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Written by Mokihana White

User Rating: 5 / 5

No axe me why da hill behind my hale stay called "Motorcycle Hill". Rumor had eet dat sometimes da kanes would race deah bikes from da top down to da bottom. Adunno eef I believe dat, cuz I wen grow up in Mânoa Valley in Honolulu, weah we wen get around 100" of rain a yeah. U know wat dat means: choke rain. Choke slippery paths, yeah? How going even get one big motorbike up deah? No can do, I tink.

But nemmine dat. Wat stay impohtant is wat us keiki wen do, wen stay shining da sun, wen ouah days stay filled wit lafftah an joy, an wen we had alla time in da world foah have fun.

Most of us wen have ti leaf plants growing all around ouah hales. So nani dem, but ho, so kolohe us keiki. Wen no stay lookin' ouah maddahs, we wen kakaroach da biggest clump of ti leafs from da plants... anden we wen meet up in da designated area. Den, all us keiki wen make da long, slippery climb up Motorcycle Hill. Steep da path, an da buggah stay choke wet an so hahd foah climb. We wen grab onto alla bushes alongside da muddy path foah geev us kokua goin up da hill. Good ting we stay barefoot, cuz oddawise, no can make it alla way up to da top, yeah? We wen get scratched by alla bushes, but nemmine. Oni good fun!

Finally, we wen make eet! We wen look all around. We wen feeyo like kings of da mountain! We wen rest litto bit, try find guava foah grine... anden! "Eh, u stay ready?" one of da keiki wen axe. " 'Ae, we go anden!"

One by one, we wen take take ouah clump of ti leaves, an put um wit da stalk facing down foah one hando on da path, undaneat ouah 'okoles. Den, wit one yell an one beeg push wit ouah feets, off we wen go, flyin down dat slippery path. Da path stay so slick dat da ti leaves jass wen slide along like eels. Ouah whoops of lafftah wen echo all chru da hillside as we wen bumpin an slidin down da hill. Wen wen finally wen reach da bottom, we all stay covahed wit mud from head to toe, an ouah 'okoles stay all soah. We wen look at each oddah, an laff foah da sheer joy of it all, seein ouah white teeth shine out from ouah dirty brown faces.

Wen I tink back to dose days, I say one "mahalo" to ke Akua, foah allowing me to grow up in da most nani 'âina on da face of da earth. Foah gimme dat kine freedom, an lafftah, an beauty. Now, wen I get wai maka cuz I miss my home so much, I tink back to dose days, an how ouah lafftah wen ring out like church bells in dat nani, verdant valley. My tears get mixed up wit my smiyo...an I feeyo blessed, one keiki o ka 'âina kaulana.

I was born an raised in nani Mânoa Valley, home of da rain Tuahine, weah dis story takes place. I now stay in Oregon on one farm wit my kane weah we get sheep, goats and llamas. We own one real estate appraisal business an work out of our hale. I stay on staff at Alohaworld and am active in da local Hawaiian community.

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Written by Annette Villaren Lear

User Rating: 5 / 5

How many of you remember the Yamaguchi Store on Lower Main Street in Wailuku, Maui? We used to see Mr. Yamaguchi feed his koi fish through the screen door in the back of his store! They were the largest and fattest fish I'd ever seen! Some were gold, others orange but the majority of the fish were white. He must've had close to 150 fish in a small, cement kiddie swimming pool! We always had to ask permission first before we could look at his prize fishes. I could tell he took pride in raising them!

Mrs. Yamaguchi was skinny, always talking so fast with her glasses hanging down the bottom of her nose. Sorry to say, their kids were kind of spoiled in those days running around the store helping themselves to whatever they wanted. I used to think, " Boy, dey need good likins", but Mrs. Yamaguchi never scolded them ( I understand now Roy has become famous!!! Good for you bruddah!) .... instead she was paying attention to the neighborhood kids that would loiter.
My grandpa and grandma used to live right next door and I ran errands for them. One day my grandma ( full on "buk-buk") sent me to Yamaguchi Store fo buy "my yoh nis". She kept saying that word over and over again. I couldn't understand what she meant. She said "You go and pind it!"

So, clueless at age 9, I walked to Yamaguchi Store and asked Mrs. Yamaguchi, "Wea da my yoh nis?" She led me to the salad dressing department and picked out a bottle of Best Foods Real MAYONAISE! "Oh ", I said, "May yo naise"... feeling sooo dumb. After buying a box of japanese candy, da kind dat look like paper and melt in your mouth; which made me feel better, not as dumb... I ran home and told my dad what happened. He, my mom and grandma when bust out laughing. I'll never forget that. I'm glad Mrs. Yamaguchi understood what my "apo-mama" was trying to say!

Yamaguchi store was the hit for all us kids! They had good kine candy of which my favorites were Mary Janes, Fire Cracker balls, Lipstick, Sugar Daddy and Big Hunk. Not to mention crack seed and li hing mui! The smell of the store held a mixture of Lau-lau, boiled peanuts and dried fish. Though Yamaguchi store was not famous for ONE particular food, it was a local store where the same people from the neighborhood would come and shop, and talk story and the kids would put a nickle in the merry-go-round or horse ride right in front of the store. They were the good old days because you never know WHAT or WHO you'd find there. It was a sad day when Yamaguchi Store closed.

Even though Yamaguchi Store is no more, the memories I grew up with will remain... especially the funny ones!

I was born on Oahu, raised on Maui. Attended Wailuku Elementary, Iao Intermediate and Baldwin class of '76. I have lived in New England for over 11 years but manage to keep Hawaii's memories alive by sharing it was my kids and remiscing with ohana. My husband Garrett and I are now in the ministry spreading God's word.

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Written by David DeCarmo

User Rating: 5 / 5

I should start by saying my parents were divorced. My brother and I went with my dad and my sister went with my mother. I was five years old. I was born in Wahiawa and my brother in Honolulu (Kaiser Hospital). We left our home on the point of Waimea Bay just inland of the famous landmark missionary tower in the sixties. To this day, I think it was the worst thing we could have done. To own that land today at that site. Ho man! After hearing of a mudslide coming within inches of the house from the mountain where Waimea Falls is, I guess it could have been a scary alternative. But still!

We moved to Huntington Beach, California. Occasionally, my brother and I would stay with our mother and sister. We later moved to Virginia Beach, Virginia. Finally, my brother and I moved back to Ewa Beach on Oahu with our mother and her new husband. And so my Ewa Beach childhood began.

We lived in the townhouses across the street from my new elementary school, Pohakea. It was also across the street from the beach. To this day I don't know why or when, but I don't remember ever feeling out of place or new to the islands The exception my first day of school in the third grade. I guess everyone has an initiation to go through at some point in their lives. This was mine.

I was inside my classroom on the second floor about to go outside for recess. I was able to find out that a bunch of the local boys were planning on "welcoming" me in their own way during this time. It is during these times that the way you react will set the course for you the rest of your life. I saw the group of boys trying not to be so obvious as they were getting set. I braced as I stepped onto the dirt field from the steps, knowing what was about to happen. There were about ten of them. All of them jumped on me and did a "pile-up". I sucked it up and let it happen. I showed them I could handle it and we were friends from that point on.

Later that same recess, a samoan boy was throwing a paper airplane he made (or took .. kapu'd). It landed by my feet, so I picked it up and handed it to him. As soon as I did, he punched me in the nose. I had to go to the nurse's office to stop the bleeding. After school, I met with my older brother as he was walking from school and told him what happened. I told him I was going to follow the boy home and take care of it. I wanted him to go along in case he had other friends with him. We followed him home on our bikes. When he got off his bike and started walking to the front door of his house, I ran up to him and punched him in his nose. He ran inside crying as we took off on our bikes. I never had any other problems from that point on.

I grew up in such a diverse area. My neighbors had two Samoan sons that were exactly our ages. We became the best of friends, as I did with a "Popolo" boy named Junior, and other Haole, Oriental, and Filipino kids. Together, we would have many adventures and life experiences together.

My cousins, Aunties and Uncles from other parts of the island would visit or take us to the beaches, where we would bodysurf, eat shave ice, ling hi mui, manapua and malasadas. Oi, the food was the best. You see, I happen to be a Portugee born in Hawaii, with a Korean step mom (and family), a Filipino step dad, with a whole mix of other nationalities thrown in. So I would eat Portugee bean soup, Portuguese sausage and eggs with rice, Portuguese (Hawaiian) sweet bread and malasadas, spam and eggs, spam wrapped with nori (seaweed), sushi, seaweed soup, miso soup, kalamungi soup, dried/smoked fish, kalbi, kim chee, bul kogi, char siu, kook su (Korean saimin), rice balls with ume inside and garlic chicken wings, seeds, papaya, mango (in shoyu also), kalua pig, mac salad, raw squid (gumbo), dried cuttlefish, as well as American made foods. Hey, mixed up, but well worth it to this day! I can cook up a storm now!

Then there were the holidays in Ewa Beach! Santa riding down the road on a firetruck throwing candy and wrapped prune mui to all the kids; firecrackers at New Years and 4th of July (although I almost blew my hand off when someone threw one that landed in my hand); Christmas going door to door playing the ukelele and singing "Mele Kalikimaka". Then there was Memorial Day, where my sister and I would celebrate our birthdays together (mine was May 27th, hers May 31st ).

There were also the life changing experiences. Once I was playing hide and seek. I found myself standing right on top of a red ant pile in the Hibiscus bushes. They started crawling up my pants and biting me. I ran towards my house brushing them off, stripping off my pants as I stepped into the door. My mom brushed the rest off and sprayed bactine on the bites. To this day, seeing ants or beehives freak me out and make me itch all over just by seeing them.

There was a luau that will always be in my mind. You see, us kids were taken over to someone's house by the ocean's edge. I don't remember where. I watched the adults shave the pig's belly and then stab the pig in the neck. All the kids were supposed to chase the pig, trying to catch it as it ran around the yard squealing the entire time. When it was finally caught (I now know it was so the blood would drain out faster) the pig was put on a table, slit, gutted and then prepared for wrapping then put into the ground for slow cooking. Later, it was brought to our house and slowly turned over a fire. I remember eating the crunchy skin (pork rinds) and the rest of the feast. I ate everything but watermelon. I never could eat that!

Then the final memory of that time: The last day of school was a good one. It was my turn to help serve the rest of the kids lunch (students took turns serving throughout the year). I remember, it was shoyu chicken, rice, mac salad, milk,and orange exchange. We were given plenty loaves of sweet bread that day to sell to raising money for our Maui trip the end of the school year. Little did I know that day was going to be the last day of my time in Hawaii. I was told that we were going back to the mainland to visit my dad for a while.

I watched my brother walking to the car in front of the school. He had just come from his last class. He had experienced the Hawaii custom of saying goodbye (Aloha). He was kissed by his teacher on the cheek along with every other girl in the class, who all wore lipstick that day to leave their mark on his cheeks. He also had many leis (flower and kukui nut) around his neck. As for me, I sold my last two loaves of sweet bread to a cop that drove by me on the street. My money went to someone else so they could go in my place. To this day I have never been to Maui. I will go there sometime.

I was able to go back to Hawaii in 1986 to visit my mother, sister and brother through my job. We made sure it was a great time and even visited my old school and house where I could remember the best time of my life!

I was born in Wahiawa (1963) then moved on to California, then Virginia (been here ever since). I am married to a wonderful woman, Ruthie, of 22 years and have three beautiful daughters, Mary Elaine (21 yrs, living in Panama City Beach, Florida now), Amanda Elika (17 yrs), Cristie Amorine (13 yrs). I work in the marine engineering field. I still bodysurf whenever and wherever I get a chance. I will return to Hawaii someday (hopefully to stay!).

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Written by Clinton Lee

User Rating: 4 / 5

Whoo-o-hoo yeah man, anybody remembah life da '60s owah wat? Eh yeah...well den, eef you do, den you buggah probably sta' moah oldah den dirt I figgah...(heh heh)...eh, mebbe jus' like me an'den! But eh, I not heah fo' wala'au us guy's "geriatrical" problems, but like take wun trip back and share wit you wat I wen survive through (and ahem...mebbe sum of you oddah old futs) and reminisce about dose memorable, carefree, and rebellious years of long ago.

First of all, I like now escort you back to around da time wen da formah Territory of Hawaii became da new 50th state of da Union...around 1959 and...ai-yah, das wen tings really wen start to change. Some critics say mebbe wuz all fo' da bettah, den again some say wuz all fo' da worst. Fo' us guys anyway, wuz nutting but da bestest of times wit sum real good lasting memories. Wun ting good about it wuz, nevah wen had dem expensive house payments and also dem small liddo keeds fo' feed, owah haff to go work fo' make ends meet...yeah, mainly no wen have da kine real-life adult responsibilities fo' tie you down, yuh? Sheesh, life wuz good!

Yup, dem old crazy "fad days" of ducktails and syncopated doo wop wuz fading fast az I can reca'membah. Music wuz even sounding different...all hammajang evolving from da so-called popular 50s hit parade tunes performed by da current pop artists like Pat Boone, Patti page, Gail Storm, and da Maguire Sisters. In contrast dere wuz dis new driving beat from da surfing guitar sounds of da Chantays, Surfaris, Jan & Dean, Dick Dale, and da Beachboys. Yeah, I still reca'membah all dem weekend house parties in Palolo Valley and Kalihi weah da Twist, Mash Potato, Hully Gully, and da Surfers Stomp wuz da beegest dance crazes during dat time. Newer popular dances like da Stroll, Popeye, and da Continental wuz being made famous by da Philadelphia sounds of Chubby Checker, Dee Dee Sharp, and groups like da Dovells and Four Seasons. Motown wuz even making it's legendary mark too with da Temptations, Shirelles, Four Tops, Smokey Robinson, and the Supremes.

But den da main cultural changes began to take center stage by dis strange new phenomenon called da "British Invasion" which all came about by dis unknown group consisting of four long-haired English keeds called da Beatles. Das wen to me, wuz da main reason why it seemed every young teenage boy wanted fo' own his own electric guitar and wanted fo' join wun rock and roll group. I sta' know first hand since das wat I ended up doing.

But before dat even, wuz dis oddah majah influence which wen really make da Fender guitar wun household name and dat wuz da instrumental group called da Ventures. Keeds all ovah in da islands wanted fo' learn dem guy's style and began starting fo' play in open garages and at school auditoriums. I knew a lot of my close friends started fo' learn fo' play by ear and form dere own amateur groups. Dey even had fancy names like da Uniques, Renegades, Harmonics, Telstars, and of course, us guys...da Outlaws.

Some of dem even wen land spots on Filipino Fiesta TV and oddahs (like us) as regulars at Skateland on Saturday nights and even getting paid fo' playing. But as a basic rule, getting paid wuzn't da real main objective fo' playing but wuz nevah evah turned down eef wuz offered. Anyway, seems oni da bestest bands got paid most of da time but eh, main ting wuz good fun fo' see all da local keeds happy and having good time dancing. Yeah, couple of high school bands wuz even dat good dey wen take first owah second place in da local talent contests put on by dis certain radio station. I heard some even went on to be full time professional performahs aftah high school. So bottom line, wusn't all wun beeg wasted time fo' dem at sumting dey liked doing.

Az fo' my case, wen all start out fo' me in early high school. Heah I wen practically nag my poowah faddah until he wen finally wen geev in and buy me wun brand new cherry, candy-apple red Epiphone guitar from downtown Metronome Music and dis beeg amplifier from Harry's Music Store in Kaimuki.

Ho, mebbe we nevah wen sta' play all dat good yet but we shuah sta' look good on stage anyway! So den, az we got mo' bettah and bettah wit moah and moah practice, us guys wen graduate to mo' advanced kine equipment even saving up fo'da Fender Jazz Master and Jazz Bass I had in college. Owah newly formed college group called da Riot IV became da first official Chaminade College house rock band which played for most of da dances held at da men's dormitory during da mid 60s. I had to admit, we sounded pretty good and really not all dat bad fo' amateurs. We even had uku pila private kine requests fo' play at fraternity parties and college functions on weekends while owah so-called grade point averages wen take a dive. Az why hahd but das why you oni young once, yuh? Das wat we thot anyway...ha!

Speaking about da bestest kine bands, da most memorable contest during dose years wuz organized by da leading local Hawaii radio station K-POI calling it da "Battle of the Bands" held at Kapiolani Park near Diamond Head. Da initial event wuz called da Surf Festival which included all da bestest amateur bands dis new state had to offah. Dese contestants all played reasonably good but showmanship wuz da biggest ting da judges wuz looking for. I can still remembah da first place winnahs called da Speidels who choreographed dere version of "Apache" standing on top dere guitar amplifiers, in da dark, dressed in black suits, wit flaming torches attached to dere Fender guitar necks. Ho, had so much wahines screaming no could hear yo'self tink! Talk about getting majah kine cheecken skeen!

Dis event became so popular wit da local teens dat da radio station started hosting dis same event several years aftah dat. Dey wen need fo' find wun noddah place fo' accommodate da huge crowd attendance and probably das why dey wen pick da new HIC Arena on Ward Avenue fo' da next coupla years. Wuz so popular, da station wen even record da whole ting and sold LPs aftahwards...(Sigh...) I wish I still had my old copy but den I wish I had bought IBM stock years ago too...Oh well, enuf of dis silly hanabuddah daydreaming...Time fo' get back to reality and go tend to da grandkids! Oh-sho...getting old nowdays,,,hui, weahz my tube of Ben-gay?

Clinton was born and raised in Kaimuki, Oahu. He graduated from St. Louis High School in 1965 and attended Chaminade College until moving to Gardena, California in 1967. He now resides in Torrance, California with his wife, two "outgrown" children, and Chow Chow dog, Sammy.

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Written by Linda "Lika" Relacion Oosahwe

User Rating: 5 / 5

If you lived in Ewa in da 1960s, then you would know where Pakay Stowa was. Pakay Stowa was really Mrs. Ladera's garage in Fernandez Village. She rented her garage to Papasan. I neva did know his real name everybody just called him Papasan.

The garage was lined wit home made wooden shelves on da left side. The back wall had one old ice box (now know as a refrigerator). There was also a coca cola machine. Not da kine you put money in but da kine stay filled wit ice watah and filled wit bottles of soda. On hot days us kids would stick our hands in da ice cold watah. Us would sprinkle each ada until we hear Papasan scolding us.

On da right side in da back had one small shelf anden there was one big table. I don? t remebah a cash register. But I rememba Papasan had one apron with pockets in'em and he had one of dose silver change thingees hanging on his belt.

Papasan's old truck was reversed into the garage. His truck bed had some shelves. It had a big canvas tarp to cover the stuff in da back. So wen he left to go home he just covered the back of da truck.

Pakay Stowa was where all da kids of Fernandez Village stopped afta school. I didn't always have money but I rememba whoever I was wit would share whatever they had. And when I bought candy or gum I always share wit who eva no had money. Everybody always had something, even if was only one bite. Even da gum us would broke in half and give to somebody who no had.

Mostly Pakay Stowa had basic kine groceries, can goods, bread, milk juice and plenny candy. Tuna, spam, Vienna sausage, sardines and stuff la dat. I rememba going to da stowa fo go buy juice. One small can called Orange Exchange, you mix?em wit watah for make one big pitcha of juice. One can Orange Exchange was quarta.

Half da shelves in Pakay Stowa had candy, gum and see moi. You know da li hing mui, ika and mochi crunch (arare) la dat. Small keed time, if I had ten cents I tawt I was lucky cause I could buy one small package li hing mui or a candy bar or 10 bubble gum. If I had a quarta I tawt I was rich cause den I could buy candy, li hing mui and gum too. I rememba buying da kine candy called Necco. Rememba da pack of kalakoa sugar candy wafers, da white ones look like da holy host. Weneva us eat da white one us gotta make sign of da cross wit'em first. I neva did like da black ones.

One ada ting I use to go stowa for was to go buy bread. My Mahdah would give me five pennies extra so I could buy candy or gum. When eva us walk to da stowa us always look on da ground for moe pennies. Sometimes we would walk down da back road, behind da houses where had chicken fight and people selling stuff on weekends. Us always looked for money on da ground.

Pakay Stowa days are a thing of da past now. Its part of Hawaii's Plantation days heritage. Small Mom and Pop stores are few and far between nowadays, but da Pakay Stowas live on in da memories of us grown kids.

Linda "Lika" Relacion Oosahwe was born at Queens Hospital raised in Fernandez Village/Ewa and Waipahu. She currently lives in Arizona.  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"!

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Written by Kimo Raguindin

User Rating: 5 / 5

Honolii Pali is about 2 ½ miles north of Hilo on the Big Island. My parents purchased about an acre of land and had a house built on it. The view overlooked the ocean and the wharf of Hilo Bay.

I was in grade school at the time we moved into this home. There wasn't very many homes built in this tract at this time and there were open fields all around us.

When I came home from school, I used to take off my shoes and climb either the guava tree or mange tree, pick the fruit and just kick back all afternoon.

I used to ride my bike all over the dirt roads. There was a grass- covered hill that my friends and I used to do a "suicide run". That is where we would ride our bikes right off the road and plunge down the grassy hill not knowing what we would run into. The grass was pretty tall and was called California grass. I don't know where they got that name.

Since most of the land was not developed yet there were a few dirt hills in the area. We used to dig out trenches in these hills and simulate playing war. We would throw dirt balls at each other. When we got tired of doing that we would play a game of marbles. We played a game of "hole and back". We made five shallow holes in a row about three feet apart and one hole six feet beyond. Object of the game would be to go to the farthest hole and back to the beginning hole. Sounds easy? Well, if you missed a hole or your marble rolled out of the hole the next person, if he was close to you, he would hit your marble way out of position. This game would last a long time before anyone got back to the original starting hole.

The other marble game we played was "circle". That's when each of us would put a certain amount of marbles in a circle and we would take turns attempting to shoot the marbles out of the circle. The ones that we shot out of the circle we would keep. However if your "shooter" marble stayed in the circle after hitting a marble out you had to put the marble back into the circle and lost a turn.

Since we had a lot of land, my father planted a lot of vegetables and some fruit. We had squash, eggplant, yard beans, peanuts, sweet potatoes kalamungai leaves, saloyot, bitter melon, passion fruit, papayas, and cabbage. Me, my sisters and my mom all participated in weeding, planting and harvesting. We had to be careful of the centipedes. There were a lot of them there. The bitter melon was especially interesting to me in growing. After the flower dropped and there was an indication of fruit, each fruit was wrapped in newspaper, until it matured, to protect them from getting bitten by a fruit fly and causing the fruit to spoil. The paper was about a square foot.

We lived next to the Honolii Pali River. I used to ride my bike down to the river and do some body surfing. Then for a snack I would climb up the river bank and pick all the star fruit you could eat. There was also an abundance of river shrimp further up the river that I would catch and take home. My dad put them, alive, in a large bowl, pour vinegar and soy sauce on them and we would eat them just like that.

Here's one "chicken skin story" that happened to me about the Honolii Pali bridge. This was when I was older and driving my own car.

One night around mid-night I was driving home from my work. There was a cemetery called Alae Cemetery just before the river going north on the highway. As I was approaching the cemetery I saw some lights flickering way in the back. Then all of a sudden my car engine died and my lights went out.

I tried to start the car and tried to turn the lights on but nothing worked. I panicked but just let the car coast as far as it would. I made it across the bridge and tried starting the car. It started right up and the lights worked. I told my mother what happened and she said that according to Hawaiian legend the "Obake"(ghosts) were not able to cross the river. That's why my car started and the lights went on when I was across the bridge to the other side of the river.

There is a gulch at the rear of our property that served as a storm water runoff. This is where we would throw all of our garbage. There was a lot of mongoose that lived off the garbage. I made a trap and used to catch a lot them for fun. The trap was pretty simple. It was a box with a small sliding door for an entrance. The door was held open by a string that went to the back of the box into a small hole. The string was threaded inside the box through the small hole with "bait" attached to it. When the mongoose went in and pulled at the bait it released the trap door shut. Those buggahs were real vicious.

After graduating from Hilo High School ('61), I entered the U. S Navy and after my tour of duty I was discharged in Long Beach Ca. When I was gone my parents sold the home and moved to Kauai. My cousin now lives in the home and whenever I visit Hilo I visit him and re-live all the memories." Kimo now lives in Fountain Valley, California near Huntington Beach.

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Written by Chris M. Urmeneta

User Rating: 5 / 5

Growing up as a kid on the north shore in Sunset Beach, my world might just as well have ended at Kahuku, where I followed my older brothers and sister, from kindergarten until I graduated in 1967, and at Niimi's store in the opposite direction from Kahuku, located not far from where we used go diving for fish and octopus.

Sometimes, we ventured beyond those "borders" to go to the movies at Haleiwa theater or Koga theater, which was just a mile or so further away.

Up the hill from our house was Orian's poultry farm, which supplied us with cracked eggs at a discount and the pungent odor of chicken manure, riding on the breezes blowing past our house.

Our big front yard meant lots of room for playing, but it wasn't too much fun when it came time for mowing. No, there was no powered mower to use and who even heard of a riding mower back then? There was no such thing! If you didn't push, our mower wouldn't cut and to a skinny kid, who wasn't much taller than the mower handle, the yard seemed twice as large.

We played football and had fights with the neighborhood kids and held what I call "mongoose races" in that front yard. Mongoose races? Actually, it was a foot race between one mongoose and all our dogs. We would catch the mongoose in traps baited with chicken heads, carry him down to the front yard and with our dogs barking and circling the trap, we would release the mongoose. Ever wonder how fast a mongoose can run? Well, let's just say, " they're fast but the dogs were usually a little bit faster".

Just about once a month, we hear the rumbling in the distance, and we'd all run down to the roadside to watch the Army tanks and trucks roll by on their way to training maneuvers back up in the hills behind our house. Then days after they would pass by again on their way back to the base. We'd go hiking and find cans of rations that the soldiers left behind. It was like a successful treasure hunt to come home with cans that had crackers, jelly, peanut butter and some kind of un-identifiable meat that tasted pretty good back then.

Just a few steps beyond the highway that passed the row of coconut trees standing at the edge of our front yard, I spent endless hours as a little boy with a bamboo fishing pole and a plastic bag of raw shrimp, walking along the shallow reef at low tide, trying to catch fish.

As a teen, it was late night diving in calm waters, and surfing when the waves were breaking. I had an old gray, heavy, balsa surfboard that I learned to surf on and finally surrendered it in favor of bellyboard riding, thanks to my good friend, Jimmy and a wise old surfer, movie maker and bellyboard designer, Val Valentine.

Those were the days...growing in the country, bare-footed and worry-free, enjoying life in the world beyond my front porch.

"I was born on the south shore and raised on the north shore.Sunset Beach, we called it home, right about halfway between SunsetBeach store and Kammie*s Market. All of us kids from the oldest to theyoungest attended Kahuku, with a few years at St. Michael*s Catholicschool mixed in. A few months past graduation and six days afterturning eighteen, I raised my right hand and swore to "defend andserve" in Uncle Sam*s Navy. Fast forward to present day and here I am,living large in the middle of the Bible Belt, Oklahoma, U.S.A. Whowould have thought that destiny*s trail would lead me here to the lastplace I would have expected to be? It*s a good life but a part of mestill longs for the simple pleasures of island living."

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Written by George Cabral

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Remembah da neighbahood u wen live in? We all had wun special kine place we wuz brought up in Hawaii. Mine wuz no different den any of u out deah I guess.

Well befoa I wuz in school, we lived off Farrington Highway and I faintly remembah my parents having a small kine farm up da end of da road. I still remembah da couple cows we had in stalls and I believe we had a horse too. Of course we had chickens an da deadly turkeys dat use to scah me. Lattah da ohana decided not to raise dem anymoah so den dat wuz pau.

But da only ting had back den fo' da nieghbahood wuz owah street an had plenty kiawe trees across both side of da lane an across da main (Farrington Hwy.) street to da beach. Had da really beeg wun's. Well wuz beeg lookin' fo' me as wun small keed ah. In da lane neva have many keeds at da time so das wen I had fo' use da imagination to keep busy.

As wun small keed i use to like go explore whea da kiawe trees stay but neva have slippahs thick enuff fo step insai wit all da kine torns on da ground dat wen fall from da tree. Dem buggahs wuld git about foah inches long, sometimes even moah.

So I wen learn from my braddah fo' make da kine shoes from da soda cans. U no, u smash da buggah wit yowah feet den go find da sticky stuff from da uddah tree so yowah feet git stuck to em' den can walk on da ground whea da torns stay. Dis wuz wen had slippahs too but dem torn's wuz so long deh go right thru da slippahs. Neva really find dat much in deah an could oni go so fah as da quarry wuz pretty closeby. Besides I wuz not allowed fo' go dat fah as wun small keed. Always have to be in sight of my Maddah.

Use to be oni owah road deah an den da Shimammoto's wen build dis beeg 2 story kine house wit wun beeg yahd in da front an da back. Had all kine fruit trees. Lime, Mango an my favorite wuz da lychee wun. Buggah wuz ono wen came in season. Deh had wun carport dat wuz beeg enuff fo' 2 cahs an wot I still remembah is dat da concrete wuz red an smooth. We use to put da wattah hose on em an use em' like wun slide by runin' an drop down on yowah okole. Even had wun sprinklah system in da yahd. Dat wuz da onli house next dowah fo' long time.

Da boys had all da cool toys too plus all kine coloring books and all da color crayons. Wuz tree boys in da ohana. Das whea my sistah use to baby-sit an I got fo' go stay ovah till da parents got back.

Lattah, wen I wuz oldah da feed stoah wuz put up across from deah house whea Mistah Silva wen work. He wuz wun cool guy. Had gray hayah, tall an would let us fool around in da feed stoa. I thought da place smell good wit all dat feed in da beeg 50 pound bags. He wuz wun tall haole lookin' guy but I tink he wuz portagee.

Lattah deh wen go bulldoza da trees down behind da Shimamoto's an da feed stoah an wen put up plenti Quonset huts up on each side of da new road deh wen build. An da road wuz made out of da white coral dirt. Dis wuz whea we use to play baseball an football an git owah knees all skinned up den had kakio's fo couple weeks. But das ok cause da salt wattah took cayah of dem. Dis wuz way past da time wen da Shimamoto's had da 2 story house ova deah. Had plenti keeds in dat lane. Had da Lovell's wit Harry an his 2 sistahs an wun small braddah. Had da Apena's an deh had like 3 keeds. Da Perkins wen move in an deh had 4 boys an 2 girls. Had plenty moah like wun filopino family wit 4 girls an 3 boys. Poratgee's, Hawaiian's, Haole's, Filipino's, Japanese, Chinese owah woteva's. Neva make difference wot u wuz. We wen all play togeddah. Even wen go jump rope wit da girls. The Philippine ohana had the boy's dat wen raise pigeon's. Wuz Fred and hees braddah but I no remembah hees name. Das wuz da firs time I wuz introduced to da Buddisim religion. Deh use to show me how fo' train da pigeons fo' be intaceptahs an bring back moah pidgeons back to hees pigeon coop. Of course we neva intacept too many. He wen lose moah I tink. Use to help heem clean out da kukai in da coop. Buggah had wun beeg coop too. U could walk in da buggah witout bendin' ovah.

The Perkins use to work da drive-in in Waipahu an us keeds use to go wit dem clean da place up whea da cahs pahk. Sometimes we would scoah an find 20-30 dollahs on da ground. We did dis on da weekend. Wuz hahd work but we had good fun. Wun time John wen find wun condom an he wen tell hees young bradda (Tracy) dat das wuz wun balloon an fo' blow em' up an he did. Ho, we wen buss out laughin'. Of course Tracy wuzn't happy bout dat ah.

Wit all us keeds deah we always found somethin' fo' do. Could be baseball (local style wit tennis ball cause eef da ball hit da cah owah house, no broke anyting), football (wit owah coral street rules), jump rope wit da girls owah even play jacks owah hop-scotch wit dem an of course da army games in da quarry. Eh, even da girls play army wit us. All in all we had wun good neighbahood. We all look aftah each uddah no mattah whea we stay owah wot we do. Even da parents use to watch out fo' da uddah keeds dat no belong to dem. Now wen eva I stay home I pass by da ole place an dream how wuz. Da keeds still da same down at Uleawa wit deah boogie boards now. No moah paifo boards but das ok. Somehow it neva wen change.

George K. Cabral was born in Wahiawa and raised in Nanakuli, Oahu, two blocks from B & K store. He graduated from Nanakuli High in 1973. He joined the Army thereafter and shipped over to Germany where he spent almost 22 years of service. He retired in 1996 and is now working as a Government employee for the Army in Grafenwoehr, Germany with the 7th Army Training Command. He and his wife, Jutta have two daughters and one grandson, have settled down and made a home in Bamberg, Germany. They get back to Hawaii every three years or so to visit Ohana and maybe git togeddah wit da ole neighbahood.

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