On Old Ewa's Shoreline, the Gathering Places Run on Permission

In the 1970s, kids in Ewa Beach went to Silva's Grocery & Liquor almost every day. One resident who grew up then told Hawaii News Now that she and her friends traded in the Coke bottles they found, "and you could get $0.10 and $0.25 for the bigger ones and you could buy half the store."

Joseph Silva founded the store on Ewa Beach Road in 1946. It served the neighborhood for close to eight decades, then closed a few years ago. This past summer it reopened under a new name, and how that happened is the pattern for this whole stretch of town. The land under old Ewa's gathering places mostly belongs to someone else: a family, a private property manager, the City. Whether those places stay open comes down to a lease or a permission. This fall, several of those arrangements are being decided around the same time.

A lease brought Silva's back

Jim "Jimbo" Lloyd is a private detective who grew up spending his pennies at Silva's. According to Hawaii News Now, he leased the property in June from the Silva family, who still own the land. He held the grand opening on Aug. 28, which was also his 53rd birthday.

The store is now Lloyd's Silva Store, at 91-455 Ewa Beach Road. Its website lists $1 shave ice, kendamas, toys, snacks, drinks, notary service, and Lloyd's Letters by Aunty Ruby. Because of the owner's day job, it also offers private detective services, and it's inviting local vendors to sell their goods there.

What Lloyd left out tells you who the store is for. "I don't have video games in here. I have a foosball table, hand-eye coordination. I have kendamas because our kids get enough screen time," he told Hawaii News Now. He wants kids who come in now to "bring their children here 20 years from now when we're doing our 100 year anniversary." Twenty years from now is 2046, exactly a century after Joseph Silva opened the doors. A single lease signed in June put that date back within reach.

The corner store came back on the 55th anniversary of the ʻEwa Beach Public and School Library on North Road, which opened Aug. 28, 1971.

At Hammer Point, the permission runs out in November

Head toward Iroquois Point and the same question about land comes up again, with less certainty this time. Kamahao Canoe Club has paddled from Hammer Point for close to 20 years. Hammer Point sits inside Kapilina Beach Homes, a former military housing complex that is now a private residential community. Hawaii News Now reported in June that the club had been told to leave, and that Kapilina's management then extended the deadline through the end of regatta season in November. In the same story, management recognized the club's long role in the community and said talks were continuing toward a long-term solution that fits Navy requirements and community guidelines.

The club's argument is about the water itself. Club president Mana Santiago told Hawaii News Now, "Where we're at, it's really calm waters. It's really easy to get in and out of that shore." Club leaders told the ʻEwa Neighborhood Board that Hammer Point is one of the few nearby spots safe for both keiki and kupuna to get in the water.

Since then, the club's status has come up at two neighborhood board meetings.

• July 9: According to the July minutes, the ʻEwa Neighborhood Board voted 10–0 on a resolution asking Kapilina Beach Homes and Greystar to reconsider the termination and work toward a memorandum of understanding. The same resolution calls on local government and the Navy to help find a safe permanent site.
• Same meeting: The Navy's representative said the tenancy decision belongs to CP4 Waterfront Blackstone LLC, not the Navy, and that no suitable alternate canoe launch had been found along Navy-managed shoreline.
• Aug. 13: A club representative told the board that conversations with Kapilina were ongoing, that the club's girls' 10 crew had placed in the top 10 at the HCRA State championship, and that the club had just held a beach cleanup at Kapilina.

The August minutes are the most recent public update on the club. They describe ongoing talks and report no eviction, no move, and no extension beyond the one through regatta season. That season, and the deadline tied to it, ends in November.

The public fallback has its own decisions pending

If the club does have to move, the option it named is the public one. Santiago told Hawaii News Now the club had contacted the City and County and was looking at Puʻuloa Beach Park, but added, "The issue with that area is that it's known to have really rough waters."

Puʻuloa is a 4.88-acre City park, according to a City notice from June 26. Because it's public, the decisions about it happen in the open at neighborhood board meetings, and three of them came up this summer.

The palms came up first. At the June board meeting, members said coconut rhinoceros beetle damage at Puʻuloa was getting worse. The City's representative explained that treatment goes first to the palms with the best chance of surviving, and that the City isn't planting new coconut palms because of the beetle risk. In July, after a board member suggested Puʻuloa as a candidate, the City's representative agreed to submit a request to revisit treatment there.

By August the park's layout was on the agenda. The August minutes report that the City's Department of Transportation Services moved a proposed shared-use path from the makai side of the park to the mauka side, near the tsunami warning center, so the existing parking would stay.

Farther down the coast, Oneʻula Beach Park's new comfort station is still at the bid stage. In June, the City's representative said the design for a new comfort station was finished and waiting to go out to bid, and agreed to check on its funding. The August minutes don't mention a bid award or a construction start.

Of the five, only Lloyd's store has a settled answer, and it came from a family deciding to lease rather than sell or let the building sit empty.

Showing up is part of how these places last

The ʻEwa Beach Lions Club meets at 7 p.m. on the fourth Wednesday of each month at Asing Park, 91-1450 Renton Road, according to the club's page. The Hawaii Lions District 50 calendar lists the Ewa Beach Christmas Parade for Saturday, Dec. 12, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Lion Kurt is the contact, at [email protected]. The calendar is a live page that gets updated, so check closer to the date.

A few weeks earlier, Kapolei City Lights opens on Saturday, Nov. 28, with a free block party around Kapolei Hale from 5 to 9 p.m. The free parade starts at 5:30 p.m. at Kapolei High School and follows Kapolei Parkway, ending near the block party. The City's announcement says the decorations will be up Nov. 28 through Jan. 3, 2027.

Getting to Kapolei takes some extra planning right now. Since Sept. 14, Farrington Highway between the east and west ends of Old Fort Weaver Road has been closed 24 hours a day so the Honouliuli Stream Bridge can be rebuilt. Traffic detours onto Old Fort Weaver Road. The HDOT notice says the bridge is part of a larger project, running from Fort Weaver Road to Kapolei Golf Course, that adds a third lane, bike lanes and sidewalks. The estimated completion is April 2028.

Closer to home, The Pet Depot at 91-919 Fort Weaver Road, Suite 109, has a self-serve dog wash. The family-owned shop has been serving Hawaiʻi since 2003. It's open 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekdays and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekends. The ʻEwa Neighborhood Board meets in public, and its minutes are where the Hammer Point and Puʻuloa decisions get recorded.

When something changes on Ewa Beach Road or at Hammer Point, we want to hear about it, and we'll keep following these stories in our neighborhood guides and videos. If Lloyd's shave ice or the Dec. 12 parade is part of why you love this side of town, Hawaii Home Group would love to show you around it. Start your Oʻahu move, and let's find your Hawaii home.