Native Hawaiian Keoni Alvarez has devoted his life to protecting his ohana burial cave and advocating for more Native Hawaiian burial rights.
Keoni Alvarez
Keoni Alvarez was just an 8-year-old boy when his Native Hawaiian family made a startling discovery 35 years ago. Deep in the forests of the Big Island of Hawaii, his brothers found a hidden cave when they were playing near their home in Puna — and inside the cave, they found iwi, or human skeletal remains.
Their mother called the police, and with the help of a state archaeologist, they determined that it wasn’t a missing person or homicide but part of an ancient Hawaiian burial.
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Now knowing that it was there, Alvarez developed a strong sense of responsibility to the iwi. His family acted as guardians over the cave, keeping it a secret, until encroaching development made that impossible.
In the early 2000s, the affordable land around them was parceled and sold, including the burial ground. When Alvarez and his mom saw the landowner and a bulldozer leveling the land, they confronted them, yelling and demanding that they stop.
“He wanted to bulldoze the burial cave to build over it,” the now-43-year-old Alvarez told SFGATE. “I was heartbroken and sad that foreigners would ever do such a thing.”
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Keoni Alvarez and his mom confronted a bulldozer that was leveling the land near the burial cave.
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Keoni Alvarez
Alvarez thought the state would have intervened, knowing that his family had documented the find years ago. He called the Hawaii State Historic Preservation Division, a department entrusted with protecting Hawaii’s historic places, and Alvarez learned that it had lost the file.
In Hawaii, construction must stop if human remains are found, and developers must inform the state about it so it can investigate. Whether or not the developer does that, however, is based on an honor code system. Even if a burial is there, the state still allows purchasing of the property, and if the developer follows a government burial process, it can even be built over.
In this case, Alvarez said the landowner knew there was a burial site, but since the state had lost the record and didn’t provide any mandatory procedure, the landowner claimed ignorance.
“An archaeologist retired, and they lost the records,” said Alvarez, “so I had to actually play catch-up before the burial was going to get desecrated.”
In disbelief of the problems he was facing, Alavarez, a filmmaker, picked up a camera to document his fight to save the burial cave that lasted 23 years.
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When Keoni Alvarez learned the burial cave his family was protecting was threatened by development, he started filming his journey to save it from being destroyed. The resulting documentary film, “Kapu: Sacred Hawaiian Burials,” can be streamed on PBS.
Keoni Alvarez
“I thought there were laws that protected these kinds of places,” he said. “And realizing that it was a problem, I decided to start to document and interview people, you know, different elders.” His completed documentary film “Kapu: Sacred Hawaiian Burials” premiered at the Maui Film Festival last year and can be streamed on PBS.
Through the years, he has become an expert in sacred Hawaiian burials. He studied the different processes of traditional burials, how to care for them and the laws governing their protection. He went on TV news and talk shows to raise awareness of the loopholes developers use to desecrate them and how much the laws differ from the belief of Native Hawaiians.
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“Because the state only protects from the top down, they don’t protect like the integrity of the cave. And throughout history, in our culture, when you put one burial within a cave, the whole cave is considered a burial site,” said Alvarez. “That was part of their eternal life, and how and where they believe that their souls and their spirits have gone.”
During his 23-year journey to protect his ohana burial site, Alvarez visited other graves, including the burial place of the Kamehameha royal dynasty.
Keoni Alvarez
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“I found out that my family actually came from this area,” Alvarez said. “That’s the Kaui lineage, and that is my family name and my great-great-grandmother was actually from Hawaii Island, which I didn’t know.”
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Alvarez’ family watched over the burial cave for many years, and kept it a secret, until development made that impossible.
Keoni Alvarez
This new realization allowed Alvarez to be recognized officially by the state as a descendant of the iwi. The new status required the government body overseeing the burial to duly consider and give “appropriate weight” to Alvarez’s wishes when determining what to do with the burial on the landowners’ property, whether that means moving it or not, or building over it.
As he was campaigning for the protection of the cave, he received a text from the owner saying that he would sell him the property for $50,000. Alvarez started fundraising to purchase the land, but then something else unexpected happened: He received a letter in the mail from a real estate agent, who said the landowner had died.
“There were three developers on that property and they all passed away,” Alvarez said. “There was a Realtor who was trying to sell it. She passed away under weird circumstances. The landowner passed away within like two or three months of what he was wanting to do.”
During his 23 year journey to protect his ohana burial site, Alvarez took part in protests to prevent desecration of iwi kupuna (ancestral skeletal remains).
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Keoni Alvarez
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Alvarez ultimately bought the land from the beneficiaries so he could control what’s done to the property. “But for me, that’s not how we’re supposed to be doing it and there should be laws that already gives a mandatory buffer zone around these places to protect it, and we shouldn’t be saying that, ‘Oh, well, we got to try and raise the money to protect it,’” said Alvarez, who’s also become a teacher and author of a book on traditional Hawaiian burial practices.
He has since bought two other burial properties to watch over and protect from development while he advocates for a separate Hawaiian board not governed by the state that can ensure Hawaiian burials are not destroyed.
“People are still developing on burials. There’s no real law to stop them,” Alvarez said.
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Editor’s note: SFGATE recognizes the importance of diacritical marks in the Hawaiian language. We are unable to use them due to the limitations of our publishing platform.
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ANCHORAGE (KTUU/Gray News/HawaiiNewsNow) – A tsunami advisory has been canceled for South Alaska and the Alaskan peninsula after a large earthquake struck along the Aleutian Chain Wednesday.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center says there was no tsunami threat to Hawaii.
The quake struck at 12:37 p.m. Alaska time, 10:37 a.m. Hawaii time, and measured a magnitude 7.3 with an epicenter roughly 54 miles from Sand Point along the Aleutians.
Shaking was felt all the way in Anchorage, about 600 miles away from the epicenter.
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A tsunami warning was initially issued and later downgraded to an advisory, which was canceled at around 12:45 p.m. Hawaii time.
The advisory applied to the Pacific coasts from Kennedy Entrance, Alaska (40 miles SW of Homer) to Unimak Pass, Alaska (80 miles NE of Unalaska).
There was no tsunami threat to other U.S. and Canadian Pacific coasts in North America, officials said.
Copyright 2025 Hawaii News Now. All rights reserved.
HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – A plan to demolish Ward Centre is now in motion.
Victoria Ward Limited filed last week an application for a permit to start demolition.
The application doesn’t mention a specific start date, but says the work is expected to cost nearly $3 million.
Plans were first announced two years ago to replace the complex with two condos, along with retail businesses and a park.
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In a statement, Victoria Ward Limited said, “The redevelopment of Ward Centre builds on their long-term vision to create quality public spaces, and elevate the retail and commercial offerings.”
Roger Dunn Golf Hawaii announced its Ward Centre location will close Monday, July 21, and reopen at Ala Moana Center, along Kapiolani Boulevard, on Wednesday, July 23.
Copyright 2025 Hawaii News Now. All rights reserved.
COURTESY OF HAWAII COUNTY PROSECUTING ATTORNEY’S OFFICE
Hawaii County’s Prosecuting Attorney charged Douglas Louis, 44, with multiple drug and firearm offenses Monday, including promotion of a drug in the first degree.
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After making his first appearance in Hilo District Court Monday, the Hawaii County Prosecuting Attorney Kelden Waltjen charged Douglas Louis, 44, with class A and B felony crimes Monday, after Hawaii police arrested him early Saturday morning on multiple methamphetamine and firearm offenses.
A news release from the prosecuting attorney’s office said Hawaii police arrested the Pahala man Saturday on Kupuna Place in Hilo, following a report of suspicious vehicles.
Police reports said that after executing search warrants on a vehicle that Louis was operating, police recovered over 1.8 pounds of methamphetamine, two ghost guns, an AR-15 style rifle, a .45 caliber pistol, a Ruger .22 caliber rifle and ammunition.
The complaint alleges that Louis should be charged for multiple methamphetamine and firearm crimes, including promoting a dangerous drug in the first degree; a place to keep pistol or revolver; and ownership, possession or control prohibited.
The drug charge is a class A felony, the prosecutor’s office said in a news release, and carries a penalty of either a 20-year prison term or 10 years probation and up to two years in jail.
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Louis’ bail remains at $485,000 and was ordered to appear for a preliminary hearing for Wednesday.
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The news release said that Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Jeff Malate is prosecuting the case.