Not Again! Another Sidewalk Collapse Next To Barefoot Beach Cafe
The sidewalk along Queen’s Beach continues to collapse into the sand.
For more than a year after a portion of Waikīkī’s popular beachside walkway collapsed into the sand, Barefoot Beach Cafe customers looking to drink out of pineapples as they watched the sunset had to do so through a chain-link fence.
Civil Beat wrote about the walkway in late November 2024, when the city was awaiting a permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to begin repairs. About nine months and $3.6 million later, the sidewalk was finally fixed and reopened to the public in July 2025.
Less than a year later though, a neighboring part of the sidewalk, mere feet from the prior damage, has collapsed right back into the sand.
Ella Drury, 23, works at a surf school in Waikīkī and was sitting next to the fenced area Wednesday afternoon shooting photos of surfers. She said she’s not surprised the walkway is broken since it’s in an area prone to seawater erosion.
“Just a little bit shocking that they haven’t fixed it,” she said, “considering how many people I see walking out here every single day.”
The current damaged portion of walkway collapsed in March 2026, city Department of Parks and Recreation spokesperson Nate Serota said in a written statement, and it’s believed the Kona low storms contributed to it.
“We are still assessing the full scope of damage to the seawall,” he said. “From there we’ll be able to determine a design, estimated cost, permitting and emergency repair timeline.”
Serota said the city is exploring a variety of strategies to mitigate beach erosion around Oʻahu.
“There is no ‘one size fits all approach’ and the City recognizes that each shoreline demands its own unique response,” he said.
On Thursday morning, Cece Arroyo, 56, was lounging nearby as she watched her family take a surf lesson. She said the walkway is important for people with mobility issues who might have trouble walking through the sand.
“Having this walkway is essential,” she said, “and having it paved and working well is essential for people to really get out here and enjoy it.”
She just hopes the city gets around to fixing it.
“Hopefully it’s a higher priority,” she said.
Who Is Responsible?
Honolulu parks director Laura Thielen at (808) 768-3003, and city construction director Haku Milles at (808) 768-8480.
Fixing It!
Civil Beat has published roughly 40 stories in our Fix It! column since the end of 2024, when we first wrote about the Waikīkī collapsed walkway.
These stories have highlighted broken infrastructure in the form of traffic lights, crosswalks, playgrounds, elevators and more. And surprise, surprise: Some of the infrastructure we wrote about that had languished for months or even years was fixed after we published our stories.
A rooty bike path along Date Street was repaved. A broken elevator in Liliha Medical Building rose again. A playground at Waipiʻo Neighborhood Park regained a slide. And traffic engineers recently visited a busy intersection along Ala Moana Boulevard to see how they can make conditions safer for pedestrians who need to rush to cross the street before the light changes.
Mahalo to all our tipsters, and keep ‘em coming!
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