Power failure darkens day
in Kakaako shops, homes

By Jaymes Song
and Helen Altonn
Star-Bulletin

About 1,000 businesses and other electrical customers in the Kakaako and Kewalo Basin areas began a busy shopping day today with no power.

The outage occurred at 7:11 a.m. when a power substation near Halekauwila and Cooke streets lost energy, said Hawaiian Electric Co. spokesman Fred Kobashikawa.

Electricity was restored to 900 customers by 8:30 a.m. and to all remaining customers by 9:27 a.m.

The power outage was caused by an underground cable failure at the power plant feeding the Kakaako substation, Kobashikawa said.

Larry Isobe, a cashier at the Spaghetti Factory in the Ward Warehouse, said the entire nearby area was blacked out when he got to work at 7:30 a.m.

Employees began arriving at 8 a.m., he said. "We couldn't do anything because there were no lights. We couldn't cook. . . . We've got our job to do, nevertheless."

"It was weird because the traffic lights and everything were out," said Geoff Oamildo, manager of Town and Country Surf Shop in the Ward Warehouse.

He said the center's security office estimated the outage would be about half an hour, but it lasted more than an hour.

"We were doing some work in the dark," he said. "It was nothing really major."

However, he said they were worried power wouldn't be restored by the time the stores opened at 9:30.

An employee at Bad Ass Coffee Co. in Restaurant Row said she had to wait outside the establishment from 7:30 until 9 a.m., when power was restored.

"I couldn't get the door open in front. It's an electric door," said the woman.

While many businesses feared losing Christmas shoppers, one made the most of the situation.

Rick Trejo, owner of Rick's Auto Detailing & Car Wash at Restaurant Row, said that when he arrived and there was no power, "I decided not to work today. I didn't want to assume it would come on any minute." He also gave his two employees the day off.

Although power was restored at Restaurant Row about 9 a.m., Trejo -- who was talking on his cellular phone -- didn't know it and didn't plan to go back.

"I'm in Mililani," he said. "Don't make sense."