Tuesday, February 07, 2012
TheBuzz
Buried amid the hubbub and traffic snarls of APEC Leaders' Week, Hawaiian Airlines turned 82 years old Friday, the much-ballyhooed
11/11/11.
An unauthorized APEC website mentioned in this column Monday has been taken offline by California-based InMotion Hosting Inc. A message on the page instructs the account holder to contact customer service and also indicates InMotion Hosting "cannot disclose any information regarding this account if you are not its owner or authorized party."
Anti-APEC voices are masquerading online as that which they disdain. At least one site with a Web address almost identical to the official APEC site's has been operating, offering mostly inactive links but with one leading to stories mocking the organization.
Smack in the middle of APEC week, all broadcast radio and television, cable and satellite companies and Hawaiian Telcom's Internet protocol TV service are going to carry a long-planned, nationwide Emergency Alert System test.
The KZOO Radio Shirokiya Studio will mark its grand opening on Sept. 26 with a media event and on-air interviews.
The Maui-based parent company of 31 Ben Franklin Crafts and Ace Hardware stores in Hawaii and three mainland states is marking its 60th anniversary this year.
Well-known public relations and communications companies, internal communications departments and individual shining stars were honored at the 28th annual Public Relations Society of America - Hawaii Chapter's Koa Anvil awards ceremony Thursday night at the Hawaii Prince Hotel Waikiki.
Hearing anything described as being a "game changer" brings out the skeptic in reporters, but Hawaii island-based Zapps Global Inc.
The Hawaii Spam can design by Scott Kaneshiro of Mililani, encasing the reduced-sodium version of the staple, will hit store shelves Aug. 1 — and to promote the limited-time-only can design, Spam maker Hormel Foods is staging a video contest.
Local manufacturers hope to get their products into Hawaii's military commissaries and exchanges through the annual American Logistics Association Hawaii Food Show Aug. 17 at the Hawaii Prince Hotel.
Jeff Coelho will retire later this year, signing off from his more than 40-year career in broadcasting.
Monkeypod Kitchen by Peter Merriman will expand to Oahu’s Ko Olina Resort by next summer, but “we hope for late spring,” said Merriman, chef-owner of the restaurant destined to be the new flagship location. Construction is slated to begin in November.
Don Ho's Island Grill has closed.
Rumors abound about what happened to the storied eatery and watering hole that opened in 1999 bearing the legendary entertainer's name.
Marcus Bender's Kai Young Coconut Shochu and Kai Lemongrass Ginger Shochu both were featured Friday on NBC TV's "Today" with Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb.
Two major benefits of becoming an Enterprise Zone business will evaporate — with some exceptions — for at least two years beginning Friday.
Shocker! The Colony Restaurant will close Thursday after 35 years of serving steak, seafood and memorable experiences to visitors and residents alike.
The Apple store at Ala Moana Center will close for a $1.2 million renovation project, moving its operations to temporary space No. 2231 from existing space No. 2243 in the interim, according to public records.
Online shoppers in the 808, the 49th state and points beyond who use Missouri-based Ship & Save to save on shipping purchases will notice a bit of a change after July 1.
Pablo's Mexican Cantina has closed after eight months of operation at Ward Centre.
The Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea is the second-best hotel in the U.S. after the Elysian Hotel Chicago, according to analysis by U.S. News Media Group. The company used to publish U.S. News & World Report magazine, now an online-only publication, as well as other titles.
When the clock strikes 12:01 a.m. Friday, KAOI-FM 95.1 Wailuku, the first FM station on a neighbor island, will start celebrating its 37th anniversary.
Shocker! After 22 years at KITV, reporter Daryl Huff will leave his TV news career June 24 for a management position with nonprofit health care plan AlohaCare.
Grand Wailea Managing Director Matt Bailey is sporting a new hairstyle, or lack thereof, more accurately.
Hawaii is the second-favorite offshore and third-favorite luxury destination among U.S. honeymooners, according to the third annual Honeymoon Study by The Knot Market Intelligence.
The latest Hawaii franchise of the way-more-than 700-unit Gyu-Kaku restaurant officially opened Wednesday at Windward Mall after a soft opening the week before.
A newsroom colleague shared the news that "restaurant ‘death row' has claimed another one," and, sure enough, the less-than-year-old, Italian-American eatery that bore the storied Castagnola's name has been shuttered.
Longtime Honolulu ad men Marc Witter and Patrick Bullard are getting some extra visibility with the renaming of Heinrich Hawaii to Heinrich Witter Bullard Marketing.
Hawaii's beaches are among the top summer destinations for families, according to a Travelocity booking data review released in advance of Memorial Day, the unofficial start of summer.
Three Hawaii-based advertising industry businesses have made the "finalist" cut for the upcoming national American Advertising Federation ADDY Awards.
Three now-silent Hawaii County radio stations are up for auction due to the bankruptcy case of Idaho-based parent company Parrott Broadcasting L.P.
The Hawaii Farm Bureau Federation is reinventing itself, not so much to be “not your father’s” farm bureau federation, but to carry Hawaii agriculture into the future and help the state become more self-reliant in its ability to feed its inhabitants.
Taro Delight LLC founder Tom Purdy has left the nest known as the Pacific Gateway Center and flown on to independence at a commercial kitchen from whence his taro-based food products are now being made.
Recently retired KITV reporter and longtime journalist Denby Fawcett will be inducted into the Associated Press Television & Radio Association Hall of Fame June 4 in a special ceremony preceeding its annual Mark Twain Awards.
Expect a big line at Ala Moana Center for the opening of Bath & Body Works on May 2, following media previews.
The Hawaii Geek Meet is what happens when diverse, technology-oriented groups combine, including the University of Hawaii Institute for Astronomy, the Emergency Amateur Radio Club and TechHui.com, sprinkled liberally with the LEGO Enthusiasts Association of Hawaii and the Pacific Outpost of the 501st Legion (you know, the Storm Troopers).
The Waikiki Edition hotel and its spa have made the 15th annual Hot List by Conde Nast Traveler magazine.
The decade-old Kailua fixture that is Kimo's Surf Hut is for sale by its owners, Kimo and Ruth Aluli, for an asking price of $1 million.
Our beachy burg is among the winners of the 2011 Travelers' Choice Beaches Awards by TripAdvisor.
Becker Communications' 25th-anniversary commemoration will commence with $25,000 worth of pro-bono public relations work for the Domestic Violence Action Center, selected by judges from among 58 nonprofit entries to receive the award.
At least two websites with Hawaii ties have joined the explosion of sites that crowd-source for graphic design work.
Many a commuter seeking morning coffee and Spam musubi for the road, or customer desperately in need of a cheese-sauce-covered hot dog have no doubt had their jaws drop upon seeing the Kaneohe 7-Eleven store not only closed, but cleaned out of all its merchandise and fixtures.
The old Bank of Hawaii branch in Waialua will open its doors Friday morning as Waialua Fresh, a new grocery store owned by Moui Lo.
Quick, think "Peeps." You probably either thought about your crew, your posse, your friends or those neon-yellow chick- and bunny-shaped marshmallow sweets popular at Easter.
The reborn Hawaii Regional Cuisine movement can expect quite a bit of national ink following the performance of chefs and restaurateurs George Mavrothalassitis and Alan Wong and their crews at New York's James Beard House earlier this month.
The $14.5 million Clarence T.C. Ching Learning and Technology Center will stage its grand opening this morning at Saint Louis School.
Traditional news outlets had us glued to tsunami coverage, with pulses racing, from the Star-Advertiser website to television stations to the radio. Social media users shared links to news and video coverage from their own communities and around the world.
The nation's fifth-largest television network wants to get into Hawaii households via digital basic cable service and is enlisting the help of the local Hispanic population to try to make it happen.
'Tis the season for hard-working public relations practitioners to speak up not for their clients, but for themselves, as the Public Relations Society of America Hawaii Chapter gathers entries for the 28th annual Koa Anvil Public Relations Awards.
Two Hawaii chefs and a year-old Lahaina restaurant are semifinalists for this year's James Beard Foundation Awards, the Oscars of the culinary industry.
Renowned travel site TripAdvisor has named Kihei and Lahaina, Maui, to its Top Vacation Rental Hot Spot list for 2011.
The wraps are about to come off the new statewide student news network Hiki No. "Hiki No" is a half-hour, student-created newscast each week. It premieres at 5 p.m. Monday on PBS Hawaii.
One of two companies with federal grants to get broadband Internet access to unserved households is reaching out specifically to people in Hawaii and Alaska.
Some 14 local companies and local units of national companies will be sharing Sunday's Super Bowl spotlight with the likes of GoDaddy.com, Anheuser-Busch InBev and other national and international advertisers who hope to leverage the biggest U.S. television audience of the year.
Hawaii graphic designers and creative, technically inclined nonprofessional designers 18 and older now have their shot at immortality — by designing a new label for the Less Sodium Spam can.
Once again, the possibility of an Olive Garden restaurant coming to Hawaii has been dashed.
A new Hawaii-created application for mobile devices connects surfing buddies via the ether so they can meet up IRL (in real life) and get deals and discounts on surf accessories, coffee and more.
Dan Meisenzahl is sure to get a lot of "Oh, so you're the new Tammy Mori" cracks as he starts his new job Monday as information specialist for the state Department of Transportation. That is the same day Mori rejoins KHON-TV as its "Wake Up 2day" traffic reporter — she had joined the DOT in 2008.
Honolulu Coffee Co. owner Ed Schultz is hobnobbing with celebrities while serving them 100 percent Hawaii-grown coffee in the 2011 Golden Globe Celebrity Suites in Hollywood. The suites are set up in advance of the Golden Globes Awards telecast, coming up Sunday from 7 to 10 p.m. on KHNL-TV.
The Hawaiian Punch mascot named "Punchy" has been upgraded for a reintroduction in stores and advertising next month. The two-dimensional version familiar to generations has been upgraded to appear more three-dimensional, according to a Dow Jones news report.
Titans retained dominance and a new format bested expectations in the most recent radio ratings survey, which ended shortly before a successful and beloved format vanished, leaving listeners lamenting.
The latest restaurant by chef and restaurateur Philippe Padovani will open Monday for lunch and dinner in the old L'Uraku space at 1341 Kapiolani Blvd., where he and chef Donato Loperfido opened 'Elua and then Loperfido opened Sapori Enoteca/Birreria.
Twenty-five large worth of free public relations work could go a long way toward helping one or more Hawaii nonprofit organizations get their message(s) out — which is what Becker Communications Inc. is offering in commemoration of its 25th anniversary.
Hawaii tourism appears to be on the rising path to recovery, and if world-renowned travel publications have any say in the matter, 2011 could be even better.
KITV Senior Producer/Director Sid Milburn's resemblance to President Barack Obama is being cast to a much wider audience than those in the seats at Diamond Head Theatre for the annual "Gridiron" variety show staged by the Society of Professional Journalists Hawaii Chapter.
Hawaii-based L&L Franchise Inc. has ranked No. 184 among the 2011 Franchise 500 list prepared by Entrepreneur magazine for its January issue, currently available online. The popular local plate lunch restaurant has 188 U.S. locations and three foreign locations but has been steadily expanding since it began franchising in 1991.
"Hawaii Five-0" star Daniel Dae Kim and Hawaii chef and restaurateur D. K. Kodama have sold their interests in burger franchise Counter Kahala LLC, which does business as The Counter, for undisclosed terms.
Hawaii recording artist Jake Shimabukuro will start the new year with a new CD release and a new one-year celebrity endorsement deal for Farmers Insurance Hawaii. The value of the deal was not disclosed.
So you've already done the doorbuster thing and have amassed only a portion of your intended pile of new electronics gifts (not just the ones for yourself) this holiday season -- and you're wondering what to do with the old stuff you'll need to get rid of, to make room for the new.
The James Beard Foundation Celebrity Chef Tour will make its first Hawaii stop Jan. 21 and 22 at the Mauna Lani Bay Hotel & Bungalows on the Big Island.
Thirty-one years and countless marriage proposals, wedding anniversaries and baby showers later, John Dominis Restaurant closed its doors for good after last night's final service.
Hawaii News Now evening anchor Tannya Joaquin will begin the new year with 0-dark-30 wake-ups as she moves to fill the "Sunrise" co-anchor seat to be vacated by Grace Lee after today's broadcast.
Longtime air talents Jane Pascual and Bill Carpenter are looking for work after being "restructured" out of their positions at Cox Radio Hawaii.
In 12 short days, sisters Noel Pietsch and Stephanie Pietsch Gambetta will be throwing open the doors to their new Wahoo's Fish Taco neighborhood restaurant in Kahala, at the corner of Kilauea and Pahoa avenues.
Big national department stores are touting free shipping promotions for the upcoming holiday season but you, oh savvy Hawaii shopper, know full well that you have to read the fine print.
All those aerial beauty shots of Waikiki Beach during the September premiere of "Hawaii Five-0" 2.0 paid off for the Aston Waikiki Beach Hotel, where scenes were shot for tonight's episode. That September video, fed from a camera atop the Aston's Coconut Club, was used by the national entertainment press here to cover the event.
Lifelong circus man Cornell "Tuffy" Nicholas and lifelong marketing man Doug Harris of The Harris Agency LLC have formed Nicholas Harris Entertainment to expand the scope of Maui's Cirque Polynesia to audiences abroad.
The Ohana Waikiki Beachcomber officially became the Holiday Inn Waikiki Beachcomber after a Hawaiian blessing and re-branding ceremony yesterday.
A company founded in Hawaii in 1851 will enter a float in the 122nd annual Rose Parade in Pasadena, Calif., for the first time in its history.
Seven educators from the San Diego Unified School District have been prohibited from traveling to Hawaii for the four-day International Baccalaureate professional development conference in Honolulu beginning Dec. 3, after a news report questioned the necessity of a Hawaii trip.
Hilton Hawaiian Village and its Tropics Bar & Grill not only served as backdrops and locations for scenes in Monday's "Hawaii Five-0" episode, they were mentioned in the script. Product placement is one thing, but geez Louise, how much did that cost?
Time to plan to budget your calorie consumption during the upcoming holiday season, as the Hawaii Chocolate Festival on Saturday, Feb. 26, will not be a low-cal event.
Pure Kona coffee has been named the winner of a rare award from the Parmigiano-Reggiano Cheese Consortium in Italy, or Consorzio del Formaggio Parmigiano-Reggiano, its name there.
The internationally known Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity has chosen 100 percent Kona coffee as a finalist for a Parmigiano-Reggiano award.
Caution: Contents of this column may cause the rapid transfer of a beverage from mouth to newspaper or computer screen.
The trio of TV stations known as Hawaii Now or, for newscast branding purposes, Hawaii News Now, will mark its first anniversary Oct. 26, two days before the Oct. 28 start of the November Nielsen ratings.
"Hawaii Five-0" is in production on its eighth episode and seems in no danger of falling victim to the network cancellation ax.
Pablo's Cantina will open in the former Compadres Mexican Bar & Grill space in Ward Centre tomorrow night with a series of fundraisers. Its grand opening will be Oct. 22. It's sort of expected in Hawaii that when a restaurant opens, the first night will benefit a nonprofit, but to have multiple nights to help multiple organizations is unusual.
Wahoo's Fish Taco co-founder Wing Lam will speak to entrepreneurship students, take meetings with board-sport lifestyle brand leaders and maybe catch some waves while in Hawaii next week.
Chef George Mavrothalassitis' eponymous Chef Mavro restaurant has been notified of its third consecutive AAA Five Diamond win and will be presented with the award in January. He credits his "energetic" staff, the average age of which is in its 30s when he is removed from the equation, he chuckled.
Chef and restaurateur Chai Chaowasaree has been named executive chef for Hawaiian Airlines under a two-year, renewable contract, the value of which was not disclosed.
Tamura Enterprises Inc. will expand its full-service grocery store chain to the old Barbers Point Navy Commissary on Enterprise Avenue before the end of the year, giving it three grocery stores in addition to its three wine and spirits stores.
Not every birth goes well. Not every baby born gets to go home with its mother right away. Sometimes babies and mothers are wrenched apart due to medical fragility and the infant's need to receive critical care on Oahu. With help from Aloha Air Cargo and Hawaii Mothers' Milk Inc. that dates back to sometime in the 1980s, those babies can still get their own mothers' milk.
The new owner of the first family's so-called "winter White House" is continuing to market the home as a private, luxury rental and has as yet no confirmation that the first family will be vacationing there this holiday season.
A tiny new patent-pending device invented by a Kauai couple may resolve the frustration of pushing the wrong button on the remote for your TV-cable-TiVo-DVR-DVD-viewing.
Hawaii Cord Blood Bank might just become a household name, now that it will be the focus of the Ad 2 Honolulu 2010-2011 pro-bono public service campaign. Ad 2 Honolulu, itself a nonprofit, has been providing marketing campaigns for Hawaii nonprofit organizations since 1969 and has repeatedly won national recognition in the process.
A marketing and advertising guy at First Hawaiian Bank first came up with "the bank that says yes," back in 1969. One echelon of bank leadership at the time gave it a resounding "no," but the marketing guy, named Walter Dods, and bank ad agency Milici Valenti got approval from the late John Bellinger, then the bank's president, to move forward.
Chef and restaurateur Roy Yamaguchi will open a new restaurant later this month in Princeville, Kauai, at the Prince Golf Course. There are more than 30 Roy's restaurants around the world, but this will not be branded as such.
A new "The Pet Corner" sign will go up over "The Pet Spot" at Ward Warehouse at the end of this week or early next to reflect the shop's new but familiar ownership.
Honolulu presentation coach Pam Chambers is assembling a reunion of the Winners' Circle Breakfast Club, a successful motivational, service-minded business club from back in the day.
Jack in the Box Hawaii has a new University of Hawaii antenna ball this year -- with a logo from back in the day when "Let's go Bows" was the hue and cry and before there was any such thing as the wave.
An unauthorized APEC website mentioned in this column Monday has been taken offline by California-based InMotion Hosting Inc. A message on the page instructs the account holder to contact customer service and also indicates InMotion Hosting "cannot disclose any information regarding this account if you are not its owner or authorized party."
Anti-APEC voices are masquerading online as that which they disdain. At least one site with a Web address almost identical to the official APEC site's has been operating, offering mostly inactive links but with one leading to stories mocking the organization.
Smack in the middle of APEC week, all broadcast radio and television, cable and satellite companies and Hawaiian Telcom's Internet protocol TV service are going to carry a long-planned, nationwide Emergency Alert System test.
The KZOO Radio Shirokiya Studio will mark its grand opening on Sept. 26 with a media event and on-air interviews.
The Maui-based parent company of 31 Ben Franklin Crafts and Ace Hardware stores in Hawaii and three mainland states is marking its 60th anniversary this year.
Well-known public relations and communications companies, internal communications departments and individual shining stars were honored at the 28th annual Public Relations Society of America - Hawaii Chapter's Koa Anvil awards ceremony Thursday night at the Hawaii Prince Hotel Waikiki.
Hearing anything described as being a "game changer" brings out the skeptic in reporters, but Hawaii island-based Zapps Global Inc.
The Hawaii Spam can design by Scott Kaneshiro of Mililani, encasing the reduced-sodium version of the staple, will hit store shelves Aug. 1 — and to promote the limited-time-only can design, Spam maker Hormel Foods is staging a video contest.
Local manufacturers hope to get their products into Hawaii's military commissaries and exchanges through the annual American Logistics Association Hawaii Food Show Aug. 17 at the Hawaii Prince Hotel.
Jeff Coelho will retire later this year, signing off from his more than 40-year career in broadcasting.
Monkeypod Kitchen by Peter Merriman will expand to Oahu’s Ko Olina Resort by next summer, but “we hope for late spring,” said Merriman, chef-owner of the restaurant destined to be the new flagship location. Construction is slated to begin in November.
Don Ho's Island Grill has closed.
Rumors abound about what happened to the storied eatery and watering hole that opened in 1999 bearing the legendary entertainer's name.
Marcus Bender's Kai Young Coconut Shochu and Kai Lemongrass Ginger Shochu both were featured Friday on NBC TV's "Today" with Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb.
Two major benefits of becoming an Enterprise Zone business will evaporate — with some exceptions — for at least two years beginning Friday.
Shocker! The Colony Restaurant will close Thursday after 35 years of serving steak, seafood and memorable experiences to visitors and residents alike.
The Apple store at Ala Moana Center will close for a $1.2 million renovation project, moving its operations to temporary space No. 2231 from existing space No. 2243 in the interim, according to public records.
Online shoppers in the 808, the 49th state and points beyond who use Missouri-based Ship & Save to save on shipping purchases will notice a bit of a change after July 1.
Pablo's Mexican Cantina has closed after eight months of operation at Ward Centre.
The Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea is the second-best hotel in the U.S. after the Elysian Hotel Chicago, according to analysis by U.S. News Media Group. The company used to publish U.S. News & World Report magazine, now an online-only publication, as well as other titles.
When the clock strikes 12:01 a.m. Friday, KAOI-FM 95.1 Wailuku, the first FM station on a neighbor island, will start celebrating its 37th anniversary.
Shocker! After 22 years at KITV, reporter Daryl Huff will leave his TV news career June 24 for a management position with nonprofit health care plan AlohaCare.
Grand Wailea Managing Director Matt Bailey is sporting a new hairstyle, or lack thereof, more accurately.
Hawaii is the second-favorite offshore and third-favorite luxury destination among U.S. honeymooners, according to the third annual Honeymoon Study by The Knot Market Intelligence.
The latest Hawaii franchise of the way-more-than 700-unit Gyu-Kaku restaurant officially opened Wednesday at Windward Mall after a soft opening the week before.
A newsroom colleague shared the news that "restaurant ‘death row' has claimed another one," and, sure enough, the less-than-year-old, Italian-American eatery that bore the storied Castagnola's name has been shuttered.
Longtime Honolulu ad men Marc Witter and Patrick Bullard are getting some extra visibility with the renaming of Heinrich Hawaii to Heinrich Witter Bullard Marketing.
Hawaii's beaches are among the top summer destinations for families, according to a Travelocity booking data review released in advance of Memorial Day, the unofficial start of summer.
Three Hawaii-based advertising industry businesses have made the "finalist" cut for the upcoming national American Advertising Federation ADDY Awards.
Three now-silent Hawaii County radio stations are up for auction due to the bankruptcy case of Idaho-based parent company Parrott Broadcasting L.P.
The Hawaii Farm Bureau Federation is reinventing itself, not so much to be “not your father’s” farm bureau federation, but to carry Hawaii agriculture into the future and help the state become more self-reliant in its ability to feed its inhabitants.
Taro Delight LLC founder Tom Purdy has left the nest known as the Pacific Gateway Center and flown on to independence at a commercial kitchen from whence his taro-based food products are now being made.
Recently retired KITV reporter and longtime journalist Denby Fawcett will be inducted into the Associated Press Television & Radio Association Hall of Fame June 4 in a special ceremony preceeding its annual Mark Twain Awards.
Expect a big line at Ala Moana Center for the opening of Bath & Body Works on May 2, following media previews.
The Hawaii Geek Meet is what happens when diverse, technology-oriented groups combine, including the University of Hawaii Institute for Astronomy, the Emergency Amateur Radio Club and TechHui.com, sprinkled liberally with the LEGO Enthusiasts Association of Hawaii and the Pacific Outpost of the 501st Legion (you know, the Storm Troopers).
The Waikiki Edition hotel and its spa have made the 15th annual Hot List by Conde Nast Traveler magazine.
The decade-old Kailua fixture that is Kimo's Surf Hut is for sale by its owners, Kimo and Ruth Aluli, for an asking price of $1 million.
Our beachy burg is among the winners of the 2011 Travelers' Choice Beaches Awards by TripAdvisor.
Becker Communications' 25th-anniversary commemoration will commence with $25,000 worth of pro-bono public relations work for the Domestic Violence Action Center, selected by judges from among 58 nonprofit entries to receive the award.
At least two websites with Hawaii ties have joined the explosion of sites that crowd-source for graphic design work.
Many a commuter seeking morning coffee and Spam musubi for the road, or customer desperately in need of a cheese-sauce-covered hot dog have no doubt had their jaws drop upon seeing the Kaneohe 7-Eleven store not only closed, but cleaned out of all its merchandise and fixtures.
The old Bank of Hawaii branch in Waialua will open its doors Friday morning as Waialua Fresh, a new grocery store owned by Moui Lo.
Quick, think "Peeps." You probably either thought about your crew, your posse, your friends or those neon-yellow chick- and bunny-shaped marshmallow sweets popular at Easter.
The reborn Hawaii Regional Cuisine movement can expect quite a bit of national ink following the performance of chefs and restaurateurs George Mavrothalassitis and Alan Wong and their crews at New York's James Beard House earlier this month.
The $14.5 million Clarence T.C. Ching Learning and Technology Center will stage its grand opening this morning at Saint Louis School.
Traditional news outlets had us glued to tsunami coverage, with pulses racing, from the Star-Advertiser website to television stations to the radio. Social media users shared links to news and video coverage from their own communities and around the world.
The nation's fifth-largest television network wants to get into Hawaii households via digital basic cable service and is enlisting the help of the local Hispanic population to try to make it happen.
'Tis the season for hard-working public relations practitioners to speak up not for their clients, but for themselves, as the Public Relations Society of America Hawaii Chapter gathers entries for the 28th annual Koa Anvil Public Relations Awards.
Two Hawaii chefs and a year-old Lahaina restaurant are semifinalists for this year's James Beard Foundation Awards, the Oscars of the culinary industry.
Renowned travel site TripAdvisor has named Kihei and Lahaina, Maui, to its Top Vacation Rental Hot Spot list for 2011.
The wraps are about to come off the new statewide student news network Hiki No. "Hiki No" is a half-hour, student-created newscast each week. It premieres at 5 p.m. Monday on PBS Hawaii.
One of two companies with federal grants to get broadband Internet access to unserved households is reaching out specifically to people in Hawaii and Alaska.
Some 14 local companies and local units of national companies will be sharing Sunday's Super Bowl spotlight with the likes of GoDaddy.com, Anheuser-Busch InBev and other national and international advertisers who hope to leverage the biggest U.S. television audience of the year.
Hawaii graphic designers and creative, technically inclined nonprofessional designers 18 and older now have their shot at immortality — by designing a new label for the Less Sodium Spam can.
Once again, the possibility of an Olive Garden restaurant coming to Hawaii has been dashed.
A new Hawaii-created application for mobile devices connects surfing buddies via the ether so they can meet up IRL (in real life) and get deals and discounts on surf accessories, coffee and more.
Dan Meisenzahl is sure to get a lot of "Oh, so you're the new Tammy Mori" cracks as he starts his new job Monday as information specialist for the state Department of Transportation. That is the same day Mori rejoins KHON-TV as its "Wake Up 2day" traffic reporter — she had joined the DOT in 2008.
Honolulu Coffee Co. owner Ed Schultz is hobnobbing with celebrities while serving them 100 percent Hawaii-grown coffee in the 2011 Golden Globe Celebrity Suites in Hollywood. The suites are set up in advance of the Golden Globes Awards telecast, coming up Sunday from 7 to 10 p.m. on KHNL-TV.
The Hawaiian Punch mascot named "Punchy" has been upgraded for a reintroduction in stores and advertising next month. The two-dimensional version familiar to generations has been upgraded to appear more three-dimensional, according to a Dow Jones news report.
Titans retained dominance and a new format bested expectations in the most recent radio ratings survey, which ended shortly before a successful and beloved format vanished, leaving listeners lamenting.
The latest restaurant by chef and restaurateur Philippe Padovani will open Monday for lunch and dinner in the old L'Uraku space at 1341 Kapiolani Blvd., where he and chef Donato Loperfido opened 'Elua and then Loperfido opened Sapori Enoteca/Birreria.
Twenty-five large worth of free public relations work could go a long way toward helping one or more Hawaii nonprofit organizations get their message(s) out — which is what Becker Communications Inc. is offering in commemoration of its 25th anniversary.
Hawaii tourism appears to be on the rising path to recovery, and if world-renowned travel publications have any say in the matter, 2011 could be even better.
KITV Senior Producer/Director Sid Milburn's resemblance to President Barack Obama is being cast to a much wider audience than those in the seats at Diamond Head Theatre for the annual "Gridiron" variety show staged by the Society of Professional Journalists Hawaii Chapter.
Hawaii-based L&L Franchise Inc. has ranked No. 184 among the 2011 Franchise 500 list prepared by Entrepreneur magazine for its January issue, currently available online. The popular local plate lunch restaurant has 188 U.S. locations and three foreign locations but has been steadily expanding since it began franchising in 1991.
"Hawaii Five-0" star Daniel Dae Kim and Hawaii chef and restaurateur D. K. Kodama have sold their interests in burger franchise Counter Kahala LLC, which does business as The Counter, for undisclosed terms.
Hawaii recording artist Jake Shimabukuro will start the new year with a new CD release and a new one-year celebrity endorsement deal for Farmers Insurance Hawaii. The value of the deal was not disclosed.
So you've already done the doorbuster thing and have amassed only a portion of your intended pile of new electronics gifts (not just the ones for yourself) this holiday season -- and you're wondering what to do with the old stuff you'll need to get rid of, to make room for the new.
The James Beard Foundation Celebrity Chef Tour will make its first Hawaii stop Jan. 21 and 22 at the Mauna Lani Bay Hotel & Bungalows on the Big Island.
Thirty-one years and countless marriage proposals, wedding anniversaries and baby showers later, John Dominis Restaurant closed its doors for good after last night's final service.
Hawaii News Now evening anchor Tannya Joaquin will begin the new year with 0-dark-30 wake-ups as she moves to fill the "Sunrise" co-anchor seat to be vacated by Grace Lee after today's broadcast.
Longtime air talents Jane Pascual and Bill Carpenter are looking for work after being "restructured" out of their positions at Cox Radio Hawaii.
In 12 short days, sisters Noel Pietsch and Stephanie Pietsch Gambetta will be throwing open the doors to their new Wahoo's Fish Taco neighborhood restaurant in Kahala, at the corner of Kilauea and Pahoa avenues.
Big national department stores are touting free shipping promotions for the upcoming holiday season but you, oh savvy Hawaii shopper, know full well that you have to read the fine print.
All those aerial beauty shots of Waikiki Beach during the September premiere of "Hawaii Five-0" 2.0 paid off for the Aston Waikiki Beach Hotel, where scenes were shot for tonight's episode. That September video, fed from a camera atop the Aston's Coconut Club, was used by the national entertainment press here to cover the event.
Lifelong circus man Cornell "Tuffy" Nicholas and lifelong marketing man Doug Harris of The Harris Agency LLC have formed Nicholas Harris Entertainment to expand the scope of Maui's Cirque Polynesia to audiences abroad.
The Ohana Waikiki Beachcomber officially became the Holiday Inn Waikiki Beachcomber after a Hawaiian blessing and re-branding ceremony yesterday.
A company founded in Hawaii in 1851 will enter a float in the 122nd annual Rose Parade in Pasadena, Calif., for the first time in its history.
Seven educators from the San Diego Unified School District have been prohibited from traveling to Hawaii for the four-day International Baccalaureate professional development conference in Honolulu beginning Dec. 3, after a news report questioned the necessity of a Hawaii trip.
Hilton Hawaiian Village and its Tropics Bar & Grill not only served as backdrops and locations for scenes in Monday's "Hawaii Five-0" episode, they were mentioned in the script. Product placement is one thing, but geez Louise, how much did that cost?
Time to plan to budget your calorie consumption during the upcoming holiday season, as the Hawaii Chocolate Festival on Saturday, Feb. 26, will not be a low-cal event.
Pure Kona coffee has been named the winner of a rare award from the Parmigiano-Reggiano Cheese Consortium in Italy, or Consorzio del Formaggio Parmigiano-Reggiano, its name there.
The internationally known Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity has chosen 100 percent Kona coffee as a finalist for a Parmigiano-Reggiano award.
Caution: Contents of this column may cause the rapid transfer of a beverage from mouth to newspaper or computer screen.
The trio of TV stations known as Hawaii Now or, for newscast branding purposes, Hawaii News Now, will mark its first anniversary Oct. 26, two days before the Oct. 28 start of the November Nielsen ratings.
"Hawaii Five-0" is in production on its eighth episode and seems in no danger of falling victim to the network cancellation ax.
Pablo's Cantina will open in the former Compadres Mexican Bar & Grill space in Ward Centre tomorrow night with a series of fundraisers. Its grand opening will be Oct. 22. It's sort of expected in Hawaii that when a restaurant opens, the first night will benefit a nonprofit, but to have multiple nights to help multiple organizations is unusual.
Wahoo's Fish Taco co-founder Wing Lam will speak to entrepreneurship students, take meetings with board-sport lifestyle brand leaders and maybe catch some waves while in Hawaii next week.
Chef George Mavrothalassitis' eponymous Chef Mavro restaurant has been notified of its third consecutive AAA Five Diamond win and will be presented with the award in January. He credits his "energetic" staff, the average age of which is in its 30s when he is removed from the equation, he chuckled.
Chef and restaurateur Chai Chaowasaree has been named executive chef for Hawaiian Airlines under a two-year, renewable contract, the value of which was not disclosed.
Tamura Enterprises Inc. will expand its full-service grocery store chain to the old Barbers Point Navy Commissary on Enterprise Avenue before the end of the year, giving it three grocery stores in addition to its three wine and spirits stores.
Not every birth goes well. Not every baby born gets to go home with its mother right away. Sometimes babies and mothers are wrenched apart due to medical fragility and the infant's need to receive critical care on Oahu. With help from Aloha Air Cargo and Hawaii Mothers' Milk Inc. that dates back to sometime in the 1980s, those babies can still get their own mothers' milk.
The new owner of the first family's so-called "winter White House" is continuing to market the home as a private, luxury rental and has as yet no confirmation that the first family will be vacationing there this holiday season.
A tiny new patent-pending device invented by a Kauai couple may resolve the frustration of pushing the wrong button on the remote for your TV-cable-TiVo-DVR-DVD-viewing.
Hawaii Cord Blood Bank might just become a household name, now that it will be the focus of the Ad 2 Honolulu 2010-2011 pro-bono public service campaign. Ad 2 Honolulu, itself a nonprofit, has been providing marketing campaigns for Hawaii nonprofit organizations since 1969 and has repeatedly won national recognition in the process.
A marketing and advertising guy at First Hawaiian Bank first came up with "the bank that says yes," back in 1969. One echelon of bank leadership at the time gave it a resounding "no," but the marketing guy, named Walter Dods, and bank ad agency Milici Valenti got approval from the late John Bellinger, then the bank's president, to move forward.
Chef and restaurateur Roy Yamaguchi will open a new restaurant later this month in Princeville, Kauai, at the Prince Golf Course. There are more than 30 Roy's restaurants around the world, but this will not be branded as such.
A new "The Pet Corner" sign will go up over "The Pet Spot" at Ward Warehouse at the end of this week or early next to reflect the shop's new but familiar ownership.
Honolulu presentation coach Pam Chambers is assembling a reunion of the Winners' Circle Breakfast Club, a successful motivational, service-minded business club from back in the day.
Jack in the Box Hawaii has a new University of Hawaii antenna ball this year -- with a logo from back in the day when "Let's go Bows" was the hue and cry and before there was any such thing as the wave.
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