Milestones are important. In this column, I thought I’d stop and note some significant ones for Hawaii organizations.

25 years

Boston’s North End Pizza Bakery is celebrating its 25th anniversary in Hawaii this year. Tommy Rossi opened the first one in Kailua in 1994. The 19-inch, hand-tossed pizzas were new to me then and a revelation. Now you can try them at several island locations.

30 years

The Samaritan Counseling Center has reached its 30th year in Hawaii. Over 8,200 individuals and families have received services through over 70,000 counseling sessions.

Founders Terry Fisher and Judy Hormell combined psychology and spirituality to better advise and heal the whole person.

45 years

The first Honolulu Marathon was held Dec. 16, 1973, when 167 runners entered the race and 151 of them actually finished.

The winner was 24-year-old medical student Duncan MacDonald with a time of 2 hours, 27 minutes. He also won in 1974 and 1980. Fourteen-year-old June Chun of The Hunky Bunch won the women’s division with a time of 3:25.

Dr. Jack Scaff founded the Honolulu Marathon with Tom Ferguson and Tommy Kono. Scaff arranged aid stations every two to three miles to make sure runners stayed hydrated. This was new to marathons and has since been adopted around the world.

Over 30,000 finished the marathon this past December.

50 years

ALTRES, Anna Bannana’s, and Magoo’s Pizza all trace their beginning to 1969.

William Guss founded ALTRES as Labor Services Inc. ALTRES is short for Alternative Resources for Business.

The original location was in Waikiki. “When we needed laborers,” son Barron Guss says, “dad would raise a flag outside the building. The surfers would see it, and those wanting work would come in.”

Anna Bannana’s is now Anna O’Brien’s. My favorite memory of it was seeing singer Harry Chapin (“Cats in the Cradle”) there in 1981. It was his last concert. He died in a car accident a week later.

60 years

In 1959 Hawaii became the 50th state and Ala Moana Center opened, as did Aston Hotels, Reyn’s, Kaiser Permanente and KPOI radio.

Sixty years ago Kaiser Permanente opened its Ala Moana Medical Center at the site of the current Prince Waikiki Hotel. Henry Kaiser wanted the 143-bed hospital to be the most beautiful in the world. All the rooms had ocean views.

Kaiser looked back on a career of achievement and said, “Of all the things I’ve done, I expect only to be remembered for my hospitals. They’re the things that are filling the people’s greatest need: good health.”

Reyn McCollough came to Hawaii for a vacation in 1959 and saw Ala Moana Center under construction. He thought it would be a good location for a store, but all the spots were taken. He left his number and returned to Catalina Island off the coast of California where his men’s apparel business was originally located.

Fortunately, Ala Moana developed a vacancy, and Reyn’s moved to Hawaii to take it. Its original slogan was “The Brooks Brothers of the Pacific.”

Reyn’s gave us the reverse-print aloha shirt.

KPOI was originally KHON radio, which went on the air shortly after World War II. After a change of call letters and a shift to Hawaii’s first all-rock format in 1959, the station became the top radio station in Hawaii.

KPOI was Hawaii’s most outrageous station. Its deejays were called the “Poi Boys.” Ron Jacobs likened their antics to “circus radio.”

Andre Tatibouet founded The Hotel Corp. of the Pacific in 1959. He noticed that many hotel names ended in “ton,” like Sheraton and Hilton. He wanted a name that would be at the beginning of the alphabet so it would appear early in the yellow pages and other lists. “A__ton.”

He went through all the letters, “b, c, d, e … Afton … Agton … Ahton…” looking for something interesting. Nothing fit until “s.” “Aston” had a nice ring, he thought, and “AST” also happened to be Tatibouet’s initials.

70 years

ABC Stores, Times Supermarket, Hawaii Baptist Academy, National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific at Punchbowl dedicated.

Sidney Kosasa and wife Minnie opened a drug store called Kaimuki Pharmacy in 1949. On a trip to Miami Beach, they saw that tourists favored convenience over price. They bought groceries and drugs as well as souvenirs, resort apparel and cosmetics. He foresaw that Waikiki would become a major tourist attraction like Miami and had the idea to open convenience stores for the tourists.

Sidney picked the name ABC Stores because it was easy to remember. There are over 75 ABC Stores in Hawaii, Guam, Saipan and Las Vegas.

75 years

Wahiawa General Hospital, Waikiki Yacht Club and Summer Fun began in 1944.

The Waikiki Yacht Club was founded by members of the Pearl Harbor Yacht Club who were kicked out by the Navy during World War II.

90 years

Hawaiian Airlines launched in 1929. Founder Stan Kennedy Jr. convinced his father’s barge company to begin the air service when powered flight was relative new. He had to build several airports in the islands to serve them.

100 years

Servco Pacific, Aloha United Way and Fujikami Florist began in 1919 and were mentioned in a column I wrote in January.

Hanahauoli School is celebrating its 100th anniversary this school year.

Hanahauoli means “joyous work” in Hawaiian. The school founded in 1918 by Sophie and George Cooke. Among its interesting traditions is one in which each student leaves a steppingstone on the campus.

They believe that children learn best through play and hands-on “happy work.”

110 years

C.S. Wo and Sacred Hearts Academy. Ching Sing Wo opened a general merchandise store downtown in 1909. His sons focused their business on furniture when they realized they made more selling it than on a bag of rice.

Sacred Hearts Academy began in Kaimuki as a boarding school in 1909. Several TV shows have shot there, including “Lost” and “Hawaii Five-0.”

120 years

City Mill was founded in 1899 by C.K. Ai, as a rice and lumber mill.

One of the original coral millstones is embedded in the parking lot next to Nimitz Highway.

City Mill built its own ship, the Vigilant, in 1920 to bring lumber to its store in Hawaii. It was the largest five-masted schooner in the Pacific and carried 2 million board feet of lumber. Each board had to be loaded by hand back then.

140 years

The Friends of the Library began in 1879 as the Honolulu Workingmen’s Library Association to provide a place of enrichment where gentlemen could spend time reading books and periodicals, and converse with others away from “the allurements of the saloons.”

Women and children were prohibited. That lasted only a week until the doors were thrown open and all were welcomed.

150 years

The YMCA of Hawaii began in 1869. The Honolulu Star-Advertiser will have a special tabloid about that later this month.

180 years

Royal School was founded in 1839 for the children of alii. It gave School Street its name. King Kalakaua, Queen Lili‘uokalani, Bernice Pauahi and many others attended.

Finally, I’d like to note that it’s been 10 years since Hawaii lost the witty Honolulu Star-Bulletin cartoonist Corky Trinidad. Many islanders enjoyed his work over nearly four decades and miss his daily cartoons.

The Rearview Mirror Insider is Bob Sigall’s weekly email that gives readers behind-the-scenes background, stories that wouldn’t fit in the column, and lots of interesting details. My Insider “posse” gives me ideas for stories and personal experiences that enrich the column. I invite you to join in and be an Insider at RearviewMirrorInsider.com. Mahalo!