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James Morioka

Pritchett photo 300 dpi square

John Pritchett

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Ralph S. Cushnie

Zane Dalgamouni

Lopaka and Tanya Kapanui

Lopaka Kapanui and Tanya Kapanui

Hawai‘i History

If you have ever worked in Māpunapuna, you may have wondered why the area seems to flood so easily.

[{"type":"text","text":"The simple answer is that water has not forgotten where it used to go."}]

Long before warehouses, auto dealerships, and busy streets covered the area, Māpunapuna was a low-lying landscape of wetlands, shallow lagoons, and fishponds. The coastal plain between Moanalua and Keʻehi Lagoon was shaped by both freshwater flowing from the mountains and the movement of the ocean. It was an environment well suited to the Hawaiian system of aquaculture, in which fishponds, wetlands, streams, and agricultural lands worked together to provide food for the people. A bustling landscape where people lived and worked for generations.

In the 1920s, maps of the area showed 13 loko i‘a (fishponds) covering more than 800 acres, along with extensive marshland, shallow lagoons, and other lowlands. That landscape began to change as Honolulu expanded. The Māpunapuna Industrial Subdivision was developed by the Damon Estate during the 1940s and 1950s. Wetlands were drained, fishponds were filled, and the low-lying coastal plain was gradually transformed into land suitable for roads, buildings, warehouses, and industry.

Much of the material used to fill the wetlands was coral dredged from Keʻehi Lagoon along with soil, rock, trash, and organic material. The shallow ponds and marshes that had once absorbed and held water were transformed into solid ground for roads, warehouses, businesses, and eventually the industrial district we know today.

The former wetlands once provided space for water to collect, spread out, and slowly drain toward the ocean. But once those areas were filled and covered with pavement and buildings, much of that natural water storage disappeared. Over the decades, the fill itself has compacted and settled. Some parts of Māpunapuna have sunk several feet, leaving portions of the industrial district at or below sea level during high tides.

There is another problem. During high-tide events, seawater can push back through the drainage system rather than flowing harmlessly out to sea. During heavy rain, enormous quantities of stormwater are moving through the same low-lying system. When high tide and heavy rain arrive together, the drainage system has nowhere to put all that water easily. The result is the familiar flooding of streets and parking lots.

So when Māpunapuna floods, it is not simply a modern drainage problem. It is the consequence of building an industrial neighborhood on a landscape that was designed by nature, and carefully used by generations of Hawaiians, to hold water.

When we say “the water remembers,” we mean that water has a way of returning to the places where it once flowed. We may change the landscape, fill the ponds, and build over the wetlands, but the water has not forgotten.

As the water remembers where it once flowed, perhaps the land remembers who once walked across it. Before Māpunapuna became an industrial district, these lowlands were part of a much older Hawaiian landscape. In that older landscape, we begin to encounter another kind of story. Stories of shadowy figures that would scare workers and customers. Tales of the huakaʻi pō, the night marchers, whose processions are said to continue along ancient paths even after the world around them has been transformed.

People used to talk all the time about the old 99 Ranch Market being haunted. Many have said that the night marchers used to walk right through the massive grocery store and indoor Chinatown, leaving a mess of furniture in their wake. It’s where the Home Depot is now.

My hānai brother Paul worked at the old Gibsons in Māpunapuna. Not in the store as a clerk, because he didn’t have the demeanor for it. He worked in the warehouse, bringing all the needed items out to stock the floor.

Paul said that the floor in the main part of the store would always sink, no matter how many times it was repaired and filled in. Rumors circulated that night marchers entered through an opening in the earth a few blocks away, walked right through the store, and exited where the floor sank in the middle of Gibson’s store. Employees also said they would see shadows and apparitions floating past customers as if they weren’t there. As a kid, I found it funny because I could imagine a customer losing their mind after seeing a ghost float right past them in a random aisle.

“I feel sorry for whoever gotta do inventory at night,” he’d shake his head. “Hopefully, they don’t have to work by themselves.”

He said that sometimes you got the feeling you weren’t alone, and it felt like a lot of people were pressed up against you. The experience made it hard to breathe, even though you could physically see there was nothing there. Paul would rub the crucifix on his necklace and pray the Our Father again and again, asking for protection.

His most traumatic experience came when his shift was over, and the sun had not set. He clocked out, walked to the parking lot, put the key in the ignition, and put his old Pontiac in gear.

[{"type":"text","text":"“Paulito,” the voice whispered in his ear. “Don’t go home yet.”"}]

My brother said he jumped out of the car and backed away, his heart pounding and his mind racing. The car was still running, but it began smoking for no reason, and suddenly, the radiator blew, spewing hot liquid all over the place.

Despite his Catholic upbringing, Paul attributed the warning to whatever presence was trying to make itself known in the warehouse and store.

[{"type":"text","text":"“I knew they weren’t trying to harm us,” Paul said."}]

But the spiritual activity was still too much to bear, so he planned to quit and work with our father at Easy Appliance. But that’s another story.

Mapunapuna

<title>The Forgotten Landscape of Mapunapuna</title>

Tides and rain, time and spirits converge in this now-industrial area mauka of the Daniel K. Inouye International Airport. Here is the true history of a region shaped first by nature and then by two different cultures in two different eras, where traces remain of days and people long past.

The Forgotten Landscape of Mapunapuna

Arts & Entertainment

According to the Hollywood industry trade publication “Deadline,” showbiz is abuzz with the news that Paramount Pictures is considering making a movie version of “Hawai‘i Five-0.” The brainchild of producer Leonard Freeman, the classic Island-set police procedural starred Jack Lord as Steve McGarrett, the straight arrow chief of an elite crimefighting task force in paradise, ran on CBS-TV 1968-1980. The proposed new version’s “package was put together by Entertainment 360’s Guymon Casady [producer of HBO’s “Game of Thrones”] with the estate of series creator Leonard Freeman,” Mike Fleming Jr. 

 in “The Dish,” the insider section of “Deadline” that breaks scoops. Paramount Pictures and CBS have a corporate relationship; both are owned by the same parent company, Paramount Skydance.

It’s fitting that Destin Daniel Cretton, the director being linked to the possible “Five-0” project, is from Haiku, Maui. Cretton’s “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” broke box office records this summer, and the Hawai‘i-born and raised helmer is red-hot right now. According to Hawaiian actor Branscombe Richmond, who has his own connection to the legendary crime production and, he says, attended the same church as Cretton on Maui: “‘Hawai‘i Five-0’ in Cretton’s hands is a great choice. I mean, he’s an Island boy, he’s from Hawai‘i Nei, he has the soul and heart of what is ticking here,” Richmond told Aloha State Daily.

“The Dish” dishes that the proposed “Five-0” screenwriters are no strangers to crime movies: Chris Bremner co-wrote two of the Will Smith/Martin Lawrence “Bad Boys” detective buddy pictures; Noah Oppenheim penned 2016’s “Jackie,” wherein Natalie Portman depicts First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy shortly after JFK’s assassination.  

If Paramount Pictures moves ahead with the movie remake, this wouldn’t be the first time Tinseltown tried to bring “Hawai‘i Five-0” from the little to the big screen. From 1992-1997 Branscombe Richmond co-starred as Native American bounty hunter Bobby Sixkiller on the syndicated series “Renegade,” created by prolific producer Stephen J. Cannell, who, along with Kim LeMasters “were the guys who rebooted ‘Hawai‘i Five-0’ [in 1997]. The guy who was McGarrett was Gary Busey [monikered Jimmy Xavier Berk], and the guy who was Danno was Russell Wong. I played Napoleon DeCastro, who would have been known as the Wo Fat of that next generation,” said Richmond, interviewed in Maui by phone.  

The villainous Wo Fat (Khigh Dhiegh, co-star of the 1962 thriller “The Manchurian Candidate”) was McGarrett’s arch-nemesis in the original series. In the 1997 production, DeCastro is the head of the Hawai‘i underworld and suspected of shooting James MacArthur, who’d moved on from being the Five-0 unit’s Danny Williams to the 50th State’s governor.

Along with MacArthur, the 1997 shoot brought together other “Five-0” veterans who’d portrayed characters opposite Jack Lord during the 12-year-run of the crime procedural in paradise to reprise their roles. The reunion included what Richmond called “what a great gathering of people:” Kam Fong as Detective Chin Ho Kelly; Zulu as Detective Kono Kalākaua; Harry Endo as HPD forensic scientist Che Fong; Herman Wedemeyer as HPD Sergeant Duke Lukela; and actor/musician Moe Keale as Detective Truck Kealoha.      

Nevertheless, this largely forgotten Russian mob-themed production has apparently never been broadcast, theatrically released or streamed — it seems no one wanted to “Book ’em, Danno,” as McGarrett frequently told Detective Sergeant Danny Williams. Richmond believes it’s because, “Gary Busey was totally wrong for the role… After they saw it, they put it on the shelf, because you don’t want to tarnish the brand” of a legendary showbiz property.

“Deadline” surmises that another reason the 1997 film went unseen is: “They could never quite figure it out because of lawsuits with CBS and rights issues that led instead to 

 that starred Alex Loughlin, Scott Caan, Daniel Dae Kim and Grace Park.”

It remains to be seen whether Paramount Pictures and Destin Daniel Cretton will be able to revive the production that includes one of the greatest opening montage sequences in television history, intercutting Hawai‘i’s people, places, waves and landmarks with crimefighting images, set to the unforgettable pounding beat composed by Morton Stevens, who won two Emmys for his immortal composition.

Tania Verafield is an L.A.-based stage and screen actress who acted in two films directed by Cretton before he hit it big with the Oscar-nominated 2021 kung fu epic “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.” She auditioned for and was cast, along with LaKeith Stanfield (later Oscar-nominated for 2020’s “Judas and the Black Messiah”), in Cretton’s 2008 student film “Short Term 12,” which he shot while attending film school at San Diego State University and won the Sundance Film Festival’s Jury Prize in Short Filmmaking. 

Verafield added that 2012’s “‘I Am Not a Hipster’ was Destin’s very first feature film. It was a story about his own family… It wasn’t a direct correlation, but the main character has three sisters, and Destin has three sisters… He went back and reused actors he’d already worked with, and I made that film with many of my friends I had worked with through him.”

As a director, Verafield says Cretton is “very softspoken, gentle, creative, joyful, found a way to make everybody feel comfortable and keeping it an easy and enjoyable set. He’s always smiling and very focused when he’s working. He is such a family man. He’s so close to his family in Hawai‘i, and he brings that familial way of being onto a set and creates a family.”

Interviewed by phone in L.A., Verafield added, “I know how important Hawai‘i is to him. He always wears Hawaiian shirts and a lei, he’s just really proud of where he came from. If he has the opportunity to work there, I know he’ll bring a lot of passion to” a big screen remake of “Hawai‘i Five-0.”

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

Ed Rampell and Luis Reyes are co-authors of the new book 

Hawaii Five 0 Logo 16x9

<title>Hollywood ponders movie remake of “Hawai‘i Five-0” directed by Ha‘ikū helmer Destin…</title>

If produced, this wouldn’t be the first time Tinseltown tried to bring the iconic CBS-TV crime series shot in the 50th State to the big screen.

Hollywood ponders movie remake of “Hawai‘i Five-0” directed by Ha‘ikū helmer Destin Daniel Cretton

WEB square crop Hayley Lehman Headshot RGZ1636

Haley Lehman

Government & Politics

Aloha Spirit

Carmen Guzman-Simpliciano and her husband, Joseph Simplicano Jr., have seen it all at 

Kūʻīlioloa Heiau in Waiʻanae from a lack of educational signs to 

people taking inappropriate photos, riding dirt bikes around it, littering, feeding a cat colony, starting fires, climbing and 

“To other people, they’re going to think, ‘Oh it’s just stones.’ No,” Guzman-Simpliciano said. “It’s a cultural site.”

Guzman-Simpliciano and Simpliciano are co-founders of the nonprofit 

 and have been stewarding Kūʻīlioloa Heiau located in the Pōkaʻī Bay Beach Park since the nonprofit was created in 2021.

Kūʻīlioloa Heiau is a navigational heiau named after a demigod dog, Ku, that protected travelers. The Royal Order of Kamehameha I, 

, and the Aila ʻohana also steward the site.

Kingdom Pathways aims to demonstrate mauka to makai stewardship through water testing, improving the jetty wall, advocating for amended Hawaiʻi Administrative Rules at Pōkaʻī Bay, supporting community health, among other initiatives. At Pōkaʻī Bay, Kingdom Pathways teach keiki and community members about native plants, protecting the ʻāina and proper protocols for when one enters a heiau. The nonprofit has replanted native species when shrubbery was destroyed and rebuilt a section of the heiau when an individual removed stones. The Waiʻanae community uses the Pōkaʻī Bay Beach Park for community and cultural events like Lā Kūʻokoʻa and Lā Hoʻihoʻi Ea.

For Simpliciano, stewarding cultural sites like the Kūʻīlioloa Heiau is crime prevention.

“Having these events and having these places around to be protected for future generations help to keep our community grounded,” he said. “Things like this give the kids and the community purpose." 

Guzman-Simpliciano and Simpliciano noticed what they called a “huge gap in caring for sensitive cultural sites” between cultural sites on state land versus in City and County of Honolulu public parks.

Guzman-Simpliciano said that Kingdom Pathways has been working with the city and state since they got started in 2021. She said it was hard work to get all the necessary city and state departments at a table to discuss cultural stewardship at Pōkaʻī Bay.

“We need like a blueprint,” she said. “There’s other spaces that need protection as well, not just Pōkaʻī Bay.”

She wrote a proposal to Councilmember Andria Tupola to streamline partnerships between groups stewarding cultural sites and the city. Tupola sponsored Bill 31, which passed on Sept. 9 and is headed to the mayor’s desk.

Tupola said at the City Council meeting in July that she introduced the bill in response to I continued vandalism at the site.

“The bill itself is for us to strengthen how we treat these sites in our city and county parks,” Tupola said.

HPD Regional Patrol Bureau Acting Assistant Chief Gail Beckley

 stated in an email Tuesday that HPD has not documented damage-type reports to the heiau at Pōkaʻī Bay between January 2025 to the present, but has responded to damage reports in the bathroom area and to the playground equipment.

Guzman-Simpliciano said she hopes that it saves other organizations the work and time that she put into coordinating with the city and state and makes the process easier.

 adds “stewardship” of cultural sites to the Department of Parks and Recreation public parks program. DPR can approve or deny applications by individuals or groups to help steward a cultural site. People apply with their qualifications and a draft stewardship plan, which can include the boundaries of the cultural site, the identification of allowed and prohibited activities, cultural access protocols, and identification of signage or educational programs to implement. The department and cultural stewards will work with the Oʻahu historic preservation commission, the state historic preservation division, cultural practitioners and appropriate state or city agencies to develop the stewardship plan for the cultural site.

For Guzman-Simpliciano, this was her way to huli, or change, the system.

“My vision was to get in the system and work within that system,” she said. “That’s why we’re called Kingdom Pathways, we’re in the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi, and we as Native Hawaiians to find pathways within the state and find a better way for our people so they don’t have to keep protesting, and finding solutions.”

Simpliciano said that they work with aloha and hope to set an example for the next generation.

Applications to participate in the program should include community stakeholders and the department will review the applicant’s experience with community engagement, according to the bill.

Guzman-Simpliciano said that cultural stewardship includes a whole community, and cultural stewardship plans should be inclusive of that.

“We encourage the council to ensure that stewardship plans reflect a shared community vision, not solely the perspective of one adopter or organization,” she said. “It shouldn’t be one person’s opinion about what that place should look like.”

When there was controversy over the name of the heiau, Kingdom Pathways went to the local neighborhood board parks committee for community input. They landed on Kūʻīlioloa Heiau rather than Kaneʻīlioloa Heiau to reflect the name documented in the Bishop Museum and told in stories by their kūpuna.

Adam Wayson, one of the directors of Malama Rising, got involved at the Mauna Lahilahi Cultural Garden in Waiʻanae in 2020.

He said that the nonprofit’s involvement “came out of the city’s neglect to properly manage its spaces.” There was an encampment of about 100 homeless people, and the community has come together to clean up the area, restore native plants and advocate to improve stewardship of the park alongside the city.

The Mauna Lahilahi Cultural Garden is home to a heiau, petroglyphs, archeological findings and iwi kūpuna, according to Wayson.

Wayson told ASD that the bill aligns with Malama Rising’s mission and he appreciates the effort to include cultural preservation by the city, but he has his reservations. 

“We got into this because the city and county and state neglected to do their jobs,” he said. “As nice as the bill looks on paper, talk is cheap because from my experience, it isn’t until the house is on fire that they aren’t willing to step in and do something.”

He said that the bill’s mandate that groups apply to be cultural stewards when they are already putting the hard work in may come off as insulting to some groups and gives the Department of Parks and Recreation too much power to approve or deny stewardship applications.

, sponsored by Tupola in March, states, “community-led stewardship, while commendable, should not be a substitute for the City’s responsibility to manage, invest in, and activate its public park lands in accordance with adopted plans, environmental approvals, cultural obligations, and established City practices for botanical and cultural gardens under the DPR.”

Kingdom Pathways

<title>Cultural nonprofit spearheads bill to 'huli the system'</title>

Stewards of the Kūʻīlioloa Heiau in Waiʻanae successfully advocated for Bill 31 to establish a framework for stewarding cultural sites around the island.

Cultural nonprofit spearheads bill to 'huli the system'

Square Mike Brestovansky Headshot RGZ3736 Large

Michael Brestovansky

Crime & Courts

How much of the $4 billion Lahaina fire settlement should go to attorneys?

That question went before the Hawai‘i Supreme Court Tuesday, as some attorneys who were involved in the years-long Maui fires settlement took issue with how the settlement funds were disbursed.

In June, Maui Judge Peter Cahill declared that the attorneys who worked on the case could only claim up to 8% of the settlement funds, despite state law allowing for attorneys to receive up to 25%.

Cahill’s ruling also established a $222 million fund from the $4 billion award to create a common benefit fund, which Hawai‘i-based lawyers could apply for a share of, commensurate with the amount of work they did on the case. Out-of-state attorneys do not qualify for that fund.

Attorneys from the Hawai‘i law firms Ranken & Shnider, the PACLAW Group and the San Diego-based Montegna & Thickstun appealed Cahill’s ruling, arguing that the judge didn’t have the authority to make that decision, and that disbursing the funds in such a way will be detrimental to the state.

Samuel Shnider told the Supreme Court Tuesday that Cahill’s fee order “jeopardizes access to justice for the people of Hawai‘i in the next disaster,” as he believes attorney’s will be less likely to accept similar cases if a judge can change their fees despite the terms of a settlement agreement.

Shnider argued that even if a judge had the authority to create a common benefit fund — they don’t, he claimed — nobody in the case requested that the funds be disbursed in this way. He added that Cahill’s order “takes away [victims’] right to have that conversation first of all with their attorneys.”

However, as Associate Justice Sabrina McKenna noted, Cahill’s order also would reduce Shnider’s attorney’s fees below what he initially believed he would receive under the contract.

“Are your clients complaining about the fact that they cannot pay any more in attorney’s fees?” McKenna asked.

But Shnider said invalidating Cahill’s order would require attorneys to “follow the principles of reasonableness” and negotiate reasonable fees with their clients. He added that he believes that “market forces and the existing Hawai‘i law” are sufficient to ensure victims are not overburdened by attorney’s fees.

Meanwhile, attorneys for the state argued otherwise. Attorney Cynthia Wong claimed Cahill’s attorney fee order is no different than any other legal exercise of power he made during the case.

Wong added that there are 21,750 victims in the case, who have made claims totaling $12 billion to $15 billion. When the case began, she said, Mainland attorneys “descended upon Maui,” leading to the creation of a case management policy that appointed some attorneys as Liaison Counsel, attorneys who spoke for the whole during the case.

It is those Liaison Counsel attorneys who stand to gain the most from Cahill’s fee order, Shnider argued, reducing other victims’ shares in the process.

On the other hand, state’s attorney Lance Collins said the idea that the attorneys who did the most of the work for the common benefit would not be entitled to request compensation for that work is “an absurd conclusion”.

[{"type":"text","text":"A decision by the Supreme Court in the case remains pending."}]

Aliiōlani Hale

<title>Maui fire settlement back in court over lawyers' fees</title>

Attorneys challenge $4 billion settlement to victims of the 2023 wildfires

Maui fire settlement back in court over lawyers' fees

Stephanie Salmons Headshot

Stephanie Salmons

Real Estate

The 450-acre private club and residential community, on Hawai‘i Island's Kona Coast, has seen more than $100 million in sales so far this year as its newest 

newest residential offering, Hale Ka Hala, nears completion.

Carrie Nicholson, principal broker and vice president of sales and marketing at Kohanaiki, told Aloha State Daily that as of Friday, there had been approximately 15 closed transactions from Jan. 1 through Sept. 11.

According to a recent announcement, the highest sale so far this year is 

, which closed for $21 million in May; it was Kohanaiki's second-highest sale of all time.

 late last year, marking the largest sale for the community at that time).

But Nicholson says there also have been "multiple transactions in that $5 million to $9 million range" across the Kohanaiki community.

"We've had some great interest," she says. "What's particularly encouraging with this activity is we're seeing demand across different types of real estate throughout Kohanaiki, different price points rather than the year's volume being driven by just one or two transactions; it's kind of spread out with a variety. I think that speaks to a lot of depth of interest in Kohanaiki and the strength of the community as a whole."

, Kohanaiki features an 18-hole, Rees Jones-designed golf course; access to a white sand beach and the ocean; an adventure club; spa; fitness center; multiple dining options; and an on-property biodynamic farm, as well as a variety of real estate offerings and a 67,000-square-foot clubhouse. The community is being developed by 

Nicholson says most buyers are more focused on the overall experience and the usability of the property.

"We're seeing a strong preference for homes that are turnkey, beautifully designed, easy to enjoy immediately, move-in ready," she says. "They're also looking closely to that indoor-outdoor living with views and privacy and proximity to our clubhouse and amenities, how the home actually functions for their particular family and guests. We're also seeing buyers think beyond just their home itself. They want access to exceptional golf — we have our ... Rees Jones championship golf course. We have our dining, wellness, ocean activities, and the whole community where their families can spend meaningful time together."

[{"type":"text","text":"According to Nicholson, they're also seeing repeat Hawai‘i buyers."}]

"These aren't just people discovering Hawai‘i for the first time," she told ASD. "They're buyers who understand the coast, they understand the Islands and they're very intentional about making their decisions of where they want to spend their time, and they understand the privacy and the exclusivity that comes with living within a private golf and ocean club community."

Nicholson says that the $21 million sale of Hale Kai Apo, also known as 

, is a "great example" of what they're seeing at the very top end of the market.

"Buyers at that price point are looking for something truly exceptional and irreplaceable, and they're looking at the quality of the residence, the setting, location, the privacy, views, and I think, importantly, the overall Kohanaiki lifestyle," she told ASD. "So when you have a property that checks all of those boxes, there's still buyers willing to move very quickly, and that's what that sale represented; it really checked a lot of boxes for that particular buyer."

[{"type":"text","text":"More residential options are coming soon."}]

Its newest residential offering, Hale Ka Hala, includes 24 townhomes in its first phase and followed by 12 more in phase two, the announcement noted. The homes will have five bedrooms and four-and-a-half bathrooms, and buyers will have the choice of four curated furniture packages, including collections from 

"It's one of the most exciting neighborhoods to Kohanaiki's residential offering," Nicholson says. "It represents another kind of Kohanaiki lifestyle, with residences designed around indoor-outdoor living and the way members actually use their homes. What I think is particularly compelling about the Ka Halas is the ability to enjoy the comfort of being in the home but being right off the golf course. These are five-bedroom, four-and-a-half-bath homes, so it's very multigenerational, where you can have a lot of family in the residence. There's a lot of indoor-outdoor spaces, and again, they have a sense of privacy. We're seeing a lot of interest from buyers who are looking for that type of combination."

Nicholson noted, too, that these properties, prices for which start at $5.25 million, have four bedrooms in the main portion of the home, with the fifth bedroom part of detached guest quarters. 

Kohanaiki

<title>Kohanaiki has closed more than $100M in sales this year</title>

The 450-acre private club and residential community is located on Hawai‘i Island's Kona Coast.

Kohanaiki has closed more than $100M in sales this year

Kelli Shiroma Braiotta Headshot

Kelli Shiroma Braiotta

Business & Tourism

Food & Dining

It hasn’t even been two full weeks since business owner Jessica Uao relocated her restaurant, Jessica’s Kitchen, from 

Aiea to Kapolei. However, she says her new location in Kapolei Commons, in the former space of Mad Bene, has already been flooded with her “regulars.”

“Our regular customers have been coming in,” she says of the new space, which opened on Sept. 3. “During my 17 years working in (restaurant) business, they have been supporting me. They said, ‘Yay, it’s closer to us.’ I’m looking forward to bringing in this community.

“The ʻAiea location was so small, and it was hard for customers to find,” she adds. “I really wanted a bigger location.”

Jessica’s Kitchen — the Kapolei eatery is now called 

 — was located in Westridge Shopping Center in ‘Aiea for 16 months, according to Uao. The restaurant was, and still is, known for its all-day breakfast, along with local-style Filipino favorites.

“We’re not authentic Filipino,” Uao says, referring to the restaurant’s cuisine. “We just have local-style dishes — like longanisa, bangus — that people want.”

“A lot of the dishes we serve is local favorites; we cater to the local community rather than just the Filipino community,” adds business co-founder Chris Masiclat. “We want to have something for everyone — including tourists that come around — something that’s more of a comfort food, something a little big different. It’s more fusion, more new-age style.”

Local-style Filipino specialties include sizzling pork sisig ($25.99), lechon kawali ($25.99), pork adobo ($23.99) and bangus ($26.99). 

“Bangus is a fried, boneless milkfish,” Masiclat explains. “The one that we had in ʻAiea was a little bit smaller. We decided to get the really large one (for this location); the flavor will speak for itself.”

“If you order my bangus, it will fill up your plate, it’s big,” Uao adds.

Many entrees come with side dishes, such as white or brown rice, fried rice ($5) and the eatery’s popular adobo fried rice ($5).

“We’re really well known for our portions,” Masiclat says. “The pork adobo omelet and lechon kawali are very good.”

Speaking of breakfast served all day, customer favorites include fresh corned beef hash loco moco ($23.99), chicken and waffles ($25.99) and the Jessica Moco ($28.99). The latter features a homemade hamburger patty topped with fresh corned beef hash brisket, two eggs and gravy.

“The best thing about the Jessica Moco is that it’s not canned meat, it’s not canned corned beef,” Masiclat says. “This is a homemade dish. We actually take the full corned beef brisket that’s cooked and shredded. A lot of the food that we make is fresh; a lot of it is local. It does take time, and it does come from the heart. It’s not just something we purchase at the store and throw together.”

While Jessica’s ʻAiea location was open for about a year and four months, Masiclat says they “quickly outgrew it.” Especially on holidays, the ʻAiea restaurant would be packed, resulting in a longer wait time for customers.

“We probably had about 1,500 square feet in the ʻAiea space,” he says. “The biggest letdown for the ʻAiea space was that we didn’t really have sufficient space for all of our guests. We would have certain chef specials on Mother’s Day, Father’s Day; everybody wanted to come and try our food, and celebrate with their family.

“We’re not known for rushing people or trying to kick people out just to turn the tables,” he adds. “One of the biggest things we’re excited for here is the space. We can serve more guests with an even bigger kitchen, expediting the process to be more efficient.”

He notes that the current Kapolei space has a 200- to 250-person capacity.

“We don’t kick out customers, even though they stay for hours,” Uao adds. “Some places just drop your check and they want you to go. I don’t want that; I don’t want to rush my customers. They can stay as long as they want.”

While the restaurant still features its signature breakfast and local-style Filipino favorites, the menu now includes Italian dishes, ranging from pastas and flatbreads to seafood entrees. 

“Since we moved in here and I had all the equipment anyway, we might has well do Italian food,” Uao says. “My current chef was a chef at an Italian restaurant; he’s very knowledgeable.”

She recommends trying the Gorgonzola chicken gnocchi ($35.99) — which features a Gorgonzola bleu cheese cream sauce — smoked salmon fettuccine ($36.99) with sweet onions and capers, and garlic shrimp linguine ($39.99).

“I just love the chicken gnocchi,” she says. “I have some fish, surf and turf, jumbo shrimp and chicken. And of course, I have eggplant (parmesan linguine) for people who don’t want to eat meat.”

“If you want something with a kick and you like clams and seafood, the seafood fra diavolo is very good,” adds Masiclat, referring to the dish that comprises spicy San Marzano marinara, shrimp, clams, mussels, garlic, and basil.

Other entrees include a 12-ounce herb-crusted prime rib-eye ($50.99), king salmon ($38.99) and surf and turf ($59.99). The latter features a 12-ounce, herb-crusted prime rib-eye and sauteed jumbo shrimp scampi served with au jus and horseradish, along with garlic butter mashed potatoes.

“We have a good, well-tested Italian menu,” Masiclat says. “When it comes to appetizers, there are some things we’re going to be adding.”

If there’s one thing Uao has learned from nearly two decades in the restaurant industry, it’s the importance of listening to customer feedback.

“We have definitely listened to the community and what the community wants,” Masiclat says. “With Jessica’s experience in the restaurant industry, we really take that feedback to heart. We work with our chef to give everybody what they’re looking for. That’s one of the biggest things that helps us continue to move forward — just being open minded with the community, what they want and what they’re looking for.”

At the time of our interview, the business was still waiting for its restaurant sign. The space has been in the works for about five months, according to Masiclat. The eatery is also is still waiting for its liquor license, and once it gets it, it will feature a late-night bar menu. The restaurant aims to be open until 2 a.m.

“There’s not really anywhere in Kapolei for late-night options,” Masiclat says. “Probably the closest would be somewhere in Waipahu for a late-night spot. More than likely, we’re going to be serving food up until 10 p.m. and then we’ll have a full-on pūpū menu past 10 p.m. Folks can enjoy karaoke, live music — there’s so many possibilities here, in comparison to the very little space that we had in ‘Aiea.

“Jessica has definitely been very successful with her menu,” he adds. “The atmosphere and environment that we have here is going to be so much better.”

The restaurant is currently open daily from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. For updates, follow the business on 

Jessicas Restaurant owner 091226

<title>Jessica’s Restaurant is now open in Kapolei</title>

The business, known for its local-style Filipino comfort foods, recently moved from ʻAiea to Kapolei. Jessica’s Restaurant has added Italian dishes — ranging from chicken fettucine alfredo to garlic shrimp linguine — to its menu, and plans to eventually open until 2 a.m.

Jessica’s Restaurant is now open in Kapolei

Maxx Ramos

A personal essay discovering how parts of Hawaiʻi’s past — houses and the land they sit on — are preserved, and a recommendation to the state for its future.

3150 Huelani Place

Community Voices: Who decides what is historic?

Maxx Ramos grew up on Oʻahu and currently works in tech. She is a lifelong learner who is passionate about social justice, storytelling and art.

Maxx Ramos

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Community Voices: Who decides what is historic?

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