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Hawai'i Skies

Today's Hawai‘i Skies was captured by Judy Peckenpaugh on Kauaʻi. "The calm AFTER the storm."

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<title>Hawaiʻi Skies: After the storm</title>

Today's Hawai‘i Skies was captured by Judy Peckenpaugh on Kauaʻi.

Hawaiʻi Skies: After the storm

Today&#039;s Hawai‘i Skies was captured by Judy Peckenpaugh on Kauaʻi. &quot;The calm AFTER the storm.&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.

Kelli Shiroma Braiotta Headshot

Kelli Shiroma Braiotta

Food & Dining

While she was working at Hawaiian Airlines, Aubrie Usui — the owner of 

 — recalls traveling often to Japan and Korea. She remembers how experiencing both coffee and matcha there changed her perspective on the popular beverages.

“The quality is unmatched, and they don’t cut corners on ingredients or portions,” she says.

Usui had the idea to open her own café business for a few years, but while working full-time at Hawaiian Airlines, she couldn’t find the time to fully commit.

However, once Alaska Airlines acquired Hawaiian Airlines and she was given notice that she would be laid off in the upcoming months, Usui took that as a sign to go “all in” on the business idea.

“I wanted to bring that same level of quality back home and re-create the drinks I fell in love with, while also experimenting with my own flavors,” she says. “I developed a deeper passion for coffee and matcha. I especially fell in love with the creative side — how you can take something as simple as a latte and turn it into something unique and memorable.”

From that point on, Usui devoted her full attention to building her business — working on branding, developing recipes and planning operations.

“I was able to open the shop within five months of my last day (at Hawaiian Airlines),” she says. “One of the first major steps was meeting with my coffee distributor, who plays a huge role in the quality and consistency of our drinks.”

Da Morning Grind Café officially opened on April 6 in King Laundromat — owned by Usui's parents — located at the intersection of South King and Pensacola Streets. The business’s name was a collaborative effort among her family members, according to Usui.

“The name actually came from a family group chat,” she says. “At first, we were trying to incorporate the word ‘Corner,’ but nothing felt right. My sister suggested ‘Morning Grind,’ and it immediately clicked.

“Our family has always been active and involved in sports, so we’re very familiar with early mornings and having something to work toward,” she adds. “‘Da Morning Grind’ represents that shared experience — everyone has something they’re waking up early for, and we wanted to create a place that fuels that.”

There are two ways to order — customers can visit the takeout window on South King Street, or visit the takeout window located within the laundromat. Just ring the doorbell when you’re ready to order.

The café offers a variety of coffees, teas, dirty sodas and specialty drinks. For coffee lovers, Usui recommends the black honey cold brew latte and dirty matcha latte, which includes espresso, honey and matcha. Most drinks are available in 12- and 16-ounce sizes.

“These are stronger, more bold drinks designed for people who want a real kick to start their day, but they’re still smooth and enjoyable,” Usui says.

She notes that lattes come with a double shot of espresso, regardless of size.

“If you prefer a stronger coffee taste, the smaller size will be more concentrated,” she says. “The medium size is more balanced and gives room for add-ons. We will be adding a 20-ounce size soon.”

The business’s cold brew is steeped overnight in the fridge to develop a deeper flavor, according to Usui.

“To match it with something sweet, I chose Kuromitsu (a Japanese sugar syrup that translates to 'black honey') because it wouldn’t overpower the cold brew’s taste,” she says. “The dirty matcha came from experimenting with how to create a high-caffeine drink that feels smoother than a typical multi-shot espresso.”

Consistency and balance are important when developing new flavors, according to Usui.

“Our matcha lattes are carefully scaled so the flavor stays consistent every time,” she says.

The café’s newest drinks — Da Matcha-nana and Da Big Island Vog — feature the café’s new homemade pudding cloud. Da Big Island Vog latte is the business’s twist on a London Fog latte, which usually includes vanilla syrup, steamed milk and earl grey tea.

“My mom loves ordering them [London Fog lattes] because she doesn’t always want espresso, but still enjoys a creamy, latte-style drink,” Usui says. “We elevated it by adding our matcha pudding cloud to make it more unique.”

Of course, the name is a play on Hawaiʻi Island’s vog. Da Matcha-nana features a matcha latte base that’s topped with a homemade banana brown sugar pudding cloud.

“It was inspired by local flavors,” Usui says. “Banana lumpia is something a lot of people in Hawaiʻi love, and we wanted to translate that into a drink without making it taste artificial.”

The pudding cloud is also available in flavors like salted caramel and salted maple, which can be added as toppings for espresso lattes.

The café rotates its seasonal specials every two to three months to keep introducing new flavors and ideas, according to Usui, who encourages customer input.

“We’re always open to feedback and continuously refining our recipes to improve the experience for our customers,” she says. 

Customer parking is available in the laundromat lot (entrance is on Pensacola Street).

Da Morning Grind Café is currently open from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Mondays to Fridays and from 7 a.m. to noon on Saturdays and Sundays.

Open 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Mondays to Fridays, 7 a.m. to noon Saturdays and Sundays

Da Morning Grind owner 051826

<title>Da Morning Grind Cafe is tucked away within a laundromat</title>

The business’s takeout window is located on South King Street. Open for grab-and-go, the café offers a variety of coffees, teas, dirty sodas and specialty drinks, including a twist on the London Fog latte.

Da Morning Grind Cafe is tucked away within a laundromat

Higa headshot white shirt square

Sterling Higa

Government & Politics

Columnists

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Ben Sasse is bleeding from the face."}]

He’s seated across from New York Times columnist Ross Douthat, 

, and he pauses to note it. He’s dying of stage 4 pancreatic cancer. One side effect of the treatment is that his body can’t grow skin.

“Yeah, you look terrible,” says Douthat.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"“Thank you,” says Sasse with a smile."}]

Since his diagnosis, Sasse has appeared on 

 stage, and a parade of podcasts. He uses the time to say what most politicians never dare to.

He talks about faith. He quotes R.C. Sproul. He discusses Tocqueville with the ease of someone who has actually read him.

Sasse is a two-term Republican Senator from Nebraska, a Harvard graduate, a Yale PhD in History. He voted to impeach Donald Trump and took the consequences. Though popular with voters in his home state, he left the Senate to serve as President of the University of Florida.

Now he spends his last days making one argument: American political life has gone badly wrong. Not because the wrong party is winning. Because the whole enterprise has lost its bearings.

Sasse starts with something most politicians would rather ignore: the pace of technological change. Previous economic transformations — industrialization, electrification — unfolded across generations. This one won’t. Robotics and automation will wipe out whole careers within a single working life.

Sasse sees a second shift: disembodied consciousness, the way screens let people leave their world. Families are breaking apart. Communities are dissolving. The local ties — churches, civic groups, the small-scale institutions Edmund Burke called “little platoons” — that help people absorb hard times are being stripped away. The formation of souls and citizens is at risk, and government is mostly ignoring it in favor of clickbait and rage.

He thinks our loves should be ordered, first to God, then to those nearest us, rippling outward from family to neighborhood to state to nation. Caring about a national political party more than your own community isn’t just confused. It’s a disorder of affection.

What’s true of the nation is true in Hawai'i. The legislature introduces three thousand bills a year. How many of those take the large challenges seriously? The demographic shifts, the cost pressures squeezing local families, the slow hemorrhage of young people off the Islands? The floor speeches and press releases gesture toward these problems, but the lawmaking doesn’t match the problem.

Sasse’s example suggests why. He can sit for an hour-long interview on dense political and theological matters because he has a clear philosophy — a disciplined way of working through problems. It also gives him the power to persuade, which is the precondition for coordinated action.

The founders studied rhetoric and philosophy with the same care they gave the law, because republican government runs on argument and clear speech. Most of Hawai‘i’s lawmakers couldn’t sustain an interview like Sasse’s, and the laws show it. There’s no clear direction. No will to rally the public. Few signs that anyone has thought hard about what government is for. What fills the vacuum is performance: press releases, floor speeches written for social media, outrage timed to the news cycle.

Sasse has a simple framework for what a coherent politics looks like. He describes four ways of valuing government, measured in cheers. No-cheer people — hardcore libertarians — don’t understand that government exists to secure liberty. Three-cheer people believe in a state that controls everything. Republicans, he says, are the one-cheer party. Democrats are the two-cheer party. Each has an extreme wing. Hawai‘i’s loudest voices are at the extremes.

What we lack are the one-cheer leaders: those who see government as necessary but flawed, able to secure order but not to deliver salvation.

Government should do a small number of important things well. It should get out of the way of the little platoons. It should never present itself as the path to utopia. Hawai‘i’s government casting itself as humanity’s last best hope has always been faintly comic.

Sasse’s sharpest line comes when he describes what voters already sense about the way their leaders talk.

They know it’s bullshit, he says — and they don’t want to be lied to. Why can’t politics do a small number of important, long-term things?

There is something clarifying about a man making that argument while bleeding from the face. He has no election to win, no caucus to protect, and by his own reckoning, weeks or months to live. What he’s chosen to do with his time is sit down and think hard about what government is and isn’t for, and what we’ve lost by confusing the two.

In watching Ben Sasse die, Hawai‘i might learn something about how to live.

Ben Sasse Getty Images 1231346544

<title>Ben Sasse is dying in public</title>

The former U.S. senator from Nebraska is talking about big ideas everywhere he can as pancreatic cancer takes his life. Hawai‘i's politicians could learn from what he has to say about government doing fewer things well, says ASD opinion columnist Sterling Higa.

Ben Sasse is dying in public

Honolulu foodies no longer have to drive to Oʻahu’s North Shore to enjoy poke bowls from Kahuku-based 

The biz soft opened its second location — its first Oʻahu expansion — on May 17. Ry’s Poke Shack’s Honolulu location is next to Jugo Life in the Ala Moana neighborhood.

The Honolulu location is a collaborative effort between Jugo Life/

, operations manager Daysen Masuda and himself, according to business owner Ryan Ching.

“We’ve been looking for any expansion on the west side or town side,” he says. “I wanted to do something with Tommy, too; the timing [now] was just perfect for us. It’s a good collaborative shop; all of us are in this one.”

Ry’s Poke Shack’s original Kahuku location started about six years ago during the Covid-19 pandemic. Since then, Ry’s Poke Shack opened two locations in California — one year ago in Huntington Beach, and in Pasadena earlier in January — with a third So Cal location coming soon in Lomita.

While the most popular poke flavors are at each location, every store has a few exclusive options, according to Ching. The Honolulu store has two exclusive flavors from Oh and Matsuda.

“There are two new styles of poke Daysen and Tommy made,” Ching confirms. “Daysen made one called ‘Foodxjitsu,’ and we got one Tommy made with a local sauce.”

The Foodxjitsu poke is inspired by Chinese-style steamed fish, according to Masuda. It includes ginger, green onions, cilantro, onions, garlic and a shoyu blend, and is finished with chili flakes and ikura.

“This is something I’ve been doing from Hilo; every restaurant I’ve worked at, I’ve done a version of it,” operations manager Daysen Masuda explains.

Originally from Hilo, Masuda started selling poke bowls during the Covid-19 pandemic, which eventually led to him starting his own sushi business. He offered sushi platters and catering on Hawaii Island before moving to Honolulu.

“I’ve been doing sushi forever; my platters were always used for celebrations, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic,” he says. “People were having small celebrations and for me, that was so rewarding.

“I’m just super fortunate; food always seems to bring people together, and that’s the common thing,” he adds. “Being able to work with guys who started from the ground and built up their company is nostalgic for me.”

Meanwhile, the What’s Crack’N flavor includes What’s Crack’n sauce — an umami Thai/Lao-style dipping sauce — with fresh ogo, sesame oil, onions, green onions and a shoyu blend.

Signature poke flavors include shoyu — Ry’s signature shoyu blend with onions, green onions and toasted sesame oil — spicy, and Lao style, a spicy option that includes garlic, fish sauce, Thai chili pepper, cilantro, shoyu blend, onions and green onions.

“Everyone always requests the Lao style,” Ching says. “The lao style seems to be popular at every single place, so that’s the one we always keep (on the menu).”

Customers can order poke bowls, poke by the pound or tsunami nachos ($23.95). The latter is the shop’s version of poke nachos, which features house fried wonton chips topped with tsunami-style poke, two scoops of crab surimi, Ry’s cucumber namasu, furikake and tobiko, finished with unagi sauce and chili mayo drizzle. The wonton chips are fried in 100% beef tallow to highlight its savory flavor.

Poke bowls can include one ($16.95) or two ($23.95) poke flavors; all bowls include Koshihikari (Japanese short-grain) rice and Ry’s cucumber namasu.

The community aspect is important to Ching, who says he’s open to collaborations and supporting other local businesses.

“It’s good for the community to reach out to us,” he says. “Every now and then, Tommy will do his burger pop-ups over here. Daysen is going to [eventually] make his chirashi bowls. This is a collaborative effort; it’s going to be much more unique in that way.”

Ry’s Poke Shack’s Honolulu store is open from 11:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. (or until sold out) Wednesdays to Fridays.

Open from 11:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. (or until sold out) Wednesdays to Fridays

Rys Poke Shack owners 051826

<title>Ry’s Poke Shack opens in Honolulu</title>

The Kahuku-based biz opened its second location on Oʻahu this past weekend. The Honolulu location is located in the Ala Moana neighborhood next to Jugo Life, and features specialty collaboration poke flavors.

Ry’s Poke Shack opens in Honolulu

Kelsey Kukaua Medeiros Headshot

Kelsey Kukaua Medeiros

Aloha Spirit

Business & Tourism

Located on O‘ahu’s North Shore, the Polynesian Cultural Center has found its new leader in Jarod Hester, who previously served as chief operating officer and chief financial officer. Hester succeeded P. Alfred Grace, who retired on May 1, after more than a decade as

“I truly and deeply love the Polynesian Cultural Center,” said Grace, 65, a native of New Zealand. “I have no doubt Jarod will do a fine job.”

Hester, also from New Zealand, told Aloha State Daily that Grace has been a key mentor in his career, which, at PCC, started in 2013.

“My mentors have mainly been the people I work alongside,” he said. “Alfred Grace has been a great mentor for me in terms of his passion and the legacy of this place. I thoroughly enjoyed working closely with him and am excited for his next chapter.”

Another mentor is PCC board chairman Frasier Bullock. “He provides good guidance and allows executive management to manage. I love that philosophy. I hope with the team I’m now responsible for leading that I can give them room to breathe and do well in their respective roles. … I believe in the principle of servant leadership. And I consider it a privilege to be working here.”

The Polynesian Cultural Center is affiliated with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is one of Hawaiʻi’s most visited attractions, with all its revenues benefiting student-employees and operations of Brigham Young University-Hawaiʻi. Spanning 42 acres, the property showcases “the people, culture, arts and crafts of Polynesia,” including six island villages — Hawaiʻi, Samoa, Aotearoa (New Zealand), Fiji, Tahiti, and Tonga. Guests can enjoy hands-on activities and shows, shopping, dining and an evening lūʻau called “HĀ: Breath of Life.”

“We love that people (locals) come and rediscover this place,” Hester said. “We know living here is expensive, coming here is expensive but we try to make it reasonable for locals as much as we can.”

He shared more about the transition, goals ahead and more.

What initially brought you to Hawaiʻi and what has kept you here?

From New Zealand, [my family and I] moved here 12 years ago in fall of 2013. In Aukland, I worked in administration looking after the LDS church school system throughout the South Pacific (Samoa, Fiji, Kiribati and Tonga) before coming here as a financial controller, then CFO in 2017, adding COO duties in 2019.

The food was shockingly different for our family. But the culture didn’t feel too different. Everyone dreams of living in Hawaiʻi, and we thought it would be a great adventure. What kept us here is the lifestyle, living on the North Shore out of the city. Being able to walk to work every day. More travel opportunities. It is the perfect climate for night walks, pickleball and fishing.

What trends in tourism has the center seen in the last decade?

Visitor count has decreased since pre-Covid and part of that is entirely by design. The other part of that is macro market conditions. [In 2020,] we took a look at a model where we could operate five days a week (instead of six) with 20-30% less tourists coming through. Now there was a huge bounce back in tourism in 2022-2023 and a lot of pressure to open the sixth day again and make more money. But we’d rather make a better tourist experience. … Another example: Prior to Covid, we would seat 500 people in that venue [for the lūʻau]. We won’t allow more than 330 in there now. 

Our total attendance numbers are right now closer to 500,000 and 600,000 annually. [PCC saw more than 795,000 visitors in 2023, down from over 1 million in 2022, 

. The center's revenue was nearly $58 million per its 

form 990 tax filings from 2011 to 2024 via 

What accomplishment(s) as COO/CFO are you most proud of?

Since I joined PCC in 2013, I’m proud to have helped it transition from where it was with legacy systems and ways of governance. I think that’s transformed over the years into new systems, different processes and new governance that has enables PCC to operate more efficiently, as well as improve upon the guest experience.

The most satisfying sort of transformation was being involved with executive leadership during the Covid-19 pandemic. It’s hard to call Covid an accomplishment, but it’s how we responded. We went from being open six days a week to five days, which transformed the quality of our labor force. It caused us to relook at our whole mission, vision and purpose for being and how we look after our employees.

Tell me more about your staff makeup and how PCC has approached recruitment?

Adjustments to minimum wage, for example, have put pressures on our model more than the tourism scenarios. We have about 150 full-time employees and roughly 1,000 part-time employees. We’re affiliated with BYU-Hawaiʻi, a lot of our employees are students there and a big part for our reason of being is to provide employment through the educational experience. And we hope that continues.

My replacement as CFO has been announced: Tauariki Kalama, who has served as PCC’s financial controller for 10 years. We’re now searching for a financial controller.

What is your top priority in your first 90 days? What about more long-term goals?

I think I’m pleasantly surprised at how much I’m enjoying this role. I am much less “in the books” and far more about the people. … I’m very energized and engaged, looking forward to helping PCC move into the next generation.

Short term, I’m focused on continuing to find the 1% improvements we can control (i.e. guest experience), while striving to make sure everyone who comes here feels the aloha spirit, the spirit of the Polynesian people. We’re all part of one big family. There’s more that unites us than divides us. I think the world needs that message more than ever.

Over the course of 18-24 months, we’ve got quite a change coming to the Hawaiian village experience. We want to make it the anchor village of the center. They are kanaka, people of the land, and so looking at how do we better share the story of the Hawaiian people through culture, language, voyaging and their connection with the other Polynesian Islands. We’ll be investing in and expanding its footprint in PCC. … As for construction, routine roof repairs and other maintenance will be taking place throughout the property.

How does PCC integrate with the surrounding community?

We just hosted the Samoan fire knife dance competition, which has kept me busy.

With more than 100 homes impacted in Lāʻie after severe flooding in March, PCC opened its grounds for food and supplies distribution. The community rallied together but there are still a lot of people affected.

For me, I’m happy to support the community, while remaining focused on PCC’s core mission and objectives.

PCC CEO Jarod Hester 16x9

<title>Jarod Hester now oversees Oʻahu’s Polynesian Cultural Center</title>

Earlier this month, Hester succeeded P. Alfred Grace as president and CEO of the cultural attraction in Lāʻie and in his role plans to prioritize people — workforce, guests and community members. Hester, who previously served as PCC's chief operating officer and chief financial officer, is originally from New Zealand and shares what initially drew his family to Hawaiʻi nearly 13 years ago, pleasant surprises in the role so far, and his vision to continue to enhance experiences at PCC.

Jarod Hester now oversees Oʻahu’s Polynesian Cultural Center

Christian Shimabuku Headshot

Christian Shimabuku

Sports

LĀ‘IE — For the Le Jardin boys volleyball team, destiny was decided by a vote. 

With O‘ahu battered by heavy rain, flooding and lightning strikes on Friday, the possibility of postponing the HHSAA Division II championship match between Le Jardin and Pearl City at BYU-Hawai‘i's Cannon Activities Center to a later date was floated to both teams. 

Back in Kailua, Le Jardin already loaded its team bus on campus. Head coach Makana Wade told his team they didn't have to play on Friday if they didn't want to, that tournament organizers could move some things around to get the match played later in the weekend. Wade asked his players to raise their hands if they wanted to play on Friday.

"Everybody's hand went straight up," setter Brennan Nakayama said. "We just knew we were ready for this, and we knew what we needed to do."

Following a commute to the North Shore that lasted three hours due to traffic brought on by the weather, the Bulldogs arrived prepared to do something the school had never done before. With a 25-18, 25-9, 25-21 sweep over Pearl City, Le Jardin won its first HHSAA boys volleyball championship in school history. 

"Just a real surreal feeling," Wade told Aloha State Daily following the match. "When I took this job, this is the last thing I could ever dream of, was being here. I'm just so happy for Le Jardin and everybody there for believing in me and giving me this job. And so blessed to be able to coach these amazing players."

When he saw the look of determination in his team, Wade knew they were destined to take the title home. 

"I wish everybody could have seen inside our bus for three hours. You would have thought we were gonna play UH or something," Wade said. "The guys were so locked in, having fun. I kept getting calls from our AD, my dad asking, 'Sure you wanna play tonight, coach?' I'm asking the guys, 'Are you sure?' And they're yelling at me, like, yes, of course. There's no way we weren't going to play this match tonight. I think we really took what was ours tonight."

The notion of playing against UH is something Wade would have deep knowledge of. The son of Hawai‘i head coach 

, Makana Wade was a UH men's volleyball assistant coach for multiple seasons. He departed the program in January in order to take the position of Le Jardin head coach, as NCAA rules prohibit one from coaching high school and collegiate teams of the same gender and sport in the same season.

leading Hawai‘i to a national title on Monday

 since arriving back to Honolulu on Tuesday. After taking care of business on Monday, Charlie Wade made it clear where his priorities were during the program's celebration event on Wednesday. Ahead of a scheduled autograph session, Wade told the thousands of fans gathered at the Stan Sheriff Center that he'd have to leave early in order to watch his son coach. 

On Friday, Charlie Wade sat courtside across from the Le Jardin bench, locked in on the match. When the Bulldogs secured the victory, father and son shared multiple long embraces following the match, the look of pride in Charlie Wade's eyes undeniable. 

"Very cool," he told ASD. "He's been coaching with me at the club level, and obviously the last couple years at the collegiate level. He's always kind of had that analytical brain that it takes to be a good coach, and he and I have spent uncountable hours out walking the dogs at night and talking about coaching. He's asked me about a lot of different stuff over the years, and it's great to see him take on that role as a head coach and have to deal with playing time and all that other stuff that is not coaching that's a part of it, but not the X's and O's part. He's doing a great job and has a lot of passion for it, so fun to see him have some success."

"I don't think we have enough time to talk about what I've learned, but I think the basic is just be a guy that people can lean on and trust," Makana Wade said when asked what he learned from his father. "My dad has taught me countless things, and I'm just so happy to be able to learn from him every day, really. I wouldn't be here without him."

For the 2026 season in particular, Makana Wade worked closely with UH associate head coach Kupono Fey on analytics and strategy. He suddenly received the opportunity to run his own program at just 21 years old. 

"It was really hard to leave," Makana Wade said. "I love those guys to death. It was only gonna be a special job like this, a place like this, where there's amazing people, amazing kids. ... It was pretty crazy. I got hired, couple weeks later, we had tryouts, and then next week we're playing our tournament, then we're playing ILH. It's been a pretty hectic couple months, but it's all worth it in the end."

Makana Wade, a UH-Mānoa junior, also had a French final exam he had to take on Friday morning. "It's been a crazy day, but it's been awesome," he said. 

On Friday night, the Bulldogs were in control for the entirety of the match. Nakayama paced the offense with 39 assists, while La‘akea Kamahale had 20 kills on 31 swings. Following a commanding win in Set 2, Le Jardin took a comfortable 24-19 lead in Set 3. After consecutive Pearl City points to cut the lead to 24-21, a calm Makana Wade called timeout to make sure his team was composed. The Bulldogs finished their 2026 campaign 16-1 and state champions for the first time in school history.

"Our whole team can't thank him enough for how lucky we are to have him," Nakayama said of Makana Wade. "The knowledge and experience is super cool. The scouting reports, and how tight he keeps the team and everything, all the way to the bus rides, everything you want. I think we started a legacy."

For the Wade family, the week started with Charlie and Kainoa Wade winning an NCAA championship. On Friday, Makana Wade coached his own team to a championship, capping an unforgettable week for a family that has no plans to stop chasing greatness in the sport for the foreseeable future. 

"Monday seems like a long time ago," Charlie Wade said. "It doesn't seem like it's the same week, but obviously very cool, a lot of positive stuff."

Added Makana Wade: "I'm just so happy for my dad, and they worked really hard this season. To be able to do this too is just a surreal feeling."

Makana Wade 051626

<title>Makana Wade coaches Le Jardin to first state title in boys volleyball</title>

Makana Wade, the son of UH men's volleyball head coach Charlie Wade, led the Bulldogs to the HHSAA title in his first season at the helm.

Makana Wade coaches Le Jardin to first state title in boys volleyball

Lopaka and Tanya Kapanui

Lopaka Kapanui and Tanya Kapanui

Hawai‘i History

In the early 1800s, King Kamehameha I moved his Royal Court to Honolulu, where the waters of Māmala Bay reached the shorelines of what are now Halekauwila and Queen Streets. Kamehameha’s kauhale was built near Pākākā Heiau, mainly where Walker Park is now, and his kāhuna made their home about a half mile away in Kakaʻako.

In the time of Kamehameha I, kāhuna were the keepers of knowledge that governed everything from building to planting to placing curses on people to communicating with the gods. The highest-ranking kahuna at the time was Hewahewa. As kahuna nui, he was required to master all forms of traditional knowledge, including kahuna ʻānaʻāna (sorcery by means of prayer). Hewahewa interpreted the will of the akua and advised Kamehameha on matters of war and kapu. Through sacred rituals, he sanctified heiau, conducted offerings, and demanded sacrifice, all in the name of the gods.

On the shores of Māmala Bay, the kāhuna studied their crafts and practiced their arts daily. Communicating with akua and warding off curses from rival ali‘i was a full-time job, and the spiritual and emotional weight of the dozens of practicing kāhuna would have left quite a mark upon the land in which they lived. This place became known as Mililani, and Hewahewa and his kāhuna lived there until Kamehameha moved his court to Kailua-Kona in 1813.

Years later, an aliʻi couple, Manuia and Kaupena, came to Honolulu to serve as retainers for King Kamehameha II and settled upon this lot. In 1829, they sailed with Governor Boki on his sandalwood expedition. The trip was met with disaster, and Kaupena returned to Honolulu with the body of her husband and buried him at their home. After Kaupena’s death, the property was passed on to her brother, Namauu, who lived there from the time of the expedition until his own death in 1848. 

The beachfront Mililani parcel then came into the possession of Mataio Kekuanaoʻa, and eventually Princess Ruth Keʻelikōlani, half-sister of Kamehameha IV, Kamehameha V, and Princess Victoria Kamāmalu.

As Honolulu Harbor was dredged to accommodate larger ships, the sand and coral from the bay were added along the shore and reef. By the 1880s, this “reclaimed land” extended the shoreline several hundred feet, and by the 1890s, Halekauwila Street had been born, and Mililani was now landlocked.

Over the decades, the land along Halekauwila held various hale pili, then small businesses, and, in the 1940s, a garage and warehouse for auto parts. In 1949, the land bounded by Queen, Punchbowl, Halekauwila, and Mililani Streets was acquired by the government for a new Territorial office building. In the spring of 1951, the building was dedicated as the Princess Ruth Keʻelikolani Building and housed the Territorial Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, the Civil Service Commission, the Hawaiʻi Employees Retirement System, and the Council of Veterans Affairs.

A lot of the stories about strange events in the building seem almost dismissive. The weird things that happen are often small and easy to explain away. Someone’s missing keys or supplies that suddenly reappear could be attributed to a forgetful memory, and knocking sounds could be the building settling.

While we were unable to confirm the rumor that an orphanage once stood in this spot, the sounds of children laughing and running through the halls are common, even though there are no children present.

The issues with the lights are more frequent and more odd. In the 1980s, at least one office had lights that would flicker only when someone passed through the doorway. Sharing the information and testing it out with new coworkers almost became a form of entertainment. But most people in the building would say this could have been caused by an electrical anomaly or crossed wires. Most commonly, people passing through the halls have sworn they could see lights glowing beneath office doors, but when they open those same doors, the rooms are dark and empty.

One of the oddest places in the building was the supply room. It was a small, windowless space slightly larger than a closet that no one paid much attention to until they needed something. For years, the door had no lock. People came and went freely, grabbing paper, white-out, typewriter ribbon, and anything else needed to get their work done.

One afternoon, a clerk from the third floor stepped inside with a short list of needs from her coworkers. She gathered the items quickly and tried to leave, but when she turned the handle, the door wouldn’t open. She tried pushing the door and turning the handle harder. She tried lifting the handle and pulling at the door, but nothing happened. No matter how hard the woman tried, the door just would not open.

With no other way out, panic began to set in, and the woman started pounding on the door. She yelled for help, believing someone would hear her, but no one came to her rescue. She pressed her ear against the door, but couldn’t hear anything beyond her own breathing. Several minutes passed, and she began pounding harder and yelling louder.

[{"type":"text","text":"Then, suddenly, the door opened."}]

A person from another office stood there, confused. They said they hadn’t heard anything, no pounding, no shouting, until the exact moment they walked in front of the door. And when they reached for the handle, it turned easily, and the door swung open with no issue. There was no explanation. The door worked fine, just as it always had.

After that, a lock was installed. Access was restricted, and the key was controlled by a single department. Most employees thought it was to control the supplies, which makes perfect sense, but one woman is certain that someone else, a department head, got locked in, too.

Keelikolani building

<title>Strange Events at the Ke‘elikōlani Building</title>

It's hard to imagine now, but this area of the Capitol District of Honolulu was once waterfront property, where King Kamehameha I and his Royal Court made their home. Now, state government department heads, rather than powerful kahuna, hold sway, but it's possible the old energies linger, causing eerie experiences.

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