On the Scene with Jeff Apaka

Jeff Apaka was 13 and attending boarding school on the mainland in 1960 when news came that his father, Waikiki superstar Alfred Apaka, had died of a heart attack while playing handball in Honolulu.

In the half-century since that life-altering event, Apaka has lived with the public expectations that often fall on the sons of exceptionally talented or successful men.

Apaka, 71, observed the 58th anniversary of his father’s death Tuesday.

JOHN BERGER: Did your father encourage you to follow him into the entertainment business?

JEFF APAKA: He‘d tell me to get an education and go to college, but the public wanted me to produce a voice (like my father’s), so I did as the people wanted. I started out as a rock ’n’ roller, but then (island entertainer) Alex Kaeck told me I should be doing my father’s material.

I went from rock to Hawaiian, and then I was invited to come home and play the Monarch Room.

JB: Your great-aunt Lydia Ka‘onohiponiponiokalani Aholo was the hanai daughter of Queen Lili‘uokalani. What has that connection meant to you?

JA: When I was a boy Lydia Aholo was my guardian angel. I called her Auntie Tutu. Now I share my memories of her with people researching the life of the queen. I recently worked with Edgy Lee and Marc Cohen on their movie “Reflections of Our Queen.”

They were able to use excerpts of an interview with Auntie Tutu that was recorded in 1969, and it was chicken skin to hear her talking about Lili‘uokalani.

JB: There was a campaign to get the U.S. Postal Service to commemorate your father’s birth centennial on March 19, 2019. Where is that now?

JA: The Postal Service turned us down in 2017, so we’ll have to keep trying. It took several tries before they honored Duke Kahanamoku with a stamp on his 112th birth anniversary in 2002.

JB: What keeps you busy these days?

JA: I’ve worked for 26 years at the Waikiki Community Center — currently I’m part time — and I’ve been following the Kupuna Caregivers Act that provides funding for caregivers. I know how demanding caregiving can be because I was a caregiver for a maternal grandparent and a paternal grandparent.

Funding will end June 30 unless more funds are appropriated, and we need to make sure that the program is continued.