Natalie Burns is an avid surfer, but she avoids riding the waves at Ala Moana Bowls because finding a clean restroom that’s open when nature calls is difficult.
"I’ve only been in there (the nearest harbor restroom) twice because it’s so disgusting," Burns said. "There are homeless people living in them, and you don’t feel safe. There are dirty clothes on the ground and piles of doo-doo. It’s stinky."
Public and private policies aimed at managing Waikiki’s homeless population and crime have made finding access to decent lavatories a challenge for surfers and other ocean-users.
The state implemented a policy last month limiting public use at the four restrooms at Ala Wai Small Boat Harbor. Farther down the Waikiki waterfront, beach-users find that the Queen’s Surf restroom is the only one of five city public restrooms that is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
And a decision by Hilton Hawaiian Village not to mark its Kahanamoku Street public washrooms and to limit access to them has added to the inconvenience, said Ann Robinson, an Ilikai resident and Waikiki activist.
"How can they call it a public bathroom when people don’t even know it’s there?" Robinson recently complained to the Waikiki Neighborhood Board.
The trend is worrisome, said Janet Mandrell, president of the Makai Society for Maritime Lifestyles. "Bathrooms should be available. They are a necessity."
The city required Hilton to build a public bathroom on Kahanamoku Street, the beach access road, as a trade-off for approval of the hotel’s Grand Waikikian development plan.
"It’s an ask from the community, and we agreed to do it," said Hilton Area Vice President Jerry Gibson.
Hilton opens one of the two public restrooms from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, Gibson said, adding that one facility is kept closed to provide a backup if the other needs to be closed for repairs or maintenance. To keep them open, the hotel spends $64,000 annually with about $20,000 of that going toward major repairs, Gibson said.
"Vandalism is severe. We’ve had toilets broken in half, sinks cracked and faucets broken," he said.
The city did not require the hotel to make the restroom available at night or to post signage, Gibson said. "I’m not going to promote the use of that bathroom because of safety concerns. It’s on a quiet street. The surfers and locals know that it’s there, and they use it."
In addition to the Kahanamoku Street lavatories, the public also has access to 17 others on Hilton’s property and a marked public facility on Paoa Place that is open from 5:30 a.m. to 8 p.m., he said.
While the city Department of Planning and Permitting agrees with Hilton’s stance, some nearby residents and ocean-users complain that not marking the restrooms, which are tucked into the back of a fake-rock wall behind Hilton’s Paradise Pool, prevents true public use.
"They were required to do something, and typical Hilton, even though they do many good things for the community, they do what they want," said Bruce Lenkeit, an Ilikai resident and harbor user.
While Hilton contends that surfers know about the Kahanamoku Street restroom, Burns and about five of her surfing buddies said last week that they were unaware of them. Since harbor restrooms are not always open, people should be informed about the Hilton facilities, they said.
Otherwise, Burns said, "some people are going to be going in the lagoon and in the bushes."
Ilikai resident Nancy Mueting, who maintains a small garden at the boat harbor, said a few people already are using the outdoors instead.
"I have seen people cleaning up human feces and urine on the harbor grounds," Mueting said. "We need safe, dependable bathrooms in the neighborhood. Right now it’s a real hardship for locals and for our visitors who are walking the Waikiki promenade."
While providing clean, safe public restrooms is essential for maintaining Waikiki’s status as a world-class destination, government and business officials have found it challenging. Public restrooms at the boat harbor used to be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, but since Jan. 17 they have only been open Monday to Friday between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m., said Deborah Ward, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Land and Natural Resources, which maintains the restrooms.
"The restrooms are being closed overnight because of severe problems with homeless persons who were camping in the restrooms and subsequent complaints by harbor tenants that they were harassed and locked out of the restroom," Ward said.
Before the evening closing, Ward said DLNR was grappling with stolen supplies, damaged toilets, plugged pipes and graffiti. Damage estimates were unavailable, she said. Since the department took action, conditions have improved, Ward said.
"In the one month that the restrooms have been closed, the homeless are no longer hanging around, the restrooms are cleaner, supplies are intact, fewer repairs are needed," she said.
While public restrooms along Waikiki’s beaches are plentiful, the city faces some of the same safety, cleanliness and vandalism concerns.
"All (five) are vandalized regularly to different extents such as broken stall doors, broken toilet paper dispensers, graffiti, intentionally clogged toilets, broken toilet seats," said city Department of Parks and Recreation Director Gary Cabato.
The Queen’s Surf restroom is open 24 hours, but the city has limited access to others along the beach areas. Hours at the Natatorium restroom are restricted to 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Restrooms at Kuhio Beach, Ohua and the Kapiolani Beach Center are open from 6:30 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Closing the restrooms overnight has helped curb vandalism, but Waikiki homelessness still takes a toll, Cabato said.
He said the city conducts regular upkeep of its facilities. Cabato inspects all of them every six weeks. They also are inspected by city managers monthly and city superintendents weekly, he said. City supervisors inspect the restrooms in their districts daily, Cabato said.
"In Waikiki and all other areas, it is our priority to provide safe, clean and operational facilities," he said.
Still, the conditions have become a talking point among politicians. When he announced his candidacy for mayor, former Gov. Ben Cayetano said there was a need to improve dirty restrooms in city parks. Former city Managing Director Kirk Caldwell, another mayoral candidate, noted the importance of supplying soap in restrooms.
Waikiki Neighborhood Board member Walt Flood was outraged when clogged pipes recently closed Kuhio Beach restrooms. Flood said he was heartened when the city reopened them since the closing inconvenienced thousands of visitors and residents and was bad for public relations.
"This little beach park is probably the most recognizable beach in the whole world. Ten thousand new visitors hit the beaches every week and then tell their friends back in Nebraska,‘There are no public toilets in Waikiki,’" he said.
To be sure, the state of Waikiki’s public restrooms has been noted on TripAdvisor, a top travel-planning site.
Catherine Higginbotham, a visitor from Okinawa, posted about her recent Waikiki restroom encounter with a homeless man taking a bath in the sink.
"It really hurts tourism," Higginbotham said. "The condition of the restrooms is important. They reflect on the destination."
Waikiki Improvement Association President Rick Egged said he has fielded complaints and is open to working with others to find a solution.
"It’s horrible. Try as we might, it’s difficult to keep them in decent shape," Egged said. "Launching a community campaign is definitely something that we can talk about, but part of the issue is that we need to stop the bleeding first. Doing more repairs isn’t the answer."
