Gwen Taketa emailed me recently and suggested I write a column on the old Kuhio Grill in Moiliili. Artists like Satoru Abe, Tadashi Sato, Bumpei Akaji, Tetsuo Ochikubo and others used to trade artwork for food when they were poor, she said, and later as they got more successful they continued to drink and eat there. 

I went there once when I attended the University of Hawaii in 1974-75. My favorite teacher, Jerry Shapiro, dragged four or five of my fellow students down there one afternoon. If we order beers and tip good, he told us, the waitress will make us free pupu.

It sounded too good to be true, but a few minutes later, some delicious pupu arrived — like chopped steak, sashimi, crispy chicken and tonkatsu, I recall.

Waitresses at Kuhio Grill were entrepreneurial. They bought their own beef, chicken, pork, shrimp, clams and vegetables. The cooks would prepare it for them. If they were smart, they could earn good money. 

Better tips brought better pupu, but we never knew what to expect.

Kuhio Grill (or K.G. to most of us) was started by Mark Miyashiro in 1945. It was located on King Street past University Avenue where the 7-Eleven is now. 

It closed in the late 1970s, I believe.

I asked my readers recently to share their stories and here is what they told me.

“The old Kuhio Grill was an integral part of my introduction to Hawaii,” Richard W. Coller of Kapaa said. “After arriving at UH in 1948 and moving into the veterans’ dorm, the Kuhio Grill was my next encounter. 

“There was no evening food service on the campus in those days, and the Kuhio Grill offered a one-dollar special dinner that was a perfect fit for our budgets. 

“So I joined the nightly trudge down University Avenue to Moiliili, enjoyed dinner and marveled at the vigorous conversations in the Japanese language that went on at the bar. It was an easy introduction to local foods and I consumed them all with gusto.

“The management of the Kuhio Grill really knew how to cope with the challenges of business in Hawaii. They hired great waitresses, had excellent menus, and during the long shipping strike of 1949 even managed to serve turtle steaks when there was a shortage of meat. (The old Territorial laws were very different from those of today!)

“The camaraderie, good food and special atmosphere all stay in my memory as vivid snapshots of the past,” Coller concluded. “I am really fortunate to have had such a wonderful experience.”

Gov. Neil Abercrombie attended the University of Hawaii from 1959 to 1963 and went to Kuhio Grill dozens of times.

“It was a small family-type restaurant,” Abercrombie recalled. “You had to get there early to get a table. There was a very eclectic mix of patrons, from couples to UH students and neighborhood folks.

“The atmosphere was welcoming. It was very, very friendly.” 

Abercrombie and his fellow graduate students hung out there after classes, where they would discuss philosophy and politics and solve the problems of the world.

“I don’t remember it ever being dull at K.G. It was always fun and lively. It was the place to meet,” Abercrombie said.

On several occasions, Abercrombie was there with the university’s first African foreign student, Barack Obama Sr. from Kenya. The two became friends.

“If Barack was in the room, you knew he was there,” Abercrombie said. “He was very voluble. He always had an opinion and you could count on his sharing it with you. He had a rich, booming, resonant voice. He was full of vigor and a joy to be around. The K.G. atmosphere was perfect for him. Like him, it was open, lively, loud, boisterous.

“We were just a bunch of kids. We had no idea I would one day be governor and he would be father of a U.S. president.”

Tom Tizard of Kailua said he worked for the Queen Lili‘uokalani Children’s Center in the mid-’60s. 

“We sponsored groups of mainland VISTAs (Volunteers in Service to America). We picked them up at the airport as they arrived, transported them to wherever they were staying and gave them a brief tour and orientation to our city with all its quirks and blessings.

“Important among the latter was the Kuhio Grill. The immediate appeal for a group on limited income was the generous servings of pupus which usually meant a whole meal (we assumed leftovers from the daily meal menus) of delicious local grinds … all manuahi (free) with the purchase of a 50-cent beer or two!

“Our further agenda, beyond orienting them to Hawaii cuisine, was the demonstration of the generosity of our local folks and the contacts to be made with down-to-earth people who could further ‘educate’ them to our ways.

“Needless to say, we (and K.G.) were eminently successful in this effort. To this day, whenever we are in touch with those great volunteers, we hear of the impression that K.G. made on them and how it affected their lives, then and now. A most sorely missed institution …”

Chuck Reindollar said he had “just moved with my parents to Hawaii as my dad was transferred in his civil service job. I had grown up in Marin County, Calif., as an only child and I was going to Roosevelt High School.

“Kuhio Grill was our first meal in Hawaii. I ordered spaghetti and it came with two scoops of rice and mac salad. I was shocked at what I saw on the plate. I will never forget Kuhio Grill and that meal.”

“Kuhio Grill was one of the most unique local eateries in Hawaii’s post-war history,” recalled Doug Young. “Lunch and early dinner were regular menu fare, but as the night wore on, the crowd would come in for drinks and were furnished hors d’oeuvres (pupu) at no cost.

“As each round of drinks was served, a better pupu was served … enough to be a full multi-course meal. By the end of the evening, the bill would be only for the drinks and a large tip for the food would be expected.”

The late John Heckathorn, former editor of Honolulu magazine, once said Kuhio Grill was almost like going to a Korean bar, “except the waitress was more like your mom. You didn’t buy them drinks; you just left them a good tip to pay for the ‘free’ pupus they served you, so that next time you come, they would served you something good (again).”

There’s a Kuhio Grille (with an “e”) at the Prince Kuhio Plaza in Hilo today, but it is not related to the Moiliili establishment. Rather, it’s famous for its 1-pound laulau.

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.