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ASD Staff

Hawai'i Skies

Today's Hawai‘i Skies was captured by Julia Getty on the Big Island. "

Took these driving from the car...hope you enjoy....there is nothing like a Big Island sky, so diverse, given the landscape and so many kinds of clouds."

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To submit your Hawai'i Skies photo, visit us 

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<title>Hawaiʻi Skies: So many kinds of clouds</title>

Today's Hawai‘i Skies was captured by Julia Getty on the Big Island.

Hawaiʻi Skies: So many kinds of clouds

Today&#039;s Hawai‘i Skies was captured by Julia Getty on the Big Island. &quot;Took these driving from the car...hope you enjoy....there is nothing like a Big Island sky, so diverse, given the landscape and so many kinds of clouds.&quot;  To submit your Hawai&#039;i Skies photo, visit us online or email: general@alohastatedaily.com

Ray Tsuchiyama

Business & Tourism

Columnists

, the trade association for the U.S. sports events and tourism industry, released its

, which revealed that sports tourism has evolved into “a $274.5 billion total economic impact industry, generating $111.2 billion in direct spending, supporting 1.6 million jobs, and producing $20.5 billion in state and local tax revenue nationwide.” In total, 339 million sports travelers generated 124.3 million hotel room nights.

The Sports ETA report declared: “Sports tourism has firmly established itself as one of the most powerful economic engines in the United States.”  States now see it as “core economic development,” on the same scale as film incentives or tech-sector recruitment and compete for a piece of that revenue.

Hawai‘i is not one of the states winning a slice. Not because our sports calendar is weak but because no one in state government is running sports tourism as a strategy. We are, in effect, sitting out a race other states — Texas, Florida, California, Pennsylvania, Ohio, New York, Georgia, Illinois, and North Carolina — are winning.

Pennsylvania is the clearest example. The Commonwealth built

ts, a single statewide alliance representing destinations across all 67 counties, backed by tens of millions of dollars in dedicated, multi-year state marketing funds and a grant program that treats individual events as parts of a coordinated portfolio rather than one-off requests — the

 with 433 players representing 13 countries in Pittsburgh — part of “niche” sports strategy that draws spectators globally. The result shows up in the numbers: Pennsylvania now ranks in the top five nationally in both spectator and participatory sports tourism, year after year — not because of one lucky tournament, but because the state built the machinery to keep winning, from the Disc Golf Championship to the

Florida runs the same play through a different structure. The

 operates with one job: Coordinate event recruitment, athlete development, and destination marketing. A

 for the state found Florida's sports industry generated $146.5 billion in economic activity over two recent fiscal years and supported 978,000 jobs — and Florida has held the No. 2 national ranking in economic impact from sports tourism consistently. That consistency is the tell. A single major event can happen anywhere. A state that keeps landing them, year after year, has built something structural. For example, just one Florida city –

Scottish Highland Games & Celtic Festival

 – three entirely different spectator and sponsor markets, all captured by one city's coordinated calendar.

Strip away the differences between the two states and the model underneath is the same, and it is not complicated: One named body with real statewide authority to speak for the sector; a dedicated budget tied to that body instead of scattered across county tourism offices competing with each other; a recurring public report that tracks the same numbers year over year, so legislators and taxpayers can see whether it's working; and a working pipeline connecting universities, venues, and destination marketing so the three reinforce each other instead of operating in silos.

We have the raw material to do this better than almost anyone. The Sony Championship Hawai‘i. LPGA Lotte. World Surf League events across three islands. The Honolulu Marathon, drawing 40,000 runners and international media focus. The Ironman World Championship. The Maui Invitational. A statewide outrigger canoe racing circuit no other state can replicate. This is not a thin calendar padded out for tourism brochures — it is a genuinely deep, diversified portfolio that most states would envy.

And yet no single body owns it. No dedicated budget forces anyone to prioritize which events are worth doubling down on and which are quietly losing money once public safety and traffic costs are counted. No annual public report tells the Legislature, Bishop Street CEOs, or UH's leadership whether the state's sports assets are generating a return or just generating expenses. Individual events succeed, sometimes spectacularly. But nothing compounds because nothing is coordinated.

I made a version of this argument before. This July, I wrote that

 — an estimated $1.9 billion a year in economic activity — has gone two decades without a statewide strategy or a single body responsible for stewarding it, despite two separate studies, 15 years apart, reaching the identical conclusion. Hawai'i Public Radio invited me on

 to press the point further: golf's problem was never really about golf. It is a leadership and coordination problem. The same gap runs through Hawai'i's entire sports tourism portfolio, not just one sport.

Every year without a coordinating strategy is a year Pennsylvania and Florida pull further ahead, and a year Hawai‘i's own events generate less than they should while competing against each other for the same limited attention and funding. This is not a call for more events. Hawai'i does not have an events problem. It has a leadership problem — the same one golf has had for 20 years, now playing out at a much larger scale across an entire sector.

The Legislature, Bishop Street, and UH all have a stake in this, because a coordinated strategy touches state revenue, private capital, and campus athletics alike. The states already running the modern playbook did not get there by accident. They built the structure first, then the outcomes followed. Hawai'i has the assets. What it does not yet have is the entity to run them like a 

 instead of a scattered list of bookings — and knowing what that entity would actually need to succeed here is worth its own conversation.

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

Ray Tsuchiyama’s series explores one central question: How does Hawai‘i use the wealth and land it already has to create its next economic future? He can be reached at 

Triathlon i Stock 518978347 16x9

<title>What Pennsylvania and Florida know about sports tourism that Hawai‘i doesn't</title>

Hawai‘i has plenty of sporting events that are, individually, successful and well known: Paddling, surfing, golf, triathlons and more. Here's how to take that collection to the next level and really elevate the Islands' sports stature.

What Pennsylvania and Florida know about sports tourism that Hawai‘i doesn't

Christian Shimabuku Headshot

Christian Shimabuku

Sports

When Timmy Chang signed his initial contract to coach the University of Hawai‘i football team in January 2022, the harsh reality he faced was that there wasn't much of a team left. 

A mass exodus of players following the 2021 season under former head coach Todd Graham left the Rainbow Warriors depleted. Graham resigned a week after a Senate hearing was targeted towards him, but the damage to the program had already been done. 

By the time Chang and his staff patched a roster together, his initial team was set to have 53 newcomers on it. Though Chang faced an uphill battle to rebuild his alma mater, it was his first commit that helped him realize brighter days could be ahead. 

Wynden Ho‘ohuli was a four-star linebacker out of Mililani High School. Although his senior season of high school football was wiped out due to COVID-19, he was already an established prospect without it. Dozens of power conference schools extended scholarship offers to Ho‘ohuli, and he ended up choosing the University of Nebraska. By all accounts, Ho‘ohuli did well during his redshirt season in Lincoln, and Nebraska coaches were looking to make him a part of the team's future. As he weighed his options, Ho‘ohuli decided to enter the NCAA transfer portal. 

[{"type":"text","text":"Then Uncle Timmy came calling. "}]

Ho‘ohuli's father, Watson Ho‘ohuli, was a University of Hawai‘i linebacker from 2000 to 2005, and teammates with Timmy Chang for five years. Baby Wynden would be carried in the Aloha Stadium stands on Saturdays in the fall. As a new era of UH football dawned, Wynden Ho‘ohuli knew it was only right he'd be a part of it. 

"I remember that time like it was just yesterday," Wynden Ho‘ohuli told Aloha State Daily. "When Timmy came in, I was the first (recruit) that came in, and I've rocked rocked him ever since. We've been close to each other outside of football, and I already knew it was a perfect fit for me to stay home and play for Timmy because I know he's a ride or die kind of person. 

"He's gonna ride for his team. He's gonna do everything he can for the team, and I respect that so much from a coach, especially a head coach."

Grand roster reconstruction of 2022 aside, Chang knew that landing a local prospect of Ho‘ohuli's caliber in any recruiting cycle would be a big deal. 

"Wynden, first off, outside of football, he's a nephew, right? Watson was my teammate, and he comes from a great family. I think the world of Wynden and how he carries himself," Chang said. "The value he brings and experience, and what he does for our football team, he does a lot. Love that we have him here."

During his time in Mānoa, Ho‘ohuli has played in 35 games with 48 tackles, including seven for loss and three sacks. Some of that production came when he was moved the defensive line. 

In his debut season in 2022, he was limited to four games due to injury, but the medical redshirt ultimately allowed him to come back for a sixth year of college ball. 

In 2025, he moved back to his natural position of linebacker, shedding the extra weight that was needed when he was a rush end. And in 2026, Ho‘ohuli has already solidified himself as the team's starting middle linebacker in camp, taking all the first team reps alongside outside linebacker Jamih Otis.

"Wynden was a special, special player out of high school," recalled UH associate head coach and linebackers coach Chris Brown. "I remember watching him when I was up at Bishop Gorman. I knew he wanted to come back home (to UH). His family's here. The kid is local boy through and through. I know he loves playing for the state. He's going to play a lot this year. We put him at defensive end for all those years because we had to find a spot for him because he's such a good player. But his best position is playing inside the box, playing linebacker. So, now he's right at home."

Though he was too young to remember watching his father at Aloha Stadium, Wynden Ho‘ohuli can definitely relate to him. Wynden's two sons, ages 1 and 3, will be in the stands this fall. 

"It means the world. It's like a full circle moment," Wynden Ho‘ohuli said. "I was a little kid running around here when my dad was playing. I got my own little kids too. I'm always super grateful. I'm grateful for this opportunity to be here, represent the team, represent the home state, and just be able to represent my family as well. 

"My pops paved the way for me, and I always just owe it to him to come out here every day and be the man that I was supposed to be and destined to be. I gotta be a leader, gotta be a provider."

Wynden Hoohuli 081926

<title>With Hawai‘i football in his blood, Wynden Ho‘ohuli looks to lead the 'Bows in 2026</title>

The local high school star spent his first collegiate season at Nebraska. As a transfer, he became the first player to commit to Timmy Chang in 2022.

With Hawai‘i football in his blood, Wynden Ho‘ohuli looks to lead the 'Bows in 2026

Kelli Shiroma Braiotta Headshot

Kelli Shiroma Braiotta

Food & Dining

 just opened today in Waimalu Shopping Center. This is the business’s third and newest location. It features a full-service, sit-down dine-in experience, along with a takeout window. 

The biz is celebrating its grand opening tomorrow, Aug. 15, with a lion dance at 11:30 a.m.

Customers can expect a variety of manapua, along with dim sum, peking duck and plate lunches; this location features an expanded menu.

The business’s Hong Kong-style dim sum selection was crafted in partnership with its sister restaurant, Mei Sum Dim Sum. The dim sum menu comprises spring rolls ($4.95), potstickers ($6.35), shrimp pork hash ($6.35), half moon dumplings ($6.35), shrimp dumplings ($6.35) and more.

[{"type":"text","text":"The business’s classic char siu manapua is a bestseller."}]

Besides manapua and dim sum, customers can choose from a variety of local-style plate lunches. Entrees include ginger fried chicken, kalbi ribs, garlic butter shrimp, hamburger steak and more. Seafood and steak combo plates are also available. 

Island Manapua is re-branding its other two locations in Mānoa and Waipahu as Aloha Manapua.

“Over the years, we’ve grown from being a neighborhood manapua counter into a gathering place for families, friends and our community,” states Christy Tong, owner of Aloha Manapua. “Rebranding as Aloha Manapua celebrates our local roots, our commitment to serving our community, and the relationships we’ve built with our customers. While our name is changing, our dedication to the food and service our customers know and love remains the same.”

The ‘Aiea store will be open daily from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. For the rest of August, customers can take advantage of a 10% discount.

Aloha Manapua shrimp dim sum 081426

<title>Aloha Manapua is open in Waimalu Shopping Center</title>

This is the business’s third and newest location; it’s celebrating its grand opening Aug. 15. Customers can enjoy its signature manapua, along with dim sum and plate lunches. The business is featuring a 10% discount for the rest of the month.

Aloha Manapua is open in Waimalu Shopping Center

De Soto 2025

DeSoto Brown

Hawai‘i History

There was a time when neon signs were all over the place in Honolulu, and indeed pretty much all over the world. Today they are rare to nearly nonexistent, and they mostly evoke memories of the middle decades of the 20th century. What is neon? What made it popular, and why did it go away?

First, scientifically, neon is a rare gas which is naturally present in a small amount in earth’s atmosphere; it was first identified as an element in 1898. A French inventor, Georges Claude, discovered that if pure neon gas enclosed in an airtight glass enclosure was electrified, it would give off a bright orange-red glow. In 1912 Claude’s company, using this technology, began manufacturing the first neon advertising signs. (Although known just as “neon signs” they did, in fact, use other gases as well to produce different colors.) After coming into use in France, the first such electric signs were displayed in the USA in the early 1920s (said to specifically have been by a Los Angeles car dealership in 1923), and Americans immediately took to these amazing and striking new lights that soon would dramatically alter downtown streets by night.

Initially, the Claude Neon company registered patents in the United States for specific processes that they used in their manufacturing process. From this fact they implied that they alone were the only authorized makers of neon signs and that all competitors were potentially in legal violation of their patents. In Honolulu, as neon was first promoted to customers in 1928-1929, two competing sign companies (with confusingly similar names) that represented two manufacturers mildly battled about this in their ads. The Electric Shop, licensed by Claude Neon through a California company, stated the former “controls the neon sign patents in America” and that customers must “Beware of Imitations.” Meanwhile the Electric Supply Company, agent for QRS Neon, said it would protect customers from claims of patent infringement if any such arose.

The Electric Shop was the first to offer neon signs in Hawaii, but under cumbersome restrictions. Such signs were not sold to customers but only could be leased for three years, requiring monthly payments, with the option to extend the lease at half price after that. Meanwhile the Electric Supply Co. boasted that it sold signs outright, which probably was more attractive to buyers. The Electric Shop started things off in a big way in February 1928 by installing 33 neon signs on both Standard Oil gas stations (13 of them) and Shell stations (20 out of the 88 then on O‘ahu). The latter were said to “sparkle with beautiful Neon signs by night” in a newspaper ad on May 1, 1928. By July of the following year, some of the Honolulu businesses with neon included the Benson Smith Drug Store, Manufacturer’s Shoes, Hub Clothing, Henry May & Co. groceries, and two of the Consolidated Amusements movie theaters. By the 1930s, the latter would be adding significant amounts of neon to their theaters’ marquees and facades.

Into the 1960s, neon would be a growth industry locally. For sign companies, neon could be financially lucrative since the fragile glass tubes that created the colorful glows required constant care and maintenance. Not only could these be broken, either by mistake or intentionally by vandals, they also tended to gradually flicker or go out completely through damaged electrical connections. Signs that blinked in successive patterns would eventually go out of whack as well. And since neon was almost always mounted high up on poles or the fronts of buildings, intentionally out of reach of the public, servicing it required climbing ladders or using other mechanical means of getting to it.

All this trouble meant that customers increasingly began to choose cheaper and less problematic signs made from plastic panels illuminated from behind by fluorescent light bulbs. And as these replaced neon, the exacting technique of bending the thin glass tubes into the required shapes of letters or other designs by holding them over a very hot flame like a bunsen burner was gradually lost by the experts who once had done this work.

During the 1930s neon was mostly perceived as being a colorful and lively part of urban areas, but by the late 1940s its reputation began to slip. In detective novels and Hollywood’s famous “film noir” crime dramas, neon instead began to symbolize the sleazy parts of cities where dangerous things happened and bad guys ran wild. In Hawaii specifically, neon began to be criticized in the 1950s. Don Beachcomber, restauranteur and eventual developer of the International Market Place, advocated that all neon be banished from Waikīkī since Kalākaua Avenue was “already taking on the aspects of any mainland street at night.” A visiting ad agency executive from Minnesota warned “... for heaven’s sake, don’t make [Hawai‘i] a neon paradise and over-commercialize it." A visitor from Connecticut wrote in a newspaper letter in 1956: “Everywhere neon signs! What has happened to the people of Hawai‘i that such desecration is permitted?” But at the same time a spokesman for a group of neon dealers countered that such signs “tend to aid crime prevention” (??) and that “many tourists have inquired why Honolulu doesn’t have huge sign displays like New York’s Times Square or Florida’s Miami Beach.” (Dubious).

In the end, it wasn’t a bad reputation that brought neon’s reign to an end; it was just cost, fragility and changing technology. A revival of interest and appreciation for neon began in the 1970s but this of itself was not enough to keep its use at the level of decades past. The incredibly specialized training necessary to bend the glass tubing into complex shapes stopped and those capable of doing it died off, and eventually LEDs replaced it with equally bright colors and even more changing patterns. While neon will, it’s hoped, always survive in some fashion, never again will Hawaiian skies be as widely lit by its glow as in the 20th century.

1 Neon montage ca 55 16x9

<title>Neon, its birth and death in Hawai‘i</title>

Bright, colorful neon signs debuted in the Islands nearly a century ago, with literal Hollywood glamor — the Waikīkī, Kūhiō and other movie palaces used them. Restaurants and small businesses of all kinds went for neon, too. Over time, they became associated with dive bars and the bad side of town. ASD history writer DeSoto Brown revisits and the highs and lows of this distinctly 20th-century form of advertising.

Hawaiʻi Skies: So many kinds of clouds

ASD Staff

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Hawaiʻi Skies: So many kinds of clouds

Authors

ASD Staff

Reporter

More in Hawai'i Skies

Hawaiʻi Skies: A perfect emergence

Hawaiʻi Skies: Throwback Thursday

Hawaiʻi Skies: Azure sky

Hawaiʻi Skies: Moon rising

Most read