Writing this column is always a process of discovery for me. I look into something and, to my delight, often learn many things I didn’t know before.
That was the case with Thomas Square, which was renovated in 2018. I wrote about it on Aug. 31. I think of it as a tranquil place where condo owners take their dogs after work.
I was amazed to learn that in the past Thomas Square was considered as a possible site for McKinley high school’s track and athletic facilities, the state library and a natural history museum.
Thomas Square would have been included in Honolulu’s Civic Center if one plan — to run it from Iolani Palace to the police Station on Kalakaua — had been chosen.
I didn’t know that the Army put up barracks there during World War II and planners considered running Young Street through the park.
Instead, Kapiolani Boulevard was built around 1930.
Gov. Charles James McCarthy proposed calling it Missionary Boulevard! No one liked that idea.
Neal Blaisdell Center
On June 8 I wrote about the Neal Blaisdell Center. When it opened in 1964, it was called the Honolulu International Center.
The three components of the center are the arena, concert hall and exhibition area. I learned a committee had brainstormed possible names for them.
For the arena, some proposed names included Pacific Arena, Coconut Bowl and Palm Palace.
Some suggested calling the concert hall Pacific Playhouse, Symphony Hale, Harmony Hall, Honolulu Theatre of the Performing Arts or Royal Concert Hall.
The exhibition area’s proposed names were Polynesian Pavilion, Lanai Hale and The Showcase.
Waikiki Shell
The parks board, I learned, held a contest to name the new outdoor concert venue before its 1956 opening.
Mrs. Koon Wah Lee won the grand prize of $10 for suggesting “Waikiki Shell.”
Other entries included Pupu o Waikiki, Rainbow Shell, Rainbow Theatre, Kapiolani Shell, Melting Pot of Music, Snail of Waikiki, People’s Aloha Theatre and Heavenly Spot.
It was renamed “The Tom Moffatt Waikiki Shell” in September.
I also learned another possible location was considered — near the Ala Wai Golf Course.
Joke
My favorite joke of the year was told during a meeting with Saint Louis alumni.
Many years ago new saplings were planted on the Saint Louis campus. The students were asked not to climb them as they could break.
One boy, Marcus Acau, defied the new rule. Another boy ran up to one of the new teachers, who had recently arrived from the mainland.
“Brother! Brother! Acau is up a tree!” he exclaimed.
“Son,” the brother replied, “cows cannot climb trees!”
Drive-ins
In May I wrote about Scotty’s Drive In and its sister restaurant next door on Keeaumoku Street, Chips. I was surprised to hear my Uncle Tats hung out at Chips and his daughter worked at Scotty’s.
Two couples told me that Scotty’s played a role in their marriages.
Mike Medeiros, originally from Kalihi, said, “I met my wife of 55 years at Scotty’s Drive In in 1960 when she spilled root beer on my foot. We got married two years later. I am now retired and live in Kona.”
Former police officer Douglas Brennam said he met his wife, Monica, at Scotty’s when he answered a call to investigate a fender-bender in their parking lot. “Monica called the police to report it. If not for Scotty’s, I probably would not have met the love of my life. We’re now great-grandparents!”
Many readers raved about Scotty’s special sauce. The recipe was approximately four to six parts mayonnaise to one part French’s yellow mustard with some garlic powder to taste.
Two backward flags
I haven’t written about it yet, but learned that there are two historic American flags mounted backward in Hawaii and they’re less than 2 miles away from each other.
One is the flag that flew over Hickam Field on Dec. 7, 1941. The other is a replica of Commodore Perry’s flag that’s now on the Surrender Deck of the USS Missouri.
The Hickam flag is huge and has bullet holes and tears in it. It is displayed at the headquarters of the Pacific Air Forces Command at Joint Base Pearl Harbor- Hickam.
The normal front of the two flags, with the stars in the upper left, are faded and damaged, so both flags have a protective backing and are mounted with the stars in the upper right position.
Mules
I always thought Leilehua High School’s mascot — the mule — was chosen because it began on Schofield Barracks. The mule is the Army’s mascot.
Ninety-five-year-old retired dentist Sadao Honda told me that Harry T. Scott, a physical education teacher who coached the Leilehua football team in 1929, suggested the mule.
“Scott was a 1927 graduate of Central Missouri State Teachers College, whose mascot is the mule. Therefore he dubbed his team the Leilehua Mules.”
Kingston Trio
Willson Moore told me that he was a great fan of the Kingston Trio. He said that a member of the trio, Bob Shane, was born Robert Schoen. Moore wondered about the name change.
I asked Bob Shane about this. He’s retired now and lives in Arizona.
“There were actually two reasons I changed the spelling of my last name,” Shane said.
“First of all, on the concert contracts it was always misspelled. They usually spelled it Shane, and we always had to correct them.
“What finally pushed me over the edge, though, was the birth of my first child, a daughter named Joan. It was supposed to be pronounced Jo-An, like Joanne, but spelled Joan.
“Since everyone always pronounced my name Shone instead of Shane, I didn’t want her to go through life being called Jone Shone. That’s the reason,” Shane says.
More tidbits
Waikiki means “spouting water.” I never knew where that spouting spring was, but one source said it was where Kapiolani Park is today.
I wrote about Sand Island this year and found it once had a lighthouse. It was hard to see it against the lights on Honolulu behind it, so city planners designed Aloha Tower as a lighthouse, when it opened in 1926.
A local dog became an international celebrity in the 1950s. The stray dog was named Sandy and was adopted by beachboy Joseph “Scooter Boy” Kaopuiki in 1950.
Grady Timmons, in “Waikiki Beachboys,” said “Scooter Boy” taught Sandy to surf. Hundreds of tourists snapped pictures of him hanging 20, and he appeared in newspapers around the world. The poi dog also appeared on the TV show “You Asked for It.”
Kaiser Permanente was named by Henry Kaiser’s wife for the Permanente Creek in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Martin MacArthur told me Henry Kaiser decided to give his conglomeration of companies a single name.
“He and his wife lived in the San Francisco Bay Area. They had a getaway home up a little ravine near Mountain View. Mrs. Kaiser especially loved the place. The gully had a little stream which flowed year around.
“Other streams in the area dry up in the summer. The Indian name for the stream translated in Spanish to ‘permanente.’ At Mrs. Kaiser’s suggestion the name picked was the one we still know, ‘Kaiser Permanente.’
“I would have thought it was ‘permanent’ because of his steel or concrete industries. They are all gone now,” MacArthur said. “The steel plants, the concrete plants, the cars and the shipyards. The hospitals turned out to be the only permanent thing left.”
Have a question or suggestion? Contact Bob Sigall, author of the five “The Companies We Keep” books, at Sigall@Yahoo.com.
