air jeeps and dune buggies, these vehicles came from such exotic places as England, Italy, France and Toledo, Ohio. They all promised a fun time in the Islands.

Kooky Rental Cars!

Yamachika Tom IMG 1913 Large

Tom Yamachika

Government & Politics

Viewpoints

The idea behind an empty homes tax is to impose an outrageously high cost on residential property that is unoccupied, to force owners to either live in the property or rent it out. The theory is that this would alleviate the housing shortage here in Honolulu.

We have written about such a tax on several occasions before, most recently 

The Honolulu City Council considered different versions of this tax in Bill 6 (2020), Bill 9 (2022), and Bill 46 (2024). On each occasion it failed to pass.

But that hasn’t stopped proponents of the idea. They have brought the matter to the Honolulu Charter Commission, the folks charged with proposing amendments to the Honolulu City Charter to be voted on at the November general election. The City Charter, of course, is the foundational document for city government, much like the Hawai‘i Constitution is for our state. These documents generally can’t be changed by the legislative bodies; any amendments need to go before the voters to be approved.

Recently, a Charter Commission committee shortlisted the empty homes tax proposal, known as P170.

P170 directs that the tax be imposed at no less than 2%, or $20 per $1,000 of taxable value, for any home that is “empty” for more than six months in a taxable year. This is many times the current residential property tax rate of $3.50 per $1,000 of taxable value.

One hang-up with the proposal is how the concept of “empty” is defined. There may be good reasons why a home is empty. Even the proponent of P170 has asked for exemptions to be written in to the charter provision:  “Exempt from this surcharge shall be properties that: have a valid homeowner exemption; are the principal residence of an O‘ahu resident more than 180 days a year; have owners on military deployment or absent due to ongoing medical care, or where the property is the subject of probate court proceedings.”  

Bill 46 (2024) had even more exemptions, around 15, including that the dwelling on the property is “not fit to live in,” the owner is making “active efforts” to sell or rent the property, or there is renovation work ongoing that “reasonably requires” the owner to live elsewhere.  And how does one even enforce the tax in the first place?  How does the city government verify that a home is “empty” without looking inside, which would be a violation of privacy laws?  And how is a person accused of having an empty home prove that the home was not, in fact, empty?

Also telling is the fact that the Department of Budget and Finance, which would have to enforce this tax somehow, complained in 2024 that Bill 46 “may not fully recognize the required staffing, resources and timetable to properly implement this type of program.”  In other words, they had doubts that they could enforce the new tax with the staff they had.

It’s also worth repeating that county governments only have the authority to impose real property tax. This power was given to the counties by the 1978 constitutional convention, which basically transferred the then-state real property tax over to the counties. An empty homes tax doesn’t look or feel like the real property tax as it existed in 1978, so there may be some question as to whether the county can enact the tax, whether by ordinance or charter amendment.

In any event, this issue isn’t going to go away soon.

We hope that wise and cool heads prevail in the end.

For the latest news of Hawai‘i, sign up 

Home tax i Stock 2225936853

<title>Community Voices: Empty homes tax won’t go away</title>

Legislative attempts to pass the tax have failed, so proponents have a new idea — make an empty homes tax a charter amendment that people can vote on in the next election. The proposal is making headway, even as the draft amendment contains all the same conundrums as the failed bills.

Community Voices: Empty homes tax won’t go away

Philamer Felicitas

Aloha Spirit

Nearly every weekend, Jay-R Kaawa boards a flight between Maui and Molokai. The trips are not usually for work; they are for family.

Kaawa, head of Summer and Extended Learning at Kamehameha Schools Maui, regularly travels home to Molokai to care for her father, who is living with dementia. At least once a month, she and her siblings help fly him to Maui or Oʻahu for appointments and support. Other times, she makes the trip to check on him, spend time with him and help manage his care. For Kaawa, transportation is not a convenience. “It is a necessity. We need reliable air transportation. Bottom line,” she said.

Her story is one shared by families across Maui Nui who routinely travel between Molokai, Lānaʻi, Maui and Oʻahu for health care, work and time with loved ones. That reality is why many residents are paying close attention to Lānaʻi Air’s plans to expand service to Molokai.

The airline, which began as a charter service connecting Honolulu and Lānaʻi, has evolved over the past several years. Originally created to transport visitors to Lānaʻi, the company expanded public ticket sales in 2024 and now markets itself as another option for island residents. Earlier this year, Lānaʻi Air announced plans to begin service to Molokai, adding a second commercial air carrier to an island that has spent years with limited transportation options.

The expansion marks the latest step in the company’s growth. The airline intends to operate four daily roundtrip flights between Molokai and Honolulu using their 19-seat Cessna SkyCourier aircraft. They have been promoting the aircraft’s larger cabin and accessibility features while emphasizing its goal of improving transportation options for residents traveling for healthcare, education, work and family obligations.

Kaawa flies home nearly every weekend and estimates she spends at least $220 on airfare each trip. Sometimes, she said, a one-way ticket can cost more than $200. “Just from an economic standpoint, having a competitor will hopefully bring down fares,” she said. While she considers herself fortunate to be able to afford those trips, she worries about residents who cannot.

“If one plane is out of commission, the whole schedule is messed up,” she said. Despite those challenges, Molokai residents continue to find ways to get where they need to go.

“We’re resourceful in that way, we always find ways to make things work,” Kaawa said. Some residents catch rides on boats operated by friends or family members. Others coordinate travel with fishermen making trips between islands. For many, finding transportation is simply part of daily life. “We’re going to make do with what we have, but that doesn’t mean it’s right,” she said.

Accessibility is another concern. Because of his dementia, Kaawa’s father often struggles boarding smaller commuter aircraft. While he remains physically capable, navigating the tight spaces of a small plane can be difficult. “I literally have to hold his head down and crawl him into the plane,” she said.

At least once a month, Kaawa and her siblings fly their father to Maui or Oʻahu so he can spend time with family and receive additional support. While neighbors and family friends often help transport him when needed, she worries about the burden placed on others.

“I would feel much better knowing it’s a plane that doesn’t seem so cramped,” she said. For families caring for kūpuna and loved ones with medical conditions, the size of the aircraft matters. Many residents travel with walkers, wheelchairs, oxygen equipment or other medical devices. Others simply find boarding small commuter planes difficult. Kaawa believes a larger aircraft could make a meaningful difference for those families.

Maui lifeguard Kaipo Garcia has seen firsthand how important reliable transportation can be during some of life’s most difficult moments. Inter-island travel is part of his family’s routine. His sister lives on Lānaʻi and regularly travels because her daughter is undergoing cancer treatment.

“She flies every week because my niece has cancer,” Garcia said. Like many families living on smaller islands, they rely on flights to access specialized healthcare services unavailable at home.

Garcia has also heard stories from residents whose travel plans were disrupted by delays and cancellations. “They were missing their appointments,” he said. “They’d make their doctor appointments based on the [flight’s] arrival time and then delays would happen.”

The importance of reliable transportation became personal earlier this year when Garcia’s father passed away on Lānaʻi.

Living on Maui, he immediately searched for a flight home. His father died shortly before 8:00 p.m. Garcia was able to book a last-minute flight and arrive in time to be with his family. “I made reservations last minute,” he said. “At least I got there.” The flight allowed him to help carry his father from his bed to the hearse.

For Garcia, that experience reinforced something many Molokai and Lānaʻi families already understand. Transportation is about much more than getting from one island to another. It is about being present when family needs you most.

Community members have also pointed to another reason they are optimistic about Lānaʻi Air’s expansion: familiar faces. During community outreach events, residents met airline employees who previously worked for Island Air, a carrier that served neighbor island communities for decades.

Many Molokai residents already knew them. That familiarity, Kaawa said, helped build trust. “It’s local folks that we know and have seen frequently while traveling,” she said.

Some residents also see the airline’s hiring of former Island Air employees as a sign that local knowledge and experience remain part of the company’s approach. While questions remain about how the expansion will ultimately affect the community, many residents say they are hopeful.

No airline is immune from weather disruptions, maintenance issues or operational challenges. But for residents accustomed to limited options, another carrier represents something many have wanted for years: a choice.

“We’re grateful for what we have,” Kaawa said. “But we’re ready for another option.”

This article is reprinted with permission from 

OHA's Ka Wai Ola newspaper: "Molokaʻi is Ready For Another Option" by 

, in its July 2026 issue, Vol. 43 No. 7. Read more at 

Lanai Air Sky Courier

<title>Community Voices: Molokai is ready for another option</title>

Lānaʻi Air will begin flying between Oʻahu and Molokai in September.

Community Voices: Molokai is ready for another option

Katie Helland Headshot

Katie Helland

Business & Tourism

Arts & Entertainment

Anna O’Brien’s, the Irish pub in Mōʻiliʻili not far from the campus of the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, is under new management. The bar and performance space will have its soft opening on Friday, July 10, under the direction of singer and songwriter Tavana McMoore, who goes by the professional name, Tavana.

The pub’s upstairs space is being renamed Tavana’s at Anna’s and will be a listening room, where groups can perform. A new stage and a green room for the band are already in the works. Downstairs, Anna O’Brien’s will remain much the same as it has been in the past, with pool tables and darts, the singer and songwriter told Aloha State Daily.

“I spent my whole career here in Honolulu and have been given so much,” Tavana said. “There's so much talent out there in Honolulu, and I'm hoping that this can serve as a hub where people can come and curate their artistry and perfect it.”

Tavana started playing in this space as a teenager, more than 30 years ago. It is where he has seen some of his favorite bands, he said. The knick-knacks that the Irish pub has accumulated over the years will stay.

“All the cool quirky things about Anna's are still going to be here,” Tavana said. “It's still the same beautiful space it always has been, and I'm just showing up every single day and trying to beautify it.”

The space will continue to have its outdoor patio, he added.

“People can go out and relax outside, as well,” he said.

When the pub’s owners wanted to move on to other things, Tavana stepped in.

“The idea of it not being here was really a not fun thought,” he said. “It means a lot to me to be able to come in here and start to curate shows and try to save the space.”

Just days ago, on Tuesday, July 7, the Irish pub celebrated its 57th birthday. The space will be celebrating that milestone, plus soft opening under new management, at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, July 10. There is a $20 cover charge.

“We got Nick Danger and Ronnie V's flying over,” Tavana said. “We got Local Mojo. I'll be playing there. A lot of other musicians are going to be stopping by. Everybody's talking about it. We're all pretty excited.”

Other events on the calendar for July include 

karaoke, comedy, and musical open mic nights, as well as live performances

Tavana

<title>Anna O’Brien’s under new management</title>

Learn what will and won't change as this Irish pub — not far from the campus of the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa — soft opens under new management on Friday, July 10.

Anna O’Brien’s under new management

Kelli Shiroma Braiotta Headshot

Kelli Shiroma Braiotta

Food & Dining

 at Waterfront Plaza last March. The night market is expanding soon to include a second location — Taste of Aloha will have its first market at NEX from 4 to 8 p.m. on Friday, July 31.

“As the community began to grow, we slowly realized we wanted a bigger space to support more local vendors,” says event coordinator Landen Tsuda. “With a bigger location, we realized that there were more opportunities to support not only the community, but also our local small businesses.”

The July 31 event will take place in the NEX parking lot. Attendees can look forward to local food vendors, handmade crafts and entertainment. Plus, for the first time, this night market will be welcoming food trucks into its vendor line-up, according to its 

“We will have the same favorites from Waterfront Plaza, but now with the bigger lot, we want to really showcase all of the amazing talent from all over O

ahu,” Tsuda says. “We want to thank our regular vendors who stuck with us through thick and thin; the market wouldn’t happen without their support. We want to thank the community for coming out to support them as well.”

Taste of Aloha’s upcoming market at Waterfront Plaza from 4 to 8 p.m. on July 11 will feature a matcha theme. Attendees can look forward to matcha drinks, desserts, specialty treats and other unique matcha-inspired creations.

For more information, visit Taste of Aloha's 

Taste of Aloha NEX 070126

<title>Taste of Aloha is expanding to include a second market location</title>

Taste of Aloha is currently located at Waterfront Plaza every second Saturday of the month. The market is expanding to include a second location; it will be at NEX on from 4 to 8 p.m. on July 31.

Taste of Aloha is expanding to include a second market location

 just launched a new elevated dining concept called Girl Dinner.

This meal ($40) is served daily from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. It includes chicken nuggets with crème fraiche, salmon roe and chives; Caesar salad; truffle fries; a filthy martini (vodka or gin); a collagen marshmallow and Hello Kitty ring pop.

The meal was inspired by the viral “girl dinner” trend but with an elevated twist. This version features a little bit of everything, but with a little indulgence, according to chef Chris Murakami.

“Just like the Adult Happy Meal, it’s supposed to be fun and exciting,” he says.

The chicken nuggets are exclusive to the Girl Dinner meal; it’s not part of the eatery’s regular menu. The soft collagen marshmallow is also made in house.

“I want to start putting different sauces for the chicken nuggets, like honey mustard,” Murakami says.

If you’re feeling extra, you can enhance your meal with 1 ($60) or 2 ($100) ounces of caviar.

While the meal includes a filthy martini — made with vodka or gin — that’s the eatery’s recommended pairing to maintain the “girl dinner” vibe. However, customers can substitute this with any other classic cocktail, glass of wine or zero-proof drink.

The Girl Dinner is available for a limited time, but no end date has been set yet. 

Girl Dinner served daily from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Girl Dinner nuggets with ikura 041026

<title>New Girl Dinner in downtown Honolulu</title>

The Dotted Line just launched an elevated meal called Girl Dinner, which includes chicken nuggets with crème fraiche, salmon roe and chives; Caesar salad; truffle fries and a filthy martini.

Hawai‘i Skies: Double rainbow

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Authors

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