Chai’s says aloha to Aloha Tower

The recent proposal by Hawaii Pacific University to put college dormitory rooms on the second floor of the Aloha Tower Marketplace must have made some potential student dormers happy with anticipation.

Just think, they might have thought to themselves, Chai’s Island Bistro is located there, on the first floor near the entrance — an excellent restaurant with top-notch island music entertainers.

Well, not for long. After 14 years at the struggling marketplace, chef and owner Chai Chaowasaree announced he’s calling it quits there at the end of this month and will open a new business in February, in the Honolulu Pacifica Building on Kapiolani Boulevard.

At the marketplace, meanwhile, there still will be dining available at Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurant, Hooters and a few other places, and we’re sure they’d appreciate your support.

There’s a new posse in town

Just as radio announcers Perry & Price have long had a "posse" of concerned citizens who use their cellphones to keep an eye out for traffic accidents and crime, so, too, apparently does the local car enthusiast community — as "Jon Jon" Macapalang, an Air Force staff sergeant who had a set of expensive car wheels stolen from his garage last week, can attest.

Just one day after posting photos of the wheels on his Facebook page, members of the local car community discovered someone trying to sell the wheels on Craigslist, set up a police sting, and Macapalang got his wheels back.

Impressive.