It could have been the 1970s or even the 1960s. Not much has changed over the decades. Under a backyard mango tree in a quiet Windward cul-de-sac, a group of neighbors gathered for lunch on a cloudless Sunday afternoon.

Joan Allen, 91, moved into the cul-de-sac in 1974. “The Nishiokas were the first to welcome me here,” she said, still grateful for the kindness of good neighbors.

Francis Nishioka bought his house in the cul-de-sac in 1964 when he came home to Hawaii after serving in the Army.

“George Escher was the first to welcome me to the neighborhood,” Nishioka said.

Escher built his house in the little cul-de-sac on Paopua Place in 1960. He will be 101 years old in March, and nobody even entertains the idea of “if.” He will be 101. He and his wife, Miriam, who is 99, came over to the mango tree luncheon to celebrate Nishioka’s 96th birthday.

“Over the years, whenever I needed help, George was always there,” Nishioka said. “He would bring his tools.” Allen, an artist, recently helped Nishioka’s daughter put in a garden under the mango tree. When there were big rocks or bags of soil to move, Allen insisted on doing the lifting and the heavy work.

“It wasn’t work. It was play,” Allen said. “We played out there making the garden.”

Architects and planners espoused the virtues of a cul-de-sac in postwar housing developments. There’s less crime when there’s no through-traffic. Families interact more when their houses face one another in a circle like teammates in a huddle. Kids can more safely play outdoors.

In this cul-de-sac abutting the Enchanted Lake canal, the neighbors have grown old together, worked on one another’s home improvement projects, held countless parties under the mango tree. They attribute their longevity, their good health and their happy homes to the friendships they forged years ago. They’ve looked out for one another.

Nishioka was a member of the first graduating class at Farrington High school in 1939. He was a married father of three when he joined the Army and was sent overseas to Japan to serve in an intelligence unit. The Nishioka family lived on a military base in Japan for several years and at several posts on the U.S. mainland before coming home to Hawaii and purchasing the house on the cul-de-sac in Kailua.

“We were the only Japanese family over here, and I thought we might not be too welcomed but my wife said, ‘No, you served in the Army. We’re going to stay here and associate with everybody.’”

The Nishiokas were warmly welcomed. Race didn’t matter. Goodness did.

When asked whether there were any crises, major events or memorable occurrences that they went through together over the years, the neighbors all drew a blank. Their kids drew a blank. It’s not that nothing happened. Loved ones have died, children have grown up and moved away, families in some of the other houses have come and gone, but it has been blessedly quiet in their cul-de-sac.

“Not much changed,” Allen said.

“Well, everything grows,” Escher added.

Reach Lee Cataluna at 529-4315 or lcataluna@staradvertiser.com.