PICS: The Pulse says ‘Aloha’ in Chinatown

Photo by Anthony Consillio

BY GENE PARK / gpark@staradvertiser.com

Chinatown’s pulse quickened for a few hours on Wednesday as The Pulse, Honolulu’s newest entertainment and nightlife website, celebrated its first month.

Hundreds showed up for a launch party at NextDoor in Chinatown, including “Project Runway” finalist Andy South, former local TV news anchors Angela Keen and Diane Ako, Star 101.9′s DJ Maleko, and KSSK’s Kathy with a K. Hot off the recent Hawaii International Film Festival, partygoers also
spotted Big Island-born “Ecila” director Darieus Legg and Chuck Boller, HIFF executive director.

Lacy Matsumoto, of The Hot Muffins and The Pulse’s “The Morning After,” and DJ Compose of the Nocturnal Sound Krew rocked the wheels of steel, while local band Tavana kicked out the jams.

Honolulupulse.com received 3.3 million page views since its launch on Oct. 1 through the end of October, a number which “far exceeded” the expectations of Star-Advertiser webmaster Scott Morifuji.

Gene Park at the Honolulu Pulse launch party.

“I would’ve been happy with 2 million in the first month,” Morifuji said.

“The main reason why is because we wanted to rebrand, to make it easy for people to figure out it was different from the print product.”

Morifuji, who was webmaster of the Honolulu Advertiser, said that newspaper’s entertainment site, Metromix, owned and operated by the former Advertiser owner Gannett Co., received from 1.5 million to 3 million page views a month.

When the Metromix brand departed Hawaii, Morifuji said there was “definitely a void left,” one that The Pulse has worked hard to fill.

So The Pulse marked a month. Morifuji said the future may include expanded food coverage, as well as more blogs.

“I think for this, it shows you can do well without the national branding of Metromix,” Morifuji said. “It was a powerful brand, but I think for this market … we didn’t need the Metromix name.”

More from the party: