Hawaii

I moved into a penthouse in Hawaii with 19 strangers. Co-living helped me form friendships as an adult.

Published

2 years ago

January 26, 2024

I moved into a penthouse in Hawaii with 19 strangers. Co-living helped me form friendships as an adult.

Last fall, I took a leap of faith and traded the concrete jungle of New York City for the tranquil shores of Honolulu.

After six months of living in NYC, the winter blues finally caught up to me and I began to seek a different way of living.

I stumbled upon Surfbreak HNL, a penthouse where co-living and coworking come together for digital nomads.

The home is located on the entire top floor of a high-rise, where the walls were knocked down and rebuilt to form 20 rooms in a circle surrounding a common space, almost like a college-dorm floor.

The penthouse is a 10-minute walk from Waikiki Beach, and the private rooms range from smaller spaces with a twin to corner suites with king beds. A room costs between $1,500 and $2,850 a month, depending on the size.

After speaking to a previous resident of the house, I applied to live in it.

From application to move-in, I didn’t know what to expect

The Surfbreak rooms vary in size.

Kaitlyn Cheung

After sending in my application online, I had a 30-minute interview and virtual tour of the space with the property manager.

During it, we discussed my goals for moving to Honolulu, my hobbies, and my personality.

A week later, I received an email telling me I was accepted into the house. Since I originally planned to stay for two months, I packed only one suitcase and hopped on a one-way flight.

As I toured the floor, current residents whizzed by, some cooking in the kitchen or heads-down on their corporate laptops, others clad in their swimwear heading to the beach.

Each room is furnished with the basics, including fresh bed linens and a desk because most people in the house are remote workers.

The kitchen was stocked with basic ingredients, and we shared things like dishware, cookware, and communal camping gear.

Living with 19 other people was a lifestyle adjustment

For someone who was learning to deal with uncertainty, moving to Honolulu knowing no one was a personal challenge.

As soon as I met my 19 roommates, the experience was a whirlwind of excitement and perpetual busyness. There was never a dull moment.

During a typical week, we would go out to dance and surf after work, then hike on the weekends.

As an introvert, staying sane in a house full of active people was challenging. I’d often find myself escaping the chaos by walking to Waikiki Beach, ordering an acai bowl at Sunrise Shack, and watching the sunset.

Although I loved the constant activity, I also found it important to keep my priorities clear and carve out time to rest and recharge.

I loved connecting with my fellow residents, who were remarkably open

I formed lifelong friendships while living in Hawaii.

Kaitlyn Cheung

Unlike many of my friends on the continental mainland, everyone at Surfbreak seemed genuinely excited about exploring new places.

It can be difficult as an adult to break the barrier of small talk and get to know someone on a deeper level, but when you see the same people 24/7, vulnerability comes easy.

I noticed most of my conversations with others focused on the human experience of living, not where we went to school or where we worked.

I made close friends in the house and enjoyed getting to know my housemates on such a deep level.

Many people find that forming close friends as adults is hard but co-living effortlessly and quickly breaks down barriers to forming adult friendships like time, distance, and vulnerability.

Although I no longer live in the house, I still have a friend group from when I did. And, to this day, I connect with other Surfbreakers who have lived in the house before or after me.

Surfbreak provided an amazing experience, but it doesn’t reflect what it’s actually like for many folks living in Hawaii

Living in the Surfbreak house for a few months gave me a glimpse into exciting expatriate life in Hawaii, but not what living in Hawaii as a local is really like.

It’s important for expats to appreciate the history and culture of the islands, which is something we visitors don’t always do well.

After all, Hawaii has a rich heritage, and temporary residents are responsible for respecting and protecting it.

I encourage anyone else who chooses to live in Hawaii temporarily or for the long haul to do their research, support local businesses and artisans, and participate in cultural activities with respect and humility.

By doing so, we can ensure that our presence in Hawaii is not just a personal adventure, but also a positive and respectful contribution to the community and the land we’ve come to love.

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Hawaii

Hawaii suffers first defeat of the season against Loyola Chicago | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

Published

12 hours ago

January 10, 2026

Press Room

Hawaii suffers first defeat of the season against Loyola Chicago | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

The second-ranked Hawaii men’s volleyball team expected a different Loyola Chicago team to show up Friday night in the rematch of Thursday’s 94-minute sweep by UH.

They were certainly correct in that assessment.

Hawaii coach Charlie Wade said flatly the Ramblers were better after No. 7 Loyola Chicago handed Hawaii its first home loss in January in two years in a 25-23, 25-22, 24-26, 29-27 win before a season-high crowd of 5,811 at Bankoh Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.

Aleksandar Sosa put down a match-high 19 kills and setter Ryan McElligott set the tone with four of his five aces in the first set for Loyola Chicago (1-1), which out-served and out-blocked the Rainbow Warriors.

“I thought they touched a lot of balls on the block and those first two sets, the first set, we had three or four balls back on our side to score some points and we didn’t,” Wade said. “We kind of screwed it up. We weren’t quite as crisp and efficient and against a good team, we let them hang around and they come back and make some plays late.”

Hawaii looked done for the night trailing 20-13 when it mounted a furious comeback in the third set to avoid a sweep.

Loyola Chicago had five match points in the fourth set and finally put the contest away with a double block of Ofeck Hazan to complete the upset.

“I think they served way better and we really struggled passing their serve,” said Hazan, who started in place of Trevell Jordan in the middle. “They were more creative out of system. (Thursday) they just hit into our block and today they just found the touches or just played better.”

Louis Sakanoko led Hawaii with 18 kills and set a career high with 12 digs, and Kristian Titriyski added 16 kills before sitting out the fourth set. UH hit .254 for the match and had six aces to the Ramblers’ eight. Loyola Chicago hd 15.5 blocks to Hawaii’s 10.5.

“We weren’t clicking on all cylinders and I’m not trying to use this as an excuse, but (setter) Tread (Rosenthal) didn’t practice all week. He had a back that tightened up,” Wade said. “Trevell’s back tightened up and I thought Ofeck played pretty well and he gave us a nice spark, but you’re just a little off rhythm there. Kristian was kind of grabbing his back late and obviously we made the decision to go with Kainoa (Wade) to give us a spark and he gave us that.”

Kainoa Wade and Sakanoko each served three straight points for UH in the third set after it fell behind 20-13 and Finn Kearney came off the bench to serve the final two points that ended in blocks to get UH back in the game.

Hawaii hit just .171 in the fourth and made eight service errors. It had 20 serving errors for the match and served in at less than 80%.

“Obviously it’s a work in progress. We’re in game four of the year,” Kainoa Wade said. “We got a lot of work to do, but we’ve got to trust what we know. We’ve served a lot of balls in our lives, all of us, so we know we can go on runs and make plays.”

The Ramblers gave Hawaii a taste of its own medicine in the opening set with McElligott building a strong poker hand of aces during an 8-0 run during which Charlie Wade used both timeouts.

McElligott had three aces after Jake Read’s kill put him behind the service line, and despite two Hawaii timeouts and the media timeout, he poured it on until UH caught a break with a Loyola Chicago net violation on an overpass that almost certainly would have been a Ramblers point.

Sakanoko followed with back-to-back kills, including a deep tip into the far corner over a triple block that prompted Loyola Chicago to call timeout leading 17-14.

Hawaii extended the run to 5-0 after Titriyski put down a kill following a long rally to pull UH within a point.

The Rainbow Warriors got back to even at 22-all on Kainoa Wade’s ace as a serving sub. The set was tied once more until a Rosenthal service error and a McElligott ace for his fourth of the set handed UH its first set loss of the season.

Rosenthal wasn’t able to spin serve all night due to the back injury.

Neither team separated by more than a point in the second set until Justin Todd had two aces during a 4-0 UH run to put the ‘Bows ahead 13-10.

Hawaii led 21-19 when the Ramblers scored six of the next seven points to go up two sets to none.

UH’s only point during the final 6-1 run came on a Loyola Chicago service error. The Ramblers scored three of their points on errors by UH and another on their sixth ace of the match.

The Rainbow Warriors will have four days off before playing four matches in three days next week.

Hawaii has doubleheaders against Roberts Wesleyan and Rockhurst in reverse order on Wednesday and Friday.

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Hawaii

2026 Sony Open field is announced. See who’s playing in Hawaii

Published

24 hours ago

January 9, 2026

Press Room

2026 Sony Open field is announced. See who’s playing in Hawaii

The Sony Open in Hawaii has the honors of being the kickoff event to the 2026 PGA Tour season after the cancellation of The Sentry at Kapalua this season.

Instead of Maui, the Tour debuts in Honolulu on the island of Oahu, Jan. 15-18, at the Seth Raynor-designed Waialae Country Club, where Nick Taylor prevailed in a playoff over Nico Echavarria last year.

Among the changes this season is the field size, which was reduced from 144 to 120, and, there is no longer is a Monday qualifier offering four spots. Will that help with pace of play? Stay tuned.

The field includes the following notables in addition to Taylor and Echavarria: Daniel Berger, Keegan Bradley, Michael Brennan, Corey Conners, Tony Finau, Chris Gotterup, Brian Harman, Russell Henley, Billy Horschel, Robert MacIntyre, Collin Morikawa, Adam Scott, Jordan Spieth, Sahith Theegala, Gary Woodland and 62-year-old Vijay Singh.

Here’s the full field for the Sony Open, which will be live on Golf Channel all four days as well as NBC with early-round coverage on Saturday and Sunday.

This year’s Sony purse is $9.1 million and the winner also will receive 500 FedEx Cup points.

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