The building that housed the storied Club Hubba Hubba in Chinatown has been renovated by its owners and will be the site of a pau hana fundraiser for the Chinatown Improvement District, a nonprofit organization. The nonprofit’s mission is to improve conditions in Chinatown while preserving the area’s cultural, ethnic and historical character.

The notorious club, which closed in 1997 and spent all these years boarded up, was once referred to by a Star-Bulletin columnist as a “lusty old lady of lurid nightlife,” which indeed it was, famed as a strip club dating back to the World War II era.

Some of the club’s former performers will attend the fundraiser from 5 to 8 p.m. Oct. 20. Along with Little Egypt, Gilda plans to attend, said Lee Stack, president of the Chinatown Improvement District.

“Gilda had some old photos of herself. … I think she’ll bring her portfolio,” she said.

Stack owns the building at 25 Hotel St. along with family members and their business ventures. Stack declined to reveal the cost of the renovation. However, she said, “in any renovation of historic properties, owners run into all sorts of things they didn’t anticipate,” she said. “Usually the cost is over what’s estimated.”

It has taken some years for the owners “to accumulate enough ownership interest to be able to proceed with such a renovation,” she said. They started working with an architectural firm on plans to repair and renovate at the end of 2006.

The family is allowing the use of the building for the Chinatown Improvement District fundraiser.

The more Stack has spoken with people about the history of the club, the more stories she has heard. “They had a Plexiglas swing,” she said.

Well now, who wants to change the subject?

With that unanticipated visual, the interview moved forward.

The historic neon sign, long dark, eventually will be restored. It doesn’t fit into current sign ordinance parameters, but the Stacks sought a variance to keep it.

“The variance was granted, and it will be restored and lit up again,” Stack said.

The sign will have to be taken down for the restoration, which won’t be done in time for the fundraiser.

The Chinatown Improvement District organization “thought it would be nice” to stage an event in the building before any tenants move in.

“There has been interest in renting it,” Stack said. As to the kinds of tenants sought for the 5,000-square-foot-building, the first floor would be ideal for a restaurant operation, she said. “It does have a glass back that looks out onto a courtyard.” The second floor is suited for office spaces.

The fundraiser is called “An Evening on Hotel Street,” and the party theme is the 1940s, with ticket-buyers encouraged to dress up in period attire, though that is optional.

Musicians will play jazz, wine and pupu will be served, there will be a silent auction and door prizes, period artwork will be displayed “and we’re having a photo booth,” Stack said.

Chinatown retailer “Lai Fong has an old backdrop from the ’40s” depicting a sailor and a hula girl, she said.

Also, because this is Hawaii, where nothing is official without a commemorative T-shirt, the organization will sell T-shirts with the Hubba Hubba sign, as well as Swing Club T-shirts.

You remember the Swing Club — it also was part of that same Hubba Hubba night-life scene for many years. Around the 1980s it became known more for the swinging of fists, for a couple of large-scale brawls that happened there, than anything else.

For the three-hour re-creation of a 1940s Hotel Street vibe, tickets are $50 and are available at 1046 Nuuanu Ave. from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. weekdays. Additional contact can be made by phone at 589-9927, 536-7864 or via email at askus@chinatownimprovementdistrict.org.

Reach Erika Engle at 529-4303, erika@staradvertiser.com or on Twitter as @erikaengle.