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One of my readers, Wally Hirai, told me last month that he dined with a group of friends at Bravo restaurant below Anna Miller’s in Aiea.
None of them could remember the restaurant that was there before, although one recalled that a miniature train ran around the restaurant.
The name of it was the Round House, and it was built by Stanley Miller in 1973, possibly as a tribute to the OR&L trains that ran by the site from the 1890s to the late 1940s. A roundhouse is a semicircular building used to service and store locomotives. The OR&L had one makai of Aala Park at its Iwilei terminal.
The interior of the Round House had artwork of the narrow-gauge railroad cars and engines that once transported people and goods around the island. The waiting room looked like a train depot. Model trains ran in the bar.
Waiters wore red bandannas and trainmen’s overalls, and the waitresses wore miniature versions of them.
It made me think that many Hawaii companies had the word “House” in their names. I thought I’d explore them this week. How many can you remember?
Liberty House
The company that was “a tradition in Hawaii” for 150 years was started by German sea captain Heinrich Hackfeld in 1849.
Hackfeld first came to Hawaii with a ship’s hold full of silk clothing, crockery, hardware, window glass and other household items. He occupied a small store on Queen Street called Hackfeld’s Dry Goods. A nephew took over the store and changed the name to B.F. Ehlers in 1862.
During World War I, in 1918, Germans were forced to sell their property and businesses, and the new board of directors thought a German name was a liability. Business maven Julie Percell told me they chose the name “Liberty House” to prove their patriotism.
Volcano House
The oldest hotel in Hawaii, Volcano House, opened for business as the Crater Hotel in 1866.
The Pacific Commercial Advertiser remarked that 400 people had visited the volcano that year, and among them was Mark Twain. He wrote that he was “surprised to find a good hotel at such an outlandish spot.”
Slipper House
Florence Kamimoto and Kiyoto Uejio founded this company in 1952. They had stores at 1505 Young St. and 69 S. Hotel St. and later were an original tenant at Ala Moana Center. They carried over 100 styles from Japan. Early ads for the Slipper House say it was formerly The Gift Box, which opened in 1941.
House of Music
This company was started by local musician John Murphy in 1949 in Waikiki and moved to the new Ala Moana Center in the early 1960s. It changed hands a couple of times before closing in the mid-1990s.
House of Adler
Jacques Adler started his jewelry firm in 1945 on Kaheka Street. He was famous for one of the longest slogans in Hawaii business history: “If you are not buying your diamonds from the House of Adler, you are paying too much.” In 1995 he estimated he had sold close to $1 billion in jewelry over 50 years from his 10 stores.
House Without a Key
This restaurant in the Halekulani Hotel got its name from a 1925 Charlie Chan book by Earl Derr Biggers. He named it that because locals didn’t lock their doors back then.
Ken’s pancake house
Where in Hilo can you find a great meal 24 hours a day? Ken’s House of Pancakes, near the airport, began in 1971. Ken Pruitt and Bonnie Twitchell started the restaurant after opening four in Northern California.
Many other pancake places use “house in their name,” including IHOP (International House of Pancakes), Uncle John’s Pancake House, Smitty’s Pancake House and the Original Pancake House.
The Ranch House
Ths restaurant began in Aina Haina as the Hind-Clarke Drive-In ice cream parlor in 1932 and came to be owned by Spencecliff. Many old-timers remember seeing the Makaha Sons of Niihau play there.
House of Pure Aloha
Also in Aina Haina (and at Ala Moana Center, too), this snack shop was begun as Doe Fang in the 1950s by the Au family from Hong Kong. They sold it to the Lin family, which sold it to Clayton Chang, whose dream as a 5-year-old child was to own it.
Chuck’s Original Steak House
Chuck Rolles and Sterling Cole started this chain in 1959 in the Edgewater Hotel. Rolles, son-in-law of Outrigger Hotels founder Roy Kelley, says he was the first to bring the steak and salad bar concept to the mainland. At one time he had 50 restaurants from Guam to Maine.
Hy’s Steakhouse
Hy Aisenstat started Hy’s in Calgary in 1955. There are now several Hy’s in Canada and one in Hawaii. Aisenstat also brought Kobe Japanese Steakhouse to Hawaii.
Buzz’s Original Steak House
Former Canlis maitre d’ Raymond Valentine “Buzz” Schneider opened his steak and lobster restaurant in Waikiki in 1957. Buzz said it was originally a one-man operation. He greeted customers, took their orders, cooked and served them.
Other steakhouses I can think of include Sizzler, Byron’s, Furusato and LaMancha Steak House.
House of Kalai
Alice Tucker told me about Tommy Leong, who owned this wood shop from about 1957 to 1987. “Kalai” means to carve, in Hawaiian. His beautiful bowls were given to out-of-town dignitaries who came to Hawaii, such as President Eisenhower, Prince Akihito and Madam Chiang Kai-Shek.
Orson’s Bourbon House
Andy Wong began this Kailua institution in 1971 and, like Byron’s, named it after his sons (who both had names that meant “bear” in Russian). Orson’s may have been Hawaii’s first New Orleans Creole and Cajun restaurant.
China House
Many locals fondly remember this dim sum restaurant up a now-gone ramp off Kapiolani Boulevard to Ala Moana Center. It opened in 1973 and had its own version of a Big Mac: a baked char siu bao.
Other companies with a foreign place plus “house” name include Korean House, Swiss House, India House, Vietnam House, Taj Majal Curry House, Osaka Yakiniku House and Pagoda Sukiyaki House.
Kenny’s Coffee House
John Fujieki opened this Kamehameha Center restaurant in 1965. He also owned Kenny’s Burger House, where McDonald’s is in the same center. The coffeehouse is now the Kam Bowl restaurant.
Other places with “coffee house” in their name: Wailana Coffee House, Plantation Coffee House, Gum’s Coffee House and Wiki Wiki Coffee House.
Ward Warehouse
If you’ve driven by this place recently, you’ll see Victoria Ward Centers is fixing to return it to its originally planned condo and shopping complex. The original Ward Warehouse opened in 1975.
The House of Janus
Rick Janus opened this catering business at 1270 Ala Moana Blvd., not far from where the KITV television station was once located, around 1969. It later became known as The House of Lono when Al Harrington moved his “Polynesian Experience” show there.
Opera House
Originally known as The Honolulu Music Hall on King and Mililani streets, where the downtown post office parking lot is today, it became the Opera House in 1884.
It was a magnificently ornate theater. In those early days drama companies, circuses, minstrels and burlesque artists came to Hawaii and performed for a few weeks. In 1897 the first movie in the islands was shown there, according to Robert Schmidt.
Teahouses
Most of the teahouses had “tea house” in their name, including Natsunoya, Kanraku, Nuuanu Onsen and Mochizuki Tea House. Most grew out of bathhouses that served more beer and sake than tea.
Ocean-themed houses
Many places have ocean themes, such as Canoe House, Oar House, Hanalei Shell House and Chart House; in Lahaina there are Duke’s Beach House, Frida’s Beach House, The Beach House, Ocean House and Sea House.
Food-themed ‘houses’
These include the Chowder House, Koloa Fish and Chowder House (Kauai), Kapaa Fish and Chowder House (Kauai), Mama’s Fish House (Paia, Maui), Island Fish House (Kahului), Lobster House, Sandwich House, Crackseed House, The Dog House, House of Dragon Chop Suey and Shakey’s Pizza Parlor & Ye Public House.
Et cetera
Hawaii labor unions have their Unity House. A few others I can think of include Data House, Travel House, Colonial House, The Garden House, Long House, House of Park, House of Hong, House of Wallpaper and House of Pets.
That’s well over 75 “houses” and I’m sure there are more.
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