DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM The Liquor Commission rejected a request yesterday for a liquor license that would have allowed the Irish Rose Saloon to open in this vacant commercial space at the bottom of the Island Colony Condominiums building.

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Protests block liquor
license for bar

A bar proposed for the ground floor of a Waikiki condominium was denied a liquor license yesterday after more than 200 residents protested the plan.

The Honolulu Liquor Commission rejected the request from E & J Lounge Operating Co., which wanted to open its Irish Rose Saloon in a 7,000-square-foot commercial apartment at the Island Colony on Seaside Avenue.

William Comerford, one of the partners of E & J Lounge, said he was "extremely disappointed" by the decision.

"Unfortunately, I've never been able to sell my case to the apartment owners there," he said. "I feel that we were unfairly misrepresented."

The Irish Rose had been operating for 19 years on Lewers Street but was forced to move earlier this year to make way for Outrigger Hotels and Resorts' $800 million Waikiki Beachwalk-Lewers Street redevelopment project.

About 32 percent of registered voters within 500 feet of the proposed Island Colony site for the bar were against the plan, commission investigator Ross Shinsato said.

At the commission's meeting yesterday, about 20 protesters applauded after the license was denied. "We're very, very relieved," said Randi Thomas, who led a group of Island Colony residents against the bar. "It was just going to be a nightmare for us."