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ASD Staff

When your jam comes on and everyone knows what's about to go down...

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Daily Smile: Thursday, June 25, 2026

Your history professor said no dogs allowed in the class….

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Daily Smile: Wednesday, June 24, 2026

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Daily Smile: Tuesday, June 23, 2026

On today's episode of "Fat and Jobless"...

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Daily Smile: Monday, June 22, 2026

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Daily Smile: Sunday, June 21, 2026

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Daily Smile: Saturday, June 20, 2026

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Daily Smile: Friday, June 19, 2026

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Daily Smile: Thursday, June 18, 2026

Dog gets sad every time his toys go in washing machine...

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Daily Smile: Wednesday, June 17, 2026

Christian Shimabuku Headshot

Christian Shimabuku

Sports

[{"type":"text","text":"MĀNOA — Steph Curry made good on his promise and then some. "}]

In 2024, the worldwide star guard made his Stan Sheriff Center debut in an exhibition game against the Los Angeles Clippers and said he was looking forward to making a 3-pointer for the local fans. Curry, the NBA's all-time 3-point leader, wasn't able to do so, going 0-for-4 from beyond the arc. It's a performance he 

Prior to Sunday's exhibition game between Curry's Golden State Warriors and the Clippers, thousands of fans entered through the Stan Sheriff Center turnstiles to get a glimpse of him warming up. Curry drew oohs and aahs when he tossed a ball in the air as high as he could near the free throw line, which went through the basket after bouncing on the ground once. 

By the time the game tipped off at 1 p.m., the crowd attendance had reached its capacity of 10,300 fans. In what was the 2026-2027 preseason opener for both teams, Curry played just 13 minutes, but delivered 10 points in 2-of-3 shooting from 3-point land. The Clippers were the designated home team in Sunday's matchup, but there were more Warriors fans in the arena, most of them clad in Curry's No. 30 jersey. 

"That's what Steph Curry does," Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr said after the game. "Wherever we are, we see those jerseys."

Both squads went with the same strategy of playing key starters and role players in the first half only. The second half was reserved for either benchwarmers or players trying to make the final roster, which must be cut down to 15 for all NBA teams by Oct. 19. 

On Sunday afternoon, the Clippers edged the Warriors 104-101, a 35-foot Graham Ike desperation heave off the mark for Golden State at the buzzer. The Clippers took the lead for good on Keaton Wagler's midrange jumper with 14 seconds left. Wagler, the fifth overall pick of the 2026 NBA Draft, scored 15 points, though in an inefficient manner. He was 3-for-15 on field goal attempts, including 1-for-11 from 3. Eight of his points were tallied via free throw. 

Japan native Rui Hachimura finished with a game-high 21 points on 8-for-11 shooting, his first action in a Clipper uniform. Hachimura, entering his ninth NBA season, was most recently with the Los Angeles Lakers for the past four seasons. 

"I think offensively, we were pretty good, making the right plays," Hachimura said. "Defensively, we were really good. ... It was a pretty good overall."

After holding training camp on the Islands, both teams will head back to California in preparation for the NBA regular season, which tips off on Oct. 20. Golden State has five more preseason games before then, while the Clippers have just two. 

With Sunday's result not counting towards the NBA regular season standings, Curry and the Warriors do not plan to spend any time dwelling on the loss. 

“We had a very impressive luau at our hotel that included some fire. I don’t know the term, but the fire spinning and the tribute dances, tribal dances, and all that type of stuff, and just having everybody’s family there. That’d be the most memorable," Curry said when asked what he'll remember the most from this trip. "I’ve been in this league going on 18 years. ... We’re not going to get bogged down by the results of the game, but it was just good fun having everybody here and feeling like we got better physically and got some good chemistry amongst our team.”

While the game will not be consequential towards the season for both teams, fans in Hawai‘i were once again able to get a taste of a professional major sport in Island territory. 

"The atmosphere is great. Same as two years ago when we came here," Kerr said. "Sold out crowd. Everybody was excited to see [pro] basketball here, and it's fun to be able to to play in front of a crowd like that with that energy and just feel the joy that people will get from watching the two teams."

Blake Wesley 100426

<title>Clippers, Warriors put on a show in Hawai‘i NBA exhibition</title>

The two NBA teams held weeklong training camps on the Island, wrapping it up with an exhibition game at the Stan Sheriff Center on Sunday.

Clippers, Warriors put on a show in Hawai‘i NBA exhibition

Kelli Shiroma Braiotta Headshot

Kelli Shiroma Braiotta

Food & Dining

, is now open to the public. The Pinehopple Room is located on the second floor, directly above the Kaka

The space was previously home to the HI Brau Room, Aloha Beer Co.’s speakeasy that the biz operated primarily as a private event space.

“We always loved the room and felt like it had so much character,” says Candice Ishikawa, Aloha Beer Co.’s head of marketing and brand. “People who discovered it seemed to immediately fall in love with it, and we saw an opportunity to reimagine the space as something more distinctly connected to Aloha Beer and to Hawaiʻi, while opening it back up for more people to enjoy.”

Ishikawa explains that The Pinehopple Room concept came from the idea of taking the creativity and craft that goes into brewing beer and applying that same spirit to cocktails and hospitality.

“We wanted to create an intimate, upscale lounge that still felt unmistakably part of Aloha Beer, while offering a different side of Aloha Beer from the casual beer garden downstairs,” she says. “The name ‘Pinehopple’ comes from our logo icon and is a play on pineapple and hops, bringing together something immediately evocative of Hawaiʻi, with our roots as a brewery.”

[{"type":"text","text":"The venue’s name impacted its décor and ultimate vibe."}]

“We didn’t want to lose the darker, intimate character that made the original space special, so we built it with a vintage Hawaiʻi-inspired aesthetic, adding tropical botanicals, greenery, warm lighting and other details that make the room feel lush and inviting,” Ishikawa says.

She says The Pinehopple Room’s beverage program is where “the concept comes to life.” The drinks were inspired by the golden age of Hawaii cocktail culture, but the team wanted to bring its own unique twist to the beverages.

“We kept coming back to the idea that classic Hawaiʻi cocktails deserve to be remembered, not simply replicated,” Ishikawa says. “We’re taking those flavors and traditions, and reinterpreting them through fresh ingredients, thoughtful technique and our perspective as a craft brewery.”

So far, popular cocktails include the tropical itch ($18), Molokai fogcutter ($16) and paradise of the Pacific ($21). The tropical itch is made with 

bourbon, rum, orange curaçao, lilikoʻi, pineapple and a dark rum float; the Molokai fogcutter features aged and white rums, pineapple, lilikoʻi, lemon and orgeat; and paradise of the Pacific includes aged rum, tamarind, pineapple and hibiscus grenadine, according to Ishikawa.

Customers can also enjoy a scorpion bowl for two ($38), which is served in a vintage-inspired fish bowl. The drink is designed to be shared and also doubles as a fun centerpiece for the table, according to Ishikawa.

She also explains that The Pinehopple Room team is excited to offer a series of guided spirit flights.

“Guests can explore bourbon, Scotch, international whiskies, agave spirits, and Caribbean rum or Hawaiʻi-made rum, with a guided tasting sheet that provides some background and context for each pour without making the experience feel overly formal,” she says.

Customers can also enjoy light bites that pair naturally with the cocktails. Highlights include Pinehopple sashimi trio (market price) — served with a lilikoʻi-wasabi glaze — Pinehopple shrimp cocktail ($12), spinach dip salmon belly bites ($18), Cuban sliders ($13), paprika chicken pops ($18) and a salami caprese flatbread ($15).

“On the food side, we wanted dishes that were easy to share and felt at home alongside the cocktail program,” Ishikawa says.

The Cuban sliders feature brioche buns stuffed with mayo-mustard, ham, kalua pork, Swiss cheese, pickled cucumbers and cilantro-orange sauce. The paprika chicken pops comprises chicken drummettes in paprika batter, served with blue cheese honey-Red Zeppelin buffalo sauce and celery curls. So far, the chicken pops, spinach dip salmon belly bites and sliders have been customer favorites.

Ishikawa explains that The Pinehopple Room team has been excited to welcome guests and have them experience “the way different kinds of craft come together in one space.”

“Pinehopple is also about the experience around what’s in the glass,” she says. “There’s a sense of nostalgia and vintage Hawaiʻi hospitality without trying to recreate a specific era. We want it to feel special, but never overly formal — a place where people can slow down, connect and stay awhile.”

The Pinehopple Room is currently open from 5 to 11 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. The lounge does not have a formal reservation system set up and is primarily open for walk-ins, but if a customer calls ahead, the venue can hold a table for them, according to Ishikawa.

“Aloha Beer has always been about creating places for people to gather, and Pinehopple gives us a new way to do that,” Ishikawa says. “Someone can have a beer in the beer garden downstairs, then head upstairs for a cocktail or whiskey flight and feel like they’ve stepped into an entirely different experience without ever leaving Aloha Beer. We’ve loved this room for a long time, and we’re excited to finally open the doors and share it with more people.”

The Pinehopple Room decor 092826

<title>The Pinehopple Room is a new upstairs lounge in Kakaʻako</title>

Located upstairs from Aloha Beer Co. on Queen Street, The Pinehopple Room — previously home to the HI Brau Room speakeasy — recently opened to the public. The upscale lounge features a vintage Hawaiʻi-inspired aesthetic, along with classic Hawaiʻi cocktails with a modern twist.

The Pinehopple Room is a new upstairs lounge in Kakaʻako

De Soto 2025

DeSoto Brown

Hawai‘i History

Columnists

Do you remember Ward Warehouse? It was something of a landmark in Kaka‘ako once, but after being demolished nearly 10 years ago it’s now on its way to being forgotten.

The Ward family is foundational to the history of Kaka‘ako. Back in the 19th century, the clan came to own a large tract of land stretching from their private home that was just across King Street from Thomas Square, all the way down to what is now Kewalo Basin. This ownership, of course, is the origin of the name Ward Avenue for the street that formed most of the boundary of the property on its ‘Ewa side.

By the middle of the 20th century, the Ward land contained a mix of private homes and a variety of business tenants. The family-owned corporation that managed the property, Victoria Ward Ltd., started taking small steps towards more lucrative tenants in the 1950s but ramped up its redevelopment goals in the early 1960s by constructing a series of modern, low-rise structures.

A major new commitment came in early 1974 with the start of construction of Ward Warehouse on a 4.1 acre site between Ala Moana Boulevard, Ward Avenue and Auahi Street. The location had some special considerations in that it was covered by two very different types of zoning: one was for retail while the other was strictly for wholesale and industrial uses. The latter category was slightly problematic for what was intended as, essentially, a shopping center open to the public, and initially required a careful selection of tenants.

Designed by architect Steve Au, Ward Warehouse had a notably 1970s appearance. The hippie movement in the USA by this time had popularized more earthy, natural materials, so the complex’s exteriors were dark-stained wood, inspired in particular by a trend-setting development called Sea Ranch in California from the late 1960s. The only outside decorations were sections of bold painted “supergraphics” in geometric patterns. Industrial elements were not covered up but were openly displayed; on the outside, pipes and fittings were painted in bright colors to show them off, along with some oversized machine parts that were installed purely as decor. Inside the rental spaces, high ceilings showed undisguised conduits, light fixtures and air-conditioning ducts. Floors were concrete and walls were mostly unpainted wood. The effect was “honesty” in materials vs shiny synthetic surfaces.

Ward Warehouse opened with 87 tenant spaces; some interiors had the potential for the construction of mezzanines. Parking on the ground level accommodated 250 vehicles while the four-level concrete garage had 400 more spots. A soft opening for some businesses took place in time for Christmas 1974. By April 1975 the complex was placing large display ads in the Honolulu newspapers.

Those who are old enough to have patronized Ward Warehouse will undoubtedly remember particular stores or restaurants they regularly visited. For many people, the Old Spaghetti Factory at the far ‘Ewa end, with its two-story interior spaces, was surely a favorite (it has since moved to Aloha Tower). Embellished by numerous antique light fixtures and other old-time props which the company had been able to accumulate when such items were mostly inexpensive salvage goods from the demolition of 80- or 90-year-old structures in the USA, the low-cost restaurant had a unique feeling in its diverse seating areas.

Of course many other businesses came and went through Ward Warehouse over the years. There was the Liquor Collection which was filled with limited-edition figural ceramic specialty bottles, stores just for outdoor furniture, kitchenware, and flags, and the Nohea Gallery for local artwork of all kinds.

Ward Warehouse was never intended to last throughout the ages. A 1969 newspaper article quoted a statement from Victoria Ward Ltd that said offices and high-rise structures were eventually planned along Ala Moana Boulevard. Closure of the shopping center came on July 31, 2017 followed by demolition that began in November.

Howard Hughes Corporation, by then the owner of the site, first announced that two “ultraluxury” towers would soon rise here, the Ward Village Gateway. One of these was to be the 

 with units offered for prices ranging from $1.3 million to $23 million; these were first put on sale in 2015. But in 2018 the entire project was dropped, even after Howard Hughes had spent $29 million on it, and 28 of the 125 apartments in the Cylinder had been sold. In 2019 Victoria Place was approved for construction on the Waikīkī end of the property. Next to it was the start of the new Victoria Ward Park which would eventually occupy what had been the center part of Ward Warehouse.

However, it wouldn’t be until 2025 that one of the familiar construction cranes would finally be erected on the rest of the former Ward Warehouse, signaling yet another of the Kaka‘ako condominiums to come: Kalae.

1 Ward ad 1 16x9

<title>Changing Kaka‘ako: Remembering Ward Warehouse</title>

Ward Warehouse was never meant to last — even the previous owners who built it, Victoria Ward Ltd, always intended for offices and high-rises to take its place. But it had a four-decade run from its 1975 opening to its 2017 demolition, featuring such businesses as Old Spaghetti Factory, Orson's, The Liquor Collection, Nohea Gallery and more. Here's a look back at the shopping center, including a glimpse of the neighborhood before Ward Warehouse came along and fishing, rather than shopping, was the area's industry.

Changing Kaka‘ako: Remembering Ward Warehouse

Stephanie Salmons Headshot

Stephanie Salmons

Business & Tourism

American Savings Bank employees were at the New York Stock Exchange this week, ringing the first trade bell Wednesday as an 

 of more than 8 million shares of ASB's common stock began trading on the NYSE with an initial price of $16 per share.

Five thousand miles away from New York, more than 1,000 American Savings Bank employees watched from 35 locations across the Islands.

“We are honored to commemorate this significant milestone in American Savings Bank’s history, but more importantly, we are proud to celebrate our teammates, customers and community who made this possible," ASB President and CEO Ann Teranishi said in a statement. "ASB has been deeply rooted in these islands for 101 years, and we remain focused on taking care of Hawaii’s residents, businesses and communities. This is the beginning of our new journey as a public company, and we look forward to this new and exciting chapter for American Savings Bank.”

According to an announcement from the bank, the offering was expected to close Sept. 17, subject to customary closing conditions. Underwriters also have a 30-day option to purchase up to 1,208,586 additional shares of common stock to cover over-allotments, the bank says.

ASB will not receive any proceeds from the sale of the shares, the announcement notes.

Piper Sandler & Co. is acting as the sole book-running manager for the offering. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, A Stifel Company, is acting as lead manager, while D.A. Davidson & Co. and Stephens Inc. are acting as co-managers.

ASB was previously a wholly owned subsidiary of Hawaiian Electric Industries Inc., but HEI sold 90.1% of its ASB common stock to independent investors in a $405 million deal that 

. As HEI noted at that time, each investor had a non-controlling interest and no investor owned more than 9.9% of the bank's common stock, including HEI.

ASBH Listing Day 04793 Web

<title>American Savings Bank goes public</title>

ASB stock is now being traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol ASBH.

American Savings Bank goes public

It's been about a week since Kale's Hale started selling $10 bentos. Last Friday — the fifth day of selling bentos — the eatery had sold more than 200 before noon. 

Chef/owner Kale Afong says a friend had suggested this $10 bento idea last year. After running some numbers, he figured he would "try and make it work."

“We sold 40 bentos on the first day, 60 on the second, 60 on the third, 250-plus on day four, and it’s more than 200 now on day five," Afong says.

“Everywhere you go, a lunch is $20 or more,” he adds. “Even plate lunches, poke bowls — it’s a $20 bill. We’re trying to bring back a taste of old-school Hawai‘i and make an affordable $10 bento.”

Afong says Kale’s Hale, located in Kalihi, is in the perfect neighborhood for the bento deal.

“We have a whole community full of kūpuna out here,” he says. “Everybody likes a good $10 bento.”

The $10 bento deal is available daily, according to Afong. While the restaurant officially starts selling the bentos at 10 a.m., the eatery could open as early as 7 a.m. The restaurant will post updates regarding the bentos on Instagram.

“Sometimes, if I have the energy, we’ll start at 7 a.m.,” Afong says. “We’re going to try keep it rolling for at least three months; we’re going to try and go until December, but it’s going to depend on the community.

“If the community is for it, we’re going to stick with it,” he adds. “We don’t really make money because it’s $10. But, we can make it worthwhile if we can sell 500 to 700 bentos per day.”

Like the restaurant’s banchan — the side dishes that come with the AYCE yakiniku experience — the bento choices change daily. Recent selections featured citrus salmon belly, miso Swai (fish), garlic chicken and char siu chicken.

“The most popular are probably the shoyu pork and miso Swai,” Afong says. “The Korean fried chicken is also really popular. We have miso chicken, teri chicken and spicy pork. We get choke; those are the top sellers.”

Bento sides also rotate, according to Afong, who says they have included options like gyoza, seaweed rolls, spring rolls, lumpia, dried radish kimchi and ocean salad.

He says that bentos are also available for catering, and customers can call ahead for larger orders.

“It’s first come, first served in the morning, but if somebody calls and pre-orders, we can accommodate,” he says.

On days when the restaurant opens early to sell bentos, Afong says they will have “a few hundred out” for customers to choose from. The bentos are just the beginning of a bigger project, though.

“We’re going to get this elevated,” Afong says. “We played around with some plating options, but I just got so busy. The bentos look good now, but we’re going to get it way better.”

He explains part of the restaurant will be redesigned to create a mini mākeke, and will include a fridge and freezer filled with local products.

“We’re going to have all locally made products — ice cream, chili pepper water, and more,” he says. “I’m starting with the bentos, but I’m going to build this all out.

[{"type":"text","text":"Customer parking is available in the restaurant’s lot."}]

Kales Hale chef Kale 091126

<title>Kale’s Hale is offering $10 bentos for the next three months</title>

The Kalihi-based restaurant — known for its all-you-can-eat Hawaiian fusion yakiniku experience — recently started offering $10 bentos starting at 10 a.m., according to chef/owner Kale Afong. Sometimes, the restaurant opens from 7 a.m. to start selling bentos. The $10 deal will be available for the next three months.