Before we even begin, I have to say that today’s topic has nothing to do with a politician who just happens to have the same name. You’ve probably heard of him … he’s frequently in the news …he was president of the United States. Yes, him. Today’s article is not about him.
The Trump in today’s article has no connection to politics. As far as I can tell, it refers to an aspect of card games, not to any particular person.
Still, it’s interesting to me that there was a company in Hawaii with the Trump name 90 years ago. You’ve never heard of it? Neither had I. Let’s take a look.
It started with a reader asking a question. Terry Murdock said, “I have a friend, Beverly Loo Diegmann, who is a veterinarian in Pasadena, Calif. Beverly’s grandfather, Eddie Lam, owned and operated the Golden Duck Chop Suey on McCully Street, just makai of South King Street back in the 1960s and ’70s.
“Beverly always had fond memories of her grandfather, the Golden Duck, and the people she would meet at the restaurant, including Jimmy Stewart, when she was a young girl in the ’60s.”
Murdock suggested I write about Eddie Lam. Eddie was not the founder of the Golden Duck. It was Bung Ghin Leong and his wife Alice Young who opened it in 1946 at 942 McCully and King streets.
Before World War II, they operated the New Daily Chop Suey in Chinatown at 124 N. King Street from about 1932. During the war, they had a boarding house for defense workers.
In 1947, the Leongs sold the Golden Duck to Eddie Lam and opened a similar restaurant, Red Rooster Chop Suey at Piikoi and Young Street.
Trump Waikiki
The Golden Duck ran ads that said, “Eddie Lam, formerly of the Trump, Waikiki, invites those who wish to enjoy a leisurely cocktail to visit the patio and garden, sectioned off from the main dining room.”
The Trump name certainly got my attention. I had never heard of a cafe in Hawaii with that name before, so I dove into in our newspaper archives.
The Trump Cafe, I found, opened in 1933 at 2464 Kalakaua Ave. by James Needles. Egg’s ‘n Things and the Aston Waikiki Circle Hotel are there today.
A photo of it shows diamonds, spades, clubs and hearts painted on the facade leading me to think it was named for card games like Bridge.
The Trump Cafe offered steaks, chops, sandwiches and beer. Eddie Lam was the owner or manager in the early 1940s before buying the Golden Duck.
In 1943, the Trump Cafe closed and a new place called the Chicken Corner took its place.
The Trump name was dormant in Hawaii for 66 years until 2009 when the Trump International Hotel Waikiki opened on Saratoga Road. The hotel licenses the use of the name but is not owned by Donald Trump.
Eddie Lam
Edward T. Lam was born in Honolulu in 1896. He was the son of Lam Yip, a wealthy entrepreneur. He was educated at Punahou, but dropped out when his father died. “Someone in the family had to go to work,” he said.
He got a job in auto repair for $1.50 a day then started his own garage and general automobile repairing and painting business in 1915 when he was 20 years old.
The Star-Bulletin said he was the first in the Territory to operate a chain of service stations – he owned six of them in the 1930s. A drawing of him said he “paints autos in the daytime and gives luaus at night.”
Expands restaurant
When he took over the Golden Duck in 1947, it could seat 200. Twenty years later, it moved to a bigger facility next door and could serve 1,300. Its parking lot could hold 150 cars. Lam says he was the first in Hawaii to use Lazy Susans at large, round tables.
The Golden Duck was open from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 a.m. on weekdays and to 2:30 a.m. on weekends. It had two Hong Kong-trained chefs, 23 assistant cooks and helpers and 18 waitresses.
Customers could choose from nine different soups, followed by 70 different entrees. If that wasn’t enough, there were 60 other choices of chop suey, rice soup, noodles and one-dish meals.
Beverly Loo Diegmann said her grandfather was very good with people. “Eddie was very friendly and would make the rounds to each table, chatting with customers. He never took a day off, until he was much older.”
Mainland celebrities could often be seen at the Golden Duck, such as Art Linkletter, Jimmy Stewart, Julie Andrews, Janet Gaynor and the Mills Brothers.
Newspapers around the world interviewed Lam and wrote stories about the Golden Duck and its fabulous food.
When he was 60 years old in 1955, the Honolulu Advertiser interviewed Lam. He worked 18 hours a day, he told them, and slept just four hours a night.
Lam said his service stations alone were a million-dollar-a-year business. He also owned a gift shop in Kaimuki, was president of the Oahu Gasoline Dealers Association and a governor of the American-Chinese Club, which preceded the Marco Polo on Kapiolani Boulevard. “I don’t believe in retiring,” he told the reporter.
Physical exercise was his secret. He worked out at least three times a week at the Nuuanu YMCA, he said.
Eddie Lam died in 1975 at age 81. A few years later, under new ownership, the restaurant called itself the New Golden Duck. It seems to have closed around 1989.
Current owner
Ten years later, in 1995, restaurant reviewer Nadine Kam in the Star-Bulletin reported that the Golden Duck had risen from the ashes and taken over the former Bakery Kapiolani site at 1221. S. King Street.
Aaron Fang is the current owner. He moved to Hawaii from Guangzhou, China, (then known as Canton) when he was 6. He worked as a bus boy and waiter at Chinese restaurants and heard that the Golden Duck was for sale.
Fang bought it from Pat Arakaki, who taught him how to do everything over the following six months. She later owned the Golden Eagle Chinese Restaurant near the corner of Young, King and Isenberg streets in Moiliili. She said she had “Gone from the Duck to the Golden Eagle.”
The food has shifted from Hong Kong to a more local style. Boneless chicken cake noodle is one of their most popular dishes. They make up to 200 cake noodle orders a day, Fang continues. They also sell 1,000 crispy gau gee a day. Seventy percent of their business is takeout.
“Many of our customers tell us their parents first brought them here, and now they are bringing their kids. Many remember the McCully Street location from 30 years ago.”
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Bob Sigall is the author of the five “The Companies We Keep” books. Contact him at Sigall@Yahoo.com or sign up for his free email newsletter at RearviewMirrorInsider.com.
