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When a tiny orange kitten makes a bold mistake with a farm goose and instantly recruits a giant canine bodyguard...

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<title>Daily Smile: Monday, Sept. 28, 2026</title>

Daily Smile: Monday, Sept. 28, 2026

 When a tiny orange kitten makes a bold mistake with a farm goose and instantly recruits a giant canine bodyguard...

Katie Helland Headshot

Katie Helland

Arts & Entertainment

Aloha Spirit

Author Tori Eldridge, who grew up on Oʻahu but now lives in Oregon, penned a series of books about Ranger Makalani Pahukula and is in Honolulu this week to talk about novels and the art of writing.

The Kanaka Maoli novelist — who graduated as Tori Brenno from Punahou School 

in the same class as President Barack Obama 

— will discuss her novels “Kauaʻi Storm,” published in May of 2025, and “Hawaiʻi Rage,” released in May of 2026, on Sunday, Sept. 27, at Native Books in Chinatown.

The event, which is free, is sponsored by the 

, which focuses on supporting the work of artists living in Hawaiʻi, with an emphasis on uplifting the work of kānaka maoli and kamaʻāina. 

follow a protagonist who works at the Pu‘ukoholā Heiau National Historic Site

“I created this ranger who had been working in Oregon — which is where I now live — for 10 years,” Eldridge told Aloha State Daily. “There was that diaspora feeling of coming home, trying to fit in — in little Anahola, Kauaʻi, where she grew up on a Hawaiian Home Lands homestead — and dealing with that.”

“Hawaiʻi Rage” follows “Kauaʻi Storm” and has the same ranger investigating the suspicious death of her father at a Kohala ranch. 

At this weekend's event, she will also offer a 90-minute creative writing workshop following t

“I always open all of my novels with these action scenes that reveal character and culture and history, while really keeping everybody on the edge of their seat,” she said. “I said, ‘Well, how about I talk about how to do that?’ So that's what we're going to do. We're going to do an interactive workshop. Anybody can come. No experience necessary. You can choose to write. You can choose to share — or not. You can just listen and be in our space and soak it all in. We're welcoming everybody.”

What is one piece of advice she would give up-and-coming writers?

“Just write and get words on a page because that's really the most important thing is to build a habit of writing,” she said. “It's easy to edit when there are already words on a page.”

Before becoming an author, Eldridge performed on Broadway, and was part of the first national company of “Cats,” among other credits. As part of that, she was part of a group of dancers asked to take photos with the famous 

, who starred in a popular series of 9Lives pet food commercials.

“But here's the funny thing: that photo was taken an hour before we went on stage,” she said. “What I didn't realize was: I'm allergic to cats.”

The cat fur stuck to her makeup, and she had to wash her face, and reapply everything — right before going on stage for the show.

Recently, Eldridge was hired to narrate the audiobooks of her latest novels, which was complemented by her past experience acting and recording voiceovers.

“It was one of the greatest thrills of my professional career to be able to blend acting and writing, and be able to voice the multi-generational cast of characters,” she said. “And speak their dialog with phrases of ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi and Hawaiian pidgin the way I had intended them to sound.”

Eldridge also holds a fifth-degree black belt in To-Shin Do ninja martial arts.

“I changed everything to coincide with my 50th birthday,” she said. “I stopped everything to do with career martial arts and devoted my time, resources and energy to becoming a novelist. … And after a few published short stories, I came out with ʻThe Ninja Daughter’ and “The Ninja Blade’ and the rest of the ninja series. And here I am.”

Now, the novelist has published seven books. But it wasn’t until recently that she started writing about Hawaiʻi.

“When I became a tūtū, I realized that this was the time where I wanted to be writing about Hawaiʻi and family in a way that reflected the diaspora experience, but also addressed what kānaka maoli were challenged with in Hawaiʻi today,” she said, acknowledging that o

ther authors have written thrillers set in paradise.

"But as a Native Hawaiian, for me to write a book set here, I felt it had to ring true with our people — to resonate," Eldridge added. "For that, I needed writing maturity. That's why I waited until my sixth and seventh novels to write about Hawaiʻi."

She said she leaned on friends to help with some of the research. Rev. Mark Haworth of Hālau Wa’a Episcopal helped her write a mountain top memorial at the fictional Hiapo

ranch that mixed religion with Hawaiʻi culture and tradition.

Her friend Kim Greeley — and Greeley’s calabash uncle, 

, who is an inductee to the Paniolo Hall of Fame and was a founder of New Town and Country Stables — helped her capture ranch life. In fact, she sat for hours listening to them talk about riding horses and ranching.

“It was very important to me that everything that this paniolo did was feasible and logical and authentic,” she said. “And they helped me tremendously with that.”

Sign up for the upcoming event, which includes a 90-minute writing workshop, on Sunday, Sept. 27, 

Tori Eldridge

<title>Kanaka Maoli author talks story at Native Books</title>

Tori Eldridge is a Broadway dancer turned fifth-degree black belt who decided to become a novelist when she turned 50 years old. This week, she explores her latest books, which are set in Hawaiʻi, and hosts a 90-minute writing workshop as part of a stop at Native Books in Chinatown on Sunday, Sept. 27.

Kanaka Maoli author talks story at Native Books

Kelli Shiroma Braiotta Headshot

Kelli Shiroma Braiotta

Food & Dining

[{"type":"text","text":"This new izakaya is opening in Honolulu."}]

 is located on the second floor above Totoya on Piʻikoi Street (there’s currently no restaurant sign). The izakaya is opening today, Wednesday, Sept. 23. It will be open from 5:30 p.m. to midnight (last call is 11 p.m.) every day except Mondays.

The izakaya’s name is inspired by the Japanese kanji for “enjoy.”  The restaurant can seat about 22 people; customers can call to make reservations.

Izakaya Lala’s specialty dishes include maki kushi, or Japanese charcoal grilled pork-wrapped skewers, and oden. Maki kushi is especially popular in Fukuoka, Japan, according to server leader Aya Furuta.

“There’s lots of vegetables (to choose from), like tomato, lettuce, enoki mushrooms and eggplant,” she says. “We wrap it with pork.”

Skewers range from enoki mushroom and cheddar cheese ($5.90) and buttered potato ($4.50) to zucchini ($3.90), pork belly ($3.50), brie cheese ($4.90) and green onion ($4.50).

Oden is a comforting Japanese dish featuring a light bonito and kombu broth.

 The various ingredients soak up the warm broth.

Choose from fluffy homemade hanpen fish cake ($4.90), homemade mochi-stuffed tofu pouch ($3.90), daikon with shredded kombu ($3.90), fried vegetable fish cake ($4.20) and more.

“Our homemade hanpen fish cake is fluffy,” Furuta says. “We also have sashimi and small appetizers, designed to pair with sake.”

The izakaya features other small plates to share, including fluffy dashi omelet with ikura ($16.90), yellowtail with sesame sauce ($15.90), chicken karaage ($7.90), nori butter and cheese fries ($7.80) and sizzling mapo tofu ($13.50).

Izakaya Lala also features an extensive selection of sake. The restaurant features sake info cards at each table to help diners choose the sake that complements their preferences. The izakaya offers a variety of rich and savory, fruity and fragrant, and crisp and dry sakes to accommodate different palates.

“There are lots of different ways to drink sake,” Furuta says, noting that customers can drink sake chilled, at room temperature, gently warm or hot. The restaurant also features a map of Japan on its walls, so customers can see where the different sakes are from.    

Customer parking is available in the public lot; first hour of parking is free with restaurant validation.

Open from 5:30 p.m. to midnight (last call 11 p.m.) Tuesdays to Sundays; closed Mondays

Izakaya Lala server 092126

<title>Izakaya Lala is opening in Honolulu</title>

Located above Totoya on Piʻikoi Street, the new eatery features Fukuoka-style maki kushi — or grilled pork-wrapped skewers — oden, and an extensive sake selection. The restaurant’s name is inspired by the Japanese kanji for “enjoy.”

Izakaya Lala is opening in Honolulu

De Soto 2025

DeSoto Brown

Hawai‘i History

Columnists

Aloha Tower has reached the venerable age of 100 years. It no longer is a focal point of the city of Honolulu, but it was once. And in fact that was what it was intentionally built to be.

As early as 1915 it was recognized that Honolulu Harbor was in need of improvements. The mix of miscellaneous docks, some covered by warehouses while others were completely open, was inefficient and often unsightly. Many business people also understood the desirability of adding a distinctive, prominent structure to the harbor to catch the attention of the increasing numbers of leisure visitors to Hawai‘i. Such a building would serve as a recognizable landmark that could be publicized in both print and in photographs. This idea would come true as Aloha Tower.

By the early 1920s, construction began on the complex of Piers 8, 9, and 10 and by the time Aloha Tower's base was being prepared in 1925, a debate occurred over the planned height of the tower. Two reasons were put forth to increase it; first, because the nearby Hawaiian Electric power plant erected a second smokestack of 214 feet which it was feared would overshadow the tower, and second, the clock faces on the tower were too low to be seen from a distance. For a time an increase of 36 feet, or three stories, was actively pushed. In the end, however, only 12 feet was authorized, making the finished Aloha Tower 185 feet and 6 inches tall; with its spire included it surpassed 200 feet. It was the highest building in the Hawaiian Islands.

At the end of May 1926, Piers 8, 9, and 10, along with Aloha Tower, were declared complete. For a cost of $165,000, Honolulu now could boast of a building of 12 stories served by an electric elevator and containing a 7-ton time-keeping mechanism on the 10th floor that ran four separate clock faces, one on each side of the tower. On the 11th floor, above the clocks, were four separate viewing balconies for the public to marvel at the scenes of downtown Honolulu, the busy harbor and the natural beauties of the sky, the sea, and the Ko‘olau Mountains. Offices on the remaining floors were available on the rental market for commercial tenants. A flashing light at the top made the tower visible to ships far offshore at night, and a built-in siren was sounded from it at 7 a.m., one minute before 12 noon, and 4 p.m. to signal important times in the usual workday. (Later, for decades, the siren was switched to a single 8 p.m. sounding to designate a curfew for everyone under the age of 16.)

This grand new addition to Honolulu Harbor was made more attractive by the addition of Irwin Park on its mauka side, which was made possible by the demolition of other now-outmoded buildings nearby.

The parcel of 24,308 square feet of land for this green space was donated on November 7, 1930 by Helene Irwin Fagan in memory of her father, William G. Irwin, and initially was covered just by grass, shrubs and trees. But, not surprisingly, the congestion of motor vehicles that occurred every time a large passenger ship arrived or departed required the addition of space for parking, and in June 1939 Fagan gave permission for this to be placed in the park. It's still there today.

"Boat Days" were important, when big ocean liners arrived at, or departed from, Honolulu Harbor. Not only would cargo be unloaded and loaded, more importantly for the growing tourist industry, passengers would be coming or going. Usually scores of visitors would be getting off to begin vacations that usually lasted at least a few weeks, since the cost of a Hawai‘i trip was high enough that most travelers at this time were wealthy. Others on around-the-world trips would be hurried into luxury taxis or tour vehicles for sightseeing on O‘ahu along with a stop for lunch, before their vessel would depart in the late afternoon that same day. All this led to hustle & bustle at the docks, with a large and colorful part of the activity being the lei sellers who lined the sidewalks in hopes of selling all the lei that they held up. The competition could sometimes be aggressive since there was only a short period to earn income before the crowds of customers dispersed.

Originally, back in 1926, Aloha Tower and its piers had been made noticeable by a paint job of 1,900 gallons of "Egg-Shell Mill White" paint. Making the structure easy to see from offshore was the entire point of its construction, so that people on ships could spot it as they approached. But with the sudden and shocking arrival of World War II on December 7, 1941, abruptly the opposite tactic was necessary.

Japanese submarines actually were patrolling around and among the Hawaiian Islands in the first months of the war, and should one of these surface during the night, the view through a periscope of the light-colored dock buildings and the tower itself (even with a blackout of electric lighting) could lead to catastrophe if torpedoes were launched towards them. To make these (and many other important buildings) less easy to see by the enemy, camouflage paint jobs were quickly applied. The wavy outlines of brown, green and grey paint would, it was hoped, disguise sharp edges and reduce the contrast of buildings against the mountain slopes behind them.

This distinctive wartime paint job was officially made obsolete by the surrender of Japan in August 1945 which ended the war, but getting things back to normal didn't happen overnight. In fact it wasn't till April 29, 1947 that sandblasting off the camouflage colors and re-applying a light paint surface began.

The tower's makai side, the first to be finished, was completed on May 8th but work was still going on in September of that year. The entire renovation back to prewar conditions wasn't completed until the observation decks on the 11th floor were finally reopened to the public on January 1, 1948.

The success of Aloha Tower as an identifiable symbol of Hawai‘i can be seen by how often it was shown in advertising and other commercial illustrations, particularly in the 1930s. It was not just what tourists saw on their ocean arrivals and departures; more importantly, as a tall modern structure it implied that the Hawaiian Islands were up-to-date and economically advanced.

Next week, watch for the continued story of Aloha Tower and its two major redevelopment projects that both seemed like good ideas at the time, but which unfortunately didn't succeed.

1 Gals 1953 16x9

<title>Aloha Tower at 100 years old: Part 1</title>

A hundred years ago, Aloha Tower was built as an intentional landmark for the bustling harbor where all visitors to O‘ahu arrived, and that plan worked, as it quickly became synonymous with Hawai‘i itself. In part one of our look back at the tower's history, ASD history columnist DeSoto Brown takes us from the creation of the tower to just after WWII.

Daily Smile: Monday, Sept. 28, 2026

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Daily Smile: Monday, Sept. 28, 2026

Authors

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