Two weeks ago I gave my readers an opportunity to ask questions about places in Hawaii they fondly recalled.
One asked about the restaurant near the University of Hawaii on the corner of University Avenue and Dole Street that served tater tots in the 1970s.
Tater tots are deep-fried pieces of grated potatoes. They were introduced in 1956 by Ore-Ida, which still sells over 3.7 billion of them a year.
Several intrepid readers identified the restaurant as Mister Burger.
Adele Mirafuentes told me that “when my husband and I were students at UH, we used to buy sodas and tater tots from there, then go across the street and sit on the lawn to eat them with our tuna sandwiches.” There were also Mister Burgers in Pearl City at 97-689 Kamehameha Highway and in the Pearl City Medical Building.
Kathryn Tyler said “we University Lab School rats loved going there and eating our burgers and tater tots under the monkeypod trees across the street on our campus.”
“But we were also very loyal and faithful to our cafeteria staff. Miss Kunioka was the best cafeteria manager. She made sure we had excellent meals. We were very spoiled kids! Lol!
“By the way, Miss Kunioka still comes to our ULS All School Reunions. She remembers everyone and we all love her dearly.”
Sandy Tapia says she worked at Mister Burger one summer in the 1970s. “We wore light blue and white checkered cotton collared shirts and a navy blue cap as a uniform. Popular items were burgers and plate lunches and, of course, the crispy tater tots!
“We shared the property with Pizza Hut. Mister Burger occupied a small corner space.”
I also heard from Sandy Tapia’s mother, Linda Sakuma.
“I got a kick out of the question about the tater tot place next to Pizza Hut on University and Dole. My daughter Sandy was a very independent kid. She never asked, but just announced one day that she had a job at Mister Burger and would be working until 10 p.m. on school nights.
“Oh, and how do you expect to get home that late?”
“I can walk home,” Sandy replied.
“So I found myself picking her up every night, even though she smelled like a greasy grill,” Sakuma recalls. “It was a treat when she traded a burger for a couple slices of pizza from next door. It turned out to be a nice mom/daughter time, the two of us having a snack together before bed each night. It’s interesting that someone would remember that place.”
Parade of eateries
Other readers remembered several former restaurants that occupied that space. Wade Shirkey says he and his friends hung out there when it was Lum’s, from 1970-75. “They steamed the hot dogs in beer and were wonderful.”
Lum’s was a nationwide chain with 450 locations that grew from a single Miami Beach stand in 1956. In the 1970s a hot dog was just 35 cents, a burger was 45 cents and a sub sandwich was 85 cents. Beer ranged from 40 to 80 cents.
Kyle (first name only) also recalls the famous hot dogs. “I remember Lum’s had white and red stripes adorning the place. I may be mistaken but I think they occupied the whole building at first, then just the University Avenue side of the building.
“Later, a Pizza Hut moved in and there was a plate lunch place in the small space. After that, a bar or restaurant or two came and went. Now Tsukuneya is there and they reclaimed the small space on the University Avenue side.”
Tim Smythe said that when he was a student at the University of Hawaii (1949-53), the restaurant at the corner of Dole and University was called College Inn. “It was a little expensive for we students, so we ate mostly at lunch wagons, at Kuhio Grill or Mori Bakery, both on King Street near University Avenue.”
Columbia Inn founder Fred Toshi Kaneshiro and his older brother, Frank Gentaro Kaneshiro, owned and operated College Inn from around 1956 to 1961 or so, Fred’s son Gene believes.
“It was a very busy restaurant catering mostly to the university students and the Manoa/Moiliili communities. I remember washing dishes by hand every weekend during my 7-9th grade years. I ended up with a sore back and shriveled hands.
“I once asked my dad if we could buy a dishwashing machine to which he responded, without batting an eye, ‘you know how much those things cost?’ End of story!
“On the inside makai wall of the dining room, there was a Jean Charlot fresco mural spanning the width of the room. I don’t know what happened to the mural. I’m not sure if it was removable because it was a fresco. Charlot taught at UH for over 30 years.”
Jim Howard told me he grew up in the area and remembered College Inn and Lum’s.
“When my parents would have a dinner engagement or cocktail party to go to (tons of those back in the sixties), they’d give me some money, probably a dollar, maybe less, for dinner. I’d hop on my bike and pedal down to College Inn, and sit at the counter and order a hamburger that was grilled right in front of me. Delicious!
“My dad, Dick Howard, was the head of publicity for Consolidated Theaters. Lots of great actors would come through. I remember my dad telling me that he took actor Henry Fonda to a radio station, it might have been the tree house in the International Marketplace, for an interview.
“In the course of the interview, he actually got Hank to recite that great speech of Tom Joad’s in ‘The Grapes of Wrath’ — ‘Wherever there’s a cop beating up a guy, I’ll be there.’”
College Inn was on the corner of University and Dole until 1970 when Lum’s took over. Lum’s also had restaurants in Waikiki and Pearl City. Mister Burger and Pizza Hut then shared the space from 1975 until about 1982.
Eclectic offerings
Ruth Beard asked about “a really unusual store at 42 N. Hotel St.” Alvin Yee responded that “the previous occupant was called Indochine, which sold all sorts of stuff. Prior to that, this address was the home of the Paris Theatre & Bookstore, which catered primarily to naughty boys.”
Mele Pochereva recalls the name of a store at 42 N. Hotel St. was INTO. “It was one of my favorites too, with an eclectic collection of merchandise ranging from home decor to jewelry, funny greeting cards and books.”
Drive-in memories
Kendrick Lee asked readers to share their drive-in stories.
Former Honolulu Police Department officer James Pritchett fondly recalled Alex Drive-in on Kapahulu and Kaimuki avenues. “I believe they were the last (car hops on) roller skates drive-in. I used to stop there while on patrol.”
That reminds this columnist about Alex Drive-in’s thirst-quenching watermelon freeze. I was on my UH department’s basketball team in 1973, and we’d go there after practice. They blended watermelon sherbet with soda water, and it was so refreshing on a summer afternoon.
Linda Sakuma thinks drive-ins will hit home with seniors. “Even in our finest prom outfits, we’d go to KDI (Kapiolani Drive-In) or KC Drive-in or Kau Kau Korner and eat in our cars. Life was a lot simpler in those days, yeah?”
If you have a favorite drive-in story, please send it to me.
More questions
Sakuma also responded to the question about the restaurant at 747 Amana St. “I think it was a Portuguese restaurant. I remember the cook/owner sitting down at each table with the customer to describe the dishes on the menu.” But she couldn’t recall the name.
Kai Lokahi wrote to tell me that it was called Mister Christian’s. “I worked as a parking valet at the restaurant in the 1970s at the Pacific Grand Hotel. Joe Moore used to walk to work past us every afternoon when he was at KGMB.”
Ruth Beard also wanted to know about a restaurant at 615 Piikoi St.
Elton Kagimoto said he had an office in that building during the 1980s and that the restaurant was called Duke’s Inn. “It was continental cuisine, and a lot of workers moved to Matteo’s in Waikiki after it closed.”
Michael Mochizuki posed a new question: “In the intersection fronting the Oahu Market in Chinatown is an awesome yellow and red graphic of a dragon painted onto the street. Do you know who did this art, and when it was done? And also, if there are plans to keep it in good condition in the future?”
Readers?
Bob Sigall’s “The Companies We Keep 5” book contains 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.
