In a technology-driven society where the iMiracle of six months ago is one overhyped product launch removed from obsolescence, Terence "Yoda" Yorga’s cellphone repair kiosk on the corner of Atkinson Drive and Kapiolani Boulevard stands as a refreshingly retrograde refuge for unmediated human contact.
There Yorga patiently listens to the tales of modern-day woe spun by despairing clients who have dropped, drowned, cracked, shellacked, stepped on, run over or otherwise rendered inoperative their pricey but oh-so fragile cellphones.
In most cases Yorga’s technical wizardry is sufficient to save his Gadget Guyz clients the hassle and expense of having to buy a new phone. But even when he can’t, his customers still come away better for him having taken the time to care to address their problem seriously.
"This is a basically a mom-and-pop shop," Yorga says. "It’s about personalized attention. That’s what communities are built on: people helping each other."
Yorga grew up in Minnesota and moved to Hawaii in 1989, building on the communications training he received in the Air Force to carve an early niche in the nascent cellphone industry.
In 1993 he opened his own cellphone repair shop on Pohukaina Street, later relocating to the downtown area (where he would meet his customers at curbside if they couldn’t find parking) and then his current location.
Over the years, Yorga has built a loyal word-of-mouth clientele, in part because of his ability to bring seemingly defunct cellphones back from the dead, in part because of that personalized service.
On a recent Saturday, Yorga was able to track the number of customers he had by counting how many of his homegrown tangerines he had passed out for Chinese New Year.
Like his diminutive, pointy-eared nicknamesake, Yorga is a recognized master at what he does and a bit of a philosopher at heart. Having witnessed the evolution of mobile phones from simple communication devices the size of a hand mixer to powerful hand-held personal computers, Yorga is ambivalent about the ways in which the devices have affected human interaction.
"(Events like) 9/11 bring us together, but we need to do that every day — communicate and commune with our fellow man," he says. "Cellphones can make that difficult but they’re just a tool. If your battery dies, you have to face the world."
Yorga’s impulse to groundedness finds literal expression during his off hours as he spends precious time hiking, tending to his home or working in his garden, where his small warren of pet rabbits roam free.
"I live in a house with a yard where I can lay in the grass and watch the stars," Yorga says. "For me, being in nature is the most wonderful thing."
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Check out @IncidentalLives on Twitter. Reach Michael Tsai at mtsai@staradvertiser.com.
