WAILUA — The cozy Kinipopo Shopping Village was the scene of an early morning burglary recently that involved two businesses. The staff of Passion Bakery Cafe called police early in the morning on Feb. 4. They heard the sound of
WAILUA — The cozy Kinipopo Shopping Village was the scene of an early morning burglary recently that involved two businesses.
The staff of Passion Bakery Cafe called police early in the morning on Feb. 4. They heard the sound of a smashed window and another store alarm was tripped soon after.
“I have been here for three years and this hasn’t happened before at all,” said Michael Sterioff, owner of Passion Bakery Cafe.
The break-in was bungled and appears to be done by some “stupid kids,” he added. They left behind
tools and bolt cutters and made other mistakes that will likely get them caught, he said.
The culprits were also caught on video surveillance from Monico’s Taqueria restaurant.
While Passion Bakery Cafe was not victimized, The Some Like It Hott boutique was the scene of a more destructive break-in and theft.
“My little boutique was violated,” said Dianne Seyranian, owner of Some Like It Hott. “These people came into my shop and stole things that a local person holds sacred. It’s bad juju.”
Aside from taking her cash box, a sewing machine, expensive clothing, purses and lingerie, the thieves stole personal items that Seyranian considers part of her heritage. The items are irreplaceable and she hopes they can be returned.
The items include an ipu heke that was given to her by kuma hula Kahu Lanakila Brandt upon completing her uniki to become a kumu hula in 1976. They also stole items that she designs and makes herself, including Cook Island fast dance belts and approximately 60 pa‘u.
“I have been teaching hula since 1976 and have never charged a penny,” she said. “I give the pa‘u to hula students who cannot afford to buy them.”
The video surveillance especially disturbed Seyranian, who said they appeared to be local, young men. The thieves should have known what they were taking and that the items are sacred.
“Yet they took them anyway,” she added.
Seyranian opened the shop just before the holidays and she considers it a sideline to her career as a concert pianist.
On Monday evenings, the store racks are moved aside and the shop becomes a halau and Polynesian dance school, she said. The students practice the Tahitian and Cook Island style dance and ancient hula.
The store plans to a re-grand-opening celebration with a kumu blessing on the first week of March. In the meantime, Seyranian said she is having an alarm system installed.
In addition to Some Like It Hott, Gun Lee, owner of Korean BBQ, reported that one young man broke into her back door and made a big mess.
The thief smashed her cash register to find just a few coins inside. There were so few he didn’t even take them, she said, but he did make off with a small amount of meat from the cooler. The biggest pain was having to spend three hours cleaning up the mess he made of her counter area trying to get into the register, she said.
“I saw his face on the security video and he seemed to be a very handsome young boy, and I feel very sorry for him,” Lee said. “I don’t know why he would want to do something like this.”
This is the third break-in for Korean BBQ, Lee said. The last break-in was two years ago.
• Tom LaVenture, staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 224) or tlaventure@thegardenisland.com.
The content of the online article was altered from the original to change the term “robbery” to “burglary”.
