City Council moves ahead to take over Queen Theater property in Kaimuki

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – For decades, the Queen Theater has been standing in Kaimuki, dark and derelict. In the past, it would have been lit up with the latest motion pictures advertised on the marquee.
“I saw ‘Desperately Seeking Susan’ here in 1985, plus so many others,” said longtime Kaimuki resident Kent Roller. “We’d park over there (across Waialae Avenue) or in the lot in back. It was the best theater experience ever.”
“We’ve been trying to get the owner to do something with it himself — sell it or lease it out to an organization. And nothing has happened at all,” said Mahlon Moore, president of Friends of Queen Theater.
“It’s an eyesore,” Roller said. “We walk up and down here every day taking our kids to the park, and it’s like ‘What’s gonna happen to it?’ The sign needs to be relit, you know? It needs to be a venue for something.”
The Queen Theater was built at the crest of Waialae Avenue in the 1930s. For more than a decade, the non-profit Friends of Queen Theater has been pushing to have it restored.
“If the owner would have sold the property to, like, a non-profit group that would have come in, restored the theater and reopened it — but that wasn’t happening, so the next best thing is for the city to move ahead,” said Moore.
The city council is asking the administration to acquire the property — through eminent domain, if necessary.
The owner’s daughter, Adoree Yu, spoke out at Friday’s council committee hearing, and said she now had the authority to move forward.
“Although I oppose this resolution as it relates to condemnation, at the same time I strongly support its intent to restore the property,” she said.
Yu had also spoken to the council in 2021, when a similar resolution was proposed.
“What efforts have you made in the last three years that would convince me and this committee that you actually are going to do what you promised to do three years ago?” asked council chair Tommy Waters, who represents Kaimuki.
“I have contractors ready to work, ready to start the work,” Yu replied, adding that she’s ready to begin the first phase to restore the exterior.
“At least the paint can be started before the end of this month,” she said.
It’s unclear if the city will try to buy the property, take it over, or let the owner fix it up. But City Managing Director Mike Formby, himself a Kaimuki resident, said it’s time for action.
“It’s not just a property that the city is looking at condemning,” Formby told the committee. “It’s a key parcel in a key location that unites Kaimuki, and we can take it to that next step.”
The full council will take up the matter next month.
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