Before I jump into this week’s column, I want to say that I never thought last week’s Rearview Mirror article about toilet paper would have the impact it had.

The Washington Post excerpted it Sunday, and the BBC World News interviewed me about it Tuesday. Maybe toilet paper is the common denominator of our culture, the thing that brings us all together.

Moving on … This week I thought I’d respond to several questions readers have asked me. One is about the boat that Natalie Wood died on or near, which ended up in Hawaii. The next is about whether Hawaii was the first place in the U.S. to sell Honda automobiles.

I’ll also write about the Christmas tree guy, Richard Tajiri, and a particular location at Kahala Mall.

THE SPLENDOUR

An anonymous reader asked about actress Natalie Wood, who drowned off Catalina island on Nov. 29, 1981. Her family yacht, the Splendour, ended up in Hawaii. It was named after her 1961 movie, “Splendor in the Grass.”

“What is the story behind how it came to be in Hawaii?” the reader asked. Did Natalie Wood’s fateful voyage take place in Hawaii?

The Splendour had been in Hawaii for many years and was recently demolished.

Natalie Wood (born Natalia Nikolaevna Zakharenko) began acting at age 4, and by 25 already had garnered three Oscar nominations,

Wood was 43 in 1981 when she; husband Robert Wagner; their two daughters, 7 and 11; captain Dennis Davern; and actor Christopher Walken took a weekend boat trip to Catalina island, off the coast of Los Angeles. Wood was making a film with Walken at the time.

They dined ashore and returned to the yacht. Wood retired to the bedroom. Walken and Wagner got into an argument. Afterward, Wagner could not find Wood and called the Coast Guard. They found her body a mile away at 8 a.m.

Wagner believed Wood had been trying to secure a rubber dinghy, which was banging against the 60-foot yacht in the middle of the night, and slipped and drowned. Walken also believes that her death was an accident.

Los Angeles Coroner Thomas Noguchi found no evidence of foul play, although suspicions have continued ever since. Her blood alcohol level was high at 0.14.

Ron Nelson bought the Splendour in 1986 at a Long Beach auction and brought it to Kewalo Basin in Hawaii around 1996, where he spent a lot of time and money refurbishing the wooden boat.

Los Angeles sheriffs decided in 2011 to reopen the investigation into Wood’s death and asked to see the yacht. CBS also came and filmed a “48 Hours” mystery show on her death.

Nelson said he was planning on chartering the boat, and the publicity came at a good time.

In 2020 the Splendour, then at the Ala Wai, had racked up over $12,000 in mooring fees and was in poor condition and in danger of sinking. The boat was impounded in December and demolished in January, ending the 60-year saga of the Splendour.

It’s interesting to me that, in so many ways, national and international news stories often have a Hawaii connection.

FIRST IN THE NATION?

Doug Oda of Pacific Honda (formerly Pflueger Honda) told me they have claimed to be the “nation’s first Honda dealer.” But is it true, he asked? He wasn’t sure.

I went back and searched the newspaper archives. One article I found said that the first Honda automobile sold on the mainland was in May 1970.

However … the first Honda automobile for sale in Hawaii appears to be in 1969.

A Sept. 20, 1969, Honolulu Advertiser article on the Honda 600 says it is “available in white and red at local Honda distributors.” The car had a two-cylinder overhead cam, 38-horsepower engine. It had a top speed of 75 mph and got 40 mpg.

A Dec. 28, 1969, article says that “Pflueger Lincoln- Mercury has the exclusive dealership in Hawaii” for the Honda 600.

Jimmy Pflueger began Pflueger Lincoln-Mercury in 1964 at 1409 Kapiolani Blvd. (near Ala Moana Center). Pflueger Honda was founded in 1969 at 3233 Nimitz Highway near the airport.

I told Oda a few months ago that my conclusion is that Pflueger was the first in the U.S. to sell Honda automobiles. Recently, he said Honda in Japan went through their records and confirmed it.

Oda told me the first Honda 600s sent to Hawaii had seats that didn’t move. Owner Jimmy Pflueger, who was well over 6 feet tall, could not fit. He told Honda that Americans had longer legs than Asians and that he could not sell the cars just to people with short legs.

Honda suggested he destroy them rather than send them back, and Oda heard they may have been dumped offshore in the ocean. Seats on the next shipment could move forward and back.

TOWER RECORDS

Joyann wrote, “I seem to remember a restaurant in the space before Tower Records opened at Kahala Mall. Am I crazy?”

The location is now a Christ Centered Community Church.

Tower Records opened in Kahala Mall in June 1993. It was on the second floor above California Pizza Kitchen. Tower Records also had stores in Aiea and on Keeaumoku Street.

Tory Laitila remembered one restaurant at Kahala Mall in the spot prior to Tower Records: Chi-Chi’s Mexican Grill, around 1986. It served Sonoran-style food that was subtly seasoned rather than spicy.

The menu included tacos, fajitas, enchiladas, burritos and a $5.95 lunch buffet.

Two more restaurants occupied the site after Chi-Chi’s: Country Kitchen in 1990 and Pasta Pub in 1992.

Before that it was McInerny’s on the second floor when Kahala Mall opened in 1969, next to Liberty House and Carol & Mary’s.

RICHARD TAJIRI

Another reader asked about Richard Tajiri, the Christmas tree guy. Tajiri died in January at age 78. He brought Christmas trees to the islands for 43 years from Oregon and Washington.

Wailuku-born Tajiri married Paula in 1983 and moved to the mainland. They owned Japanese restaurants in Oregon and Washington, but Christmas trees were always his top priority. He had lots in town, Aiea, Kailua and other locations.

His goal was to sell Christmas trees for 50 years, and the family decided to keep the business going for another seven years to get him across the finish line,

The Rearview Mirror Insider is Bob Sigall’s now twice-weekly free email newsletter that gives readers behind-the-scenes background, stories that wouldn’t fit in the column and lots of interesting details. I invite you to join in and be an Insider at RearviewMirrorInsider.com. Mahalo!