honoluluadvertiser.com

Sponsored by:

Comment, blog & share photos

Log in | Become a member
The Honolulu Advertiser

Posted on: Sunday, April 15, 2001



Kailua cafe takes vow of silence

By Eloise Aguiar
Advertiser Windward Bureau

KAILUA — Facing an automatic denial of its application for a liquor license, Pinky's Pupu Bar and Grill has agreed to a compromise with its neighbors that will let the business serve liquor and the residents have peace.

Pinky's owner, Entertainment One Pacific Inc., will restrict liquor and meal service, control noise and schedule garbage pickup and deliveries after 8 a.m. when it opens in late June on North Kalaheo Avenue next to Pali Palms Plaza. In return, the neighbors withdrew their opposition to the liquor license application.

"We tried to be responsible to their concerns," said Gene Gunn, president of Entertainment One. "Hopefully, we can get past this hurdle, get open and prove ourselves as good neighbors as we are with all of our other ventures."

According to Hawai'i law, Pinky's restaurant would be automatically denied a liquor license if 50 percent or more of the eligible residents living within 500 feet of the establishment opposed it.

A liquor investigator said 63 percent of the eligible owners and lessees, 54 people, opposed.

But the state Liquor Commission decided to continue its public hearing to give Gunn and the neighbors time to negotiate a compromise, said John Myrdal, an attorney and resident who had opposed the license.

The residents and Gunn had already initiated discussions and determined that compromise was possible, Myrdal said.

The compromise includes opening the bar after 11 a.m., ending bar service by 10 p.m., and seating the last diner at 10 p.m. but allowing liquor service to diners.

"The idea was to avoid being a sports bar 24 hours a day," Myrdal said, adding that a majority of the people who objected wanted a nice restaurant. "They just don't want it to interfere with their lifestyle."

Other conditions addressed aesthetics, nuisance lighting and noise, he said.

Issues involving early deliveries, garbage pickup and people congregating in the parking lot until late at night concerned neighbors, he said.

Gunn said he was surprised at the opposition and had no experience with opening a restaurant in a residential neighborhood.

His other operations, including Ocean Club and Big Island Steak House, are in commercial areas.

The Kailua Neighborhood Board had supported granting the liquor license, 14-0, with one abstention.