NEW! MOVIE REVIEWS page 6 Downtown SILENT Planet VOLUME 28 NO. 5 the week of May 8, 2006 AUCTIONS What Have You Won? page 10 CRAFT ARTIST & GALLERY OWNER KAIMUKIKAIMUKI WENDY SCHOFIELD- CHING TAGGEDTAGGED aimuki residents say the graffiti problem in their neighborhood Khas gotten out of hand. Can they page 14 find a solution? See story on page 8 DINING REVIEW: Heavenly soups Seniors Play Ball and sandwiches at COVENANT BOOKS & COFFEE page 15 LEI DAY FESTIVAL in Photos page 3 STUDENT OF THE WEEK STACIE SUEDA Gateball enthusiast Dorothy Sato scores a point for Hawaii Baptist Academy her team at Ala Moana Beach Park. Sato and her fellow members of the Hawaii Aikane Gate Ball Union play gate ball, a sport derived from croquet, three times a week at page 7 the park. Photo by Ronen Zilberman. See page 16. www.downtownplanet.com 1000 Bishop Street, Suite 405 • Honolulu, Hawaii 96813 face2face BY: LANCE TOMINAGA PLANET PATROL Does your neighborhood have missing street signs? Damaged roads or public infrastructure in need of repair? Well, speak up! The Downtown Planet wants FAYE ROSS to hear from you. E-mail us at [email protected] and we’ll send a photographer to the area and track down the problem. A TOUCH OF GLASS The occasional “ka-thuds” you hear near the intersection of Waialae and 12th avenues in Kaimuki are from cars dipping into a nasty pothole on the mauka side of Waialae, close to the crosswalk. Yes, we all know by now that potholes are a fact of life in Honolulu, but this one poses a hazard to pedestrians as well as vehicles. It’s large, it’s deep and it’s very much an eyesore. Let’s hope this gets fixed! he Roman philosopher Horace once said, Center & Gallery on Waialae Avenue, next to “Adversity has the effect of eliciting talents, the entrance to St. Louis High School. Ross, MAY 2: Large pothole at the intersection of Waialae and 12th avenues. Twhich in prosperous circumstances would who grew up in Kaimuki, named the business have lain dormant.” Faye Ross, co-owner of for her grandmother, who owned a beauty Honolulu Stained Glass Studio & Accents salon nearby. Gallery in Kaimuki, would no doubt agree. Ross and her business partner, Gideon In 2001, Ross thought her life was set. She Naiditch, have since renamed and relocated “Advertising with Downtown Planet was an elementary school teacher and owned the business to an 1,800-square-foot space has doubled our sales with our Sandwich her own deli. Then, on a fateful fall afternoon several blocks up the road, near Kaimuki’s Combos, Chicken Papaya Soups and on the H-3 freeway, she got into an accident bustling “Restaurant Row.” Last November, Breads. We have been very warmly while driving home. they added a retail gallery stocked with one-of- received by the community and now “Somebody rammed into me, and I got a-kind jewelry, chimes, lamps, glasswares, have faithful customers coming really injured,” she recalls. “I didn’t break any notecards and more. According to Ross, the in everyday!” retail section now accounts for about half of bones, but there was a lot of soft tissue damage. Sandy Pascal Then I started losing feeling in my right hand, her business, while the other half comes from Owner, THE BREAD OF LIFE and that got me scared.” her commissioned pieces. As part of her healing process, Ross took “We really like this location,” says Ross. up stained glass as a hobby. “It was relaxing, We’ve thought about expanding our retail fun and very therapeutic,” she says. “I had section and moving the commission work always loved art, although I never had formal [elsewhere], but we want to stay in Kaimuki. art training. I just liked stained glass – it’s the This area has so much potential.” most ‘fun’ functional art I can think of - and “Potential” is something that Ross is when I like something, I like to share it.” realizing herself, and it all goes back to a Ross discovered she had a natural gift for horrendous accident on the freeway. “If I creating exquisite stained glass works, from didn’t get injured, I wouldn’t have taken the Hawaiiana and tropical motifs to more time off to relax and rest, and I never would contemporary designs. People began asking have known that I could do stained glass,” she her to teach them the craft. says. “I got to pursue a passion, and I ended up In April 2003, she opened Venus Art really taking off with it.” body + mind spa Discovering the Secret of Body & Mind Need a stress break? 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NORTH CAROLINA visitors Chris and Dan Bell, draped in yellow leis, watched the Lei Day Queen and her court during a ceremony. 2006 LEI QUEEN Sharla Kuualoha led VISITORS FROM AUSTRALIA: Aruna Poching (left) and Shar the Lei Day ceremony. She was raised Mitchell, holding Poching’s daughter A.J. on the Hawaiian Homestead of Waimanalo. LEXY-ROSE UPUNUT (right) watched as her mother, Linal, sketches a drawing. Behind them is John Storm. MARY AANA created beautiful leis under a shady tree in Queen Kapiolani Park. She JUDGE RAY WONG, sporting a lei and summer hat, couldn’t is from Hui O Paki Seniors. contain his enthusiasm during the Lei Day festivities. JAPANESE TOURISTS snacked on Hawaiian Roasted Corn. From left are Junko and Nobuhiro Abe from Chiba, Japan. BABY’S FIRST LEI DAY: Keola (left) and Piilani CARRIE LEONG, a member of the City & County Medeiros. Holding them is Keala Medeiros, who is committee, displayed leis for judges. Keola's mom. STACY AH MOW created Hawaiian arts and crafts. DOWNTOWN PLANET May 8, 2006 {3} OPINION POLITICAL STEAM THIS WEEK IN By Mano Pua D OWNTOWN P LANET COLUMNIST HAWAII HISTORY May 8, 1920: Two Army seaplanes make the longest non-stop inter-island flight, Honolulu to Kauai, 100 miles. It is the first airplane to land on Kauai. May 9, 1909: Hawaii’s first major sugar plantation strike is led by Higher Wages Association leaders Yasutaro Soga and Fred Makino. Seven thousand Japanese workers say their wages are “semi-slavery” and PLAY BY PLAY demand the same pay as Portuguese workers. May 9, 1918: Army Major Harold Clark makes Hawaii’s first inter-island flight. He flies from Fort Kamehameha to Maui, then Hilo, but clouds, fog If Sens. Hanabusa, Hee and Hooser and darkness at Mauna Kea make him crash into trees near Kawiki, Hawaii are seeking the second Congressional Island. He walks two days before reaching a road. May 10, 1955: U.S. House of Representatives votes 218-170 to reject a bill seat vacated by Ed Case, they should to grant statehood to both Hawaii and Alaska. May 14, 1902: Hawaii begins tourism promotion. think twice about playing the The Honolulu Chamber of Commerce and Merchants’ Association agrees to send Honolulu political game the way they do. businessman Walter Weedon on a six-month tourism promotion to the Mainland. He shows photos, gives lectures and distributes pamphlets Hats off to Hemmings. Boy, you got to was of no real consequence, since the operative abut Hawaii. give Sen. Fred Hemmings credit. He called it parts of the gas cap bill was an indefinite just like it is! On Tuesday, the Senate was suspension. But to hear the dissidents scowl May 14, 1979: Governor George Ariyoshi signs rocked by yet another internal battle cloaked and posture was grand kabuki! the Housing Loan and Mortgage Act, better as a fight over the gas cap. If Sens. Hanabusa, Hee and Hooser are known as Hula Mae, to provide low interest In reality, it was a power play by Sens. seeking the second Congressional seat vacated mortgage loans to help thousands of first-time Colleen Hanabusa, Clayton Hee, Donna Kim by Ed Case, they should think twice about home buyers. and their cohorts. The worst-kept secret about playing the political game the way they do. But the Senate is that it is split 10-10-5. And that’s then again, maybe they should be congressmen not some long-distance plan. That’s the split and woman since they play the game. From Hawaii’s Forgotten History between the Democratic majority and the five Unfortunately, they couldn’t count the By Rich Budnick, author of Stolen Kingdom and Hawaiian Street Names republicans. Last session, the dissident group votes! And that not only was fatal to their of 10, led by the aforementioned senators, abortive attempt but should give the voters in attempted a palace coup. the second congressional some pause about It almost succeeded when Sens.