My May 9 column about winning a Hoku Lifetime Achievement Award and about Waikiki in the 1960s and ’70s, naming entertainers I covered in those good old days, generated more response than anything I have ever written. People miss when Kalakaua was a two-way street, parking was free and the cost for a night on the town was low enough for ordinary local folks to make the scene.
I’d like to share two of the best emails I received. One was from brilliant businesswoman Diane Plotts. Diane was a partner in Hemmeter Investment Co. for 35 years with Chris Hemmeter and Henry Shigekane. Their company developed the Hyatt Regency Waikiki, Westin Kauai, Hyatt Waikoloa and Westin Maui. The other was from real estate wiz and triathlon star Don Eovino.
Diane wrote: "My congratulations on your award, much deserved.I read every word of your account with tears in my eyes.This was the Hawaii I knew and loved when I moved there at the end of 1962. What wonderful years you covered.One you did not mention was Haunani Kahalewai. She was still at the Monarch Room when I arrived. Nina (Kealiiwahamana), of course, I have known since our first company built the restaurants in the Ilikai.She and Herman Wedemeyer were (on) the sales staff for Chinn Ho.And dear Eddie Kamae.Myrna (Kamae) was a cocktail waitress for us in the Mynah Bird Bar in the front of the Colonel’s Plantation (fronting the International Market Place and later called Gauguin), which we bought from Don the Beachcomber (Donn Beach). Eddie and the Sons of Hawaii were one of our many musical acts. Jimmy (Borges) opened Trappers for us with Betty Loo (Taylor) at the Hyatt.I got to see Jimmy and (his wife) Vicky when I was home in March. Aaaaaahhh, the memories, Ben. Thanks so very much for bringing them all back to life for me." Diane went on to become a Kamehameha Schools trustee, a director of American Savings Bank and an independent director of Hawaiian Electric Industries Inc. …
Here’s what Don Eovino of Eovino & Associates Inc. has to say: "Great History! I was privileged to arrive in the summer of ’72, as an ex-schoolteacher, promptly getting a job at JB’s. I tended bar, sold women’s clothes for Sherry Holt and Bill Considine. We also did sports attire for the World Football League. I sold used cars at Universal Motors. I taught as a substitute schoolteacher all over the island, worked next at The Point After with Bill Walton and Lee Afavai, then opened up LeChateau with Sergio Battestetti, then opened up the Infinity at the Sheraton with Paul Bosco and Al Phillips. I got my real estate license in ’74, and haven’t looked back since! I experienced those golden years of Hawaiian entertainers meeting all you mentioned as a fellow in the periphery of the ‘business’ as a bartender in Waikiki. What a rich life you have led, and the ’70s in Waikiki was the best! I am so glad to have experienced that! …
I missed some of the entertainers I should have mentioned in that May 9 column. I ran into two of them last week at Neiman’s Expresso Bar, Cathy Foy-Mahi and Jay Larrin. Danny Couch, Marlene Sai, Shari Lynn and Liz Damon were others I missed. I’m sure there are more. To them I apologize …
THE OREGON Alumni Association hosted U. of Oregon assistant football coaches Steve Greatwood and Erik Chinander at a scholarship dinner May 29 at Ruth’s Chris Steak House Waikiki. Those attending included Craig Furuya, Rich Miano and Ed Nishioka …
HOT STUFF: Top prize in Maui’s Annual fireknife competition May 23 went to Mikaele Oloa, who walked away with $4,000. Third-place winner Tuika Faumuina sliced his big toe so severely on the knife’s hook that he was taken to the hospital. After returning from the ER and finding out that he had made the finals, he insisted on competing the next night and placed third. TC Thompson, after competing, jumped off the stage and brought Devyn Lurendez on stage. He dropped to one knee and proposed. She said yes! TC did not place in the fireknife competition, but he took home a very important prize anyway …
Ben Wood, who sold newspapers on Honolulu streets in World War II, writes of people, places and things. Email him at bwood@staradvertiser.com.
