Last month I wrote about how several Hawaii hotels came to have their names. This month I thought I’d explore how several restaurants in town came to have their names. There’s often an interesting back story to company names.
But first a quiz: Which restaurant was named for a 1963 innovation at the post office? Which was named for a local dairy? Which was named for a Nevada hotel?
Which was named for a South American country? Which restaurant was named for Frank Sinatra’s touring chef?
» Angelo Pietro was named for an Italian fairy tale about Peter the Angel. Kunihiko Murata established the first Pietro restaurant in 1980 in Fukuoka, Japan, on the island of Kyushu. He combined the best of Italy and the distinct and delicate flavors of Japan.
Today there are more than 20 restaurants in Japan, Korea and Honolulu. Pietro’s Original shoyu dressing sells more than 17 million bottles a year and is the top-selling salad dressing in Japan.
» Anna Miller’s is a Pearlridge Center restaurant with a Pennsylvania Dutch theme and a fantastic strawberry pie. It was named for founder Stanley Miller’s grandmother. Few know that it once had 20 sister restaurants in Japan and six in California. The restaurant opened in 1973.
» Big City Diner. Owner Lane Muraoka says he picked this name because Kaimuki used to be the outskirts of Honolulu. Beyond that were sparsely populated farms. The farmers referred to all the lights and traffic in Kaimuki as the "Big City." Big City diner opened in Kaimuki in 1999 and since then has opened in Kailua, Pearlridge, Waipio and Ward Entertainment Center.
» Café 100. This Hilo restaurant was named for the 100th Infantry Battalion. Richard Seiji Miyashiro served in the battalion during World War II and learned to cook there. After the war, in January 1946, he opened Café 100 as a memorial to the men of the 100th who did not return home.
» Columbia Inn was at the "Top of the Boulevard" next to the newspaper building on Kapiolani Boulevard for 50 years. It was founded in 1941 by brothers Frank and Fred "Tosh" Kaneshiro.
"The Columbia name sounds patriotic and American, but it came from Colombian coffee bags," says son Gene Kaneshiro. "My dad used to say that good coffee and good restaurants go together."
» Flamingo. Steven Nagamine launched this business in 1950 when he bought the old Olympic Grill on Ala Moana Boulevard where Restaurant Row is today.
Daughter Sandy Chong says her dad planned to keep the name, but her parents went to Detroit to buy a car with her uncle Larry Akamine. They bought a big Chrysler and drove it to the West Coast, where it would be shipped to Hawaii.
"They stopped in Las Vegas, and the Flamingo Hotel’s logo caught their eye. It was busy and profitable," Chong says. "Back in Hawaii, Uncle Larry suggested they change the name of the restaurant to Flamingo’s. It caught on. People liked it right away. The logos were similar, and people asked all the time if we were related," Chong said.
» KC Drive Inn. K.C. was the initials of the founders, banker George Knapp and Realtor Elwood Christensen. It opened in 1929.
» L&L Drive-Inn’s name came from the L&L Dairy, owned by Robert Lee Sr. from 1952-59. Lee had a milk depot in Liliha that evolved into the first L&L Drive-Inn. The L’s originally referred to Lee and his father, who died in Korea when the son was 5.
» Mariposa. This Neiman Marcus restaurant name means "butterfly" in Spanish. They often have thousands of fabric and paper butterflies hanging in the store.
» Matteo’s Italian Restaurant. Matty Jordan, who was Frank Sinatra’s touring chef, opened up restaurants in Hollywood and Honolulu when Sinatra stopped touring. Matteo is a variation on his name, created for the restaurant.
» Moose McGillycuddy’s opened in Waikiki in 1980 as Bullwinkle’s. That name was soon challenged by the owners of the cartoon character. In 1983 they kept the moose logo but changed the name. They later opened branches in Lahaina and Kihei.
» Yum Yum Tree. This restaurant’s name was inspired by the 1963 movie "Under the Yum Yum Tree," starring Jack Lemmon. Vi’s Pies in California inspired their recipes.
» Zippy’s was founded in 1966, three years after the ZIP code came out in 1963. The name Zippy’s was also designed to convey that they served fast food. You may not know that the ZIP code is an acronym that stands for "Zoning Improvement Plan."
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Bob Sigall, author of the “Companies We Keep” books, looks through his collection of old photos to tell stories each Friday of Hawaii people, places and companies. Email him at Sigall@Yahoo.com.
