WAIKIKI (KHON2) — Public restrooms at one of Waikiki’s busiest beach parks have been closed on and off for months, and some community members said the shutdowns have seemed permanent.
KHON2 found out what is really going on and what some said needs to change.
The public restrooms at Kuhio Beach Park sit locked, and they have been that way for months. It has left residents and visitors alike searching for a place to go.
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“We hear it’s unacceptable, right. And the fact that it’s consistently broken is unacceptable and that we need to find a long-term solution. And it’s mainly on the residents that we get calls from,” said Waikiki Business Improvement District president Trevor Abarzua.
The City’s Parks and Recreation department said the closures are not permanent, but they have repeatedly happened due to vandalism and mechanical issues. People flushed clothing down the toilets in one instance and damaged the below-ground system that depends on grinders and pumps.
The City said it has spent about $40,000 on just this one bathroom since 2022, and yet it currently remains closed. Folks in the community said they would like to find a longer-term solution.
“And we would like to put sort of a bathroom attendant outside. And we’ve seen a lot of cities do this. Long Beach, California, Santa Monica, California,” Abarzua said.
Abarzua said the Aloha Ambassador program might be a good fit.
“An ambassador presence that could go check in and actually clean the bathroom consistently every ten minutes, go in and do a cleaning, that would solve a lot of the issues. That would solve a lot of the vandalism,” he said.
Neighborhood leaders agree that something has to give from both the people who use the bathroom and City officials.
“It’s a frustration for everybody. It’s frustrating for the residents and the visitors and I don’t doubt that it’s frustrating for the city of the same time,” said Waikiki Neighborhood Board vice chair Lou Erteschik, “certainly there’s no excuse for vandalism. And, you know, if we’re going to have bathrooms, it’s supposed to be a nice facility for everybody to enjoy.”
“If we want the city to do their part to keep the bathrooms nice, then we collectively, all of us have an obligation to treat it properly as well.”
Lou Erteschik, Waikiki Neighborhood Board vice chair
The City Parks and Recreation Department said through a statement:
“We refer to this bathroom as the ʻŌhua Avenue comfort station, as that is closest cross-street. It is one of two park bathroom buildings on Kūhiō Beach Park, with several other park bathrooms within Kapi‘olani Park as well.
This comfort station has not been closed continuously for six months, or even three years, however it experiences intermittent closures due to vandalism and mechanical issues. In particular, vandalism from people flushing clothing down the toilets or mechanical/electric issues with the bathroom’s pumps. This bathroom is below ground so it requires its own tank, grinder, and two pumps to direct the sewage to the municipal lines. These closures have been numerous, lengthy, and can certainly give the impression of continuous closure; making this facility one of our most challenging.
Most recently, we reopened the bathrooms in mid-January 2025 after repairs were made to the sewage pump. Unfortunately, that reopened period didn’t last long and the pump issue required the building’s closure shortly thereafter. We are currently waiting for the new pump to arrive and be installed. Unfortunately, there is no timeline for that right now. The toilets can still work, but now the tank is filling up with the pump not working. So the bathroom’s maintenance contractor has to pump out what was flushed into the tank.
We are determining our next course of action with this problematic facility, as we have already spent some $40,000 in repairs to this one bathroom in just over three years. This could involve discussions with the Waikīkī Business Improvement District. Fortunately, there are public bathroom facilities within decent proximity to this one; near HPD’s Waikīkī Substation (0.3 miles away) and on the Diamond Head-side of Kapahulu Avenue (0.2 miles away) just past the beach volleyball courts.”
Nate Serota, Honolulu Department of Parks and Recreation spokesman