A few months ago I wrote about the closing of the Pearl City Flamingo’s, Kenny’s, Indigo, KC Drive-In, Spindrifter and a few other great restaurants. One of the people who responded was Charlene Matsuoka, whose grandparents owned George’s Inn on King Street.
Many readers will remember George’s Inn, next to the Civic Auditorium. It was there from 1950 to 1988.
I met Matsuoka and her family friends Jane and Howard Takara for lunch at Treetops to learn more about George’s Inn. The story is much bigger than one restaurant, I found.
It’s about how villagers from one town in Okinawa pledged to help each other in the new lands of Hawaii.
Howard Takara said most Okinawan immigrants were uneducated. They started on the plantations but many left to form businesses.
Before leaving Okinawa the original group of immigrants from one particular village — Oroku Aza — pledged to help each other in their new life in Hawaii. They founded the Oroku Aza Jin Club, which began in Hilo in April 1923.
The club is still active today and has 350 family members.
One of the first to open his own restaurant from the village of Oroku Aza in Okinawa was Ushi Takara, who opened the American Cafe in 1923. The American Cafe was on King Street near Richards Street, about where Central Pacific Bank is today.
Takara was a mentor to many, Howard Takara (no relation) says. “They worked at his restaurant as dishwashers and worked their way up to cooks. When they developed enough skill, Ushi Takara encouraged them to start their own restaurants.”
More than 70 restaurants in Hawaii were founded by people from that single village, including Columbia Inn, Kapiolani Coffee Shop and Aloha Grill.
More than 60 of those restaurant were headed by families with the surnames Uyehara, Kaneshiro, Teruya or Takara.
Most served American food. “Okinawan food is popular today but 50 years ago it wasn’t,” Howard Takara says. “They succeeded because they served food that was well liked in Hawaii, not what they personally were used to.”
Matsuoka’s grandparents George and Chiyoko Takara were from Oroku Aza, and George had worked for Ushi Takara, growing mango and papaya.
Their first foray into the restaurant business was in 1932, when George Takara was just 20. They partnered with Kana Teruya and opened the Kaimuki Inn at 12th and Waialae avenues.
After World War II, in 1950, George and Chiyoko Takara founded George’s Inn at 1360 S. King St.
Before the Neal Blaisdell Center opened, most of our conventions, concerts, basketball, roller derby, wrestling and boxing matches were held at the Civic Auditorium.
Matsuoka recalls that George’s was popular with people attending events at the Civic Auditorium next door because the concession stand there had no liquor license. “People would crowd our bar at intermission three deep to grab a beer. We didn’t even have time to close the cash register. It was packed.”
The Civic didn’t have AC, so people needed to cool off and came for a Primo, Howard Takara says. Primo Beer had 70 percent of the market back then.
“My mom was from Japan,” Matsuoka says, “and my dad taught her to make bread and dinner rolls. I used to love eating the bread right out of the oven, and one of my favorites was her banana bread. But when she came home, Mom never baked,” Matsuoka says, laughing.
A favorite on the menu was steak and lobster, Matsuoka says, as was a Hawaiian plate with laulau, poi and poke.
“George’s soups were also popular, including clam chowder, Portuguese bean, vegetable, miso and tripe stew. He’d make five a week. A large bowl was under $4 and came with two slices of bread.
“My dad taught me how to make hamburgers and fries, another favorite. I remember peeling potatoes all day.
“We used to have parking in front, before King Street was enlarged and made two-way in the 1960s.”
The Civic Auditorium closed in 1974, and George’s lost many of its customers. “Sales went down. It made a very big impact,” Matsuoka recalls. “My parents, Richard and Arlene Takara, helped my grandmother after George died, but closed when they wanted to retire in 1988.”
George’s Inn was not related to Little George’s on Ala Moana Boulevard, where Highway Inn is today. “That was George Matsuoka, not related to me or my father,” Matsuoka says.
Memorial status
Tanya Harrison wrote me recently. She’s been researching the history of the Neal Blaisdell Center and, in particular, that it was dedicated as a war memorial when it opened in 1964. Few around today know about that part of its history.
“A bronze plaque was attached to a boulder in the vicinity of the current Blaisdell Center Box Office,” Harrison says. “We believe it disappeared by 1970, possibly a result of 1960s anti-war-related vandalism.”
Then-Mayor Neal Blaisdell said at the grand opening the “ceremony will dedicate the Honolulu International Center to those men and women of Hawaii who have served their country in time of war.”
The NBC will be rededicated as a war memorial at a ceremony Nov. 10 at 5 p.m. on the lawn Ewa of the Concert Hall. The public is invited to this free event, and Harrison asks people to RSVP to blaisdellmemorial@gmail.com.
Book fair
The Queen Emma Summer Palace will be holding Book Day on Nov. 7 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
It will showcase recent publications and their authors, including yours truly. It’s a chance for authors to visit with their readers in a relaxed setting. Admission is free.
Treasures exposed
My favorite book of 2015 was written by Pam Chambers and is titled “There and Back.” This limited-edition book is full of amazing photos of downtown Honolulu buildings.
The book takes readers from Chambers’ home on Queen Street to the capital district, through downtown, into Chinatown and back. It showcases countless delightful secrets and surprises to discover in our little town.
Many readers, who have walked these streets hundreds of times, will be amazed at some of the things she has found and photographed, that they never noticed before.
Chambers said, “I cherish downtown Honolulu as if it were a person. It is historic and modern; tiny and large; sturdy and fragile. It has a dark side, yet it glistens. It can be baffling, yet startling in its clarity.”
For more information, contact Chambers at Speakout@pamchambers.com.
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.
