Honolulu once had a sign that was more photographed than Diamond Head, according to Kodak officials, who counted them one week. Some say it was the most photographed sign in the world.

The sign stood outside the Kau Kau Korner drive-in, on the corner of Kalakaua Avenue and Kapiolani Boulevard, and was about 20 feet high. It was topped with the words "Crossroads of the Pacific." Arrows pointed out the mileage to various world locations, such as London, Manila, Shanghai and Berlin.

Patty and Hanley "Sunny" Sundstrom built Kau Kau Korner in 1935. "Kau kau" means "food" or "to eat" in local pidgin. The phrase probably comes from Chinese pidgin English, "chow-chow," which dates to 1795 and means "food."

Former Star-Bulletin staff writer Peggy Hickok Hodge remembers going to Kau Kau Korner after movies at the Waikiki Theatre on Kalakaua Avenue.

"The after-show treat was usually a juicy hamburger at the popular Kau Kau Korner. A waitress in an apron and frocked dress came out to the car and took your order, then returned with it on a tray that clamped on to the car.

"Then she asked for your drink order with ‘tic or teen?’ which meant, if you wanted a milkshake, did you prefer it thick or thin!"

Kau Kau Korner was open 24 hours a day, even during World War II. The drive-in complied with wartime blackout regulations by putting up blue denim curtains.

World War II sailor and former Star-Bulletin reporter Lyle Nelson first visited the Kau Kau Korner in 1944.

"It was a very popular place," Nelson said. "The girls (carhops) were always young and cute and wore brief uniforms. I think the servicemen during the war were particularly interested in the mileage signs on the corner of the street which showed you how far Moscow, Paris and Tahiti were from Kalakaua and Kapiolani." Many of them posed for pictures in front of it.

When VJ (Victory over Japan) Day was announced on August 14, 1945, two parties broke out spontaneously in Honolulu. One was downtown and the other in Waikiki.

Communications were not great in those days. When the Waikiki party heard about the one downtown, they decided to join it. But the downtown party had heard of the one in Waikiki and was already coming to join them.

They met at the corner of Kapiolani and Kalakaua, and that’s where the real celebration took place, right in Kau Kau Korner’s front yard.

Former radio deejay Ron Jacobs says the first place he drove to with his first car, a 1932 Plymouth, was Kau Kau Korner.

Jacobs used to go to there for an orange freeze. On one occasion he sat next to Marlon Brando and had a lively conversation with the actor.

When the Sundstroms’ lease was up in 1960, a company called Spencecliff offered double the rent they had been paying. Spence and Cliff Weaver built Coco’s Coffee House right over the exterior of Kau Kau Korner.

Theater historian Lowell Angell was there when Coco’s was torn down in August 1986. "As the facade of Coco’s came off, the Kau Kau Korner’s building was revealed," Angel said. "It was plastered right over it."

Coco’s was replaced by the Hard Rock Cafe, which occupied the site until 2010 when it moved to Waikiki Beach Walk.