Yelper Party: Yelpapalooza @ Hawaiian Brian’s

So I was in the talk thread and Paul C. mentioned something along the lines of it being tacky of attending UYE’s, Elite events, etc and not reviewing them. I was like, hell yeah, he’s right. Going back I realized that I myself have been guilty of not reviewing events hosted by Unilocal.Well I’ll be quick. This event was hosted to help raise money for the Aids awareness.
It was crazy. It was crowded. I was in sensory overload. So many vendors and so many people, I felt like I was in a maze for a minute there. Hawaiian Brian’s is huge.
Got to see some fellow Unilocalers and met some new ones. Brigitte S. was rocking the studded jean jacket like a boss! Also thanks for the drink Darin O.
Overall it was a great event, for a good cause and everyone seemed to enjoy it.

UnilocalAPALOOZA is .ON FLEEK!
«On Fleek» is a new (kinda crazee made up nonsensical) term I learned via AZ Yeep Brett B. that’s used to describe something as «Rockin’» (TY, Mr. BB!)
Indeed how ROCKIN’ this event was! :D
This was the 1^st Unilocal event I ventured to RSVP to attend. My IRL friend Corey B. who recently downloaded the Unilocal app ;) kept gently inquiring & reminding me in-​app & via txt msg whether I’d go lol I was not entirely sure what I would be getting myself in to. Could I really just attend by myself?! Silly me :/​
Well, the happy news is that I finally gave in to Corey B.‘s numerous nudges lol & put in my RSVP. Yay! Then I awaited «YP Day».
I must say! All thanks to Corey B.‘s brave support, attending was THE BEST THING I ever did!!! :D
We reached the parking structure at Hawaiian Brian’s before the event start time just in time to find 24hour fitness members pulling out of the parking lot.
True, parking was a tight squeeze bc of the configuration of the stalls vs. pillars but it’s actually not that bad, just have to use a 3-​step maneuver; TO DOs for a stall on the *right* (do opposite for stalls on left):
Step 1 — Initially, completely drive past the width of the stall you want
Step 2 — Reverse in an arc so your back bumper heads left while the back right of your car is kept inline with pillar/​car on your right
Step 3 — Drive forward in mild arc to right. This will help car go around pillar on your right so you end up straight & to prevent back left (or right) of car from ending up at an unfortunate angle into next stall :/​
— Basic overall idea is to straighten car outside stall before getting into stall (that’s why the reversing step is V. impt).
Parking out of the way, we sat in the car until exactly 630pm then walked downstairs to the line which got longer after a few minutes.
The Unilocal-​staff checked us in & quickly gave instructions where/​when we would donate our $ 10 to the worthy cause. Our donation done, we received drink bracelets then were IN! YES! to being headed for a fun night!
Immediately inside, TimeStopper personnel quickly explained that their 3D photography booth which is one half tonite captures one’s entire body. They kindly invite us to try it out but we let other Unilocalers behind us go 1^st. Corey B. who is kinda shy like me doesn’t mind thinking out our plan for what we are gonna do. When we were ready, we are whisked away into the photo booth but first grab a bunch of their fun props: colorful leis, sparkly patriotic head ringlet gear, & armfuls of baby-​sized heart-​shaped balloons (in honor of Valentine’s Day) to throw into the air WHILE jumping LOL Inside the semi-​circle booth, the staff explain that what would be captured would happen in an instant soon as they said: GO! So on the count of 3, we did GO! Hehe Great laffs & fun memories!
Outside the booth on the wall was a monitor that previewed our session which we videotaped with our cellphone cameras in advance of the one that would be emailed to us :)
Fun Photo booth activity completed, we walked further inside. I’d been to Hawaiian Brian’s long ago when it was one HUGE open room with no dividing walls. Now it is separated into different rooms. How neat! Separated spaces for different activities! :)
I remembered the Fresh Café event there were various activities happening each room so we took a look into each before deciding to first try the one with live band music.
The room was packed but not uncomfortably. There were lines for various vendor tables with regular– & sample-​sized foods, snacks, & desserts all to the left & right of the large high stage with a bar at far right. EVERYTHING was sooooo delicious! (See my pics!)
Party Yeeps were all really nice & so very courteous! (Even in the restroom we were figuring out if we were Unilocal-​friends!) Was neat to see notifications on my phone that the Yeeps on my acct had checked-​in! What’s super neat is meeting Steven U. & Wesley J. who (separately) came by to say «hi! :D» What a surprise! They are as nice on Unilocal app as in person! :D
We enjoyed our samplings while listening to the two music groups so much that we nearly forgot to explore the other rooms!
Don’t forget your Unilocal schwag!
By the time I realize we should explore the other rooms, everything had either been or was being dismantled but I’m happy to report that we were able to check in to claim our Unilocal schwag. We snagged a couple snazzy signature red Unilocal water bottles! Hooray!
1^st THANK YOU goes to my dear brave IRL-​friend, Corey B. :) After this event, I am no longer hesitant to attend any Unilocal event. Unilocal events are F-​U-​N! Thank you for encouraging me to attend, Corey B. :D
THANK YOU to Emi, UnilocalStaff, & Unilocal Hawaii; Hawaiian Brian’s; TimeStoppers; & all of the vendors for having me/​us join in on this FANTASTIC evening! CONGRATULATIONS on this major successful event! You sure know how to ROCK a party — WHAT. A. BLAST. !!! :D
Unilocal-​HAWAII COORDINATORS: *YOU* are ON FLEEK! :D

Even though the event was a couple weeks ago, I still daydream about my favorite YEE that was the ultimate playground for Unilocalers! I’ve attended Unilocalapalooza when I was living in San Francisco, and while that event was by far larger, this event was by far more fun and awesome!
I’m so glad my +1 and I arrived an hour earlier because we were able to sample all the delicious foods with ease. Paul’s Poppers definitely had me at Nutella with their sweet offerings. My boyfriend absolutely loved Tanioka’s spicy ahi dish. I’ve never seen a macaron so big when we visited La Tour Café’s booth! And of course, I was ever thankful for the free beers we had courtesy of PF Chang’s. As if food weren’t enough though, we also visited the two photo booths and snagged a flipgram book and took some 3D photos.
Absolutely cannot rave enough about this event to my friends (who are now diligently going to keep up with their Unilocal reviews)! Thank you to Emi and her team for a fantastic evening!

Just so you know…#IHeartYelpapalooza!!!
How much do I love it? Well, I’ll let my hashtags do the talking…
#FantasticFunForCharity
#Eatyourheartout
#Stupidgood.
#FoodBabyShowing
#MultipleMazingMusicians
#WishYouWereHere
#GotSchwagged
#HOPEITNEVERENDS
This was definitely one of my favorite Unilocal Events so far. Emi Did an AMAZING job putting this together and it ROCKED!
Everything about this event was awesome… the venue, the food, the drinks, the musicians, the vendors… every part of this event was worth seeing and interacting with…
I so hope there is another one and that I get to go…#Happy@HawaiianBrians

If there’s one thing that I’ve learned about Unilocal over the past few years, it’s that Emi and her crew always throw the best parties! Unilocalapalooza was no exception as there were lots of food, drinks, activities, favors, and entertainment for all attending Unilocalers and their plus ones (or twos).
I arrived early to the event as I knew parking may be difficult and met up with my plus two, Tiffany-​Nicole G and her fiancé Allen, for Elite hour. We started off our night jumping for Timestoppers Hawaii then made our way to main stage room. While there, we were entertained by several bands as we drank some beers from Kona Brewing Company and ate samples from various vendors such as MAC 24/​7, PF Chang’s, Tanioka’s, Tiki’s, and Hawaiian Pie Company. I really enjoyed the snacks from La Tour Café (pretzel croissants, kouign amann, white chocolate strawberry macaron), Paul’s Poppers (pepperoni pizza, raspberry Nutella), and Primo Popcorn.
As the night continued, we explored the rest of Hawaiian Brian’s and found more rooms filled with food vendors and activities, such as taking pictures for flipbooks, facepainting, and getting faux hawks. Throughout the night, I saw lots of familiar faces, such as Brigitte S and Peter C. With much anticipation, we ended the night at Unilocalaplooza with a performance by Streetlight Cadence!
Thank you to Hawaiian Brian’s for hosting and to Emi, Cathy, Maka, Raelyn, and Alli for organizing this exciting event! Can’t wait for the next one!

Hawaiian Brians, what happened to you? When I last saw you, you were a rundown semi seedy pool hall that was smoky and full of late night pool junkies and racers. Now you are a spiffed labyrinth of bars, music stages and interesting spaces (still got your pool tables).
My hubby and I braved the parking, and made it during the elite hour. We took a really cool video with Time Stoppers Hawaii, then grabbed some rainbow shots from the bartenders from PFChangs Waikiki. Then we went food hunting… I’m glad that some of my new fave spots plus others I’ve bookmarked were out sampling their food. My faves were Earl’s sandwiches, lihing pop from Onopop, the poke rice from Taniokas, the macron from La Tour, and the pies from Hawaiian Pie Company.
I was really excited to find that one of my new favorite local bands, Streetlight Cadence, was performing and I stayed past the time I was planning to, just to hear their set. I also got to buy their CD!
Although I didn’t run into as many Unilocal friends as I had hoped (the place was packed!) My hubby and I had a great evening of Unilocal fun and appreciate all the hard work of Emi, Cathy and the rest of the Unilocal staff to make an awesome night for all of us!

Another excellent Unilocal event and it was for a great cause. I really enjoyed all the local bands and the local food!
Buy Local!
Emi out did herself again! The venue, Hawaiian Brain’s was very large with 3 different rooms playing local bands. The food was great and we enjoyed the staff that provided excellent service. Since this was such a big shindig, venue was crowded and there were tons of Unilocalers but everyone was in good spirits and there was plenty to do and eat for everyone!
Can’t wait for the next event!

Unilocalapalooza was amazeballs! It might be my most favorite event I have attended in a while just for the amount of fun I had. This event was so well organized! I arrived at 5:45 with my +1 and found parking in the lot [Hawaiian Brian’s validated us as an event so it only cost $ 2!]. Maka, Cathy and Katy from Seattle [thanks for helping out with the event!] were at the door checking party passes, giving out name tags and showing off their epic costumes. Ours felt shabby next to theirs. ;) We relined up for 21+ bracelets and went in the door shortly after 6.
What an amazing event! When we first entered Time Stoppers Hawaii was set up where we got to take these awesome action video shots with movement. We did some fun air kicks and jumps! In the main performance room there was a huge stage with great local bands — Streetlight Cadence! — and lots of food/​drinks. I didn’t know where to start! In the pool table room there was more delicious food, makeup stations, local artists and of course some amazing Unilocal scwag for us to claim. The area by the dart boards had the great photo flipbook from Photo play Hawaii all set up with props and Shaaloha handing out pita chips & hummus. We were so full of goodies we couldn’t handle.
The open bar was flowing — thanks for all the local kona co beer! Bartenders were so friendly. Thank you to all the food vendors! La Tour Café had amazing treat plates with baked goods & a perfect macaron, Paul’s poppers had sweet & savory bites that tickled me happy; mac ²⁴⁄₇ [vietnamese spring roll] and tikis [salmon tartare cones] each had unique takes on their bites while Taniokas kept it classic with yummy plates of spicy tuna over rice. There was even flavored popcorns and some ono pie samples from Hawaiian Pie Co. Earl sandwich had pieces of some of their most popular sandwiches [goat cheese & bacon jam? yes please!], Jamba had smoothies and Doughlicious pizza was nice enough to bring an assortment of pies to try out; huge slices! I felt blessed to get to to enjoy so many treats.
The venue at Hawaiian Brian’s is huge and with the huge crowd, it was hard to find all our Unilocal friend but I got to run into a lot of Unilocalers for quick hellos and did get to chat with Amara a bit; she’s seriously lovely if you don’t know her! We ran into good friend Lauren C. as well as some other new friends like Joanne, Luis and Peter. Luis makes me LOL & give me my East Coast attitude that I love! I spent a lot of time trying to get my plus one boyfriend more comfortable with how to Unilocal haha. He’ll be a Unilocaler one day!
**Being elite really is neat! Getting to attend an hour early made me able to enjoy the whole experience and sample with friends without rushing — gotta love this Unilocal ohana!**
Thank you to Hawaiian Brian’s for holding the event at their venue! Thanks to the whole Unilocal team and especially Emi for putting this event together. It was unbelievably fun. You guys totally outdid yourselves and I cannot wait to hang with ya’ll again at the next one! SYOY! :)

Wow. My first time going to a Unilocalapalooza at Hawaiian Brians and I am so so glad I didn’t miss it. I had so much fun with my plus one along with seeing my awesome UnilocalY ladies and gents. It’s always nice to see Maka, Cathy and Emi. They’re always on top of their game at these events.
Okay, the night kicked off with a ton of FOOD and DESSERTS and lots of giveaways from the Unilocal booth. Thanks P.F. Changs for the $ 10 coupons! Looking forward to using it towards my dinner in waikiki! Mac247 for the awesome Vietnamese rolls and Mongolian glazed kalbi and shrimp! La Tour Café, the pretzel croissant with w/​cheese and white chocolate strawberry macaron! Paul’s Poppers for the 3 cheese jalapeño wontons (what a kick!!) and the dynamite tofu was amazing! Jamba Juice, they quenched my thirst with the new Amazing Green drink! Tikis salmon tartar cone was so delicious. I loved how the cone was edible. My most favorite, Taniokas ahi pole with rice. There were so much food but those were the once that I can name so far.
I can’t believe how huge Hawaiian Brian’s is! Pool table, stage, dart room, and more pool room. I better start practicing on shooting some pool before I make my way back here. Parking was a bit tight in the beginning but got lucky with a spot. They have their own private lot/​parking garage.
Looking forward to another event with my Unilocalies!

Thank you, thank you, thank you to all of the Unilocal folks who made last night’s Unilocaler Party at Hawaiian Brian’s such fun! Who knew that it could so easy to donate to a good cause and have so much fun at the same time? I should have learned from the Kaneohe Bay event last year!
Being allowed to go in an hour early as a lucky «E» was quite an advantage since the parking was challenging. I’m sure it got even worse as more people came (but that’s a facilities issue and not really Unilocal’s kuleana). Another Unilocaler posted a tip to pay $ 7 to park in the open lot on the Diamond Head side of the building to avoid parking hassles. It’s probably worth it if I go there again.
I’ve never been to Hawaiian Brian’s before, and was pretty surprised at how big it is inside. I was super impressed with the setup. In my inexperienced mind, I pictured standing room only and really crowded lines, but I was way off! Everything ran really smoothly. All of the goodies were delicious and the partners, edibles and bevvies folks could not have been friendlier. What fun!
Props for extra spirit go to the Tanioka’s gents for being dressed up as famous rockers. Awesome job, guys!

Wonderful shindig I had a blast! Ran into many familiar faces what a great mixer. Good food, friends, entertainment and free swag! I’m in heaven… oh wait heaven is called Unilocalapalooza then heck yes sign me up. My date left me hanging last minute so I almost didn’t go.
Thank goodness my Unilocaly friends said its ok just come out! We party with you!
So glad we have a great group of happy people to party with… this made my work week much more bearable. Emi your the best! Had a great time, tummy full, time to watch the boob toob then catch some Zzzs.
Long work day tomorrow 9 – 5 aloha Unilocal

«I love Rock and Roll» in my Joan Jett voice! This party was on FIRE! Thank you so much Unilocal Hawaii and Hawaiian Brians for throwing the Unilocalapalooza!
The venue chosen was big and it was my first time inside. I walked over from my clinic so I didn’t get to check out the massive parking structure.
On arrival, I took a flight of stairs up and walked through the garage and found my yeeps waiting for me. I scanned my party pass, received a name tag, donated to the Honolulu Aids Walk and we went inside. From the moment we crossed the threshold I knew I was in love. The spot was huge and split into multiple rooms! There was food, drinks, and fellow Unilocalers everywhere! We made our way to the Unilocal table to check in and get amazing swag! I’ve had my eye on the Unilocal shot glass for awhile and was so happy when my husband picked that one! I got some Unilocal Stunner Shades!
We made our way around sampling foods and seeing who was represented while also getting some drinks from the bar! This is my favorite Unilocal Party to date! I would say my favorite food was Taniokas Ahi on sushi rice. I am a huge fan of LA Tour and their pretzel croissants with gruyère cheese and cured bacon was ok but the Macaron was to die for! Of course I had the Unilocalapalooza aloha pop with pop rocks! Rock on! We visited both photo booths, one was an action shot and the other a flip book!
This party totally rocked my socks off! Thanks again Unilocal Hawaii and Hawaiian Brians!

Plus 1 and I had a great time… Great food, great drinks, great entertainment and music… 2 different bands playing in 2 different rooms. The food was really good! I’m so glad we were able to make the elite hour for the food and drinks! They had a lot of different booths .food, photo, makeup and games. The venue itself was great. but the only down side I can find is parking. it took us a long 30 mins to get onto the main exit ramp. almost 45 mins to get out of the parking structure! Which was just too long for a validated venue! I don’t know what was going on with the parking… sheesh!
Parking on the street may be an option next time to avoid the post event traffic. Note taken :) Overall, AWESOME event!!!

Been a Unilocal Elite member for YEARS now, yet have to admit this was the very first Elite event I’ve ever attended… and it was a BLAST! Da’ grindz was supah, SUPAH ono, libations kept a flowin’, and the live music was very enjoyable.
Mahalo Emi and Unilocal crew for all you do! Looking forward to the next one!

Wow what an epic event! I arrived at about 6 and proceeded to the front door. There were actually two lines. One was to check in and one to enter. I checked in and then entered. I was so happy to see so many familiar faces and I was surprised that Unilocal took over the entire place!
It was impressive from the number of vendors giving out free food and samples to the large number of musicians on two stages! The musicians took turns performing and there was never a dull moment for entertainment or food. The sheer amount of companies was impressive in both quantity and quality. There was so much good food that I can’t say what was my favorite because I loved just about everything! It was fantastic trying a lot of new foods.
An open bar, plus a huge amount of guests made this a fantastic party! It was so awesome seeing so many friends and making new ones. Thanks so much Emi and the Unilocal team for all the hard work you put in to put this huge event together! Thanks Hawaiian Brian’s for letting us have fun at your business!

First thing first! THANK YOU HAWAIIAN BRIANS, Unilocal HAWAII, EMI, CATHY, MAKA, and the rest of the Unilocal HAWAII CREW! Tonight was great despite the parking woes but eh, can’t complain. FOOD was delicious, DRINKS were plentiful, ACTIVITIES were fun, ENTERTAINMENT was awesome, and seeing FELLOW UnilocalERS was priceless!
Everything was great but here’s the ones that I really enjoyed tonight.
Favorite snack of the evening: Dynamite tofu from Paul’s poppers
Favorite dessert of the evening: that crossaint thingy from LA Tours
Favorite «dish»: sweet spicy Ahi from Tanioka’s
Favorite entertainment: Amanda Frazier in the «studio». She was amazing!!!
Didn’t have time to get a caricature of myself, get my falsie eyebrows, or get a frohawk (yes frohawk), but I totally enjoyed the evening. Especially cause I got to see my fellow Unilocalers like John N, Gary N, Eric R, and more… And of course my fave (shhhh don’t tell) Terry K :) xoxo
Another successful Unilocal event down in the books! Great job Unilocal Hawaii Team! Thank you again! See y’all in the next one.

Another great event that goes down in the books as one hell of a Unilocalapalooza!
We got in line after a crazy parking experience and it was only three people deep. After we made our donation to The Life Foundation and a few minutes of wait we were in the door getting our ID checked and our over 21 wrist bands on.
Unleashed for the Elite happy hour to some delicious grinds and drinks with some awesome local entertainment as well.
Hawaiian pie, Mac 24/​7, Tanioka’s, Primo Popcorn, Earl Sandwich, La Tour Café and Aloha pops to name a few places that brought some really ono food. All the food was delicious. The Aloha pops really hit the spot.
As always at any event, its great to see so many familiar faces. I keep missing some faces as well but one day we will meet IRL. Sophie P brought her friend thats new to Unilocal as my +2 Joely B. Her first event ever and she had a blast seeing how us Unilocalers roll.
She’s always hard at work putting these awesome Unilocal events together. Hats off to our wonderful CM Emi H. with the help of her minions Cathy T and Maka K and the rest of the crew hard at work checking people in handing out schwag. Thank you Hawaiian Brian’s as well! Great job on the renovation! Good fun and good times with great people.

Leave it to Unilocal, our amazing CM Emi, and her always stellar staff for putting on this most awesome party of the century! Love the idea of pairing a great party with a donation to charity, this time to the Life Foundation. …And here’s to Hawaiian Brian’s and staff for a great new place and evening! I have to admit, have never been inside Hawaiian Brian’s until tonight. So glad I went. After seeing the great space here, looking forward to visiting this place again and visiting soon.
The venue was so large there was lots of space for two or three live band stages and tons of activity spaces. There were tons of food sampling spots. Some of my favorites included: Tanioka’s and their spicy ahi poke over rice, Mac ²⁴⁄₇ and their delicious shrimp wraps, Hawaiian Pie Company, La Tour Café with a small plate assortment of buttery croissant, croissant sandwich, and special macaron special for valentines of strawberry and chocolate.
Also most memorable were Primo Popcorn, Paul’s Poppers, Earl of Sandwich, Jamba Juice’s kale smoothies, Aloha Pops, and ohh sooo many more. I would mention the awesome drink vendors but don’t now their names. Instead I will thank old Unilocal friend Laine and new Unilocal friend Joey for keeping us in endless supply of liquid refreshments and awesome good company.
As a side note: being elite made a huge difference in the evening. Being allowed to arrive one hour earlier got us the best parking spots, got us enjoying the yummie food and refreshments without line, and got us a more intimate crowd while easier to pick out Unilocal elite friends. Being elite is truly neat. Thank you Unilocal !!
…a most fun evening !

We all pay homage to Unilocal as the sponsor, planner, coordinator, ETC for this great CMYE Unilocalapalooza which proved to be a great start for events throughout the year.
The many food booths gave us all a chance to try their special servings. The newbie Hawaiian Pie Company served their delicious sweets and explained which days to watch for their special servings. Mac ²⁴⁄₇ had their appetizer with a great hot sauce and let me not forget La Tour with their great desserts. Paul’s Poppers with the tofu popper was a great bite and Aloha Pops with their cool delites dawned our hungry tummys.
In addition to food, photo booths, make up booths and other vendors who made up the venue, the bar stations and bartenders were the icing on the cake!
All that said, true kudos to Unilocal for making sure it was a complete full circle of an event meaning it was not only fun, food and fellowship for us but they had Life Foundation as the charity for the evening. Proving once again that not only do we Unilocalers know how to party but we know how to give back and pay it forward.
Mahalo, Unilocal,Emi and staff and last but not least to Hawaiian Brian’s for providing the venue for this great event.

Had a great time at the Elite hour of the Unilocalapalooza. Despite the parking situation (lots of people decided they wanted to take up two spots…) we found a spot and got in. The security guys were all friendly and helpful.
Fun to see the new layout but i kind of got lost…
We took a funny picture and got such good nibbles and beverages! Highlights include: the bacon ranch popcorn, the strawberry macaroon, the fresh hummus, delicious pizza and garlic bread… I’m such a fan! I burned my tongue on the raspberry Nutella popper. :(
Nice bartenders from PF Chang’s and other vendors! Informative game about HIV and fun to see people with fancy hairdos and face paint. I felt like a kid at a fun fair. ^_​^ With all the snacks we got kind of full so as the venue got full of people, we decided to face the parking lot music again before we lost strength.