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[{"type":"text","text":"The way he smiled....."}]

Smile 26 8 1

<title>Daily Smile: Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026</title>

The way he smiled...

Daily Smile: Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026

Katie Helland Headshot

Katie Helland

Arts & Entertainment

Aloha Spirit

It’s not every day that singers and songwriters get to visit the home of Simon Cowell, one of the best known judges of 

 But that is exactly what happened for Nyjah Music and Zyah Rhythm, the

North Shore brothers competing in Season 21 of the television show, who were invited to film a judges callback round at Cowell’s house in Malibu, California.

, allows each judge to pick acts to audition a second time before a panel decides who will advance to live shows. Watch the episode at 7 p.m. Central Standard Time, which is 2 p.m. in Hawai’i, on Tuesday, Aug. 4, on NBC, to see if the brothers advance. The episode will also be available on Peacock the next day.

Here is an exclusive clip of Cowell giving the brothers feedback.

Getting an invite to the judges callback round from Cowell, who is known for being a tough judge, meant a lot to the duo.

“We were pretty stoked,” Nyjah told Aloha State Daily. “Just being there was amazing.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"He was like an uncle, Zyah added."}]

“So I actually would have thought that Simon would be hard on us, just because of the videos and stuff,” he said. “He has turned down some people. But just going to his house, he made it feel like he was more of an uncle to us. It was super chill. He was super inviting and super open with his house. He told us we could jump in his pool, if we wanted.”

They did not in fact jump in the pool. They did not have swimsuits, Zyah added.

Currently, Nyjah Music and Zyah Rhythm have more than 250,000 monthly listeners on Spotify. Last year, their cover of “Burning Love,” which was produced by their uncle, Bruno Mars, was featured in Disney’s live action 

 Today, that song has more than 13 million streams on Spotify.

But even with a hit like that, the auditions for “America’s Got Talent” had them nervous. Waiting backstage for 

their audition, which aired on Tuesday, June 9, on NBC

, was “pretty nerve-wracking,” Zyah said.  

“But then once we stepped on stage, we're pretty comfortable,” he added. “We did hear some people from Hawai’i in the audience. It got us pretty comfortable with the stage.”

By hearing Hawai’i, he means they heard a cheehoo.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Did they expect that? Zyah shook his head."}]

“It kind of shook the nerves away,” he said. “And it just showed that we have some people from home watching us.”

They performed their latest release, “Heartbeat,” an original single, which dropped on streaming platforms on June 15.

“It's really a universal song for people that want to show how much they love someone and how they want to be a part of someone because the lyrics are, ‘Can I be your heartbeat or the flower in your ear?’ and stuff like that,” Zyah said. “That person for us is our grandma. We dedicate it to our grandma, and it just shows how much we love our grandma, how she started it all, but she did pass away when we were little. But yeah, it's just about our grandma.”

After being off Island, Nyjah and Zyah look forward to local foods. For Nyjah, that usually involves a poke bowl at Foodland, with iced tea on the side. After flying in, Zyah likes to stop at 

For the latest news of Hawai‘i, sign up 

"America's Got Talent"

<title>Exclusive video: North Shore brothers talk about ʻAmerica’s Got Talent’</title>

Nyjah Music & Zyah Rhythm, the North Shore brothers who are also the nephews of Bruno Mars are back on “America’s Got Talent.” Catch them singing for Simon Cowell at his house in an episode that airs Tuesday, Aug. 4. They also unpack their latest single “Heartbeat,” which was inspired by their grandmother, and the cheehoo that calmed their nerves during auditions.

Exclusive video: North Shore brothers talk about ʻAmerica’s Got Talent’

De Soto 2025

DeSoto Brown

Hawai‘i History

Columnists

The heavily-trafficked intersection of Kapi‘olani Boulevard and Kalākaua Avenue has hosted a parade of high-profile restaurants since the 1930s, each one representing a particular genre that was popular in the USA at the time.

To begin with, there was no intersection at all here until April 1931, when Kapi‘olani Boulevard — under construction since 1929 — reached Kalākaua Avenue, already a major, established Honolulu street for many years. To save City & County funds, Kapi‘olani initially wasn’t even paved in this stretch until November of the same year, when asphalt was laid atop the crushed coral then in place. Drivers appreciated this new route across town, which was less congested than Beretania or King Streets, and within a few years the triangular lot on the Waikīkī side of the intersection caught attention as the potential site for a “Gateway to Waikīkī” public park. That proposal went nowhere, but soon the property would see its first business.

In 1935, entrepreneur Hanley P. Sundstrom (better known as “Sunny”) opened his Kau Kau Korner Drive In with just two employees. The small open building accommodated some diners seated around its periphery, under a striped canvas awning, but carhops also serviced customers in parked cars.

Business in this highly visible location grew enough for an entirely new $45,000 structure, occupying more leased land, to open in August 1941. Modeled after the well-known drive in restaurants of Los Angeles, this new Kau Kau Korner featured a curved glass-brick façade with a map of the Hawaiian Islands executed in sheet metal and neon lettering. On the second floor, behind the glass bricks, was Sunny’s executive office — and, for a select invited group, illegal slot machines used for gambling! There were now 40 employees, including 11 carhops dressed in snappy red & white uniforms to serve the 100-vehicle parking lot.

Immediately famous on the property was a freestanding neon sign emphasizing that Hawai‘i was the “Crossroads Of The Pacific”, the slogan lettered on the top. On the sign’s pole were wooden arrows pointing to various other locations, both domestic and international, showing how many miles away each one was. This landmark sign was a favorite subject of amateur snapshots for years.

Continuing through the 1950s, the high point of the popularity of drive in restaurants in the United States, Kau Kau Korner’s run came to an end when it lost its lease and closed in February 1960. The new occupant of this location was the successful locally owned Spencecliff Corporation, which already operated a number of very popular establishments on O‘ahu. A crash remodel and enlargement of the existing building disguised it completely and enabled its very quick reopening in September 1960 as Coco’s Coffee Shop, an example of the next big trend for inexpensive dining in America. Open 24 hours a day for a capacity of 190 diners, Coco’s served everyone from families during the daytime to weary nightlife patrons seeking predawn breakfasts. Local celebrities were among its regular patrons, especially those with late-night entertainment jobs or conversely, the ones who started their work days very early.

In turn, Coco’s reached its end on the last day of August in 1986. It was demolished the following month to be replaced by the new Hard Rock Café, which opened in July 1987 with much fanfare. This new business turned its back on the busy intersection that the previous restaurants had openly faced, and disguised this view with trees and foliage. Inside, musical artifacts from its already-famous collection of guitars and other rock memorabilia were prominently displayed along with Hawai‘i-specific historic graphics.

Most notable was the customized 1959 Cadillac suspended from the ceiling above the bar. Owner Peter Morton claimed in an interview that this vehicle had belonged to an “eccentric rancher” on Hawai‘i Island who had used it to carry his surfboards, when in fact it was a stock Cadillac ambulance that had had wooden paneling added to its exterior to serve as a prop specifically for this restaurant. The Hard Rock Café chain was the most prominent of an abundance of theme restaurants that proliferated in the 1980s and ‘90s, and it was notably popular in Honolulu, particularly for tourists seeking merchandise like its T-shirts. For years there was a line at the door waiting for entry.

The Hard Rock Café gradually lost its novelty and chose to move to a Waikīkī site on Beachwalk in November 2010, closer to the tourists who constituted its main clientele. After this, its former building hosted various short-lived tenants until the Honolulu Coffee Company opened there in September 2015, yet again an example of a current trend in American eating and drinking establishments. Their “Aloha” painted mural from 2018, facing Kalākaua Avenue, remains in place although they have moved to King Street in Mō‘ili‘ili.

And this then brings us to 2026 and this location’s newest tenant: Chick-fil-A’s sitdown-only restaurant. There’s a precedent here, which no one today will know about, in that Kau Kau Korner was Hawai‘i’s first Kentucky Fried Chicken franchise location, starting in March 1958 before KFC had opened any of its own stand-alone buildings locally. But any chain fast-food restaurant, a type invented in the USA but now international in scope, is historically in keeping with the succession of what’s gone before at Honolulu’s Restaurant Corner.

1 Kau Kau 48 16x9

<title>Honolulu's restaurant corner</title>

With its high traffic and visibility, the corner of Kapi‘olani Boulevard and Kalākaua Avenue has attracted a series of legendary eateries over the decades. ASD history columnist DeSoto Brown revisits them all — Kau Kau Korner, Coco's, Hard Rock Café (much of the latter's building now serving as the home of Chick-fil-A's only sit-down restaurant).

Honolulu's restaurant corner

Stephanie Salmons Headshot

Stephanie Salmons

Business & Tourism

More than a dozen displays of architectural design have been recognized by AIA Honolulu — the Honolulu chapter of the American Institute of Architects — as the best in Hawai‘i at the 68th annual Design Awards.

Since 1958, the awards have honored excellence in architectural design. More than 220 people attended an awards gala Friday, July 24, at the Hawai‘i Theatre.

More than 1,000 votes were cast by the public over two weeks in June for the 20th annual People's Choice Award, according to an announcement from AIA Honolulu. Other awards were determined by a panel of jurors composed of AIA member-architects that included three local jurors as well as architects based out of Kansas City and Canada.

You can check out the list of winners, as well as pictures of the projects, below.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Award of Excellence"}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Firm: WRNS Studio"}]

Additional Design Firms: Engineering Partners Inc. (civil and structural engineer), Interface Engineering (mechanical, plumbing Engineer), Ronald N.S. Ho & Associates, Inc. (electrical, energy engineer), Jordan Consultants, LLC (specifications), Coffman Engineers, Inc. (code and fire protection), Sherwood Design Engineers (water recycling), Umemoto Cassandro Design Corp. (landscape architect), Salter, Inc. (AV, telecom and acoustic), Vitok Engineers (distilling), Hirata & Associates (geotechnical), Marshall Associates (food service)

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Contractor: KPRS"}]

Award of Excellence and The Hawai’i Energy Award for Excellence in Energy-efficient Design

Hugh and Mary McCormick Innovation & Discovery Center, 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"FIRM: G70"}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Client: Hawai‘i Baptist Academy"}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Contractor: Allied Builders Systems"}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Award of Excellence"}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Firm: Bowers + Kubota Consulting"}]

Additional Design Firms: NOEI (structural engineer of record for the building), Buehler Engineering (structural engineer of record for the PV array), CADE Engineers LLC (electrical engineer of record for the PV system), JPB Engineering (geotechnical engineer), S.S. Dannaway Assoc. (fire protection engineer), Dennis Poma (wastewater engineer)

Client: Aaron and Jessica Ackerman      

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Contractor: Bryan Allen Construction"}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Award of Merit"}]

Firms: Guerin Glass Architects PC and Geoffrey Lewis Architect, Inc.

Additional Design Firm: Wolf Landscape Architecture (landscape architect)

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Client: The Marianist Center of Hawai‘i"}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Contractor: Hanson Construction, LLC"}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Hale Mau‘u, Hawai’i Island"}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Firm: Walker Warner"}]

Additional Design Firms: Catherine Kwong Design (interior designer), David Y. Tamura Associates (landscape architect)   

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Contractor: Metzler Contracting Co."}]

Honorable Mention, People's Choice Award and Mayor's Choice Award

'Iolani School Arrillaga Student Center, 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"FIRM: WCIT Architecture       "}]

Additional Design Firm: Gensler (co-design architect)

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Client: 'Iolani School"}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Contractor: Albert C. Kobayashi, Inc."}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Honorable Mention"}]

President Theodore Roosevelt High School Gymnasium, 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Firm: Ferraro Choi and Associates Ltd."}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Client: State Department of Education"}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Contractor: Nan, Inc."}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Firm: Dean Sakamoto Architects LLC"}]

Additional Design Firms: Coffman Engineers Inc. (mechanical consultant); Nakamura, Oyama & Assoc Inc. (electrical consultant); Censeo AV + Acoustics (acoustic consultant); Albizia Project and Four Square Solutions (millwork)

Client: American Savings Bank          

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Contractor: Ralph S. Inouye Co. Ltd."}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Firm: Design Partners Inc."}]

Additional Design Firm: D & T Designs (interior and non-architectural)

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Client: Ikaika ‘Ohana"}]

Contractors: Maryl Group Construction Inc.; Goodfellows Bros.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Client: Ke‘eaumoku Development Owner LLC"}]

Māhualauhīnano - Keaukaha Resiliency Center for Learning, 

Client: Ka ʻUmeke Kāʻeo Public Charter School and Hui Hoʻoleimaluō

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Community Impact Award"}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Firm: Flansburgh Architects"}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Client: Lili‘uokalani Trust"}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Contractor: Kiewit Corporation"}]

And new this year — and only for 2026 — is the Centennial Awards, which honor architectural projects of "lasting significance that have stood the test of time," the announcement noted. The award recognizes "exceptional designs" that have been completed at least 25 years ago by a current or former member of the AIA Honolulu Chpater or its predecessors.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Those honorees include:"}]

Daily Smile: Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026

ASD Staff

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Daily Smile: Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026

Authors

ASD Staff

Reporter

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Daily Smile: Wednesday, July 29, 2026

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