Linda Louie asked me to speak to the Hawaii Chinese Civic Association recently about some of Hawaii’s top Chinese business leaders. The Chinese in Hawaii have a long and rich history. Here are some of the things we talked about.
Chun Afong, Hawaii’s first Chinese millionaire, was a very busy man because he had 12 daughters. He came to Hawaii in 1849 and had homes on School Street and Nuuanu Avenue where Walgreens is today, and one in Waikiki where the Army Museum is in Fort DeRussy.
He was called the Merchant Prince of Honolulu. One great-grandson, Eaton Magoon Jr., wrote a fictional musical about the drama of finding husbands for all those daughters. It ran on Broadway in 1961.
Chun Hoon (no relation) bought Afong’s home in Nuuanu and turned it into a produce store in 1935. Later it became Chun Hoon Supermarket and was one of Hawaii’s top markets for almost 50 years until it closed in 1983.
Sterling Yee told me his grandfather Sheong Yee founded Yick Lung in 1900. Yee had worked in the candy department at Hackfeld’s (which became Liberty House) and was inspired to start his own candy store.
"He began selling American candy but also imported crack seed from China. It sold quite well and had a better profit margin. Li hing mui (which means "traveling plum") was the most popular. My father, Peter, said it made you salivate when you put it in your mouth, and kept you from getting thirsty."
Peter and his brother Fred turned various kinds of crack seed into Hawaii icons. Crack seed became a popular snack, and Yick Lung was the most popular wholesaler of it.
"My cousin Douglas Yee invented rock salt plum in 1971," Sterling Yee continues. "Some said the sweet whole seed wasn’t salty enough, so he added rock salt, which was cheaper than regular salt."
"Yick Lung" meant "profitable enterprise" in Cantonese. The company filed for bankruptcy in 1996.
The Great Chinatown Fire of 1900 led to the founding of a hospital, social service agency and the growth of a particular community.
Many refugees from the fire fled to the west, where the Palama Chapel of Kaumakapili Church was. It evolved into Palama Settlement.
Others fled to near Queen and South streets where there was a warehouse. The able-bodied found new places to live in the weeks that followed, leaving many who were infirm. A hospital formed around them called the Honolulu Home for the Incurables. It moved to Kaimuki in 1903 and became Leahi Hospital.
The new community of Kaimuki was slow to attract buyers, but many displaced in the fire found acre lots along Waialae Avenue for $500 to be attractive.
So, while many lost everything in the Great Fire, Kaimuki, Leahi Hospital and Palama Settlement were good things that resulted.
Calvin Chun named restaurants for his daughters. "My dad wanted to open a Chinese kitchen and decided to use one of his four daughters’ names," Patti Louie says.
"The oldest was Charlene, but he didn’t think Charlene’s Chinese Kitchen would work, so he went down the list of daughters. My name was next and it sounded good, so he used it.
"Patti’s Chinese Kitchen opened at Ala Moana Center in 1967, then came Lyn’s Delicatessen (famous for its pastrami sandwiches and coleslaw), Cathy’s at Holiday Mart and Charlene’s downtown. He ended up putting all our names on his restaurants."
The pre-eminent jewelry store in Hawaii for several decades was Ming’s. They had, at one time, stores in New York, Florida, Georgia, Texas and California, and counted Frank Sinatra, Perry Como, James Stewart and Jacqueline Kennedy as customers.
Wook Moon was Korean, but his wife was Chinese and he gave his store a Chinese name when he founded it in 1939 as an art and antiquities gallery on Fort Street. Its name meant "a room that one can enter and acquire cultural knowledge."
World War II cut Moon off from his suppliers in China, so he switched to creating his own jewelry.
Many family members worked in the stores, including son, musician Peter Moon.
Ming’s was an officers’ hangout during the war. Many of them wanted something to send back to their girlfriends that was typically Hawaiian. Back then they carried flowers of Hawaii that were carved in gold and silver, and they were very popular. Ming’s closed in October 1999.
There are many more interesting stories about Chinese companies in Hawaii that I’ll save for future columns. If you have one, send me an email.
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.
