Petitions hope to save Pali Lanes

Petitions are circulating in the community of Kailua to save Pali Lanes, a bowling alley slated for demolition early next year.

Property owner Alexander &Baldwin has plans to redevelop the building and surrounding area, after the lease expires Jan. 31, 2019. This prompted Evan Weber, a second-generation Kailuan who grew up bowling at Pali Lanes, to push back on what he calls the transformation of the small beach town into a “moneymaking tourist attraction” while losing its mom-and-pop shops, unique charm and culture.

A few days before Christmas, he launched a community Facebook page, Our Kailua, as well as an online petition through The Action Network to save Pali Lanes.

“‘A‘ole. Enough is enough,” said the petition. “For too long, big developers have gotten away with treating Kailua town like a cash box that exists only for their profit, with no regard for our community, our history, our culture, or the people who have called this place home for generations.”

Weber, 26, a Punahou School graduate who works in Washington, D.C., but returns often, urges people to sign the petition “to demand that Alexander &Baldwin preserve what’s great about Kailua, by preserving Pali Lanes.”

His initial goal was to get 400 online signatures. As of Monday, he had surpassed that goal. He and other campaigners are also collecting signatures from the community on paper and ultimately aim to get at least 3,000.

Weber called Pali Lanes a “local staple” and said every year, one of his closest friends celebrates his birthday there.

“So it’s a special place to me, personally,” he said. “More than that, it’s a special place for the community at large.”

A&B said it is working with Pali Lanes to extend its lease through Jan. 31, 2019, after which it plans to take the property back for redevelopment. The bowling alley has been on a month-to-month lease with no change in rent since 2013, said A&B spokesman Darren Pai.

The new lease will waive four months of rent to help the owners through 2018 as they prepare for transition.

“We respect Kailua’s rich history and diverse heritage,” Pai said in a statement. “We are working hard to balance maintaining its small-town charm and character while adapting to the community’s evolving needs. Since we purchased Kaneohe Ranch’s holdings in Kailua in 2013, we’ve been listening to the community, meeting with stakeholders and using their input to guide our efforts.”

Pai said A&B heard from many of its tenants and community members that they want more open gathering spaces in Kailua town.

“We looked at many different options, including preserving Pali Lanes,” he said. “In order to provide gathering spaces that will benefit the entire community, we need to redevelop the bowling alley area. This will allow us to provide new features, such as landscaped gathering areas and a better home for the farmers market, and performance spaces for community organizations, cultural activities and local performers, as well as the monthly I Love Hula and Kanikapila series and future entertainment programs.”

The building that houses Pali Lanes at 120 Hekili St. sits on 1.7 acres of commercial land valued at about $5.6 million, according to Honolulu property tax records.

On the exterior, the retro pink building, built in 1961, features a mid-century-style concrete screen near the entrance and a Quonset-hut shape behind it. Inside, the walls around the bowling alleys are painted with a marine animal seascape by the late artist Ron Artis.

Hale Kealoha, a Hawaiian food restaurant that is a subtenant of Pali Lanes, will also have to move. Pai said A&B is talking to the restaurant about finding a new location in Kailua.

At the front counter of Pali Lanes, owners Art Machado, Daniel Sylva and Gary Darling are also collecting signatures from bowlers on a paper petition to save the place from demolition.

Several hundred have signed it, Machado said.

Machado, manager of the Oahu Bowling Association, stepped in as one of three new owners to reopen Pali Lanes seven years ago, after it had closed down for about a month.

He did so out of a love for bowling and because he wanted a place where kids, teens and seniors could still go as bowling alleys on the island continue to disappear. Pali Lanes has a popular youth program for kids ages 5 to 19, but numerous schools and leagues, including seniors leagues and Special Olympics Hawaii, also use the 24-lane bowling alley.

Machado said he was disappointed in the lease’s upcoming expiration, particularly since he had actually wanted to expand a few years ago. He just invested in a new air conditioner last year.

“Bowling has a special thing about it,” he said. “I enjoy the game and I enjoy people being happy. They come here to bowl and to have some fun.”

Pai said A&B was working with the bowling center at Marine Corps Base Hawaii at Kaneohe to find a new home for bowling groups.

Weber plans to combine his petition with that of Pali Lanes, and to present it to A&B.

He said losing Pali Lanes is not what the community wants, and said he doesn’t believe that A&B made an honest effort to engage the community before making its decision.

“Pali Lanes is a symbol for what’s happening to the community at large,” Weber said. “We’re sticking a flag in this and drawing a line.”

With many of the changes, he said, local residents have fewer places to go.

“It’s pushing people out, shutting down businesses that have been here for generations,” he said. “It starts like a trickle and you get bummed when this shave ice shop shuts down, you miss that family store and restaurant. You kind of blink and before you know it, it doesn’t look like the same town any more.”