CALL ME CRAZY

Memories from the Hanabuddah Days

by Clinton Lee

I had this crazy penchant to share and compare my hanabuddah childhood memories with same kine folks that wen’ grow up in the Kaimuki District in Honolulu and other places around the Islands.

It all started one day when I was bored sitting at the computer and decided to jot down things that happened when I was a little boy growing up in Hawaii (’Ass long time ago almost … practically B.C.). The list started to grow exponentially after the first few entries. Most were thoughts of the carefree days of my youth when Hawaii was not yet a state. Should have kept it that way if I had my choice again. But ’ass a noddah story, no can change that now.

Funny how one can remember the remote and insignificant things in life when you all by yourself looking at a computer screen. I guess I was one of the fortunate few which had the rare opportunity to grow up in Hawaii during the “good old days” and truly experience “Paradise on Earth.”

I kinda figgah some of you ole’ futs out there can reca’membah mo’ better kine stuff if you could just close your eyes and think real hard inside your head … like me, as you can see (I know you buggahs nevah went school just to eat lunch, yeah. Eh, no fo’get, most or all of these stuffs stay all gone and not around no moah’, and oh, by the way, mahalo nui loa. Aloha!

Ok … hea goes !!

The manapua man yelling, “manapua … pepeau,” while strolling down the neighborhood streets.
Dairymen’s and Foremost milk delivered to your front door [in glass bottles with paper bottle cap and the cream rising to the top].
[The milk caps were used to play a game (see below) in which you stacked them into a pile, slapped the pile with another cap and won those that turned over. You’d see the best players walking around with paper sacks bulging with milk caps. These caps recently underwent a resurgence in popularity except, since there aren’t any milk bottles anymore, the modern versions are called POGs (for the passion-fruit–orange–guava drink)]
Playing milk covers and marbles (agates) with your neighborhood friends.
Meeting new relatives off the Lurline [passenger ship that was one way of getting to and from the West Coast, in the days of propeller planes at the old airport] at Aloha Tower [dock where the ship came in — Aloha Tower is still there, surrounded by nice shops and restaurants].
Policemen dressed in olive green long sleeve gabardine uniforms.
Reading stacks of comic books on your neighbor’s porch.
Picking up your Tinker Toys and Log Cabin pieces off the floor.
Figuring what else to make with your Erector Set.
Trading your Mickey Mantle for both Johnny Unitas and Y.A. Tittle bubblegum cards.
Cranking up the phonograph player to play another 78 RPM record.
Waiting for the neighborhood grocery truck to come so that you can buy candy.
Watching and waiting for the next episode of Flash Gordon and Seahunt to come on.
Wearing your Hopalong Cassidy, Roy Rogers, or Gene Autry outfit to play cowboys and Indians.

Dad (center) playing cowboys (without Indians) with neighbors Kendall and Ricky … and an unidentified German Shepherd. Notice that no one is wearing cowboy boots — real paniolos (Hawaiian cowboys, from the Hawaiian pronunciation of Español). Coincidentally, the photo was taken with Dad’s “Roy Rogers” box camera, although he doesn’t remember who took it … probably his neighbor Robin or Chris.
Junk-an-a-po to choose up sides for chase master or dodge ball.
Finding your “kini” to play sidewalk hopscotch.
Making it to “around-the-world and pig-pens” playing jacks with the rest of the girls.
Looking for your skate key to tighten the metal skates onto your good shoes [which ruined them by making deep clamp indentations on each side of the soles and leather covering your toes].
Playing “Roller Derby” on pavement (before the days of helmets, knee and elbow pads …ouch!). Making a big racket with the metal wheels on pavement or concrete (Grandpa’s driveway).
Buying “see moi” in brown paper bags scooped from large glass jars at the neighborhood store.
Flying those Japanese kites that cost five or ten cents and have them buckaloose.
Tea cola drinks in wax sticks for a penny apiece (bite off both ends later and make pea shooter).
Sen-sen and Violets breath mints.
Colored bubble bath soap which came in little packets.
Plastic bubbles [balloons] which came in little tubes with a straw. Had hard time trying to plug up the pukas [holes].
[You tried to plug up all the pukas by pinching them closed one after another but that just made the balloon smaller and smaller until you finally had to start all over with a new one.]
Peel-off tattoos on sheets of backing paper that you had to wet in order to carefully slide the tattoo off so it wouldn’t be applied all wrinkled up or folded into an unrecognizable image.
Colored button candy on long sheets of paper.
Playing with the 1,000 green molded plastic army men you sent away for.
Stuffing rolled-up newspapers into the canvas delivery bag in front of your bicycle handle.
Wearing a box hat folded from a sheet of old newspaper [an example of practical origami (Japanese paper folding)].
Trying to develop the best design for paper airplanes.
Candied puff rice and colored popcorn.
Push-up ice cream on a stick and ice cream bon-bons in a box.
Red Lips candy and red coconut balls.
Little colored Jujubees in a box which was later used as a horn.
Yick Lung 10¢ and 25¢ cellophane bags of seeds and candies.
Nihon Bashi sheets of sweet pressed cuttlefish.
[Also, dried red cuttlefish that you carried around in your pocket and that made you smell more than a little “fishy.” An old cartoon that Dad remembers: local guys sitting in a movie theater and one says to the others, “Ugh, I no can stand the stink of buttered popcorn! … … Eh, pass down da dried cuttlefish!”]
Tomo Ame rice candy with the edible rice paper and toy [and they were real good toys back then] in the little green box at the top.
Eating 10¢ rainbow shave ice from Mama-san’s delicatessen.
Riding the electric trolley cars up Waialae Avenue.
Window shopping at the old Sears Roebuck and Kress stores.
Going downtown after dinner at Christmastime to enjoy the strung-up streetlight decorations on both Waialae Avenue and King Streets.
Chasing the Santa Claus candy float up Waialae Avenue.
Going trick-or-treating with cardboard jack-o-lanterns which had a burning candle inside.
Wearing your Davy Crockett coonskin cap [and not noticing the steam coming from your head in the sunny, humid, 90°+ weather].
Schoolgirls wearing wide skirts [with a half-dozen puffy crinolines underneath — good fun watching them try to sit down gracefully or pass each other in a crowded hallway] and boys wearing “drapes” — humongous corduroy [made a “voop-voop” sound when you walked] bellbottoms [although the design was unique to Hawaii because they started flaring out much higher up the leg than sailor-style bellbottoms and were available in gaudy colors, such as fire-engine red, emerald green and royal blue] — to school (real tough buggahs then).
[Also in style at the time were 3 ⁄4-sleeve shirts that came down to just past your elbow and had a 5 ⁄8" notch at the seam — too cool! Dad still has a black boat-neck 3 ⁄4-sleeve UC Berkeley sweatshirt — super cool!]
Pomade and pedal pushers.
Knowing the best place to eat local saimin and plate lunches (too many places to mention).
Hanging out at Chunky’s Drive Inn on Isenberg Street on weekends before and after the races.
The Chubby Rolands Show featuring “Funny face number 1.” Free funny face frame.
Shopping at the Piggly Wiggly stores.
J. Akuhead [aku = skipjack tuna, akuhead ≈ fish head] Pupule [crazy], Lucky Luck, and the Tom Moffat Shows on radio and TV.
Listening and watching the Kini Popo Show on radio and TV in the mornings.
Remembering Kam Fong Chun and Napua Stevens.
Armed Forces Day Parade and the 49th State Fair [before Alaska became the 49th state ahead of Hawaii].
Bottle rockets, aerial bombs, and Roman candles on New Year’s Eve.
Dried abalone and your favorite pocket knife [for slicing off thin slices to eat].
Watching Crusader Rabbit and Rags the Tiger on TV.
Smelling the fresh baked bread at Love’s Bakery in Kapahulu.
Two way traffic on Kalakaua Avenue and Ala Wai Blvd.
Neighborhood kids going barefoot to public school.
Swimming in the Natatorium in Waikiki and watching people jump from the three-story tower.
Stomping your feet on the old Stadium’s wooden bleachers at football games yelling “termites!” [The place became known as “termite palace.”]
Watching the original Mickey Mouse Club and wearing MM hats with ears. Can you still sing the song?
The menfolk drinking Primo Beer and eating boiled soy beans and peanuts.
Watching Lucky Strike and Old Gold cigarette commercials on TV. What does LSMFT stand for? [“Lucky Strike Means Fine Tobacco.”]
Driving on the old Pali Road to reach Kaneohe.
May Day pageants at school.
Fishing for o‘ama and moi‘li in Waikiki and Waimanalo.
Swimming, fishing, and renting boats on the McCully Bridge at the Ala Wai.
Yappy’s on Kapahulu Avenue (enough said!).
Working summer vacations at Dole’s Pineapple Cannery for extra money.
When “the country” was nothing but pineapple and sugar cane fields … And Hawaii Kai wasn’t even built yet. Up Lunalilo Home Road were vegetable and pig farms, and the dirt road looped around Kuapa Pond — that’s where Dad broke the front spring of Grandpa’s 1950 Buick by going too fast over the bumps and pukas [holes] … oops, Grandpa didn’t know for sure before now how that really happened.
Going 45 MPH state maximum speed limit on the Mauka Arterial.
Kokua K.K. Ka‘aumanua for office (He always run with your money, auwe!).
Picking guavas, lilikoi [passion fruit], and white ginger on Tantalus.
Going to the movies at one of the Royal Theaters (King, Queen, & Princess Theaters).
Eating at Lau Yee Chai or Wo Fat Restaurants.
Catching rainbow and mosquito fish (medakas) at Moanalua Gardens.
Picking seaweed at Sand Island and Ewa Beach.
Listening to Hawaii Calls with Webley Edwards, Alfred Apaka, and Harry Owens.
Watching local talent shows like Televi Digest and Filipino Fiesta Hour [pronounced ow-wear] on TV.
Attending the first Surf Festival and Battle of the Bands at the Waikiki Shell.
Listening to K-POI, KORL [coral], KUMU [a type of good-eating fish] radio stations.
Cheering on Keo Nakama and Greta Andersen swim the Molokai Channel.
Surviving Hurricane Nina [and driving to higher ground during tidal wave alerts].
Riding your bicycle with the long “gooseneck” handlebars and long mudflaps with reflectors in back of your fenders.
Mastering the art of spinning tops and Duncan yoyos studded with the rhinestones on the side.
Playing with your Chatty Kathy Dolls.
Rinso White or Rinso Blue (soap or detergent it’s up to you!).
(Feed him) Dr. Ross Dogfood (and do him a favor...)
Listening to Lippy Espinda, “the poor man’s friend,” sell cars on TV.
Getting home before the Pearl Harbor traffic began.
Fishing in Hanauma [pronounced Hah-now-mah in Hawaiian, unless you’re Japanese, in which case you pronounced it like it was a Japanese word, Hah-na-oo-mah] Bay and don’t have to pay to get in.

[Grandpa used to be Director of Parks & Recreation (including Hanauma Bay); the Miyashitas took us there in September 2002 to show us how much things have changed since his time. Click the link to learn more about Grandpa’s accomplishments.]
Walking around Waikiki without all the Japanese tourists.
Boxing and Roller Derby at the Civic Auditorium.
Waiting in the long line at the HIC Arena for the Battle of the Bands.
Entering the hula hoop and limbo contests.
Dancing the twist, mash potato, continental, monkey, stomp, and the jerk.
Waxing down your surfboard while singing along with Jan & Dean and the Beach Boys.
Body surfing outside Kuhio Beach with your homemade paipo board.
BBQ sticks for 10¢ with 4 to 5 pieces of meat.
Turning your fingers backwards and upside down to make goggles over your eyes like Captain Honolulu.
Eating green mangoes with shoyu, vinegar, and pepper.
Carrying school books in the blue rectangular Pan American Airlines flight bag. [No one used backpacks in those days.]

[It was a complimentary gift for passengers. Wouldn’t you know, Dad still has his! I think he still wears some socks from that era too!]
Green River at Alex’s Drive Inn on Kapahulu.
Riding the HRT (“Honolulu Rapid Transit” bus) for a dime with unlimited transfers.
Going to Waialae Drive Inn Theater at dusk. Kids were free.
24¢ hamburger, 11¢ fries, and 5¢ fruit punch at W&M’s on 9th and Waialae.
Boufant hairdos for the girls and box haircuts for the guys.
Watching the slopman haul off the home food wastes to feed his pigs — all before garbage disposals.
Sitting on the curb watching the honey wagon suck out the full cesspool.
[Honey wagons still exist in rural Wyoming, Montana, etc. Dad saw one with a sign on the back, “Satisfaction guaranteed or double your honey back.”]
Saying “Yes!!!” to the Filipino garbage man who just asked if you still wanted your black dog at Christmas time.
Raking up the red firecracker paper on New Year’s Day. Watch out for un-popped crackerballs. [They might pop when you step on them.]
Wearing your Makaha shorts with the wide colored stripes on the sides with the comb pocket.
Timely local utterings like ’Ass why hard [it loses a lot in translation but it means roughly, That’s why (the situation has become) hard (difficult)] or Wop [warp] your jaw [or just wop jaw, meaning you’re so aghast that your mouth hangs open in shock]. Shaka brah and geev ’um came later on.
Filling your Esterbrook or Parker fountain pen with Royal Blue or Emerald Green washable ink from the glass ink bottle with the pen-filling reservoir pocket on the inside near the top.
Drinking eight-ounce Coca Cola and 7 Up glass bottles, which cost a dime, from the vending machine.
[As Dad recalls, some of the “newer” machines held the bottles horizontally in circular windows but the really old machines held the bottles by their necks vertically in channels, and immersed in a bath of water and ice (which must have had to be replaced daily); you had to slide the bottle of your choice along the channel to a gate which allowed you to lift up and remove the bottle after you deposited your dime.
There were sometimes wooden soda boxes, designed to hold 24 glass bottles in individual square pockets, next to the machine so you could put your empty bottle into it.]
Getting full service at the Flying A gas station on Kapahulu Ave without having to ask.
Smelling the keawe-grilled manini and tako pupus freshly speared off Diamond Head.
Breathing in the strong scent of lipoa limu [seaweed] near the Diamond Head lighthouse.
Looking for the obake [pronounced oh-bah-kay = ghost in Japanese] “moonmen” up on Tantalus and visiting Morgan’s Corner near the Pali.
Wearing black & white saddle shoes for the girls and white bucks for the guys. [Guys used to carry around a white-chalk bag to keep their shoes white.]
Sending away one boxtop and fifty cents to “Kellogg’s, Battle Creek, Mich.”
Getting visited by your family doctor at home late at night when you had a fever.
Receiving ten times the Green and Blue Chip Stamps from the gas station and redeeming them for prizes.
Looking over old people’s shoulders playing checkers and mahjong at Aala Park.
Remembering to write “airmail” on your envelope otherwise it went by boat.
Poncie Ponce, Cricket Blake, Kookie Burns [remember “Kookie, Kookie, lend me your comb?”] … Hawaiian Eye. Move over McGarrett and Magnum!
First pizza in Hawaii at Woolworth’s. Best tasting pizza: Ye Ole’ Public House Special at Shakey’s on Nimitz.
Fong Fong Restaurant on 10th and Waialae. The best won ton mein in Kaimuki (sigh).
Gathering oysters in Pearl Harbor off the pilings.
Watching the old Japanese fishermen with their long bamboo poles in the Ala Wai Canal trying to catch mullet.
Seeing who can catch the most green grasshoppers in a kim chee bottle with the little pukas [holes (for air)] on top.
Removing the plastic glue from your fingers after working on your Revell model airplane or boat.
Buying your PeeChee [school folder] at the store for a dime. Binder paper ten cents more for a pack.
Saving Royal Crown Trading stamps from the grocery stores.
Getting free Golden Harvest Wheat pattern chinaware in Tide soap boxes.
Seeing swarms of termites around the broken cement street lamps on hot summer nights.
Catching hinalea and mamamo from the tidepools with a bamboo pole, line, hook and split-shot sinker.
Getting strawberry shave ice and roasted peanuts at the Honolulu zoo.
Drag-netting for opai lolo in Kuliouou Beach Park.
Catching giant Samoan crabs in the Ala Wai and Kuapa Pond.
Digging for Manila clams in Kaneohe Bay and the Ala Wai Canal.
Popping paper shot on the sidewalk with a rock.
Making shoo-shoo babies from bent-in-half checker bombs and Camel brand firecrackers.
[“Shoo-shoo babies” would spin around on the ground very rapidly, like a pinwheel in a hurricane, making a buzzing sound. Now they make commercial fireworks designed to do the same thing.]
[Quite dangerous cherry bombs, rockets and other fireworks (see no. 54) were also legal in those days. Once Grandpa placed a propeller rocket on the ground upside down and it chased Dad and the other kids all around the yard when it got up on end and became a rocket-powered wheel.]
Going to the Bugs Bunny and Porky Pig Clubs at the Kaimuki and Kapahulu Theaters for 9¢.
Watching the Phyllis Shield’s Christmas plays atop the old Sears Roebuck Store on Beretania St.
Watching Biddy Boxing on TV.
Listening for the Star Spangled Banner to come on and and staring at the black and white test pattern on TV.
Going to bed when the Aloha Tower sirens came on at 8:00 p.m. curfew every night.
Spending your entire allowance at Ben Franklin and National Dollar Stores.
Going to Stewart’s Pharmacy soda fountain and drinking their ono [delicious] shakes and floats.
Ordering cherry and vanilla cokes at Capitol Drive Inn on 6th and Waialae next to Chang’s Poi Shop.
Playing in your neighbor’s cement bomb shelter. [Also, having bomb drills in school, where we practiced huddling under our desks to protect us from a nuclear bomb; for some reason, it didn’t seem so rediculously futile then.]
Using clothes pins to attach playing cards to flap against the rear wheel spokes of your bicycle to make it sound like a motorcycle.
Watching 50th State Wrestling at 10:30 Friday nights from the Civic Auditorium, and At the Studio at 2:30 p.m. Saturday.
Shooting your spud gun at your little brother (mean, yeah?).
Sitting on the curb watching the “guttah guttah” (air jackhammer) man break up the rocks in the street.
Riding in the “juckalucka” [junk] car to go buy malasadas [Portuguese doughnuts] at Leonard’s Bakery in Kapahulu.
[Aunty Mary (see Au > Aunty Mary’s 80th birthday party: second row, second from right in blue blouse) used to sell malasadas from Leonard’s malasada wagon.]
Playing dirt and “five hole” agates with your small kid friends under the house.
Collecting little brown koa seeds to make throw bean bags.
Smelling the sweet fragrances of the many lei stands on Maunakea Street.
Riding the school bus with your classmates to school picnics at Ala Moana Park or San Souci.
Watching the Polo and archery matches at Kapiolani Park on weekends.
Catching tadpoles, frogs, and o‘opus in the Kaimuki High School stream.
Waiting for the Christmas-decorated HRT [“Honolulu Rapid Transit”] bus at the bus stop at Christmastime.
Taking musubi [riceball], with ume [pronounced oo-may, Japanese salt plum] in the center, for lunch inside your Roy Rogers lunch can with the glass-lined thermos bottle.
Reaching for the plastic comb in your back pocket stuck under your skinny black velvet belt.
Going to the stadium to watch the Unser brothers race around the track.
[Jerry and Al Unser were star stock car racers who lived in Hawaii. They were friends of our neighbors across the street and would visit their house once in a while. Jerry was killed at Indianapolis, I believe, and Al, of course, went on to great racing fame.]
Playing one- and two-hand-touch football in the street from telephone pole to telephone pole.
Entering the contest for naming Lani Moo’s [the dairy’s mascot] baby calf at Dairyman’s Dairy on Waialae.
[Costa’s Dairy used to be up the valley from Grandpa’s house in Kuliouou, where there are now townhouses. Dad would walk up and play (barefoot, of course) with the cows sometimes. He couldn’t understand why Grandma would get so upset when he walked into the house without first washing his feet really well. I think his sense of smell was deadened by the time he got home from playing with the cows.]
Stealing ice from the Meadow Gold milk truck.
Seeing the first live broadcast between the mainland and Hawaii with the Lani Bird satellite.
Watching the night sky glow with the H-bomb tests over Johnston Island.
Seeing “Kaiser pink” construction trucks and Jeeps all over the island.
Listening to Kui Lee, Alfred Apaka, and Genoa Keawe on the radio.
Remembering the rules for agates: high and low hands, spam or double spam, dick-pan-roll, etc.
Playing games like “Freeze” and “Pass on, no pass back”.
Going to the movies, paying and watching for two features instead of one.
Feeding the hundreds of white pigeons with crushed peanuts from your hand at the Honolulu Zoo.
Listening to George Barati and my uncle D.K. conduct the Honolulu Symphony Orchestra.
Finding and digging out “valuable” green Hawaiian diamonds (so we thought) from worthless rocks.
[Actually these olivine crystals (a mineral silicate also known as chrysolite or peridot) aren’t as worthless as we later thought either; the larger, nicer ones are sold to tourists as Hawaiian gemstones. The value of an object depends on what someone is willing to pay for it, I guess.
Quartz and olivine crystals are also commonly found on Diamond Head (as well as other volcanic sites), hence its name.]
Passing the walls of opened white night blooming cereus at Punahou School.
Walking through the aromatic stalls of fresh fish, vegetables, and hanging meat carcasses on Maunakea Street.
Collecting soda water bottles for the two- or five-cent deposits.
Fishing for ‘awa‘awa, barracuda, and tilapia in the small ponds next to the Ulu Mau Village in Ala Moana.
Watching people fly their gas model airplanes in Ala Moana Park.
Eating ono [delicious] plate lunches off the catering trucks [lunch wagons] in Kewalo Basin.
Climbing the coconut trees and watching the Kodak Hula Show at the Natatorium.
Sitting under the banyan trees and watching the neighborhood volleyball games at Crane Park in Kapahulu.
Standing in line at the E.K. Fernandez Circus when it came to town.
Building a skate car from old roller skates and plywood or “borrowed” wheels from someone’s baby carriage.
Climbing and sitting in a tall mango tree on a windy day with your friends pretending to be a crew on a B-29.
Inviting your neighborhood friends over to make sugar [and butter] sandwiches.
Mixing laundry detergent with water and using hollow papaya stems to blow giant bubbles.
Buying Love’s bread in the bright gingham wrapper for twenty cents.
Getting dirty lickin’s from the infamous “slippah” (rubbah, nothing! It was hard and heavy and big as a frying pan).
Throwing rocks down on the tin roofs at the 2nd Avenue quarry and running (used to make the old man real mad!).
Tagging along with “Popo” [Popo or Apo = Grandma in Chinese] to observe “friendly wagering” of mahjong in the dark streets of Chinatown.
Watching your father going down to the police station to bail out Popo (loved that dear little old lady).
“Borrowing” green mangos from your neighbor’s tree (those were the best tasting kind!).

Clinton Lee lived in the Kaimuki area on Oahu and attended St. Patrick School in the ’50s and St. Louis High School and Chaminade College in the ’60s. He now lives in Torrance, California. His email address is Neme@aol.com

Clinton & wife

Mahalo nui loa to Clinton for his aloha in responding with this nice message (January 2004):
“Thanks for the compliments. That article was done many years ago when Aloha World first started in the ’90s. Funny how I still get comments from people to this very day. Back then, I just thought of jotting down things that reminded me of the good old days while growing up in Kaimuki. I still miss those good old days. You are welcome to use anything from that article for your website as I consider that public domain. Take care and good to hear from you. Clinton.”