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ASD Staff

Daily Smile

[{"type":"text","text":"When a service dog sits in front of you on a plane..."}]

Smile 26 3 18

<title>Daily Smile: Wednesday, March 18, 2026</title>

When a service dog sits in front of you on a plane...

Daily Smile: Wednesday, March 18, 2026

 When a service dog sits in front of you on a plane...

Christian Shimabuku Headshot

Christian Shimabuku

Sports

MĀNOA — The emotion was still fresh on Kaleo Baxter's face when asked to recall the program-altering announcement made less than 24 hours before he spoke to local media on Thursday afternoon. 

Citing a desire to spend more time with her family, 

Robyn Ah Mow announced she was stepping down as the program's head coach

 after nine years at the helm late Wednesday afternoon. In doing so, Ah Mow had to say goodbye to her other family — the same UH women's volleyball program where she was a two-time All-American setter after joining the 'Bows out of McKinley High School. 

Ah Mow elevated in the sport even further, becoming a three-time Olympian with the U.S. national team. After a handful of years as an assistant coach under former UH head coach Dave Shoji, she was named the program's head coach following his retirement, beginning in 2017. Ah Mow led the Rainbow Wahine to seven consecutive trips to the NCAA Tournament and was named Big West Conference Coach of the Year three times. 

The Rainbow Wahine went 165-78 under Ah Mow, missing the Big West Tournament in what turned out to be her final season in 2025. Once Ah Mow decided volleyball was taking a backseat, the team was notified in an emotional meeting. 

Baxter, Ah Mow's former associate head coach, is now the program's interim head coach. As he discussed Wednesday's events, as well as what Ah Mow means to him, his eyes began to water and his nose reddened. 

"I think a lot of people's hearts are heavy right now," Baxter said on Thursday. "We've had a lot of conversations, a lot of tough conversations, over the course of the last couple weeks. I'm happy that she's choosing family for the first time in a very long time, because she's chosen this sport her entire life. What an icon, a complete legend, and what she's given to this university and to this sport is immeasurable."

Baxter's appointment of interim head coach comes during a hectic time in the calendar. The transfer portal for women's volleyball reopens on Friday, while the UH-Mānoa spring semester ends two weeks later on May 15, where players on the current roster are expected to disperse for the summer. 

"My priorities right now are making sure that this team stays unified and together, and just making sure that I'm taking care of all the logistics moving forward, so that whoever is named the next head coach can come in here with a seamless transition, and they can make tweaks to what they need but for the most part, that everything's kind of set and set in place so that they can hit the ground running the day step on campus," Baxter said. 

Shortly after Ah Mow's resignation announcement, the school announced a national search for the program's next head coach was imminent. The search is already underway. 

When asked if he has applied for the job or is planning to, Baxter said he preferred to play things close to the vest publicly. 

"I'll keep this decision close to my heart," Baxter said. "The people who I consider my inner circle, I'll let them know my decision on that, but I just know this program deserves a phenomenal coach, and I know that the administration is going to get one with whoever they hire."

Baxter, a 2005 graduate of Kaua‘i High School, was a volunteer assistant coach under Shoji from 2011 to 2014. After two years away in California, Baxter returned home in 2016 as the program's director of operations. When Ah Mow got the head job in 2017, she made Baxter one of the team's assistant coaches. Baxter and Ah Mow stayed loyal to each other over the years. Regardless of where the sport takes both of them next, they know they can lean on each other each step of the way. 

"I see her as mom, friend, family, sister, we've coached club together," Baxter said of Ah Mow. "It comes with a heavy heart knowing she's not going to be the head coach of the Rainbow Wahine, but the legacy she left here in this in this community, at this university and for this program, it's not anything that anyone's going to be able to match."

For the latest news of Hawai‘i, sign up 

Kaleo Baxter 043026

<title>Hawai‘i women's volleyball program carries on with heavy hearts following Robyn Ah Mow's…</title>

Former associate head coach Kaleo Baxter was named the program's interim head coach following Ah Mow's announcement to step down on Thursday.

Hawai‘i women's volleyball program carries on with heavy hearts following Robyn Ah Mow's resignation

AKINA portrait 2

Keliʻi Akina

Viewpoints

Government & Politics

Most of the attention this year at the state Legislature has been focused on the status of our historic income tax cuts from 2024 — whether they are going to be modified or repealed, effectively resulting in a tax hike.

But there’s another tax-hike bill still alive that has been quietly making its way through the legislative process: 

This bill would increase the state conveyance tax on higher-value properties to funnel revenue into certain special funds. Supporters believe owners of multimillion-dollar properties can be targeted without affecting the economy or the housing market as a whole. Reality says otherwise.

Studies on the effect of real estate transfer taxes in general have 

 they are associated with reductions in investment, income, jobs and economic activity. 

Even when a conveyance tax is limited to higher-value properties, it is likely to have unintended consequences. For example, the so-called mansion tax that went into effect in Los Angeles in 2023 not only has had the 

 of reducing all housing sales, it has also impeded the sales of commercial, multifamily and industrial properties, threatening housing growth and the economic health of the region.

SB3028 seeks to target higher-value residential properties with a conveyance tax hike by switching from flat rates to marginal rates. Marginal rates alone are not concerning — but substantial rate increases are.

Currently, a property sold for $3.5 million to a buyer who is eligible for a county property tax home exemption would generate a conveyance tax bill of $17,500. If the most recent draft of SB3028 were to become law, the conveyance tax for that property would jump to $46,300.  

A tax hike of that magnitude is sure to reduce local property turnover, which would affect local businesses and overall housing growth. Reduced sales could also wind up decreasing tax revenue.

Historically, the conveyance tax was never intended to be a major source of revenue for the state. In fact, it started off as a simple administrative tax. It’s unfortunate that now some lawmakers see it as a piggy bank they can break open without consequences. 

It can be tempting to fund services at the expense of wealthy property owners, but taxes do not operate in a vacuum. At its core, this proposed hike on conveyance taxes is yet another example of a seemingly well-intentioned policy that is sure to do unintended economic harm.

No matter how a conveyance tax is designed to operate, it will have a ripple effect throughout the economy, and any increase is likely to make the state’s housing crisis worse.

[{"type":"text","text":"Hawaiʻi needs more housing, not less."}]

Reprinted with permission from the April 27, 2026, "President's Corner" of 

Shutterstock 1439717039 scaled

<title>Community Voices: The unintended consequences of transfer taxes</title>

Studies on the effect of real estate transfer taxes in general have found they are associated with reductions in investment, income, jobs and economic activity. It's also likely to make the state’s housing crisis worse, per Grassroot Institute of Hawai‘i.

Community Voices: The unintended consequences of transfer taxes

Kam Napier Headshot

A. Kam Napier

Columnists

The state Legislature’s attempt to overturn Citizens United, as it applies to Hawai‘i, keeps advancing. The latest step will be a hearing Wednesday, April 29, at 2:40 p.m., deferred from Monday and again from Tuesday as lawmakers tweak the wording of 

, “Relating to the powers of artificial persons.”

, the bill is an attempt to create a backdoor to the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2010 decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, which held that it is unconstitutional to prohibit political spending by corporations. Doing so violates their First Amendment right to free speech.

That backdoor is being built on the fact that the states grant corporations the powers they have under law, so Hawai‘i, and about a dozen other states this year introduced nearly identical legislation — total coincidence, I’m sure! — to change those laws. Hawai‘i law, for example currently 

“[E]very corporation has … the same powers as an individual to do all things necessary or convenient to carry out its business and affairs…”

It then goes on to specify such powers as “to sue and be sued,” to own land, make contracts, lend money, “make donations for the public welfare or for charitable, scientific, or educational purposes,” and more.

SB 2471 would add language stating that corporations can keep on acting in every way like an individual with one new exception — no spending on political speech. From the bill’s latest version:

“[A]rtificial persons created under state law possess only those powers that are necessary or convenient to carry out lawful business and organizational purposes, and that those powers do not include the power to spend money or contribute anything of value to influence elections or ballot measures.”

[{"type":"text","text":"Why? Why is this even necessary?"}]

Well, for all the furor over this bill, the bill itself doesn’t really say.

Its defenders do say why they think it’s necessary in testimony and editorials, but their arguments are heavy on vague threats, light on evidence.

“Dark money is poisoning our democracy,” wrote state Rep. Della Au Belatti (D), District 26, and state Rep. Kanani Souza (R), District 43, 

The two make much of the fact that one of them is a Democrat, the other a Republican. They go on about the genius of this “genuinely historic” approach to “stop giving the corporations that operate on our Islands the power to spend in our politics.”

Please do read the whole thing and look not only at what they say, but what they don’t say.

They don’t name a single example of a specific corporation whose spending affected any election or ballot measure in Hawai‘i. Not one.

Perhaps in the House? Au Belatti spoke about the bill in an April 14 floor session (

, at 4:41:00). We’ve always had this power to redefine corporations, she said, and we must do so to “rein in undue influence of monies flowing from unlimited corporate treasuries that undermine our political process and has fueled voters’ distrust and disenchantment with government.”

She says that in Hawai‘i’s 2024 election, three PACs spent $13 million, whereas the candidates themselves spent only $10 million they raised directly from donors.

That $13 million, she said, “is the dark money that SB 2417 is striking at.”

But which PACs spent the money? On which candidates or issues? What did their spending achieve and how was Hawai‘i harmed? 

She didn't say. She won’t name the threat but does emphasize the “we’ve always had this power” argument, urging, “We need to be brave and take up this mantle and let this legislation move forward.”

OK. Citizens United was decided in 2010. Did Hawai‘i lawmakers have amnesia about their powers for the past 16 years? Or is it more accurate to say they’ve spent 16 years with their lawyers digging through the lawbooks looking for some way to try to outsmart the Supreme Court? Something tells me, if this was the obvious slam-dunk they’re making it out to be, state legislatures would’ve done this long ago, and Hawai‘i's current legislators wouldn't still be fussing with the draft. 

Since lawmakers won’t identify a single clear instance of “dark money” yielding a specific bad result for Hawai‘i, we have to guess at their target. Who is this bill trying to silence that the U.S. Supreme Court otherwise gave a voice to?

A little history lesson, because you might not remember who Citizens United was or what it wanted to do.

, a conservative 501(C)4 public policy nonprofit, founded in 1988. In 2007, the group wanted to take out advertisements telling people to watch a documentary it made, “

,” critical of Clinton as a presidential candidate. It challenged Federal Election Commission rules that would’ve prevented it from doing so.

The U.S. Supreme Court said it could go forward and Democrats, in particular, have hated this decision ever since.

The U.S. Supreme Court decision led to the creation of political action committees, PACs and Super PACs, which can spend money they raise on candidates and issues. These entities are not bound by the campaign donation limits set when one gives directly to a specific candidate. If you want to read a better criticism of “dark money” then than the one being made locally, check out 

this piece on Citizens United from the Brennan Center for Justice

There’s a lot going on here, a lot of complicated motivations and I don’t trust the people who won’t tell us who took the $35,000, and who won’t let us have real elections, when they say we need to take on the U.S. Supreme Court to protect democracy.

Maybe they don’t like seeing all that money spent independently, rather than getting donated to them.

[{"type":"text","text":"Maybe they don’t like that conservatives had a win."}]

Maybe they’re sacrificing the “dark money” they’ve benefitted from — there are plenty of progressive Super PACs that support Democrats, after all — because they are certain they have other kinds of corporations on their side.

Namely, the media. Search SB 2471 for “news” and it shows up 20 times. Example: “‘Election activity’ does not include any bona fide news story, commentary, or editorial distributed through the facilities of a broadcasting station or of any print, online, or digital newspaper, magazine, blog, or other periodical publication, unless the broadcasting, print, online, or digital facility is owned or controlled by a candidate, political committee, or political party.”

No one has said so, to my knowledge, but this may be the biggest vulnerability of SB 2471.

[{"type":"text","text":"Here’s the First Amendment:"}]

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

States, in turn, are bound by this as well. They also shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press.

Remember, Citizens United made a documentary. From its preview, it’s a mix of clips from Clinton’s own speeches (reporting), close-ups of news headlines critical of Clinton (second-hand reporting) and commentary from political observers, including one Barack Obama.

In other words, it’s a “60 Minutes” segment, only one “60 Minutes” would never do.

If SB 2471 becomes law, I’d expect a PAC to take Hawai‘i to court demanding a clear explanation of why its reporting and editorializing in a documentary, an advertisement or a direct mail piece is any different than what I do here at Aloha State Daily in my column, or what Civil Beat does when it hosts an essay from the defenders of SB 2471, or what the Star-Advertiser does when it endorses candidates.

, for example, endorsed Kamala Harris for president, among other candidates in other races, and told voters how they ought to vote on State Constitution and City Charter amendments.

In the latest version of the bill, our lawmakers are arguing that this is OK, but identical speech from other groups structured as corporations is not.

Then there’s the convoluted language of “artificial persons,” and, again, I think our lawmakers are being too cute for their own good. They are arguing in the bill and in their testimony that they are not silencing the natural rights of individuals to speak, only that of “artificial persons.”

But they know perfectly well that corporate structures don’t just spring from the ground of their own accord, staffed by no one. They’re made of people, who have rights. Do those rights vanish because those people found it beneficial to incorporate? If so, then, again, one would have to wonder why a newspaper that makes endorsements, or a cable news network that blasts President Donald Trump all day, can benefit from being a corporation, but other people with a political message can’t.

Hawai‘i might expensively push this all the way back to the U.S. Supreme Court only to find that the definition of “the press” gets put on trial, in which case, I’d say, journalism as we know it has no special privilege. Freedom of the press is the freedom to publish, no more, no less. 

Well, look, I’m not an attorney. On SB 2471, all I know is, my alarm bells are going off.

When lawmakers tell me we need to act now in the face of a dire threat, but the threat is unnamed, the harm ill-defined, I get suspicious.

When lawmakers say somebody needs to shut up, but they won't say who or why, I wonder what sneaky stuff they're up to.

And when lawmakers tell us we need to be brave and charge ahead, regardless of obvious risks, I have to point out: It’s easy to be brave with other people’s money, isn’t it?

Remember, this is a Legislature insisting that Hawai‘i is so broke, it can’t afford to let taxpayers keep the tax cuts we were promised. 

But to get cute with the U.S. Supreme Court? Suddenly, money is no object!

[{"type":"text","text":"I hope SB 2471’s supporters plan to chip in for the defense."}]

 again rolled a vote over to Thursday, video at the link, go to 2:40 p.m. to see the brief exchange. Both chambers still have legal review underway and it was noted that the House Finance Committee needs to sign off as well.

Pay particular attention to Rep. Scot Matayoshi's passing reference. "Our biggest fear is we don't want to make this situation worse," he said. "We don't want to pas a bill that puts us in a and especially Hawaii companies in a potentially worse position, uh, not companies but non-profits and [garbled] committees in a worse position than when we started."

Matayoshi has mentioned this before in hearings on the bill, his desire to carve out exceptions of some kind for nonprofit organizations and unions. We'll see what, if anything, gets added to the bill as a result. But every exception they add is another opportunity for someone to say, in a court, "Why does that group get to speak, but ours can't?"

The Senate and House Conference deferred again, to Friday. Skip to 1:26:00

 of the discussion between conference committee chairs Matayoshi, on behalf of the House, and State Sen. Jarrett Keohokalole, to hear them both boast and hedge on what they're doing behind the scenes. 

Hedge No. 1 is to get rid of reset language in the bill. As written, it strips all Hawai‘i corporations of their charters entirely, then reinstitutes them, minus the freedom to spend on political speech. Instead, says Keohokalole, they want to give the state Attorney General and/or the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs authority to dissolve a corporation that engages in electioneering.

Good luck with that. The AG's office has already opposed this bill as a reckless challenge to the U.S. Supreme Court, so I'd be shocked if it wants the job of corporation executioner. 

Then this bombshell from him, "We are trying to provide clarity for labor organizations because there are a number of structures that labor organizations take in Hawai‘i, and there's some ambiguity around that that we want to make clear for everyone." He's also looking at language about how Mainland-based outfits operate in Hawai‘i.

It might interest you to know that according to Federal Elections Commission data, some 

include the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Political Action Fund, Carpenters Legislative Improvement Committee United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners and Mainland-based leftwing PAC ActBlue.

I guess there's some "dark money" Keohokalole likes after all. More and more this is looking like a bill to silence any political spending in Hawai‘i that isn't the faithful pillars of Democratic Party monopoly power.

Matayoshi, for his part, continues to express concern that this bill will get Hawai‘i into trouble, despite, in his view, the obvious need for its good intentions. He brings up an approach the House has been looking at, based on Mainland legislation, to simply cap the size of donations to Political Action Committees.

If the two Chambers can't agree on Friday to a version they can put forward for a final reading, it dies for this session.

A. Kam Napier is editor in chief of Aloha State Daily. His opinions in Pipikaula Corner are his own and not reflective of the ASD team.

I Stock 1149364911 16x9

<title>Pipikaula Corner: The bill that won't name its target</title>

UPDATED It seems there is some "dark money" Hawai‘i lawmakers don't mind as they continue to haggle over Senate Bill 2471, seeking to nullify for the Islands the U.S. Supreme Court's Citizens United decision. As ASD Editor A. Kam Napier observes, lawmakers are offering more argument than evidence for the bill while being vague about whose speech they really mean to curtail — or protect.

Pipikaula Corner: The bill that won't name its target

Katie Helland Headshot

Katie Helland

Arts & Entertainment

Food & Dining

From festivals to the world premiere of an opera performed in ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi and English, there are a number of events happening on Oʻahu this weekend. Aloha State Daily compiled a list of some of the ones happening this Friday, Saturday and Sunday:

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Friday, May 1"}]

. On the list are performances from four-time Grammy winner Kalani Peʻa, as well as Grammy nominated Raiatea Helm. 

 has been creating Lei Day-inspired art in collaboration with Pow! Wow! Hawaiʻi, which will be unveiled on Friday, May 1. Check out events at Kapiʻolani Regional Park, Bishop Museum, Honolulu Museum of Art and various hotels, including 

Catch the world premiere of “Kamalehua: The Sheltering Tree.”

 This groundbreaking opera is performed in ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi and English and features baritone Quinn Kelsey, who has performed internationally and at The Metropolitan Opera, but got his start on stage at Hawaiʻi Opera Theatre in Honolulu. Composed by Herb Mahelona, “Kamalehua: The Sheltering Tree” follows the story of Hawaiian emissary Timoteo Ha‘alilio — brought to life by Kelsey — during the reign of Kamehameha III. Ha‘alilio was a lifelong friend of the king, and the opera focuses on his mission to secure treaties from the United States, Great Britain, Belgium and France that recognized Hawaiʻi as a sovereign nation. 

“Kamalehua: The Sheltering Tree” will have performances on May 1, 3 and 5 at the Neal S. Blaisdell Concert Hall. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Saturday, May 2"}]

Check out the Wahiawā Pineapple Festival (and Pineapple Run!). 

This festival benefits the Wahiawā Historical Society’s proposed museum. The event runs from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. and includes food booths, a Pineapple Bake Off, and a paper plane contest, as well as a Chee Hoo competition. Before the festival, participate in the Pineapple Run, a 10K that starts and finishes at the Pineapple Festival. Registration for the Pineapple Run is $65, if completed before May 2. 

Hawaiʻi Lodging & Tourism Association will host its 47th annual Visitor Industry Charity Walk on one day across four islands: Oʻahu, Kauai, Maui and Hawaiʻi Island. On Oʻahu, the walk starts at 7 a.m. at Magic Island at Ala Moana Regional Park. There will be interactive experiences and entertainment along the 4.5-mile route, including a chance to connect with community organizations such as Aloha Diaper Bank, United Cerebral Palsy Association of Hawaiʻi, Kindred Connection, Rehab Hospital of the Pacific, Work Now Hawaiʻi and 

Nā Kama Kai. There is also an alternative route, which is shorter, for individuals with disabilities and those who want a lighter walking experience. 

Established in 1978, the Charity Walk has raised more than $51 million, so far, according to HLTA’s website. Registration starts at 5:30 a.m. The suggested donation amount is $25 for youth and $50 for adults. 

Attend the Flores de Mayo & Filipino Fiesta.

 This all-day event runs from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Filipino Community Center in Waipahu. The event includes nonstop entertainment and activities, as well as opportunities to shop. There will be balut (boiled duck eggs containing embryos) and ice cream eating contests, plus karaoke. The event features more than 100 vendors. Free. 

 Village Books & Music is giving out comics, in celebration of Free Comic Book Day, while supplies last. This event starts at 1 p.m. at Ward Centre. 

 Toastmasters District 49 will host its annual conference and international speech contest from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Hilton Hawaiian Village. Kaina Makua, who plays Kamehameha I in “Chief of War, is the keynote speaker. Workshop Presenter Robert Carvalho, DTM, Accredited Speaker, will deliver an educational workshop designed to elevate communication and leadership skills. Conference Toastmaster Diane Ako will guide attendees through the day’s program. Registration is $120. 

Mensho, which was founded in 2005 in Japan, is set to open at 5 p.m. at Ka Makana Aliʻi in Kapolei. The menu features Hawaiʻi exclusive bowls with ingredients like garlic shrimp and butter clam. 

On grand opening day, the first 100 customers will receive a free  tote bag with ramen purchase. 

Listen to the Hawaiʻi Symphony Orchestra at the Bishop Museum. 

 will perform “In C,” a composition by Terry Riley, at the historic Hawaiian Hall at the Bishop Museum. Performances will take place at 7 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. General admission is $35. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Sunday, May 3"}]

Catch the ROARchestra Rally: A Youth Day of Music. 

Catch performances from more than 500 youth across the state as part of the ROARchestra Rally at the Honolulu Zoo. Performances from the Hawaiʻi Youth Symphony's different performance groups run from 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. and are included in the cost of admission to the zoo. General admission is $21 for adults and $13 for keiki, with discounts for kamaʻāina and active military families. 

Tommy Bahama is hosting a swim event from 1 to 4 p.m. in the women’s swim department on the second floor of Bloomingdale’s at Ala Moana Center. The event showcases the newest swim collection and a Tommy Bahama swim fit specialist will be there to help you pick your looks. There will be live music, savory bites and tropical drinks from the Tommy Bahama Restaurant in Waikīkī.

Take the ʻohana to the Royal Hawaiian Center’s Ka Lewa Lānai rooftop from 3 to 6 p.m. for a variety of family friendly events and activities. Enjoy face painting and balloon animals, plus a chance to get up close with nature at the butterfly tent. The butterflies will be released at 5:45 p.m. There will also be interactive lawn games and a photo booth. 

 Still need to make plans for Mother’s Day, which is next Sunday, May 10? Aloha State Daily’s Food and Dining Reporter Kelli Shiroma Braiotta can help! Check out her guides for 

Where to celebrate Mother’s Day – part 2

Where to celebrate Mother’s Day – part 3

For the latest news of Hawai‘i, sign up 

Flores de Mayo & Filipino Fiesta

<title>Lei Day, festivals, opera, and more: Friday, May 1, through Sunday, May 3</title>

This weekend on Oʻahu, catch Lei Day celebrations, as well as the world premiere of “Kamalehua: The Sheltering Tree,” an opera in ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi and English. Aloha State Daily’s guide to the weekend also features details for Wahiawā Pineapple Festival, Charity Walk, and Flores de Mayo & Filipino Fiesta.

Lei Day, festivals, opera, and more: Friday, May 1, through Sunday, May 3

Higa headshot white shirt square

Sterling Higa

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

 — a brand-new condo with 972 residential units and two, 44-story towers — is also home to a new food hall.

Located on the ground floor of the Liona Tower, 

 is celebrating its grand opening from 10 a.m. to midnight on Saturday, Jan. 17. The food hall is soft opening with limited hours (11 a.m. to 8 p.m.) from Jan. 9 to 16.

[{"type":"text","text":"The food hall features both indoor and outdoor seating."}]

The space features 12 locally owned restaurants, and offers customers a variety of local and international flavors. Not all of the vendors are open yet; some have limited menus for the soft opening.

Vendors include FEAST by Jon Matsubara, King Thai Cuisine, Mangiamo Gelato, Middle Eats, Ninja Sushi, Sadie’s BBQ Honolulu, Serg’s Mexican Kitchen, Soul Chicken and more.

During today’s friends and family preview, participating vendors were serving samples and were open for business.

Serg’s Mexican Kitchen features the same menu as its Mānoa location. Meanwhile, the food hall is the first location for new vendors like Mangiamo Gelato.

On grand opening day, families are invited to enjoy keiki activities from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

To access Midtown Eats, customers can enter the parking garage from the building’s Liona Street entrance and park on floors 1 to 2.5. Validated parking will be available.

Midtown Eats, the new food hall at The Park on Keʻeaumoku, is celebrating its grand opening from 10 a.m. to midnight on Jan. 17. The food hall is soft opening during limited hours from Jan. 9 to 16. Aloha State Daily got a tour of the new space.

Daily Smile: Wednesday, March 18, 2026

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Daily Smile: Wednesday, March 18, 2026

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ASD Staff

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