Hula dancer Milton I, 83, was honored with an I Ola Mau Ka Hula award on May 18 at a Hula Grill Waikiki luncheon. In the early 1950s, Milton was the first male to dance hula professionally in Waikiki. Hula Grill annually honors an individual who lives and exemplifies Hawaiian traditions through hula with the award. Robert Cazimero was at the piano and sang at the luncheon. Danny Kaleikini, for whom Milton’s House of I danced during Danny’s Christmas shows at the Kahala Hilton, sang a couple numbers. Many women guests danced hula kanikapila at the party, which had an olden-days feeling. Milton was involved in the Miss Hawaii competition for several years and several Miss Hawaii winners attended, including Kanoe Kaumeheiwa Miller, Libby Lee, Cathy Foy, Coline Aiu and Barbara Vierra Kelai. Other guests included Vicky Holt Takamine, Lahela Kaaihue, Flottie Van Ordeen, Joan Albao and Nakeo Awai. Milton sends his thanks to Keli‘i Gouveia, Hula Grill’s general manager, and his staff, for the swell party.
Milton, a 1951 Roosevelt High School graduate and cheerleader, learned hula from the highly respected kumu hula master Maiki Aiu Lake and was one of the late, great swim coach Soichi Sakamoto’s world-class swimmers. When the swim team went to the national swim meets he would dance to showcase Hawaii’s culture with 16 others on the team, mostly singers and musicians. Milton was a natural dancer. As a teen he won the annual jitterbug contest at Eagles Lounge for five years straight. After winning so often he said he was asked to retire. Milton said he got the name I after a Hawaiian priest was consulted because his dad, David Imaikalani, kept getting sick. The priest said the family name was too powerful for his father and he shortened it to I. After the name change Milton’s dad stopped getting sick …
ONWARD: Original Kapahulu girl Joan Martin Rodby loves to go to Halekulani’s House Without a Key at sunset to see hula by Kanoe Miller and enjoy music by the Hiram Olsen Trio, so that’s where her friends took her May 21 for her 85th birthday. Hiram’s son Casey and Bla Keohokalole round out the trio. A surprise for Joan was Broadway actress Loretta Ables Sayre stopping by to say hello. With Joan were Nancy Pflueger, Nitta Prigian, Sue Thacker, Dick Peck and two friends going back to her school days at Stevenson Intermediate, Jean Brickman Anderson and this columnist. Joan is the widow of Dick Rodby. The Rodbys owned Kemoo Farm restaurant where singer Charles K.L. Davis and other entertainers performed.…
“OBAMA SLEPT HERE” reads a sign people will see on a house in the two-mile walking tour exploring Manoa Valley’s College Hills area June 11 from 8:30 a.m. until noon. President Obama lived in one of the nine house on the tour. The tour begins at Kamanele Park at the corner of University Avenue and Kaala Street. Participants will pick up a self-guided route map and information packet at the park. Cost is $35 per person today or $40 from Saturday up to the day of the tour. For more information or to register visit malamamanoa.org, email malamamanoa12@gmail.com or call 988-6181. Walk-up registrations accepted. Back in the days when the area was being developed, a list of restrictions was slapped on buyers of lots ranging in size from 15,000 to 20,000 square feet. No piggeries or hotels were permitted, nor were taverns, saloons, sanatoriums, asylums, poor houses, prisons, poi factories, slaughterhouses, livery stables, foundries, smithys (blacksmiths), tin shops, tanneries, distilleries, or soap factories! …
SOME of Daniel Dae Kim’s co-stars on “Hawaii Five-0” and “Lost” have traveled or will be traveling to New York to see and support him in his role as the King of Siam in “The King and I” on Broadway at Lincoln Center. They are: Jorge Garcia, Grace Park, Mark Dacascos, Scott Caan, Michael Emerson and Will Yun Lee. Kim’s eight-week run ends June 26 …
ON SUNDAY and June 5 and 12, the Keiki and Teen “Hawaii Stars” competitions at the 50th State Fair will be held from 3:30 to 5:45 p.m. on KHON. Four winners from each competition will move on to the finals on June 26 at the fair. To enter for the June contests go to hawaiistars.com …
Ben Wood, who sold newspapers on Honolulu streets in World War II, writes of people, places and things. Email him at bwood@staradvertiser.com.
