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Daily Smile

[{"type":"text","text":"Everyone at Animal Kingdom is ready for Halloween!"}]

Smile 26 10 28

<title>Daily Smile: Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026</title>

Everyone at Animal Kingdom is ready for Halloween!

Daily Smile: Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026

 Everyone at Animal Kingdom is ready for Halloween!

Stephanie Salmons Headshot

Stephanie Salmons

Business & Tourism

Several new retailers and restaurants have recently opened at Ala Moana Center in Honolulu and more are set to open soon, the center announced Monday. Here’s what you should know.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"What's new:"}]

, which will showcase contemporary works by local and international artists, can be found in an 8,000-square-foot space on Street Level 1 of the ‘Ewa Wing.

, an indoor family entertainment venue and indoor playground spanning more than 42,000 square feet, has opened on Mall Level 2 of the Mauka Wing. The space will have multilevel play structures, slides, an indoor zipline, trampolines and other play areas, along with amenities like supervised drop-off services, private party rooms, luggage storage and the Kids City Café.

, a modern beauty and wellness boutique offering a curated selection of facial and body spa treatments, personalized skin consultations, lash services, permanent makeup, Korean beauty products and more, can be found on Level 3 of the ‘Ewa Wing.

, known for its designer art toys, blind boxes and collectible figures, has opened its first Hawai‘i location on Level 3 of the ‘Ewa Wing.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Coming soon:"}]

, an Australian luxury fashion brand and global print house known for its vibrant, limited-edition prints and designs inspired by destinations around the world, is set to open its first Hawai‘i location Nov. 12 on Mall Level 2 of the ‘Ewa Wing.

To celebrate its Hawai‘i debut, CAMILLA will introduce "The Age of Aloha," a limited-edition print featured on a selection of apparel — including a kaftan, dress and graphic T-shirt — you'll only be able to grab at the Ala Moana Center boutique and select Hawai‘i retail partners.

 is expected to bring a Japanese-inspired arcade experience to Mall Level 2 of the Mauka Wing in December.

, a luxury wellness and recovery studio, is expected to open this month, while 

, offering a modern take on traditional tea culture, is expected to open in November.

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

, a luxury Italian jewelry brand, has relocated to a newly designed 3,477-square-foot boutique on Mall Level 2 of the ‘Ewa Wing.

, a retailer offering tropical, coastal and Hawai‘i-inspired home decor, gifts and accessories, has moved to a new space on Level 3 of the ‘Ewa Wing.

Ala Moana Center opened in 1959 and is the world's largest open-air shopping center with more than 2.4 million square feet of retail space. It offers more than 350 stores and restaurants, including more than 100 dining options. It is owned and operated by GGP, a retail real estate company headquartered in Chicago.

Ala Moana Center 052526

<title>Here's what's new — and coming — to Ala Moana Center</title>

CAMILLA, an Australian luxury fashion brand and print house, is among the new tenants coming to Ala Moana Center. See what other shops have recently opened, or will soon open, at the shopping center.

Here's what's new — and coming — to Ala Moana Center

De Soto 2025

DeSoto Brown

Hawai‘i History

Columnists

What happened to Waikīkī? Specifically, what happened to Waikīkī during its greatest period of change that began in the 1950s? Let’s look at these “then & now” comparisons of Waikīkī views to see very clearly how different things look today.

Why did Waikīkī change so much in the last 70 years? The growth of tourism, of course, was responsible. Speaking economically, it’s extremely fortunate that tourism did increase so dramatically during this period as it served to fill in the gap created as large-scale agriculture (sugar and pineapple) either contracted dramatically, or died altogether. These had been the foundation of the economy of the Hawaiian Islands but were outcompeted by other tropical countries, where workers were paid considerably less and thus their agricultural products were cheaper as well. This has been, and continues to be, the reason for the loss of domestic production in the United States and indeed worldwide.

When did Waikīkī's major changes begin? This is easy to pinpoint: it was the year 1955. That was when four new 10-story buildings were completed here; the Waikīkī Biltmore Hotel, the Princess Ka‘iulani Hotel, the Reef Hotel, and the Rosalei apartments. As insignificant as this would seem today, it marked a shift away from downtown as the focus of new construction, as well as starting Honolulu on its vertical growth.

We can also single out the shift in transportation for Waikīkī's increase in density, which was the replacement of cruise ships by airplanes for increasing numbers of tourists after World War II. While air travel grew significantly during the 1950s it was really the introduction of jets that kicked off the explosion. The first jets arrived in Hawai‘i in 1959, cutting hours from the trip from the west coast, carrying far more passengers on each flight compared to propeller planes and — most significantly — reducing air fares. Waikīkī couldn’t help but grow to accommodate all these new people. A major milestone was unexpectedly realized in late 1967 when the one-millionth tourist arrived for that year, ahead of what economists had predicted. There would be no looking back.

A change you might notice in these various pairs of Waikīkī views is the great increase in growing green vegetation today. This has been true in many parts of Honolulu and because trees increase so slowly in size, we don’t notice how large they’ve become until we see an older photo to be able to spot the difference. Kalākaua Avenue has benefitted from more than one improvement project since the 1960s, to where today’s sidewalks are paved with hand-set stones, many with inscriptions in Hawaiian. Shady shower trees along with grass and various shrubs greatly enhance the district’s appearance, and maintenance workers are on the job each day to sweep and clean. Waikīkī creates the biggest part of the income from tourism and its importance in keeping this income steady was recognized years ago — so this necessary work goes on.

By the late 1970s much of Waikīkī looked as it does today, because while more towers have certainly been constructed since then, much of what we know now was in place. Although Waikīkī has been a crowded and densely urbanized district for decades, and has been criticized for that, it must be said that a great many visitors enjoy this vitality and the over-abundance of things to see and do. And even while Waikīkī is undeniably a city of itself, it is still located on the magnificently blue Pacific Ocean, with the Ko‘olau Mountains as one backdrop and Diamond Head as another, with the trade winds often blowing through it. And love it or hate it, we owe our economy to it, and had therefore better make sure it continues to function as smoothly as possible.

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<title>What happened to Waikīkī?</title>

Back in the Statehood era, you could see Punchbowl from Kalākaua Avenue and Diamond Head from Kūhiō Avenue. ASD history columnist DeSoto Brown pairs then-and-now photos to show the dramatic changes from a low-rise Waikīkī to today's bustling mini-metropolis.

What happened to Waikīkī?

Square Mike Brestovansky Headshot RGZ3736 Large

Michael Brestovansky

Government & Politics

Mauna Kea is the only possible site for the controversial Thirty Meter Telescope, after an alternate site in the Canary Islands has reportedly been nixed.

, sources within Spain’s Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities confirmed that the TMT International Observatory has rejected a bid by the Spanish government to have the long-planned telescope built on the island of La Palma in the Canary Islands.

The news comes little more than a month after TMT itself 

 that Spain had proposed a “financial framework” to build the observatory on La Palma, a proposal involving multiple Spanish government agencies and the European Investment Bank. That proposed framework 

 up to €1 billion (about $1.1 billion) for the project. 

, the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities announced the rejection on Friday, but the reasons for that rejection were not publicly disclosed.

While Mauna Kea has always been the primary site planned for TMT, La Palma had been proposed as a potential alternative. The island hosts several telescopes at its Roque de los Muchachos Observatory, as its height and equatorial position makes it well-suited for astronomy in the same way that Mauna Kea is.

 of TMT by the National Science Foundation noted that the La Palma contingency was not developed to the same level of detail as the Mauna Kea plan. 

With La Palma seemingly out of the picture, TMT’s only remaining potential site is, once again, Mauna Kea. 

But the future of the project remains murky. In 2024, the NSF named both TMT and the Giant Magellan Telescope in Chile as potential linchpins of a “U.S. Extremely Large Telescope” project, but also that only one could feasibly be funded, putting the two telescopes in competition with each other. 

 a budget request that mentioned that it was no longer considering TMT for the Extremely Large Telescope project, wiping about $1.6 billion in federal funding off the table for TMT.

 earlier this year stipulating that NSF continue to consider both TMT and the Giant Magellan Telescope through its final review process, although no funding for either project was guaranteed in that bill. 

Meanwhile, Gov. Josh Green and the state’s Congressional delegation have 

 TMT to consider building the observatory in the footprint of a previously existing telescope on Mauna Kea, rather than on untouched summit land. TMT project manager Fengchuan Liu told the Mauna Kea Stewardship and Oversight Authority in April that this could be feasible.

Kerry Slater, vice president of communications for TMT International Observatory, confirmed to Aloha State Daily that the observatory declined Spain's financing terms. Slater added that the observatory "remains committed to respectful engagement with Native Hawaiian and Hawai‘i communities."

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<title>TMT reportedly rejects Spanish bid to build on Canary Islands</title>

A €1 billion proposal to build the Thirty Meter Telescope in La Palma has reportedly fallen through.

TMT reportedly rejects Spanish bid to build on Canary Islands

Kelsey Kukaua Medeiros Headshot

Kelsey Kukaua Medeiros

Aloha Spirit

Arts & Entertainment

a popular adventure, travel and culinary docuseries hosted by 

 and produced by outdoor lifestyle brand 

ʻi through the lens of local chefs, farmers, fishmongers and community members.

The series 18th episode called “Big Waves, Wild Foraging and the Fight to Preserve Hawaiian Culture” features familiar names like Oʻahu-based chefs 

, North Shore surfers Nathan Florence and 

, and more, filmed in the Islands earlier this year. Stream it 

, served as the glue bringing people together for the project, despite having “no idea about the scope of the show.”

“I had stepped away from TV for a bit, but Amanda, my wife, and I have this mantra to at least take the call,” Noguchi told Aloha State Daily. “I have photographer 

 he and I hit it off on our initial Zoom call. They paid the farmers and donated funds, and it was just like, ʻWhoa, right on! That’s cool.”

Noguchi noted that the “DIRT” crew did their homework on Hawaiʻi and were respectful to the places (including 

ʻi) and people they visited. He also got to be involved in the storytelling. “What I appreciated most was that Josh asked, what do you want to do?”

In response, he recalled telling him, “My manaʻo is take your lāhui with you.”

“To look forward you have to look backward,” Noguchi echoed in the episode.

That, and including his network of colleagues, friends and family. “People know if you invite me to a party, I will invite a few friends. And I’m lucky it turned out that way.”

He added that he even gained some “street cred" with his students, who follow the docuseries.

The intro scene opens on a farm with Rosen and Noguchi talking story in a loʻi, while preparing for a potluck meal filmed at the Johnsons’ 

Some of the ʻono foods prepared from that taro harvest were kalo paʻa

“We don’t fabricate real fancy menus,” Noguchi said. “Just some salt, pepper and heat.”

 efforts to help the community recover following the Kona Low storms that hit the Islands, particularly on Oʻahu’s North Shore, in March.)

Huckberry's travel show franchise aims to “go to a place, then dig deeper into the people, culture and terrain that define it. Every episode explores a destination through food and adventure, connecting with locals along the way.”

“Hawai'i, an island that can feed itself, controls its own future. Through the four pillars ('Āina, Lokahi, ʻOhana, Mahalo), we trace immigrant influences, food sovereignty, native foods and stewardship, and education and legacy — the people writing what Hawaiian food becomes next,” “DIRT” said in an statement.

For Rosen, one takeaway from meeting — and eating with — these local chefs, farmers and and their ʻohana was: “There’s a sense here that everyone has something to teach,” he says in the show.

Noguchi and Rosen

<title>Award-winning food and travel series stops in Hawaiʻi</title>

Chef Mark “Gooch” Noguchi, co-founder of nonprofit Chef Hui; pro surfer Nathan Florence; and Haleʻiwa-based musician Jack Johnson, who also runs the Kōkua Learning Farm through Kōkua Hawaiʻi Foundation; among others, showcased Hawaiʻi cuisine, culture and community on Huckberry’s series, “DIRT,” hosted by Josh Rosen. The episode, which culminates with a meal at the North Shore learning farm, dropped on May 28 and has garnered thousands of views already.

Daily Smile: Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026

ASD Staff

Reporter

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Daily Smile: Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026

Authors

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Reporter

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