by Andrew Walden

Two unrelated shootings in the wee hours of Sunday morning June 14, 2026, are tied to scofflaw or unlicensed nightclubs operating in a jurisdictional grey area between HPD and the Liquor Commission.

They are a repeat of attacks outside the same two venues in 2024.

One of them, Boda Cafe, 1217 Hopaka St in Kakaako, is on land acquired for Rail by the City and County of Honolulu.  Clubs on that property have been written up for 64 Liquor Commission violations, according to a 2025 report to the Honolulu Liquor Commission.

Perhaps the City should begin proceedings against itself as a ‘nuisance landlord’? 

That’s the upshot of a complaint filed June 16, 2026 with the Honolulu Liquor Commission by Honolulu resident Robert Sobieralski, who is affiliated with the (licensed) Scarlet Honolulu club in Chinatown.

Here is the text:

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Rob Sobieralski

Board of Commissioners Honolulu Liquor Commission

June 16, 2026

Re: Petition asking HLC to address unlicensed 4am nightclubs

Dear Honolulu Liquor Commission,

During my June 4th petition hearing, Chair Hong responded when I asked to read an opening statement that the Board would only accept “new information.” It is with this directive that I share the following information.

In December 2025, when I first contacted the HLC leadership about the proliferation of unlicensed nightclubs:

The HLC … (has) violated (its) duty of care to the citizens of Honolulu by a policy and practice of not investigating or taking collaborative action with other law enforcement agencies on unlicensed nightclubs. Formal complaint to HLC Board. -- December 3, 2025

And in a follow up:

The Board and day to day leadership of the HLC is choosing to play with proverbial fire. -- December 11, 2025

This weekend there was another fatality and another stabbing. The fatal shooting is being associated with Pandora Café in online reports. Pandora is a new rendition at the licensed Hawaii Voice KTV Lounge. A 23yo man died after being shot Saturday night. The address of Pandora is at the same intersection as the February 2024 murder. 

The second shooting occurred at Boda Café. Boda Café is part of a warehouse complex which has housed the Ginza Nightclub, Mystique, the Vault and Brix and Bones. Though the license itself is held by TU & H, Inc, Boda itself operates under another LLC, Industrial Survey Holding Co.

Besides this past weekend shooting, there was a stabbing at Mystique in 2024.

In 2024, after the stabbing, former HPD Deputy Chief John McCarthy explained after-hours clubs are technically illegal to police. “When you are talking about an afterhours club amongst police here in Honolulu, you’re basically talking about a licensed liquor establishment that is open for business past its allotted time,” McCarthy said. “We say it’s illegal because not only is it violating its license, but more often than not, there’s more vices involved where it be prostitution, drugs, gambling.”

The bars at the Hopaka St and Kona St warehouse complex all seem to try to use Ginza’s license, and the underlying LLCs have overlapping ownership members.

The number of violations written by the HLC (64 reported to the Board in a 2025 investigator report) are shocking given it is still operating.

(Even more shocking that the HLC chose to pursue Pupu House and Kelly O’Neil’s as a target of extra focus from the agency and not Ginza or Tipsy Pig II.)

It must be noted that a record search of the land where Boda Cafe, Mystique, and the previous incarnations is owned by the City and County of Honolulu. The property was acquired as part of the rail initiative and appears to have been leased back to KEK LLC which then leases to the various scofflaw LLCs.

It also must be noted that both Pandora Café and Boda Café are in HPD District 1, the same district of Pupu House/Kiki’s.

The HLC is not powerless in this specific situation, but as it has chosen not to oversee Hawaii statute and HLC rules with unlicensed afterhours clubs after 2019 despite a decade of policing them; it has chosen to demand a provisional cabaret license from a licensee who has no complaints (Pupu House/Kikis) and not troubled spots such as Tipsy Pig, and it appears to has chosen to let Hopaka Street smolder and a nearby karaoke bar to “pull liquor at 2am,” the HLC is choosing to allow the gun and knife violence continue and the probable related drug markets to flourish.

Please consider the escalating situation of the HLC’s current policy of passive enforcement (at best) when taking my petition “under advisement” and to stop playing with proverbial fire before the next tragedy.

Regards, Rob Sobieralski

PDF: City and County of Honolulu Real Property Tax Record Parcel 230071100000 — 1217 Hopaka St — Fee Owner: City and County of Honolulu / Lessee: KEK LLC