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<title>Daily Smile: Sunday, June 7, 2026</title>

Competition over. Give him the gold medal...

Daily Smile: Sunday, June 7, 2026

 Competition over. Give him the gold medal...

Square Mike Brestovansky Headshot RGZ3736 Large

Michael Brestovansky

Government & Politics

Even though Hurricane Lowell’s forecasted path appears to be pulling westward, residents shouldn’t be complacent, warn state and county officials.

National Weather Service Warning Coordination Meteorologist John Bravender said Friday that 

 is continuing westward south of Hawai‘i, and is expected to make its northward turn around late Saturday or early Sunday.

“Any time you see a sharp turn like this in a hurricane track, it’s uncertain as to both where exactly it occurs and when exactly it occurs,” Bravender said. “For us, later is better. Later means it keeps going west and turns north later and tracks north farther west of the state.”

Current preliminary models by the National Weather Service show a trajectory where the eye of the storm passes to the west of Ni‘ihau. However, Bravender said there is still a wide margin for error in predicting the movement of a storm four days out, and that the heart of the storm could move an average of 150 miles off the projected course.

Even if Lowell maintains its predicted path, its winds will still reach Hawai‘i. Bravender said Lowell’s northward movement will expose it to high wind shear, which will reduce the hurricane’s power but also expand its wind field.

Consequently, Gov. Josh Green said Friday that emergency preparations are being made statewide, particularly in Kaua‘i County.  Green said the Agribusiness Development Corporation is monitoring reservoirs on Kaua‘i in anticipation of high winds and rainfall, while the Department of Health will open hurricane refuge centers on Kaua‘i.

Kaua‘i Mayor Derek Kawakami said he is in constant communication with the Robinson family — the owners of the island of Ni‘ihau — and added that he has “supreme confidence” that the island’s small population is well-prepared for Lowell.

“Our Ni‘ihauans are extremely resilient,” Kawakami said. “In fact, the Robinson family has come to our assistance more times than they’ve ever asked for help.”

Nonetheless, Green said the state Department of Human Services will keep hotel rooms available on Kaua‘i in case any Ni‘ihau residents need to relocate temporarily.

Maj. Gen. Stephen Logan, Adjutant General of the State of Hawai‘i Department of Defense, said 146 Hawai‘i National Guard personnel are standing by throughout the Islands, with more to come over the weekend. On Kaua‘i, 20 National Guard personnel are there already, with another 16 to come on Saturday, while several high-water vehicles and a potable water trailer have been brought to the island as well.

Green on Thursday signed an emergency proclamation in advance of Lowell authorizing the activation of the National Guard as needed to support disaster relief operations, and streamlines the process to secure and distribute resources among state agencies.

The emergency proclamation extends through Nov. 1, unless Green chooses to terminate it early. Therefore, the proclamation also covers potential impacts from Hurricane Karina, which approaches the state from the northeast, and Hurricane Marie, which is distantly to the east, near Baja California.

Bravender said Karina is expected to steadily weaken over the weekend and likely dissipate after Monday, without substantial impacts to the state beyond high surf on east-facing shores.

Kawakami said surf conditions this weekend are for expert surfers only, as Lowell brings powerful swells to south- and west-facing shores statewide.

Bravender said there is the possibility of intensely heavy rainfall this weekend, but estimates are still uncertain; he gave a ballpark estimate of about four to six inches of rain, with Kaua‘i and the Big Island getting about 10 inches of rain.

Kawakami said the approach of Lowell may bring traumatic memories of 1992’s Hurricane Iniki, the most powerful recorded storm to strike the state. He recommended that anyone feeling anxious to call the Hawai‘i CARES helpline at 988.

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<title>Kaua‘i and Ni‘ihau prepare as Lowell approaches</title>

Hurricane Lowell to turn northward this weekend.

Kaua‘i and Ni‘ihau prepare as Lowell approaches

De Soto 2025

DeSoto Brown

Hawai‘i History

Columnists

You can barely see it today, but once Kaka‘ako was largely composed of numerous individual homes. Constructed of wood starting around 1910-1915, and surrounded by yards with abundant trees, these houses were the signature of the district. Nobody was rich in Kakaako and this low-income population was, not surprisingly, prone to unsupervised children and a problem with crime. But this would start to change after the end of World War II in 1945 when the varied businesses already present would begin to gradually take over from residents as their property leases ended. Land owners sought the higher rents they could receive from commercial tenants, and Kakaako shifted mostly to this use.

Back when Kaka‘ako was home to thousands of people, necessary services and amenities were provided for them. Two examples of these were the Pohukaina Elementary School and its one-time playground /park, and the Kewalo Theater. The school is gone, the park remains, and the theater still exists although no films have been shown there for very close to 70 years.

By 1912, enough children resided in Kaka‘ako to justify the construction of a school there, leading to the completion of a two-story concrete building for the new Pohukaina School in January 1913. Over decades, other structures also came to occupy the grounds, but as the number of students in the area dropped the Department of Education pivoted to accommodating handicapped children at the school by 1967. Eventually, these were shifted to Waialae Elementary and Kaimukī Intermediate and Pohukaina at this location closed in 1980. By January 1987 only 14 school-aged kids were determined to currently be living in Kaka‘ako.

Debates about the Pohukaina site took place after its closure. As plans for the massive redevelopment of Kakaako were projected in the 1980s and ‘90s, some argued that a new school would be needed for new residents, but not surprisingly, a highrise condo today occupies part of the property.

An important historic figure in Kaka‘ako’s history was Mrs. Margaret Waldron, an Irish-Hawaiian woman who labored tirelessly for decades as a social worker in what was then a notoriously tough district.

Known to all by the affectionate nickname of “Mother Waldron” she began her time in Kaka‘ako as a teacher at Pohukaina School for 18 years before becoming the Director of Recreation at a neighborhood park. Her devotion to combating gangs and crime, particularly when it touched children, and serving as a positive and helpful influence was honored in June 1930 with the naming of the Pohukaina School’s playground as Mother Waldron Park. There she continued her instructional work, speaking of how she would be teaching girls the skills of sewing and cooking in a small structure in this new park. 

Her life came to an end in May 1936 but the following year, improvements and new structures in Mother Waldron Playground would be dedicated in September 1937. These cost $50,000 (or $1,162,417 in 2026 dollars) in government funding and the labor was provided through the federal government’s Works Progress Agency (WPA), an anti-Depression body that constructed innumerable public improvements all over the USA. These are still in place today; most immediately recognizable is the low zig-zag cement block wall on the ‘ewa side of the site.

In 1976 the Hawai‘i Community Redevelopment Agency was created to make over Kaka‘ako, and in 1981 its first plans for this project were presented. A foundational part of this government body’s goal was to improve the district’s infrastructure and in 1988 this led to the widening of both Pohukaina and Cooke Streets by 10 feet along with a major realignment of the latter. Along with condemnations and the clearing of former structures on its Waikīkī side, Mother Waldron Park approximately doubled in size.

The removal of Coral Street along the park’s other boundary added even more land to it in 1992. This was a wise move for the recreational needs of the increasing number of condo residents around it who would come in the future.

Kaka‘ako’s population in 1937 was significant enough to warrant the construction of the Kewalo Theater at the corner of Cooke and Queen Streets. Newspaper publicity for this event stated that the neighborhood was then “one of the largest and most densely populated sections in Honolulu.”

Consolidated Amusement, the biggest cinema chain in the Hawaiian Islands at that time, spent $75,000 ($1,743,626 in today's dollars) to open the latest of what it called “Neighborhood Playhouses” which served residential areas. Programs changed every day, which was true of all of Consolidated’s small theaters then, and admission was 25c for adults and only 10c for children ten years old and under.

Less than 20 years later, the Kewalo Theater was closed due to dwindling audiences as Kaka‘ako lost residents displaced by commercial tenants. Consolidated retained ownership of the empty structure for years and used it for storage, and surprisingly it still exists today. Currently occupying what had been the theater’s auditorium is the Lonohana Chocolate Company, and visitors who take a tour to see the variety of machinery which processes raw cocoa beans into tasty treats can also see remnants of the Kewalo’s 1930s interior decor still present on the walls and ceiling.

Kaka‘ako’s future growth will continue to displace the small industrial businesses that the area has been known for over the past decades, just as these displaced residents and private homes starting after World War II. As this process continues, we’ll see the diversity of Kaka‘ako today — as messy as it sometimes is — disappear as increasingly sterile new towers continue their takeover.

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<title>Changing Kakaako: Once a residential neighborhood</title>

More than a century ago, the modern development of Kaka‘ako started as modest, wooden single-family homes. Over time, these were displaced businesses. ASD historian DeSoto Brown takes down these streets of Kaka‘ako as they looked then, and now.

Daily Smile: Sunday, June 7, 2026

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