Who was the King of Pidgin? The first person to use pidgin in advertising seems to be Chotaru Miyamoto, who founded Musashiya in 1896. Residents were so delighted with his newspaper ads that began running in 1920 that they sent them to friends all over the world. It made Miyamoto famous and brought thousands to his shop.
Fast-forward 40 years to 1960. David Akana "Lippy" Espinda Jr. owned a used car lot and gas station on the mauka corner of Kalakaua Avenue and Kapiolani Boulevard. The property included the area Century Center occupies today.
"Territorial Airwaves" host Harry Soria Jr. knew Espinda and says the family owned the property before Kapiolani Boulevard was built 100 years ago.
Before the Kalia Fishponds were filled in for Fort DeRussy around 1908 and the Ala Wai Canal opened 20 years later, the landscape of the area was different.
"The Espinda property was one small patch of dry land among all the wetlands," Soria says. "After 1928 the whole topography changed around them, leaving them in a prime location."
"My father (Harry Soria Sr.) used to buy okolehao from Lippy’s father," Soria said. Okolehao is alcoholic spirits made from fermented ti roots, sugar cane or pineapple. The "local moonshine" was popular in Hawaii until after World War II.
"When rising property taxes forced others to sell, Espinda’s okolehao business allowed them to stay on their land," Soria said.
"The entrance to Waikiki was one of the best locations on Oahu. His gas station was right on the corner, about where an empty lot is today. It was directly across the street from the famous Kau Kau Korner. It was perfectly situated and did really well."
Lippy advertised on television and wanted his commercials to be unique. "I used pidgin and it caught on like wildfire," said Lippy, as he was known to his friends. Local viewers loved it.
At the end he’d say, "Shaka brah!" and flash the shaka sign. This became his signature.
"‘Shaka’ was a word we used as kids playing marbles," Espinda explained. He and his childhood friends used it to mean "anything fine."
The origin of the shaka sign — an extended thumb and little finger with the middle fingers curled — is another matter. Nearly every island has one or more legends about its creation. Most describe a person who lost their three middle fingers in an accident. When they waved to others, it was the beginning of today’s shaka.
Many credit Kalili Hamana of Laie, who worked at the Kahuku Sugar Mill in the 1940s. He lost the three middle fingers of his right hand in an accident. Readers of this column have probably heard other stories and are encouraged to comment online.
Regardless of its origin, most agree that Lippy Espinda gave the shaka sign its name.
Lippy was called the King of Pidgin. KHON gave him his own TV show — "Lippy’s Lanai Theatre," on weekends where he chatted with viewers before commercials. He had regular appearances on "Hawaii Five-0," as well as on the "Brady Bunch" and a few other shows.
Schoolteachers complained about his pidgin ads, but the public loved it.
Many thought Lippy was Portuguese, but he was Hawaiian, Chinese, Spanish and Irish. "My mother’s name was Molly Ryan. I let you in on a secret," he told one interviewer. "I might be related to Jack Lord. His real name is Jack Ryan. When I told him dat, he said, ‘Heaven forbid!’"
Lippy died in 1975, but his "shaka brah" has become part of island vocabulary.
Frank Fasi used the shaka symbol in his campaigns for mayor, beginning in 1976, elevating it further into popular local culture.
Today the shaka is used to greet people and is associated with "hang loose." The phrase and symbol were printed on thousands of T-shirts in the last 40 years.
President Barack Obama was the first U.S. president to flash the shaka sign. He did it to the Punahou marching band as it played at his inauguration parade in 2009.
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Bob Sigall, author of the “Companies We Keep” books, looks through his collection of old photos to tell stories each Friday of Hawaii people, places and companies. Email him at Sigall@Yahoo.com.
