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Daily Smile

[{"type":"text","text":"The force is strong in this one..."}]

Smile 26 5 14

<title>Daily Smile: Thursday, May 14, 2026</title>

The force is strong in this one...

Daily Smile: Thursday, May 14, 2026

Kelli Shiroma Braiotta Headshot

Kelli Shiroma Braiotta

Food & Dining

[{"type":"text","text":"One misdelivered present last Christmas went a long way."}]

Lila Bermudes and Kamealani Carvalho — co-owners of 

 in Kāneʻohe — that’s how they first met.

“This all started when a package was delivered incorrectly to my new home, which was Kamealani’s old home,” Lila Bermudes says. “[Before this], all the neighbors had told me how great of a baker Kamealani was.”

Bermudes reached out to Carvalho — whose contact information was on the package — to see if she wanted to pick up the package.

“When she came [to get it], we got to talking, and we immediately clicked,” Bermudes says.

“A two-minute conversation turned into 30 minutes,” echoes Carvalho.

During their conversation, Bermudes asked Carvalho if she ever considered opening a farm stand in front of her house on Kukane Street.

“It would be so convenient for everyone that’s passing,” Bermudes says. “You can stop on the side, grab your coffee and baked goods, then you can go to work. My goal was to provide a peaceful place that was convenient.”

Little did Bermudes know that Carvalho and her husband already ran a farm stand, located in Hauʻula.

“We live in Kāneʻohe, but I’m from Hauʻula,” Carvalho says. “We started it there, but it [the commute] was too far.”

Carvalho talked with her husband, Nalu, about the idea — and the duo immediately started working on the business concept. Carvalho credits her husband for building the bake stand that customers see on Kukane Street today.

“I put a lot of work into designing it, but my husband built it,” Carvalho says. “He did such a good job.”

“We just went on faith and everything came together,” Bermudes says.

 officially opened in February. While the address isn’t listed on the business’s Instagram page, Bermudes says that customers can usually find it if they use Google Maps to search for the street name.

“You know this area — the back road — if you live in Kāneʻohe,” she says. “There’s a lot of people that pass by here.”

The business’s current name did not come up right away. 

originally referred to the biz as Kukane Farm Stand, but they went back and forth on it.

“We didn’t like it; we tabled it for a little bit,” 

 remembers. “We thought, ‘Let’s just called it ‘Kukane Street Stand’ and change it later, but everyone kept calling it that, so it stuck. It’s good for location purposes.”

The bake stand is usually open on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 6 a.m. until sold out, according to Bermudes. She features specialty lattes that available for pre-orders, while Carvalho supplies the stand with a variety of baked goods.

“We only do the pre-orders for the lattes, but we make them in a certified kitchen,” explains Bermudes, who says previous latte flavors included blueberry, cinnamon roll and chocolate haupia.

The bake stand has been known to sell out by 9:30 or 10 a.m., according to Carvalho.

“That’s why everyone’s here at 6 a.m.,” she says. “They’re waiting.”

All the other baked goods at the stand are available on a first-come, first-served basis. The selection can range from bagels and lemon bars to scones. Carvalho’s cinnamon rolls, brownies, and chocolate chip cookies have been customer favorites.

“I’ve been baking since I was eight years old,” Carvalho says. “I started with brownies, then it was rolls and manapuas; then it went to cakes; then I did wedding cakes; then sugar cookies; and then it went to chocolate chip cookies and cinnamon rolls. It just built over the years.”

The bake stand also features desserts from other bakers across Oʻahu. Customers can refer some of their favorite bakers, and some have reached out to the business directly through Instagram.

"When we made the stand, it just allowed us to incorporate what we already loved doing — supporting local,” Bermudes says. “We feature other local bakers that are up and coming, or they don’t have a platform or a place to sell their items. People can give us their name and we reach out.”

Bermudes confirms that she and Carvalho make sure the featured bakers have their food handler’s license or bake in a support kitchen that’s approved by the State of Hawaiʻi, and that their products are a good fit for the stand.

“We make sure the pricing is right; our items only run from $3 to $7,” Bermudes says. “We want to keep it affordable for everyone.

“In order to come and sell at our stand — if you’re going to be a featured baker — it has to be homemade,” she adds. “We want it to be homemade, like you’re baking it for your kids. I like to say, ‘It’s from oven to stand.’”

Items at the stand need to fall under Hawaiʻi’s cottage food law, which allows home producers to sell shelf-stable foods. Allowable items include cookies, biscuits and breads, according to Bermudes.

Customers pay for their baked goods or lattes by using an honor system. 

They can pay for the baked goods by using Venmo or leaving cash in designated envelopes at the stand. There are instructions to follow.

Carvalho says. “People tipped, especially during the first month [we were open]. This is a really great town to do this in, because people like stuff like this. People will stop for it.”

Carvalho describes having a bake stand as a “full-circle moment,” and is grateful for the support from the community.

“We were here for five years; I did bake sales, but never to this extent,” Carvalho says. “I used to do bake sales from this driveway.”

“Our goal is just to serve our community; that’s what we’re here for,” Bermudes adds. “We didn’t expect what we got; we’re blown away [by the support]. It’s just so humbling and I’m so grateful. We’re having a great time.”

Open Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 6 a.m. until sold out

For the latest news of Hawai‘i, sign up 

Kukane St Stand owners 050826

<title>Kukane Street Stand is a new bake stand in Kāneʻohe</title>

The neighborhood bake stand offers a rotating selection of desserts and specialty lattes. Baked goods are available on a first-come, first-served basis; the bake stand is usually open on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

Kukane Street Stand is a new bake stand in Kāneʻohe

Lopaka and Tanya Kapanui

Lopaka Kapanui and Tanya Kapanui

Hawai‘i History

Columnists

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.

Strange Events at the Ke‘elikōlani Building

Stephanie Salmons Headshot

Stephanie Salmons

Government & Politics

Real Estate

Housing affordability in the Islands may have improved slightly last year, but homeownership remains out of the reach of many and there are still plenty of issues driving the state's continuing housing crisis, according to a new report from the University of Hawai‘i Economic Research Organization.

UHERO on Thursday published its Hawai‘i Housing Factbook 2026, the fourth edition of an annual report that analyzes the state's housing market.

"This year, it's an interesting story," co-author Trey Gordner, a UHERO policy researcher, told reporters during a virtual press conference Thursday. "Rents are rising, but pretty modestly, especially once you consider what inflation has done to the rest of the economy. It's certainly not rising as fast as other aspects of people's cost of living in the last year, and prices have leveled out. Sales prices have leveled out as well for both single-family homes and condos."

Here are some of the takeaways from the report, which can be 

Daily Smile: Thursday, May 14, 2026

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Daily Smile: Thursday, May 14, 2026

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