Randall McCord of Silver Creek, Ga., wrote to me recently about a great musical group he first saw in Hawaii: the Kingston Trio.

“The Moana Hotel is located on Kalakaua Avenue in the heart of Waikiki,” McCord wrote. “Moana means open sea or ocean. The gleaming white wooden four-level structure opened in 1901 marking the beginning of tourism in the Territory of Hawaii.

“The ‘First Lady of Waikiki’ could easily sit in Mobile or Gulf Shores not only because of its physical features but for its southern charm and hospitality, known locally as aloha spirit. Openness and friendliness abide here for all to enjoy,” McCord believes.

“I discovered this quite by accident in late autumn of 1958, when, as a 19-year-old sailor based at a small radio facility in the middle of Oahu, I wandered through the porte cochere, and strode through the foyer to the airy lanai overlooking the Banyan Court and beach.

“Although appropriately wearing Bermuda shorts, colored T-shirt, flip-flops and carrying a beach mat, there was some trepidation of trespassing — that at any moment someone would ask me for a room number. It did not happen.”

After seating himself at a small table under the magnificent banyan tree, McCord ordered a small nonalcoholic fruit drink and proceeded to watch the paying guests frolic in the sand and water just beyond the surf wall of the courtyard.

“After a while I walked down the beach toward the pink-hued Royal Hawaiian with no thought of infringing upon its lush 12 acres of privacy.

“In early spring 1959, the Kingston Trio performed in the hotel to a capacity audience. Ten members from Bravo Section (radio communications) in Wahiawa, including me, arrived an hour before show time to claim a choice table next to the rounded stage that protruded toward the audience.

“The Trio, who were not much older than we, formed two years earlier in Palo Alto (Calif.). It consisted of two local boys, Bob Shane and David Guard, both 1952 graduates of Punahou School. Southern Californian Nickolas Reynolds, whose father was a career naval officer, filled out the group.

“In their junior year at Punahou, Shane and Guard formed a group to sing at the carnival, performing songs by the Weavers, the most popular folk group of the time.

“Shane was from Hilo and took up the guitar to gain some popularity with girls. Guard was from Waikiki and his idol was Gabby Pahinui.”

“When my folks gave me my earliest guitar,” Guard recalled, “I learned to play in the G slack key tuning first. I would hang around the Queen’s Surf nightclub just to hear Gabby’s trio (with Joe Diamond and Ralph Alapai). I pestered Gabby for lessons and he showed me one of his C tunings, but he said ‘It’s not how you tune ’em up, it’s how you pluck ’em.’”

After graduation, Shane and Guard went to Bay Area colleges. Shane formed a duet with Nick Reynolds, a college buddy. They sang at parties, school functions, and occasionally Dave joined them as a trio. The Kingston Trio name was chosen for its Ivy League/calypso appeal.

In February 1958 the group recorded its first album, titled simply “The Kingston Trio.” It included “Scotch and Soda” and “Tom Dooley.” It sold more than 3 million copies and earned them a Grammy. Both Billboard and Cash Box magazines voted them Best Group of the Year for 1959.

Most listeners did not know that the richness of the trio’s harmonies was the result of a double-voicing recording technique. On the first take the voices were recorded softer than the guitars and banjo. Then they’d overdub the singing, creating a six-voice choral effect. It would often take 50 to 100 takes to get it right.

McCord recalls that the trio wore striped short-sleeved, button-down shirts. “They sang, laughed, joked, cavorted, kidded, flirted, and interacted with all their fans while humorously insulting several ethnic groups (including Southerners, Mexicans and Japanese),” he said.

“They were all-American boys obviously having a good time. Our guys drank mai tais, daiquiris and applauded the tunes we knew from barrack’s radios and 33 1/3 record players.

“The songs were for everybody. My buddies — Phil, Dickie, Dee, John, Bill, Curly, Randy, Bobby, Stan and Pat — each identified in some way with ‘Tom Dooley,’ ‘Sloop John B’ (why don’t they let me go home), ‘They Call the Wind Maria,’ ‘Worried Man’ and ‘Greenback Dollar.’

“Their admirers would not let the boys leave the stage — it was just too perfect a night to go home.

“Thirty-nine years later almost to the day, my wife Joyce and I vacationed at the Moana. Little had changed in the Banyan Court. On our first night we dined on the veranda and I swear there were distant echoes of Davy, Bobby and Nicky singing ‘Scotch and Soda’ (mud in your eye w…).”

Bob Sigall’s “The Companies We Keep 5” book has arrived, with stories from the last three years of Rearview Mirror. “The Companies We Keep 1 and 2” are also back in print. Email Sigall at Sigall@yahoo.com.