Former Honolulu Advertiser journalist Bob Krauss, who mentored me briefly 20 years ago, said he would have run out of things to write about if not for readers calling with questions.
I don’t get lots of calls from readers, but I do get many emails. Here are some things they asked me about recently.
Consolidated Kahala mural
Nora Meijide-Gentry asked about the Consolidated Kahala Theatres mural that included many Hawaii actors.
Answer: Isle artist Martin Charlot created it in 1986. He was a son of muralist Jean Charlot, who began teaching at the University of Hawaii in 1949.
“We commissioned Martin Charlot to do a mural that shows stars who have had some connection with the islands,” said former Consolidated Theaters General Manager Art Gordon in 2001.
It is titled “Stars in Paradise.” Luminaries past and present are depicted in it, including Shirley Temple, Charlie Chaplin, Hilo Hattie, Duke Kahanamoku, Elvis Presley, Bing Crosby, Bette Midler, John Wayne, Jack Lord and Tom Selleck.
The Kahala 5-plex opened in what had been the JC Penney space in the Ewa wing at Kahala Mall in 1986. It became an 8-plex in 1989.
The theater was renovated in the past five years. Reclining chairs were put in and the mural was taken down. A spokesperson for the theater said it’s in storage and that they are looking for the right place to display it. It’s an important part of Hawaii history.
Houghtailing Street
Bob Okuda said he recently learned that the correct pronunciation of Houghtailing Street is “hoe” as in “dough.” Not as in “cough.”
“In respect to the family, shouldn’t we say the name the way it was pronounced by the family?”
Answer: Actually, both the pronunciation and spelling of the name changed over time.
George Washington Houghtaling (only one “i”) came to Hawaii around 1848. He opened the Bay Horse Hotel and Saloon downtown on the corner of Hotel and Bethel streets.
He built a home on a 15-acre site in Kalihi for his wife and 12 children. On it he grew taro and rice, and raised horses, hogs and chickens.
The Houghtailing family told The Honolulu Advertiser in 1918 that no one in the family knew when the spelling (from Houghtaling to Houghtailing) and pronunciation of their name changed.
The Catholic Diocese bought the property in 1949 and opened Damien Memorial School on it in 1962. The school honors the “Apostle of Molokai,” St. Damien de Veuster.
Black Cat Cafe
Pumehana asked: “Have you ever written about the Black Cat Cafe at 239 S. Hotel and Richards streets, across from the Armed Forces YMCA?
“Who owned it? What is its history? Was a brothel part of it?”
Answer: There were two Black Cat Cafes, one in Honolulu and another in Hilo. The Hilo Black Cat didn’t last long, but the Honolulu cafe was open from the 1930s until the 1960s.
The Black Cat was founded by Donald Francis Darrow. He was born in Osceola, Mo., in 1896 and joined the Navy in 1915.
Darrow was a natural athlete. He held the Navy record in the pole vault and was an Atlantic Fleet boxing champion. In 1922 and 1923 he was the Hawaii territorial platform diving champion. In the late 1920s he served as recreational director at Palama Settlement.
Darrow opened the Black Cat Cafe downtown in 1933. He and his wife, Esther, had a home in Waikiki, where the Colony Surf Hotel is today. Esther was a journalism teacher at McKinley High School.
I asked Dr. Lawrence Tseu if the Black Cat was a brothel. He and a brother shined shoes downtown during World War II. If military personnel wanted to know where the brothels were, they had to pay 25 cents for directions.
Tseu said he remembered Black Cat Cafe on Hotel Street. “I am pretty sure they were not involved in prostitution. Most of the brothels were on the corners of Maunakea and Pauahi streets. That was the so-called red-light district.”
Historian Wendy Tolleson explained why some think it was a brothel.
“There’s a famous photo of sailors standing in line. It has been used in every book written about prostitution during WWII as an example of men lining up outside the Black Cat to get into a nearby brothel.
“The photo is actually of a line of men waiting to get into the YMCA across the street to watch a USO show.”
The Black Cat’s claim to fame was its good food and drinks at low prices 24 hours a day. A 1933 ad offered an all-you-can-eat lunch for 35 cents: Chicken a la king on toast, steak and onions, fried ulua, with soup, fruit cocktail, coffee, tea, bread and dessert.
Other menu items: roast turkey, 50 cents; corned beef and cabbage, 30 cents; spaghetti and meatballs, 25 cents.
Wilt Chamberlain
Allen Awaya said: “With UH men’s volleyball at its popularity height, I think few know that Wilt Chamberlain brought a volleyball team here. Was it back in the 1970s?
“Wilt and a team of ex- Olympians played against Nick’s Fishmarket one year and then the Outrigger Canoe Club another year. Can you confirm my memory?”
Answer: Yes, you are correct. Chamberlain brought a volleyball team here in September 1971. His team was called Wilt’s Big Dippers. They played before three sold-out crowds at Klum Gym and Schofield Barracks.
Chamberlain was nicknamed “The Big Dipper” due to his 7-foot-1-inch height. His friends noticed he often had to dip his head to enter doorways and gave him the moniker, which he preferred to “Wilt the Stilt.”
Chamberlain played basketball with the NBA for 14 seasons from 1959 to 1973.
Advertiser sports writer Ben Kalb said that Chamberlain was far from being the best player on the team but was the drawing attraction.
Wilt’s Big Dippers played various teams around the country for a couple of years, raising money for the families of the Puerto Rican national women’s volleyball team. Fifteen of their team members died in a 1970 plane crash.
Wigwam song
An anonymous reader asked about the Wigwam stores in Hawaii. The first store in Hawaii opened in 1958 in Dillingham Plaza in Kalihi. They had eight stores in the islands at one time and 35 in Washington, California and Arizona. Pay Less Drug Stores bought out the Wigwam chain in 1971.
“They had a song that played in the background for their commercials. Does anybody know what song it was?”
A reader named Robin said, “If I remember correctly, the Wigwam song went:
“‘From 9 to 9, your dollar buys more,
your dollar buys more at the Wigwam Store.
Wigwam!’
“My mom always bought me the Chinese sweet rice cake at the Kailua store. Yum!”
Do you have a question about people, places and organizations in Hawaii? Send it to me in an email.
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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.
