Long Reads
How Did Thousands of Hawai‘i’s Students Vanish—And Can We Get Them Back?
Disappearing students.
Honolulu is Losing Trees When We Need Them More Than Ever. Can New Initiatives Save Us?
If you can only plant one tree, make it an urban one.
Why I Ran in the 49th Cherry Blossom Festival
Catherine E. Toth is far from a conventional beauty-queen contestant. So how’d she find herself on stage with a tiara on her head?
Hiki Nō Celebrates 10 Years of Sharing Students’ Stories
PBS Hawai‘i marks a decade of the nation’s first statewide student news network with a special show. We look back at what it took to turn an ambitious idea into reality.
Murder, Kidnapping, Drug Trafficking and Money Laundering: Here’s How Hawai‘i’s Crime Scene is Changing
Since the 1970s, organized crime in Hawai‘i has rippled through the community, from gangland-style slayings, gambling and drugs to diverse global operations. We take a closer look at how organized crime has changed over the decades.
What’s Working, What’s Failed and What Needs to be Done to Fix The Decades-Old Problem of Job Shortages?
Health care, education and law enforcement have struggled for years to hire and keep people. Some staffing shortages have reached crisis levels—and that was before COVID-19.
More Than Any Other Brewery, Beer Lab HI Captures the Everyday Joys of Living in Hawai‘i
In craft brewing, Beer Lab feels like what the Hawai‘i Regional Cuisine movement was to Hawai‘i’s culinary world almost 30 years ago.
The Shark Chronicles Part II: 5 Years After He Saved A Shark Attack Victim, A Filmmaker’s Journey
What makes one person paddle toward a violent shark attack while others flee? In the case of Keoni TeTawa Bowthorpe, the factors are many and complex, but begin with his culture and upbringing.
One Year Later: The Effects of Hawai‘i’s Illegal Short-Term Rental Ban
Illegal vacation rentals have worsened Hawai‘i’s affordable housing shortage while contributing to an overrun of visitors.
The Shark Chronicles, Part I: Catching Up with a Shark Attack Victim 5 Years Later
The shark swimmer, the shark attack victim and the filmmaker who saved him: Five years after a fateful day, they’ve reunited in Hawai‘i.
In the Room with COVID-19: Hawaiʻi Nurses Talk About Patient Care in a Pandemic
For COVID-19 patients hospitalized in isolation, nurses provide a crucial human connection—at the risk of their own safety.
Rethinking Hawai‘i: How the Visitor Industry Should Operate in the Future
The experts tell us how best to move forward when restrictions ease and tourism emerges.
COVID-19 Hits Home: Three Oʻahu People Who Contracted COVID-19 Talk About Their Illness and Long Recovery
The number of coronavirus cases in Hawai‘i just surpassed 4,000, with more than 2,000 of those cases recorded in the past two weeks.
“This Is It, I’m Going to Die. Mom, Help.” A Hawaiʻi Man Remembers His Days as a Black College Student in New York
After Jayson Harper graduated from Kaiser High School, he was eager to make his mark in New York. But soon, an encounter with police taught him instead to be invisible.
Can We Ever Eat All Local in Hawai‘i?
The governor set a goal of doubling local food production by 2020. So how do we measure up?
Looking For a Job? We Talked to More Than 14 Companies Hiring in Hawai‘i Right Now
From frontline nurses and the CDC to security and food delivery services, diverse businesses are looking for workers. HONOLULU Magazine and Hawai‘i Business Magazine teamed up to find out who they are.
Sour Poi Awards: Looking Back on the Best of the Worst News in Hawai‘i from 2019
The offbeat, obscure and outrageous.
Long Live Kaho‘olawe: Restoring the Former Military Bombing Site Off the Coast of Maui
Twenty years after the bombing stopped, Kaho‘olawe sets a path for the future.
HONOLULU Magazine Remembers the Decade That Was: Hawai‘i Through the 2010s
Goodbye 2010s. Hello to the next roaring ’20s!
17 Nisei Veterans Share Stories of the Lives They Built in Hawai‘i After World War II
They’re our everyday heroes in plain clothes—the revered second-generation Japanese American veterans of World War II. Fewer than 250 Hawai‘i nisei vets are known to be alive today in Hawai‘i. And the war is just part of their life stories.
Meet the Guardians of the Nēnē Who Are Helping to Save Hawai‘i’s Endangered Bird
On private lands across Hawai‘i, generations of families and ranchers have hosted and cared for the endangered bird.
Will These 4 Hawaiian Traditions Disappear Forever? Meet the Teachers Who Are Fighting to Keep Them Alive
The Office of Hawaiian Affairs hopes to bolster ancient cultural traditions with a soon-to-be-released directory of artists, instructors and experts. Meet four of those practitioners who are fighting to keep their ancient arts alive.
After 71 Years in Business, Hawai‘i’s Family-Run Foodland is Swinging for the Fences
Changes are happening across Foodland’s 33 stores, some gradual and subtle, others over the top. And there’s more coming.
Subscribe to Honolulu
We aren’t picky, we’re just…discerning.
Hawai‘i is full of amazing places. Most of them you’re free to visit, but there are a few where you’re just not allowed. Here’s a peek into Hawai‘i’s coolest off-limits corners.
We take a look inside your high school yearbooks to find what’s changed about the local high school experience over the years, and what’s stayed exactly the same.
Hole-in-the-wall general stores dishing up their own eats— even if it’s just one ‘ono item—are a beloved part of Island life. Here are a few of Hawai‘i’s best.
Need something to read—or hand to someone who does? Here’s HONOLULU’s first-ever list of the most iconic, trenchant and irresistible Island books, as voted by a panel of literary community luminaries.