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Written by Linda "Lika" Relacion Oosahwe

User Rating: 5 / 5

I was 16 and she was 22. I was brown and she was haole. I was a high school drop out, she was married then divorced. I was in love. Maybe it was the twilight reflecting her red hair that triggered the chemistry between us. She was everything to me. I dumped a Waipahu chick for this redheaded goddess.

Her name was Brandy Sue Jackson. A military brat but my woman no less. And I, Liko Kilani homegrown Kunia boy was head over heals for this haole chick.

When you're sixteen, independent, and in love you don't listen to any negative stuff. Sure you hear it. A sixteen year old in love has blinders and earplugs on when it comes to criticism of his true love relationship. I wanted her and she wanted me. Eventually we got each other.

Kunia gossip travels faster then the speed of light, which means the whole community, more or less; knows or thinks they know what is going on in other households.

Nothing much goes on in Kunia. Which is why gossiping disguised as talking story is the most common past time, second only to going to Wahiawa.

It was the summer of '69 and the Kilani household was on the top of the gossip list. What with twelve kids in the family and one more on the way. The Kilani family had many in the ranks of the Del Monte Corporation labor force. With nine brother and two sisters, you can imagine the humbug. But did I care about gossip? Hell no, I never have. People can be real mean and ugly when they're talking behind your back. It always amazes me how nice people can be to your face. Imagine, what would you think and say if you knew a 16 year old local kid and his 22 year old haole girlfriend? How about if the guy was 22 and the girl 16? Does double standards apply or what. If it was my sixteen year old sister (who is also my twin), I would try to talk her out of it and beat up the haole guy too. Which reminds me, my twin sis Lina tried to discourage me and almost beat up Brandy but didn't.

You would be surprised at the amount of love and lust that is first started in Kunia. Most people see the place as a sleepy community. But a lot of other people know of the Kunia that triggers romance. There's no way to describe that. Its one of those things you have to experience. While people talked about my love life, I was busy working in the pineapple fields. I worked with a gang full of fifteen and sixteen year olds. I was a loner, I got to go chop down trees while the others went hoe hana. Included in this gang was the Waipahu chick I had dumped for Brandy. We didn't talk to each other anymore. Everyday we would try to kill each other with piercing stare (stink eye)!.

I saved all my money that summer. I had enough for me and Brandy to move to the mainland; away from all the negative vibes of Kunia. We were happy and in love. I was 16 going on 21 and she was 22 going on 30. I grew closer and closer to Brandy as she mentally moved farther away. In this growing stage I became a father, then I became a man. Together we became parents. Together we endured the hardships of making a relationship work. Eventually our differences won out. The guy I thought was my best buddy became her best friend instead. I ended up going home to Kunia with a nasty black eye and bruised for life.

Its been thirty years since that summer that I fell madly in love. Looking back now I can't hardly say it was love. But my twin sis Lina reminds me indeed I was in love. And she knows me better then my mom or anyone else. Sometimes when I'm visiting Kunia, I go up into the hills. At a place called Three Rocks I think about yesterday, today and tomorrow. My initials carved into stone with you-know-whose initials reminds me of that summer way back when. One of these days soon, I want to tell my son about being sixteen and in love. I keep searching for the courage and the words in the right sequence.

Every now and then I wonder about that Waipahu chick I dumped. If and when we see each other again, will we try to kill each other with stink eye! I have no expectations.

The love and lust triggered in Kunia is available only by experience. The quiet community remains incognito and sometimes so does love.

Linda "Lika" Relacion Oosahwe was born at Queens Hospital raised in Fernandez Village/Ewa and Waipahu. She currently lives in Gardnerville, NV. She has three children; Quannee Mokihana, Star Leinaala, and Keokuk Hokule'a a.k.a Quan, STA & BoBOY! A palm reader once told her she would have three husbands. She's way behind, she still working on her first one and it's been 26 years!! When she grows up she wants to be "financially independent" currently she is "financially embarrassed!" "Kunia Lust" is the story of her twin brother Liko.

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Written by Craig Nakagawa

I wen grad high school and was I getting ready to leave for the army when my girlfriend wen just broke up with me-- because she no like long distance kine relationship, yea?

Needless to say, the bradda was bummed- dejected, rejected, and like go hemmo jag himself. I was SAD, CRITICAL condition, my heart wuz BROKE. No laff bra', you would be too.

So-- two buddies of mine decided they would help me get over her before I left and took me out to the wave break by Kahalui Harbor, you know where stay? Harbor Lights side... yea, yea, SO... it goes out about half a mile, maybe less, into the harbor and is made up of all these "three fingered" pylons that break up the wave as it goes in the harbor... yea, yea, sooooooo...

We wuz drinkin', rum, crown, and tequila and WE wuz mixin' 'em with whateva we had, and we WUZ DRINKIN', and it start for RAINING on our heads and we NO care cuz we wuz DRINKIN' and gettin' STUPID... and lighting an' thunder buss our ears and we no care cuz we wuz STUPID from DRINKIN' ... .and we wuz down at the end of this thing water all around us... and we NO CARE...we wuz dancin' in the rain like some mental lolos just let out from the lolo farm....

SO- while dancing like a hula girl with ukus in her grass skirt... I  wen knock over the tequila bottle and broke 'em....and I was SAD again... I know, same one.. wuz one worm inside and I wanted for eat 'em... eh.. I told you we wuz gettin' stupid... so I picked up the broken bottle- ALL SAD- and the fumes of tequila hit me in the face... NOW I wuz really pathetic... cause noooow I have for puke...

SO- I ran to the side of the wave break and my friend wen grab the back of my pants so I no fall in... and I was leaning way out at one angle, spread eagle... cause I no like my clothes get mess up.. know wot I mean?.... but what I care? I wuz all WET anyway, but like I said I no can think from being STUPID cuz I was drinkin' like one lolo in the rain in the middle of the harbor...

Soooooo, I hanging off the side and my friend was holding me from the back of my pants and then he tells me... "Bra' try wait, I have to sneeze"... and he go lets go of me to cover his nose !!.. NOW he's thinkin' about manners? SO me with no one holdin' I let out one scream :"ARRRRRARRRRGGGGGGG, JESUS HELP ME I no like dIEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!"

And I wen drop 30 feet to the frigid water below....it was COLD bra', freezing, my whole body wuz one big piece chicken skin and I hit so HARD face first... it knock ALL the stupid out of me....

I wuz never critically lolo again... .and that ex-girlfriend... if she  reading dis.. she can call me at 1-800-KISS-MY-OKOLE !!

Craig Nakagawa was born in Germany, but his father was born in Hawaii and moved the family back when Craig was real small kine (18 months old).  He grew up in Kula & Kahalui, Maui and grad from H.P. Baldwin High School (da BEARS!) in 1987. nHe served in the Army from 1987 to 1994 at Ft. Bliss, Texas (2 years Active and 7 years Active Reserve). He attended The University of Texas at El Paso, getting his BA in English.  He now lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico working as a Personnel Recruiter for a large bank.  He has been married for 8 years and has one daughter, Jade Akela and one child on the way-- if it's a girl: Mia Kiko, if it's a boy: Kai Taro.

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Written by Clinton Lee

User Rating: 5 / 5

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 truely 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 !!

1. The manapua man yelling manapu...pipiau while strolling down the neighborhood streets.
2. Dairymen's and Foremost milk delivered to your front door
3. Meeting new relatives off the Lurline at Aloha Towers.
4. Policemen dressed in olive green long sleeve gabardine uniforms.
5. Playing milk covers and marbles (agates) with your neighborhood friends.
6. Reading stacks of comic books on your neighbor's porch.
7. Picking up your Tinker Toys and Log Cabin pieces off the floor.
8. Figuring what else to make with your Erector Set.
9. Trade your Mickey Mantle for both Johnny Unitas and Y.A. Tittle bubblegum cards.
10. Cranking up the phonograph player to play another 78 RPM record.
11. Waiting for the neighborhood grocery truck to come so that you can buy candy.
12. Watching and waiting for the next episode of Flash Gordon and Seahunt to come on.
13. Wearing your Hopalong Cassidy, Roy Rogers, or Gene Autry outfit to play cowboy and Indians.
14. Junk-an-a-po to choose up sides for chase master or dodge ball.
15. Finding your "kini" to play sidewalk hopscotch.
16. Making it to "around-the-world and pig-pens" playing jacks with the rest of the girls.
17. Looking for your skate key to tighten the metal skates onto your good shoes.
18. Buying "see moi" in brown paper bags scooped from large glass jars at the neighborhood store.
19. Flying those Japanese kites that costs five or ten cents and have them buckaloose.
20. Tea cola drinks in wax sticks for a penny apiece (bite off both ends later and make pea shooter).
21. Sen-sen and Violets breath mints.
22. Colored bubble bath soap which came in little packets.
23. Plastic bubbles which came in little tubes with a straw. Had hard time trying to plug up the pukas.
24. Peel off tattoos on sheets of paper you had to wet on the back before you used.
25. Colored button candy on long sheets of paper.
26. Playing with the 1000 green molded plastic army men you sent away for.
27. Stuffing rolled up newspapers into the canvas delivery bag in front of your bicycle handle
28. Wearing box hats made out of used newspapers.
29. Trying to develop the best design for paper airplanes.
30. Candied puff rice and colored popcorn.
31. Push-up ice cream on a stick and ice cream bon-bons in a box.
32. Red lips candy and red coconut balls.
33. Little colored jujubees in a box which was later used as a horn.
34. Yick Lung 10 and 25 cent cellophane bags of seeds and candies.
35. Nihon Bashi sheets of sweet pressed cuttle fish.
36. Tomo Ame rice candy with the edible rice paper and toy in the little green box at the top.
37. Eating 10 cents rainbow shave ice from Mama-san's delicatessen.
38. Riding the electric trolley cars up Waialae Avenue.
39. Window shopping at the old Sears Roebuck and Kress Stores.
40. Going downtown after dinner at Christmas time to enjoy the strung up streetlight decorations on both Waialae Avenue and King Streets.
41. Chasing the Santa Claus candy float up Waialae Avenue.
42. Going trick-or-treating with cardboard jack-o-lanterns which had a burning candle inside.
43. Wearing your Davy Crockett coonskin cap.
44. Schoolgirls wearing wide hoop skirts and boys wearing "drapes" or humongous corduroy bellbottoms to school (real tough buggahs then).
45. Pomade and pedal pushers.
46. Knowing the best place to eat local saimin and plate lunches (too many places to mention).
47. Hanging out at Chunky's Drive In on Isenberg St. on weekends before and after the races.
48. The Chubby Rolands Show featuring "Funny face number 1". Free funny face frame.
49. Shopping at the Piggly Wiggly Stores.
50. J. Akuhead Pupule, Lucky Luck, and the Tom Moffat Shows on radio and TV.
51. Listening and watching the Kini Popo Show on radio and TV in the mornings.
52. Remembering Kam Fong Chun and Napua Stevens.
53. Arm Forces Day Parade and the 49th State Fair.
54. Bottle rockets, aerial bombs, and Roman candles on New Years Eve.
55. Dried abalone and your favorite pocket knife.
56. Watching Crusader Rabbit and Rags the Tiger on TV.
57. Smelling the fresh baked bread at Love's Bakery in Kapahulu.
58. Two way traffic on Kalakaua Avenue and Ala Wai Blvd.
59. Neighborhood kids going barefoot to public school.
60. Swimming in the Natatorium in Waikiki and watching people jump from the 3 story tower.
61. Stomping your feet on the old Stadium's wooden bleachers at football games yelling "termites".
62. Watching the original Mickey Mouse Club and wearing MM hats with ears. Can you still sing the song?
63. The menfolk drinking Primo Beer and eating boiled soy beans and peanuts.
64. Watching Lucky Strike and Old Gold cigarette commercials on TV. What does LSMFT stand for?
65. Driving on the old Pali Road to reach Kaneohe.
66. May Day pageants at school.
67. Fishing for oama and moi'li in Waikiki and Waimanalo.
68. Swimming, fishing, and renting boats on the McCully Bridge at the Ala Wai.
69. Yappy's on Kapahulu Avenue (enough said!).
70. Working summer vacations at Dole's Pineapple Cannery for extra money.
71. When the "country" was nothing but pineapple and sugar cane fields.
72. Going 45 MPH state maximum speed limit on the Mauka Arterial.
73. Kokua K.K. Ka'aumanua for office (He always run with your money, auwe!).
74. Picking guavas, lilikoi, and white ginger on Tantalus.
75. Going to the movies at one of the Royal Theaters (King, Queen, & Princess Theaters).
76. Eating at Lau Yee Chai or Wo Fat Restaurants.
77. Catching rainbow and mosquito fish (medakas) at Moanalua Gardens.
78. Picking seaweed at Sand Island and Ewa Beach.
79. Listening to Hawaii Calls with Webley Edwards, Alfred Apaka, and Harry Owens.
80. Watching local talent shows like Televi Digest and Filipino Fiesta on TV.
81. Attending the first Surf Festival and Battle of the Bands at the Waikiki Shell.
82. Listening to K-POI, K-ORL, K-UMU radio stations.
83. Cheering on Keo Nakama and Greta Andersen swim the Molokai Channel.
84. Surviving Hurricane Nina.
85. Riding your bicycle with the long "gooseneck" handlebars and long mudflaps with reflectors in back of your fenders.
86. Mastering the art of spinning tops and Duncan yoyos studded with the rhinestones on the side.
87. Playing with your Chatty Kathy Dolls.
88. Rinso White or Rinso Blue (soap or detergent it's up to you!).
89. (Feed him) Dr. Ross Dogfood (and do him a favor...)
90. Listening to Lippy Espinda "the poor man's friend" sell cars on TV.
91. Getting home before the Pearl Harbor traffic began.
92. Fishing in Hanauma Bay and don't have to pay to get in.
93. Walking around Waikiki without Japanese tourists from Japan.
94. Boxing and Roller Derby at the Civic Auditorium.
95. Waiting in the long line at the HIC Arena for the Battle of the Bands.
96. Entering the hula hoop and limbo contests.
97. Dancing the twist, mash potato, continental, monkey, stomp, and the jerk.
98. Waxing down your surfboard while singing along with Jan & Dean and the Beach Boys.
99. Body surfing outside Kuhio Beach with your homemade paipo board.
100. BBQ sticks for 10 cents with 4 to 5 pieces of meat.
101. Turning your fingers backwards and upside down to cover your eyes to make like Captain Honolulu.
102. Eating green mangoes with shoyu, vinegar, and pepper.
103. Carrying school books in the blue square Pan American Airlines bag.
104. Green River at Alex's Drive Inn on Kapahulu.
105. Riding the HRT (Honolulu Rapid Transit) for a dime with unlimited transfers.
106. Going to Waialae Drive In Theater at dusk. Kids were free.
107. Twenty-four cents hamburger, eleven cents fries, and 5 cents fruit punch at W&M's on 9th and Waialae.
108. Boufant hairdos for the girls and box haircuts for the guys.
109. Watching the slopman haul off the home food wastes to feed his pigs all before garbage disposals.
110. Sitting on the curb watching the honey wagon suck out the full cesspool.
111. Saying no to the Filipino garbage man who just asked if you still wanted your dog at Christmas time.
112. Raking up the red firecracker paper on New Years Day. Watch out for un-popped crackerballs.
113. Wearing your Makaha shorts with the wide colored stripes on the sides with the comb pocket.
114. Timely local utterings like 'Ass why hard or Warp your jaw. Shaka 'bra and geev 'um came later on.
115. Filling your Esterbrook or Parker fountain pen with blue washable ink.
116. Drinking eight ounce Coca Cola and 7 Up bottles from the vending machine which costed a dime.
117. Getting full service at the Flying A Gas Station on Kapahulu Ave without having to ask.
118. Smelling the keawe grilled manini and tako pupus freshly speared off Diamond Head.
119. Breathing in the strong scent of lipoa limu near the Diamond Head lighthouse.
120. Looking for the obake "moonmen" up on Tantalus and visiting Morgan's Corner near the Pali.
121. Wearing black & white saddle shoes for the girls and white bucks for the guys.
122. Sending away one boxtop and fifty cents to Kelloggs, Battle Creek, Mich.
123. Getting visited by your family doctor at home late at night when you had a fever.
124. Receiving ten times the Green and Blue Chip Stamps from the gas station and redeeming them for prizes.
125. Looking over old people's shoulders playing checkers and mahjong at Aala Park.
126. Remembering to write "airmail" on your envelope otherwise it went by boat.
127. Poncie Ponce, Cricket Blake, Kookie Burns...Hawaiian Eye. Move over McGarrett and Magnum!
128. First pizza in Hawaii @Woolworth's. Best tasting pizza - Ye Ole' Public House Special @Shakey's on Nimitz.
129. Fong Fong Restaurant on 10th and Waialae. The best won ton mein in Kaimuki (sigh).
130. Gathering oysters in Pearl Harbor off the pilings.
131. Watching the old Japanese fishermen with their long bamboo poles in the Ala Wai Canal trying to catch mullet.
132. Seeing who can catch the most green grasshoppers in a kim chee bottle with the little pukas on top.
133. Removing the plastic glue from your fingers after finishing up your Revell model airplane or boat.
134. Buying your PeeChee at the store for a dime. Folder paper ten cents more for a pack.
135. Saving Royal Crown Trading stamps from the grocery stores.
136. Getting free Golden Harvest Wheat pattern chinaware in Tide soap boxes.
137. Seeing swarms of termites around the broken cement street lamps on hot, summer nights.
138. Catching hinalea and mamamo from the tidepools with a bamboo pole, line, hook and split-shot sinker.
139. Getting strawberry shave ice and roasted peanuts at the Honolulu zoo.
140. Drag netting for opai lolo in Kuliouou Beach Park.
141. Catching giant Samoan crabs in the Ala Wai and Kuapa Pond.
142. Digging for Manila clams in Kaneohe Bay and the Ala Wai Canal.
143. Popping paper shot on the sidewalk with a rock.
144. Making shoo-shoo babies from bent in half checker bombs and Camel brand firecrackers.
145. Going to the Bugs Bunny and Porky Pig Clubs at the Kaimuki and Kapahulu Theaters for 9 cents.
146. Watching the Phyllis Shield's Christmas plays atop the old Sears Roebuck Store on Beretania St.
147. Watching Biddy Boxing on TV.
148. Listening for the Stars Spangle Banner to come on and and staring at he black and white test pattern on TV.
149. Going to bed when the Aloha Tower sirens came on at 800pm curfew every night.
150. Spending your allowance at Ben Franklin and National Dollar Stores.
151. Going to Stewart's Pharmacy soda fountain and drinking their ono shakes and floats.
152. Ordering cherry and vanilla cokes at Capitol Drive In on 6th and Waialae next to Chang's Poi shop.
153. Playing in you neighbor's cement bomb shelter.
154. Attaching playing cards with clothes pins flapping on the rear wheel spokes of your bicycle.
155. Watching 50th State wrestling at 1030 Friday nights from the Civic auditorium, and at the studio at 230 Sat. PM.
156. Shooting your spud gun at your little brother (mean, yeah?).
157. Sitting on the curb watching the "guttah guttah" (air jackhammer) man break up the rocks in the street.
158. Riding in the "juckalucka" car to go buy malasadas at Leonard's Bakery in Kapahulu.
159. Playing dirt and "five hole" agates with your small kid friends under the house.
160. Collecting little brown koa seeds to make throw bean bags.
161. Smelling the sweet fragrances of the many lei stands on Maunakea St.
162. Riding the school bus with your classmates to school picnics at Ala Moana Park or San Souci.
163. Watching the Polo and archery matches at Kapiolani Park on weekends.
164. Catching tadpoles, frogs, and o'opus in the Kaimuki High School stream.
165. Waiting for the Christmas decorated HRT bus at the bus stop at Christmas time.
166. Taking musubi with ume for lunch inside your Roy Rogers lunch can with the glass-lined thermos bottle.
167. Reaching for the plastic comb in your back pocket stuck under your skinny black velvet belt.
168. Going to the stadium to watch the Unser brothers race around the track.
169. Playing one and two hand touch football in the street from telephone pole to telephone pole.
170. Naming the baby to "Lani Moo" contest for Dairyman's Dairy on Waialae.
171. Stealing ice from the Meadow Gold milk truck.
172. Seeing the first live broadcast between the mainland and Hawaii with the Lani Bird satellite.
173. Watching the night sky glow with the H-bomb tests over Johnston Island.
174. Seeing "Kaiser pink" construction trucks and Jeeps all over the island.
175. Listening to Kui Lee, Alfred Apaka, and Genoa Keawe on the radio.
176. Remembering the rules for agates: high and low hands, spam or double spam, dick-pan-roll, etc.
177. Playing games like "Freeze" and "Pass on, no pass back".
178. Going to the movies paying and watching for two features instead of one.
179. Feeding the hundreds of white pigeons with crushed peanuts from your hand at the Honolulu Zoo.
180. Listening to George Barati and my uncle D.K. conduct the Honolulu Symphony Orchestra.
181. Finding and digging out "valuable" green Hawaiian diamonds (so we thought) from worthless rocks.
182. Passing the walls of opened white night blooming cirrus (sp?) at Punahou School.
183. Walking through the aromatic stalls of fresh fish, vegetables, and hanging meat carcasses on Maunakea Street.
184. Collecting soda water bottles for the two or five cent deposits.
185. Fishing for awa awa, barracuda, and tilapia in the small ponds next to the Ulu Mau Village in Ala Moana.
186. Watching people fly their gas model airplanes in Ala Moana Park.
187. Eating ono plate lunches off the catering trucks in Kewalo Basin.
188. Climbing the coconut trees and watching the Kodak Hula Show at the Natatorium.
189. Sitting under the banyan trees and watching the neighborhood volleyball games at Crane Park in Kapahulu.
190. Standing in line at the E.K. Fernandez circus when it came to town.
191. Building a skate car from old roller skates and plywood or "borrowed" wheels from someone's baby carriage.
192. Climbing and sitting in a tall mango tree on a windy day with your friends pretending to be a crew on a B-29.
193. Inviting your neighborhood friends over to make sugar sandwiches.
194. Mixing laundry detergent and water using hollow papaya stems to blow giant bubbles.
195. Buying Love's bread in the bright gingham wrapper for twenty cents.
196. Getting dirty lickin's from the infamous "slippah" (rubbah, nothing! It was hard and heavy and big as a frying pan).
197. Throwing rocks down on the tin roofs at the 2nd Ave. quarry and running (use to make the old man real mad!).
198. Tagging along with "Popo" to observe "friendly wagering" of mahjong in the dark streets of Chinatown.
199. Watching your father going down to the police station to bail out Popo (loved that dear little old lady).
200. "Borrowing" green mangos from your neighbor's tree (those were the best tasting kind!). Note: refer to #196.

Clinton Lee lived in the Kaimuki area on Oahu and attended St. Patrick School in the 50's and St. Louis High School and Chaminade College in the 60's. He now lives in Torrence, California.

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Written by Kamaka Brown

Rudy lived in Sugar Mill Camp.  His father worked in the Kahuku cane fields. I can't remember how many brothers and sisters Rudy had, but...it always seemed she had a small one at her breast.

It was in those early days of my youth that blended one into the other; colors fading one tinting the other.  Some faces I can remember distinctly...others only the shades of how their lives touched mine.

For some reason Rudy was different.  He had that kind of chipmunk face that was always ready for getting into trouble...and Rudy was always in trouble. He was Opie and Beaver Cleaver all in one...Maybe a little bit of Moe, Larry and Curly too. Rudy was always being sent to the principle's office.

We could not have been more than seven or eight at the time.   Mom always made me wear shoes to school, but Rudy only had one pair...and those were to be worn only to church.  So, of course, he had the toughest feet on the entire North Shore.  He could kick a rock the farthest...play basketball on a hot paved court in the sun the longest...hoo da buggah had calluses on his calluses !!

Kahuku Elementary was only just across the street from the Camp where Rudy lived..but somehow Rudy would always get lost on his way home from school. I had to wait along side the highway for the bus to Sunset Beach and Rudy would get busy...getting lost.  Oh, not permanently or anything serious like that...But just long enough to cruise the camp store for a soda and sushi. Do they still make pickles and encase them in wax ? Hoo Man..they were the best !!

Sometime we would go over to Japanese Camp.  We tried to catch the carp in the neatly tended ponds.  There was an art of making yourself invisible to Mr. Yamada because he was always ready for us.  He'd be like sitting on the front steps with the Japanese newspaper looking over the top of his glasses. He would clear his throat and shuffle his newspaper and say to nobody in particular but loud enough for me and Rudy and hear: "Somebody going get dirty lickins', boy !!"

Generally, that was enough for Rudy to give me the signal which meant:  "RUN LIKE HELL !!".  Me and Rudy would come out from the side of the house walking on the sandy coral Kahuku camp road whistling like we were just passing by.  Mr. Yamada would never even look up from his paper...but we could tell by the way he cleared his throat....that he knew we were in his yard...after HIS carp !!

The Tongans and Fijians went to our school. The Samoans didn't get along with the Tongans..who didn't get along with the Fijians and ALL of them never got along with me and Rudy.  I was the skinny kid with ehu hair and glasses...AND remember my mother always made me wear SHOES !!  I was a natural target for my Polynesian brothers.  But eh...Rudy was MY FRIEND and he was like a fighting bantam rooster !!  I remember very clearly him dancing on the head of one Samoan kid who tried to take my lunch money in the cafeteria  line. Rudy was only half his size but he had the courage of Curtis "da Bull" Ieaukea !!  When he was through, he made the boy buy me lunch for a week !!  Of course, I neva tell my mother...who gave me a quarter each day for lunch....after school me and Rudy went on a spree with my twenty five cent windfall...We both had stomach ache from the wax pickles and creme sodas.

We moved to the city soon after that and I never saw Rudy for many years. Time passed, we were both grown and I was living on my own back in the country.  Rudy came over my house for one visit.  He was recently discharged from the service and was living at home with his Mom and Dad back in the Sugar Mill Camp.   He looked the same but he was kinda "thick" now.  He still had that chipmunk face and a quick smile.  We talked about the old days.  He didn't seem to remember as much as I did.  He had a far away look in his eyes when I reminisced about the hanabuddah days...He didn't finish his beer.   He begged off with some excuse to go.

Something happened to Rudy "over there" when he was in the service in a place called "Nam". His Mom told me Rudy was having treatment at the military hospital. She told me about his memory lapses and fits of rage. Whenever he got is disability checks, he would disappear for days at a time. The locals who hung out at the gas station would take his money in dice or card games.

My Mom wrote me recently.  She writes me newsy letters.   Who is having a baby..who got married...who died....   Rudy was last seen hitch hiking on the highway in front of the school by the old bus stop after getting his check from the nearby Post Office.  It's been a couple of months now....

He's checking out Yamada's pond, that Rudy. That's where he is...hiding by da chicken coop by the side of da house.. I thought one day I would go back to that Filipino camp store and see if they still sell wax pickles.  I would see how much I could buy for a quarter....I would buy some for...me and Rudy.

Kamaka Brown was born and raised in Hawaii. Childhood years were spent in Waimea Valley on the North Shore of Oahu. Now a California resident he has not forgotten his Island roots. He writes and performs local style comedy at concerts and clubs around Southern California.

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Written by Joyce Guzman

User Rating: 5 / 5

Dis was the old cannery days when you gotta get up early in the morning, like 3:00am to get ready for the girls to pick you up to go work carpool style way up in Kapaa. We lived about 25 miles away and those days 25 miles was so fa, that the ride alone, plus all cramped up with like 7 people in the ca can come really boring and uncomfortable.

One day, me and Linda, my friend who grew up with me from small keed time decided we was going play hookey from work and go holoholo with our boyfriends.  We neva knew about haunted places in Kauai, because we came from the west side and the east side was new stomping grounds for us, especially when your parents so strict and you no can go fa places..so you gotta sneak, yea?

One day, we was suppose to work night shift, we had 'em all planned, we going all play hookey. All four of us went with Mac's car this time, Linda's boyfriend .. and we went to Kapaa, like we was going work, except we was going explore this new territory.  When it got dark, we decided we was going to this place in Anahola, which we just happened to come across.  The moon was out and everything was so clear, you could see everything in the night, everything had beautiful sillouettes, trees, houses, you name it, it was beautiful.

So we wen on this road that led to a small white bridge, really small that only one ca can go at a time.  We parked under some pine trees and you could see like one big park or something, but we neva knew what it was. (We latta found out that this was one old battle ground for the ancient Hawaiians and nobody goes there at night).  There was a big white lighthouse that we could see so clearly in the night, and so we thought oooh dis was a nice place to park.

Danny and I sat in the front seat talking while Linda and Mac was in the back seat talking.  They decided they was going walking outside by the watta, see, wea we was parked, there was pine trees and then rocks then the ocean and it was so clear you could see it like it was daytime except it was
still nightime.

As Danny and I were talking, we suddenly felt the ca move like somebody was pushing or somebody big was leaning against it.  So we looked ova our shoulders on the right side passanger seat in the back and saw two big sillouettes, I mean really big....so we thought oooh as only Linda and Mac, since they was wearing field jackets.  So we neva pay attention, thinking as was dem.

Suddenly, Linda and Mac came running to the car, but from the odda side and wen jump in so fas, that had scare me...I had ask dem "wazta' matta..you act like you had see one ghost"..she said, "a shuddup you, I stay scared, something sta' outside dea."  Den I wen ask her, "I thought you guys was outside there leaning against the ca"...she looked at me and said, "wea? ova hea, nea the ca?  Shuddup you, we was on the odda side, ova dea."  You should see all of us, we was so scared thinking who the hell was dat den? So Danny said "let's get otta hea now."...

Funny thing no, in Hawaii wen something la dat happen, how come your ca no can start?   Danny tried turning that ignition like crazy and the ca still wouldn't start...we kept saying.."maybe if we swea and tell dem to get da hell otta hea, maybe the ca   going start..."  All of a sudden Linda says, "a you guys see what I see?"  We all wen look by the watta and dea sitting on a rock was one wahine (mind you, she was transparent just like the ghosts they show in Disneyland) sitting there with a sarong, long haia wavering in the wind, her legs crossed with her hands folded ova her knees to hold her while looking at the ocean.  I was so scared, Linda was crying, the ca wouldn't start, we was SCARED STIFF...!!!! The wind was blowing and the pine tree was howling and dea she was still sitting dea, we didn't know wea the otta two "whatever that was" were..we felt like we was surrounded by ghosts, stuck there in the middle of nowea, in new territory for us, man that was scary.....

I told Danny, "eh leave the ca light on"..he said, "you no can start the ca with the light on,"...Linda said, "I no caya, leave the light on."   Mac started swea'in and guess what ?? the ca wen START!!... we went otta dea so fast, we had make tracks.

Wen we had get back to civilization (so we thought) we started to talk about it in the ca... Mac said, "a I gotta go hemo watta"  so we had stop by the pavillion in Kappa, and no had lights in the bathroom... Linda had on her field jacket and Mac had his on too, wen Linda and I wen go to the wahine side with no lights on, I bumped into her after we had make she-she and I had scream because I thought was the big sillouette I saw by the ca and she had scream, I had scream and we both started to cry... da guys thought we was crazy...

So, neva go places you dunno, because you neva know what you going come across in Hawaii...I tell people here in California about ghost stories and they only laugh and think I'm crazy... boy if they only knew, no?

Joyce Guzman - Born in Kauai and graduated Waimea High in 1961. Residing in Dana Point, work for JCP as a makeup artist and sales associate. Gave up working corporate level in 1991, enjoying life working with people who needs consultation on skin care and makeup.

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Written by Steve Yagyagan

User Rating: 5 / 5

So nice to have one place fo share our unique stories of growing up in Hawaii.  Fo me, I was born during one awkward time, in one awkward setting.

Da place  Waialua (Az in da North Shore on O'ahu, NOT Kaua'i fo dose of you who dorono) Da year  1961.  Da players  My Ilocano (lil bit Chinee mix) fadda, who came to Hawaii on da last ship of sugar and pineapple workers from da Philippines in 1946, da "Maunawili."  My Samoan (British/German mix) madda, who came sometime during da 1960s from Pago Pago.  Dey met in one Japanee stowa in Waialua called "Otake Store."  I am told it wuz "Lub at pirsss sight."   Gotta be, right?  I mean, dey had to make surusuru cause I am luving proof and da end result of dere pirsss passion.

Anyway, me, my sistahs, an adda Filipino-Samoan cousins wuz da only few kine mix in town.  Everbody else wuz eida all Filipino, all Japanee, Filipino-Japanee, Filipino-Hawaiian, Hawaiian-Podagee, Chinese-Hawaiian, and any adda kine mix except Filipino-Samoan.   Wuz kinda weird because people use to tell us, "Ho ka diff'rent yea you guys?   Not too many Filipino-Samoans, yeah?"  Sometimes, we used to feel like we wuz in one zoo wit people looking at us like we juss came from Mars.  I mean, my madda wuz mo beeg den my fadda.  She wuz da defenda of da family.  Maybe dat wuz da reason.  Anyway, felt kinda like wen people look at Popolo-Haole intaracial couples during da 60s.  Eh, I know how dose people feel, man.

In elementary school (Waialua.  everyting wuz Waialua.   High school too), I used to get teased by some manangs.  Dey used to yell out to me, "Hooooey! Pssst!  Pssst!  Someone! Someone!! Someone!!!"   I tought to myself, "Wot da heck dey saying, la'dat?"  An den I wen feegah out, "Oh my God, because of dey Filipino accent, dey no can say da word, 'Samoan.'"  I laughed out loud like my fadd and said, "Aysos Maria Josep!"  Den I wen I rememba's my madda's favorite piss-off kine Samoan words.    You name i, I wen use 'em. Tree-letta kine, fo letta kine.  I wen make up anykine dat sounded Samoan.  Den, I told my madda, "Mom, I neva gonna marry one buk-buk chick!"  My madda said, "Watch out boy, juss cause you said dat, you 'goin' marry one manang."

Eh, guess wot?  I did.  An we been togedda for 15 yeas.  I wouldn't trade her fo da world.  She went Campbell HS (but came from PI in 1974).  I was dating her Japanee roommate in college at SFSU in 1984 and fell in love wit her. Unreal yeah?  We get two beautiful chill'en, one boy and one girl.   We cook all kine Filipino, Japanee, and adda island-style kine food.  We talk Pidgin English all da time.  An we make shuwa we still have "fun."

Da motto of dis hanabuddah story is  "Nevah say you nevah goin' do someting cuz you juss might."

Steven Anthony "Pio" Tauvela Yagyagangrew up on the North Shore of Oahu and went to Waialua High School ('79).  He ismarried to Regina (Bangalan, Campbell High '81) with two children, Matthew Joseph-Keoni (9yrs. old) and Gabrielle Nohelani (9 mos.).  He and his family live in the suburbs ofSan Diego, El Cajon, CA.  Steve has a Bachelor of Arts degree in BroadcastCommunications from San Francisco State University ('85).  Last spring, he receivedhis Masters of Arts degree in Organizational Management from the University of Phoenix('99).  He plans to go for his Ph.D. in Organizational Psychology after taking sometime off to freelance write, consult, enjoy the outdoors, and enjoy his family.  He has formerly worked for FedEx, KHNL-TV, and several radio stations in San Francisco and Honolulu.  Currently, he is employed at a demographic and marketing firm.  He says, "I treasure my time as a youth growing up in Hawaii and although San Diego isnow my home, I carry Hawaii wherever I go -- especially the values my parents taught meand the aloha spirit."

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Written by Chris M. Urmeneta

If there was any kind of tropical fruit tree or garden vegetable not growing on our property when I was a kid,  it   probably didn't exist back then.At least, that's the way it seemed when I look back on those days of growing up in Paumalu, or Sunset Beach.   To me, they were one and the same place that had two different names.  Papayas and mangos, avocado and guava, tangerine, orange and fig plants. We even had a big banana patch that occupied a portion of our front yard.   Cabbage, beets, onions, carrots, and the infamous bittermelon plant were all being grown in the garden.  In the back where our property and the Orian's poultry farm met at the barbed-wire fence, we raised, chickens, ducks, pigs, guineas, more rabbits than I cared to count, a big cow, who not only supplied the dairy products but doubled as a horse when us kids wanted to go for a ride, and a mule, that gave up his right to stick around by trying to bite anyone that got within range of his teeth.

Even with all that growing, crowing, mooing and quacking, there was still room for lilikoi and gardenias, roses, orchids, plumeria, hibiscus and pakalana (hope I spelled that right).  How dad did the nine-to-five routine at the naval base and still found time  for all these other work can only be explained by the help he got from mom and us kids.  It was Fermin's (my dad) piece of paradise that we all shared; the work and the rewards.

I don't think we ever had less than two dogs roaming the property, with one dog always being named "Kimo".   These "poi"  dogs provided the security service and the "barking-at-odd-hours-of-the-night-for-no-known-reason" wakeup alarm service. I can still hear dad yelling at them to "shut up!" That worked... sometimes... but not for long.

Aaaaah... those were the good ol' days of working in the garden, pulling weeds,  hauling chicken manure from Orian's poultry farm by the wheelbarrow load and going with my dad in our old red Chevy truck to chop grass and get koa for the cow to eat.

I remember how it used to be... and how small the world seemed to be back then,  in Fermin's "piece of paradise".

Chris Urmeneta was raised on the North Shore of Oahu and went to Kahuku High School ('67).  He is married with two grown children in their 20's. "We are expecting our first grandchild in July !!"  He and his family live in Tulsa, Oklahoma.  Chris is a purchasing agent for a hospital based durable medical equipment company in Tulsa.  To be able to say I was born and raised in Hawaii makes me proud.  I miss the Islands and think of my old friends and classmates often.  Kahuku, class of '67? E-mail me. I sure would like to hear from you!! (ex- Sunset big wave rider)."

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Written by Lena Armitage Robinson

When I was little, maybe six or seven, I was taking hula lessons in Makaha. I had a kumu that was VERY strict (which one isn't ?).   I remember I was struggling to do the common hula exercise.   You know the one... where you have to sit with your okole between your legs and roll with your arms crossed on your chest, down on the ground and back up again... over and over...

Well, I was a mere thirty pounds and couldn't keep my friggin' knees from popping out from under me when I rolled on the floor.   No matter how I tried, them friggin' knees would come out again.  The Kumu was getting impatient with me and starting yelling.  Still OUT came my knees...

Finally she says: "Either you do it, or I'm gonna stand on your knees!!" Now, completely terrified of this THREE HUNDRED POUND Kumu stepping on me..I was crying and trembling.  So, I started slow...then tried to whip around onto the floor and out came those knees !!!    True to her words, she stepped on both my knees (mashing them into the floor) and tell you what... I whipped them rolls, over and over again. Really, really fast !!  The whole time my knees were completely hidden under her big feet !!

She got off me, pleased  as could be with herself !   She told me to do it on my own now...and I did it !!  Of course my knees still didn't bend in the right direction... but I could do it.    Still to this day... doing this hula exercise runs shivers up and down my spine... If I close my eyes I can still hear my kumu's voice and  remember the rigors of hula... Makaha style !!

Lena Armitage Robinson was raised in Waianae, Oahu. Graduated from Waianae High ('88). She moved to chilly Wisconsin with her husband in 1990.   She has three sons and works as an inspection auditor at a Phillips subsidary in Wisconsin.  "I still haven't run into anybody else lolo enough to be in Wisconsin with me from Hawaii !! I miss my ohana, island weather, ono food and all the Hawaiian culture.  Nothing beats sitting on the beach watching the sunset, eating a plate lunch with cool breeze blowing and cuddling up to your honey."  After 8 years of strenuous hula lessons.. Lena remembers "Kawika" fondly and sings it to her keiki...she hopes to get them to learn to dance to it.  She would love to hear from classmates from Waianae High class of '88 !!

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