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Little dog having fun at doggy daycare until his dad shows up at the window...

Smile 26 5 20

<title>Daily Smile: Wednesday, May 20, 2026</title>

Daily Smile: Wednesday, May 20, 2026

 Little dog having fun at doggy daycare until his dad shows up at the window...

Kam Napier Headshot

A. Kam Napier

Columnists

Government & Politics

 was 32 years old on July 1, 2015, as she walked along San Francisco’s Pier 14 with her father and a friend.

Somewhere behind her on the Embarcadero at that moment was José Inez García Zárate, handling a pistol he found under a bench. He fired one shot. That shot hit Steinle in the back. Her father and friend performed CPR, paramedics arrived, but her aorta had been pierced and she died in a hospital two hours later.

In 2017, García Zárate was acquitted on charges of murder and manslaughter, but no one denied he fired the shot, and no one denied some other facts about him.

“A little bit of common sense and discretion might have prevented the killing this month in San Francisco of Kathryn Steinle — a victim not only of random gunfire but of the mindless handling of the city's immigration policy,” 

García Zárate, USA Today noted, “had a felony drug record going back 20 years, had been deported five times and had repeatedly sneaked back into the USA …  [he] was in the San Francisco County jail in April and should have been deported yet again. Federal immigration authorities had lodged a ‘detainer,’ seeking to get custody and do just that. All they needed was a call or other contact from the sheriff's office.

“The contact was never made, not because of some ghastly mistake or miscommunication but because of a city ordinance that prohibits police from honoring detainers except in rare cases. And, according to the San Francisco Chronicle, because of a policy by the local sheriff that bars contact with immigration authorities. After a local charge against Lopez-Sanchez [as his name appeared in early reporting] was dropped, he was held for three weeks, then put on the street.”

One of the top three candidates to be the next chief of the Honolulu Police Department is San Francisco’s David Lazar, whom Aloha State Daily 

Near as I can piece together from Lazar’s 

, he was a captain in the San Francisco Police Department at the time of Steinle’s shooting, then rising to commander in 2017 and then assistant chief before retiring in 2025. We can safely assume he alone did not set the policies that had made San Francisco a “sanctuary city” in 2015, where immigration law would be selectively ignored.

But Lazar has already told us where he wants to take Honolulu. Here’s the relevant quote from our interview with him:

“I come from a department where we don’t cooperate at all with ICE,” Lazar said. “That’s what I’m used to, that’s the right thing to do. If I’m selected as chief, we will not cooperate whatsoever with ICE. We will not participate in anything they have going on.

“We’re not going to transport for them, we’re not going to support them, we’re not going to respond to any of their calls, we’re not going to set up perimeters,” Lazar went on. “Those are the policy decisions that will be made on my watch.”

 is scheduled to make a decision today between Lazar, 

 and Scott Ebner. We profiled Lazar and Lambert, Ebner did not respond to us.

The commission is comprised of Chair Laurie Foster, Vice Chair Jeannine A. Souki, Vice Chair Chris Magnus, and members Kenneth Silva, Elizabeth Char, Blake Parsons and Gary A. Yabuta.

The commission can be reached at 808-723-7580, or by email at 

, if you have thoughts to share on their selection.

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.

For the latest news of Hawai‘i, sign up 

0508 1311 David Lazar image 16x9

<title>Pipikaula Corner: David Lazar, Kate Steinle and Honolulu’s future</title>

One of the top three candidates for Honolulu Police Chief, David Lazar of San Francisco, has stated his intention to never let HPD cooperate with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. These are the kinds of policies widely believed to have been the reason why Kathryn "Kate" Steinle was killed in 2015 by a five-time deportee, out on the streets of San Francisco because local authorities refused to work with federal agencies on immigration cases.

Pipikaula Corner: David Lazar, Kate Steinle and Honolulu’s future

Lopaka and Tanya Kapanui

Lopaka Kapanui and Tanya Kapanui

Hawai‘i History

Named after the famous author and poet Robert Louis Stevenson, this facility was the first in Hawaiʻi to adopt a middle school concept in 1988, hosting students in grades 6-8.

It was initially named after Robert Louis Stevenson in 1937, when it opened as an intermediate school on the site of the Territorial Normal School, teaching children from grades 7-9.

I initially learned that RLS Middle School was built over the site of an important heiau in the Pūowaina complex. These heiau were used for various purposes by aliʻi and kāhuna to support the Pūowaina Heiau at the top of the crater we now call Punchbowl. I’ve quoted this bit of information as fact for years.

As we constantly expand our research and knowledge, we continually uncover new information that sheds light on previously accepted norms. Some of what we learn was passed down from mouth to ear, which may result in misunderstandings of certain moʻolelo or the locations where they took place. In these circumstances, we always offer our apologies and ask for forgiveness from our ancestors. Then, we correct our course and take full responsibility for our hiccup. It’s why research in all its aspects is crucial: because you, the reader, are very important to us. Our humble mahalo to you.

As it turns out, the information I had was partially correct. RLS Intermediate School was actually built over the remains of a heiau. However, the current site is not its original home. The Territorial Normal School, which served as a temporary site for Roosevelt High School, Pūowaina Elementary, and then RLS Intermediate, was located near the corner of Green and Alapai Streets.

By the 1940s, the need for a larger campus was clear, and the search for nearby locations began. A parcel in Kewalo-uka, located at the base of Punchbowl Crater, was chosen, where the U.S. Agricultural Experiment Station used to be. Finally, on November 16, 1952, a dedication ceremony was held on what would have been Robert Louis Stevenson’s 102nd birthday, with more than 600 students, parents, and teachers in attendance.

Although the heiau isn’t where I thought it was, that doesn’t mean the school isn’t haunted. The current location of Stevenson Middle School falls directly in the path of Kamehameha’s warriors as they battled for control of O‘ahu against Kalanikupule’s army. And as we’ve mentioned before, the land has a way of remembering past trauma.

After sharing a video about the middle school, my account was overwhelmed with comments and messages about people’s personal experiences. Many claim to have seen headless bodies, near the banyan tree and on the roof of the building. A general eeriness and the feeling of being watched are common. Two people mentioned the P.E. rooms feeling spooky, and one person said he saw the ghost of a man walk through the cafeteria wall.

Stevenson was one of the stops on the Ghost Hunters Bus Tour that my late mentor, Glen Grant, did before I eventually took over. He shared many of his personal encounters there, and he assured me that as time went on, whatever was haunting the school would soon make itself known to me. 

One evening, my group stood under the banyan tree and began to take pictures. This was in the late ’90s, so people were still using film cameras. When the burst of flashes went off, sparkles floated down toward us in a slow descent. It was a wonderful thing to behold. It didn’t feel spooky, but we made sure there was no one hiding in the branches, raining sparkling lights down on us.

On another night, the usual busload of 25 people was standing in front of the cafeteria’s double doors. I shared the story of the old Kānelā’au, which we believed once stood there, where human sacrifices were offered to the gods. As I shared this account, we all heard the sound of high heels walking down the sidewalk from the far corner of the cafeteria, and we could tell it was coming our way. I continued talking while waiting for the person in high heels to appear so we could get out of her way. No one manifested, but the sound of the high heels walked right past us.

A second later, police cars rolled up, and the officers approached us. They asked if we’d seen a woman in a dress and high heels walking on the cafeteria roof. I explained that we all heard the heels, but it didn’t sound like it was above us. We hadn’t seen anyone, even though the sound seemed to pass right through us.

“That’s the call we got,” one of the officers said, and then they left us to continue our tour while they investigated the rest of the campus.

Many other strange events took place during my tours, including a group of people seeing headless bodies under the portable buildings. But the strangest account comes from a retired police officer who, along with his former partner, used to patrol the area around Stevenson Middle School. His partner had been on the force for many years and was well regarded by his peers.

There was a major car accident in the area, and all officers were called to respond. The man’s former partner didn’t reply and never showed up for the call. His vehicle, a black Crown Victoria, was seen in the Stevenson parking lot. The officer was found inside, slumped over. He had died of a heart attack.

Later, people reportedly saw a black Crown Victoria pull into the parking lot in the late hours of the night. No one could see inside the car, but almost everyone knew who it belonged to. Some patrolmen would drive by that late officer’s house to make sure that the Crown Victoria was parked in the garage, and it was, I was told.

Wanting to see for himself, the retired officer went to the Stevenson parking lot to wait. Sure enough, a little after 1:00 a.m., the black Crown Victoria pulls up.

“Holy crap,” was the only thing I could say as I was covered with chicken skin.

“End of watch, John,” the officer called out, “We got it covered. You can go home and rest.”

He said he couldn’t see inside the car, but he knew it was his friend, and that was all he could think of to put his soul at ease. The car left the parking lot and was never seen again.

Stevenson Middle School

<title>Intermediate Ghosts</title>

If you thought just being in the 7th or 8th grade was scary, imagine if some tragic set of circumstances had you trapped there in the afterlife! Stories abound about the things seen at Robert Louis Stevenson Middle School in Honolulu, long known as an "Intermediate School" in the DOE naming system. Ancient warriors. Headless bodies. A cop on his beat. A mysterious woman in high heels.  All these and more.

Intermediate Ghosts

Square Mike Brestovansky Headshot RGZ3736 Large

Michael Brestovansky

A controversial music festival on Hawai‘i Island has been given the go-ahead despite complaints from neighbors.

The Windward Planning Commission on the Big Island voted 

 to approve a request by landowner Andrew Tepper to hold a multi-day music festival on a portion of his 1,400-acre parcel of land in Pāpa‘ikou.

, called “Falls On Fire,” is described in the request as a four-day event “centered on principles of inclusion, gifting, self-reliance, self-expression, communal effort, civic responsibility and respect for the environment.” The event is repeatedly compared to the annual “Burning Man” festival in Nevada; similarly, Falls On Fire would also feature the burning of an effigy.

Tepper had previously held Falls On Fire annually since 2023, but had not received proper permits from the county for the event, leading the county Planning Department to fine Tepper’s company, Teppy Mountain LLC, more than $34,000. The Planning Department later stated that Tepper claimed he was unfamiliar with county and state regulations that required a special permit.

At the Planning Commission’s May 14 meeting on the subject, dozens of residents argued the merits and flaws of the festival, echoing the arguments made during a contested case hearing about the subject in November.

“I’ve heard his festivals,” said Pāpa‘ikou resident Eliza Folkman. “It’s been wildly disruptive already. And I believe this raises questions about accountability and commitment to stewardship. When we start turning these lands into venues for big parties or festivals, especially ones that have already ignored the rules and caused problems before, we risk losing something we can’t get back.”

People opposed to the festival complained about the noise from previous events and worried about the potential impact that 500 festivalgoers will have on the single private road that accesses the festival grounds. Others worried that not all attendees will heed rules on the Falls On Fire 

 urging attendees to not use soap while bathing in streams, leading to pollutants and human waste accumulating downstream.

On the other hand, previous festivalgoers argued that the festival has improved over the years to accommodate neighbor’s complaints.

“Unfortunately, none of us at the camps realized how the sound was carrying,” said Casey Jedynak. “By year two, we organized listening tests and lowered our levels. Looking back, the sound was definitely too loud at times … Going forward, I believe we, the Falls On Fire community, can be more curious about all of it, how loud the music is, where the speakers are directed, what hours the music is playing.”

An attorney for Teppy Mountain, Jake Honigman, said Tepper has agreed to follow most of the recommendations made by the Planning Department, including a commitment to repair any damages caused to the road within a month of the festival, a prohibition on all parking on the road, directing all amplified sounds inland toward the uninhabited portion of Tepper’s land, having at least 5,000 gallons of water onsite for fire suppression, having a sufficient number of portable toilets, and more.

“[Tepper] would explain that he loses money because he provides all of these things for the event like the portable toilets,” Honigman said. “There’s a suggested donation [for attendees], but it doesn’t remotely cover his costs and if people can’t make it, he doesn’t turn them away. This really is about him sharing and giving and bringing people … to the land to experience this festival.”

Ultimately, the commission voted 4-1 in favor of Tepper’s application, albeit with a few additional requirements such as the construction of sound dampening barriers and a 25-foot height limit on whatever effigy is burned.

 For the latest news of Hawai‘i, sign up 

Fallsonfire 16x9

<title>Hawai‘i Island 'Burning Man' festival given green light</title>

Windward Planning Commission approves application for "Falls On Fire" festival, despite trepidation from neighbors.

Hawai‘i Island 'Burning Man' festival given green light

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

[{"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

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.

Daily Smile: Wednesday, May 20, 2026

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