Kuhio Beach surfboard lockers poised to reopen

Among others who surf and fondly remember old-time Waikiki, where beach boys taught wave riding with aloha, Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell was saddened by the torching of the city’s Kuhio Beach Surfboard Racks and the estimated 525 boards they contained. The Feb. 27 arson left a mess of twisted, charred metal, buckled pavement and blackened walls in the alleyway between the Honolulu Police Department’s Waikiki substation and the Moana Surfrider Hotel.

“I was really upset when the boards were set on fire. I had my board there, too, before I became mayor, and I wanted to repair and get it back up and running almost immediately, ” Caldwell said, “but with the COVID pandemic it took a lot longer.”

Now, five months later, the work was pretty much completed, he said, and the city’s Department of Enterprise Services has begun emailing current locker renters the applications for renewing their leases, including instructions to make an appointment to drop off their paperwork and locks at the department’s Neal Blaisdell Center office; moving-in is slated to begin Wednesday.

“At least they’re reopening before the end of the summer swells,” Caldwell said. “Maybe we’ll even get a big Labor Day swell.”

Melissa Kurpinski, who has rented a locker for eight years, said she couldn’t wait.

“I got the email and printed out my application,” Kurpinski said Tuesday. “I’m so grateful and excited!”

>> PHOTOS: View the new Kuhio Beach SurfBoard Racks

The Kaimuki resident said the lockers, which stand about 50 feet from the ocean, were a necessity because she couldn’t park and walk carrying her heavy board.

Her J. Richardson Surfboards Makaha longboard, which she said cost $900 and was “beautiful like a Cadillac with glitter finish over ombre purple,” had gone up in smoke, but worse, she said, was “the collective trauma and loss of a meeting place where I’d see friends and get in the water.”

She’d never insured her boards, Kurpinski added, but now she would.

In recognition of renters losses from the fire, the city is waiving fees ($25 per month for residents; $40 per month for nonresidents) until Dec. 31, and returning renters will be given priority through Aug. 31.

Caldwell added that in addition to a new security camera, the city Department of Facilities Maintenance was installing a fire sprinkler system.

Caldwell said he missed “talking story after surfing and the scraping of sand on your feet on the flagstones as you put your board up.” He said he was considering renting a locker again after his term ends in January and he might have time to surf.

Meanwhile, the mayor said, he’s swimming laps at Ala Moana Beach Park to get in shape.

Which, he added, is why he permitted Honolulu residents to access the ocean for exercise when city beach parks were closed due to COVID-19.

“Even on a bad day, you come out of the water feeling better,” Caldwell said, “and that’s what people need in this pandemic.”

A reopening ceremony and blessing is planned at the lockers Tuesday.

For more information and to download forms, visit honolulu.gov/des.