Since Don Ho's death, one year ago tomorrow, his showroom has gone dark, and soon will become home to a new venue named for another celebrity. His former crew at the Hoku Hale has scattered. Family members have split over the future of his estate, and a court case is pending.

Even Don Ho's Island Grill is due for a name change. One might say the bubble has burst.

It's not the way he would have wanted to be remembered, said a longtime friend and confidant.

Ho, who died of heart failure on April 14, 2007, would be aghast at the chasm that's grown between his widow, Haumea Hebenstreit Ho, and his adult children, said Cha Thompson, Ho's friend and fellow Waikiki entertainer. "Don is rolling in his grave," she said.

In January, one of Ho's daughters filed a petition in Circuit Court to enforce an alleged promise by Ho to make his Lanikai home basis of a trust to benefit his six children with first wife Melvamay Ho, who died in 1999.

"He would not tolerate all of this," said Thompson, co-owner of Tihati Productions and who organized the mammoth Waikiki memorial tribute to Ho after his death last year.

Thompson, who informed Haumea Ho that she would be talking to The Advertiser about Ho's legacy, said she was asked to rescind her comments, but decided to go on record out of respect for her friend.

"When Don was alive, no one would ever have challenged him," Thompson said. "I think what's happening now is disgusting. ... There's been so much drama."

Meanwhile, as fans continue to show interest in his music and his story, signs of Ho's presence are diminishing on the entertainment front.

RESTAURANT CHANGES

Don Ho's Island Grill, his namesake restaurant for nearly 10 years at Aloha Tower Marketplace, will undergo a name change next year. Restaurateur Fred Livingston, who had a handshake agreement with Ho to operate the restaurant, said Ho's trustees "have no interest in continuing it, so it ends at the end of this year."

Livingston said he expected to have the option to continue for five more years, but the trustees nixed it, and he was unable to discuss it with Haumea Ho, who said she is one of the trustees.

"The feeling I got is that they have bigger fish to fry, with large real estate holdings and income from property that will require the trustees' attention," Livingston said. "Sure, I'm unhappy; Don and I had 35 years of doing things together. I tried to talk to Haumea recently and she had a gag order, so we're going to change the restaurant name.

"Interestingly, at a meeting a few weeks after Don died, the last thing Haumea told me was, 'It's never going to be the same again.' And she's right."

The Ho showroom space, called the Hoku Hale, on the lobby level of the Ohana Waikiki Beachcomber Hotel, is being transformed and incorporated into Jimmy Buffett's at the Beachcomber, a new restaurant and club scheduled to open in November. The 22,000-square-foot restaurant also will take over the space once occupied by a "Blue Hawai'i" Elvis impersonator show next door and a lobby restaurant. Continuing in Ho's tradition, there will be entertainment with the food service.

Ho's crew of showroom regulars — the singers and musicians he called his "kids" — are scattered.

Jackie Bay Cadinha, whom he dubbed "Tiny Bubbles," said she misses the camaraderie, and the joy the show brought visitors.

"I'm still working with visitors, since 1979, selling shows through Pleasant Holidays," she said.

Taimane Gardner, the wizard on 'ukulele, has been playing shows such as The Royal Hawaiian hotel lu'au, with Tihati Productions. Band member Benny Chang, who plays guitar and uke, has linked with Byron Yasui, a bassist, and plays casual gigs. Nathan Aweau, one-time Ho bassist and featured falsetto singer, is in the musical duo Hapa. Angel Pablo, the operatic tenor, continues to work for a Waikiki travel desk. Conductor Dennis Graue does shows with former wife Nohelani Cypriano. And banjoist-yodeler Tokyo Joe continues to drive a tour bus.

"He's still big in the visitor industry; the tourists still love Don Ho," said Leah Bernstein, Mountain Apple's president, but guests at his evening shows are no longer buying his CDs each week.

Ho's records, "Don Ho Gold" and "The Best of Don Ho," distributed by the Mountain Apple Company, rose on the sales charts shortly after his passing, with "Gold" peaking at No. 4 or No. 5 several weeks after his death, but sales have slowed to a steady trickle one year later.

Watermark Publishing reports that Ho's autobiography, "Don Ho: My Music, My Life," orchestrated by Jerry Hopkins, has been a steady seller since its release four months ago. The press run was 10,000 copies.

REAL ESTATE FRONT

Haumea Ho, who initially said she was eager to reflect on her tumultuous first year without her spouse and her 25 years as hula dancer at the showroom, associate, show producer and eventually Don Ho's second wife, was advised by the other Ho trustees to make no comment on her husband. She is living in Palolo, awaiting the completion of a Trump Towers apartment — one of two Don Ho bought before his death — which she plans to occupy as part of the distribution of his holdings.

Ho's Lanikai home has been sold, for $6.05 million. The court case regarding the home is in mediation, and his now-adult children cannot discuss it.

Jace McQuivey, one of the co-trustees of Don Ho's estate, along with Ed Brown and Charles P. Rettig, submitted a statement on behalf of the trustees, writing, "The family is working through mediation on issues relating to the trusts and various associated matters. As such we have all agreed to keep a very low profile regarding public statements and appearances out of respect for family members and their feelings. Unfortunately this comes at the anniversary of Don's passing when there is renewed public interest. Nevertheless, we want to honor the wishes of family members and the mediation process and will not be able to make comments at this time."

Thompson says she's frustrated by the turmoil that has surfaced.

"Don thought he took care of everything, and apparently, those (survivors) involved now didn't understand the way he did things," Thompson said. "I have great aloha for both sides — his grown children and his wife, Haumea — and they've called me when there's been bad blood."

She said Ho would have advocated discussion and mediation, without going public.

"He was all about ho'oponopono, the Hawaiian system of healing and mediation, usually involving kupuna and family members," Thompson said. "In the end, there would have been forgiveness. And understanding."

Instead, she said, lawyers have gotten involved. "I told (both sides), getting attorneys is so stupid. I would have said, 'Sit down, talk about it, there's enough blame to go around.' "

Ultimately, however, what frustrates Thompson most is missing her friend and fellow entertainer.

"What I miss most are those quiet moments. I miss going out to eat with him," she said. "He was one of a kind. Entertainers respected him — and they all wished they had the freedom he had. He is irreplaceable."