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tep inside the gigantic, nondescript building near the corner of Auahi Street and Ward Avenue and you are greeted by a gold, life-size statue of Hawai‘i-born sumo wrestler Akebono in mid-grapple. Above, the Hawaiian Islands are airbrushed on the ceiling; below, the aquatic blue floor shines, giving the impression that you’re walking on water. A deep breath brings in a mix of smells coming from all directions: fried food, Vietnamese pho, pork (maybe it’s hot dogs, maybe it’s barbecue), milk tea and freshly brewed coffee. Vendor booths offering everything from hand-carved koa pendants to mass-produced heart-shaped sunglasses line aisles where teenagers, tourists, kids running ahead of parents, construction workers and police officers on lunch or off-duty, and small groups of assorted tūtū in mu‘umu‘u wander.
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Anne and Dave Jones got their first hint that 2020 wouldn’t be a normal year back in late January, while traveling to New York City for Inman Connect.
“It was on that flight,” Anne said, “and hitting the ground in New York, where you first started to be aware of people wearing masks.”
The coronavirus was only just barely starting to make headlines in the U.S. at the time, but Anne said that traveling in January gave the couple a “heightened feeling about it” as they headed back to their native Tacoma, where they run Windermere Abode. Weeks later, when communities in the area began having some of the first COVID-19 cases in the country, the Joneses “were tracking it really closely.”