Chinatown

It's been a year since The Conversation last focused on the impacts of COVID-19 in downtown Honolulu. HPR's Catherine Cruz took a tour with state leaders to check in on the improvements and changes.

Becoming an activist later in life was not on the radar of cookbook author Grace Young, but she proudly claimed that title as she talked to us from her apartment in New York City recently. Young is in Honolulu this week to work with students at the Leeward Community College Culinary Institute.

Dozens of affordable housing units are currently under construction at the historic Hocking Building in Honolulu’s Chinatown. The three-story building sits on the corner of North King Street and Nuʻuanu Avenue.

A pop-up event in Chinatown will showcase intimate portraits of people living on the streets of Honolulu’s urban core. The event is titled “Independence," and will have people from different walks of life talking story about their pictures.

About 94,000 tons of commercial food waste goes into Oʻahu’s H-POWER every year. The Oʻahu Compost Project plans to divert that waste by turning old food into compost.

Post-pandemic downtown Honolulu is turning the corner with the next frontier of redevelopment. The Avalon Group recently purchased the Davies Pacific Center, a 1970s-era building that many powerhouse law firms and businesses call home. The Conversation's Catherine Cruz spoke to President and CEO Christine Camp about the project.

The transformation of a downtown Honolulu office building into a residential tower called The Residences at Bishop Place marks a bit of a seismic shift in the land use world. It's still home to the federal bankruptcy courthouse, but the floors above are mostly apartments for rent. The Conversation's Catherine Cruz has more.

Cities across the country and the globe are applying the concept of "adaptive reuse" to historic buildings, preserving some part of a structure but writing a modern story. Honolulu architect Dean Sakamoto is doing just that at the Liberty Bank Building on N. King Street in Chinatown.

While many cultural staples were brought back last year, others were still put on hold due to the pandemic. HPR's Jayna Omaye reports on the return of Night in Chinatown on Saturday, the New Year's ʻOhana Festival on Sunday, and the Honolulu Festival in March.

Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi announced on Wednesday nearly $650,000 in additional funding to continue the Honolulu Police Department’s Chinatown Task Force. This money will continue the program through the end of this calendar year.