When Robby was six weeks old I became pregnant with my second child who happened to be a girl. I named her Heidi after one of my favorite children's stories and she had that sweet little white face with dark hair. She was a breeze. She wasn't hungry, or fussy but she got very very sick when she was 2 mos old with a high fever. I was so worried but she recovered well.
I was having a terrible time though. Dickie was drinking a lot. He was mean. He wouldn't help me even though I was bleeding a lot after the birth. I actually remember I thought I would bleed to death and he refused to take me to the doctor.
Robby was walking and trying to always get out the door and run...Heidi was her quiet little sweet self. She had straight black hair and a little crooked nose. (which did finally straighten out)
I was ISOLATED from all my friends and family. We only had one car so I only had a neighbor to talk to. Her name was Thelma Moss. She was so kind.She did keep her distance though. She probably thought he was a raging maniac.
. Dickie was extremely jealous and possessive and a cleaning fanatic...he checked the baseboards for cleanliness and I was a bit afraid of him. The first real dinner party we had was for his office friends. He was now selling insurance. I made meatloaf, baked potatoes and salad. I cleaned the house from top to bottom and had the 2 dogs and 2 babys to watch.
The first guests began arriving and came into the living room to a big pile of dog POOP..my little cocker spanials were not happy about all this company and got too excited...
.........then, the oven stated smoking and all the baking potatoes were burning and on fire.That did it. The next day I was so upset at everything, I called my doctor, my baby's doctor and cried my heart out.
Dr. Miller came from the city ..drove to Tiburon, to take me and the kids to one of his friends houses to talk and hear her story. HER child had drowned in their pool.
In other words, Jody, get into perspective. I still couldn't stand it. We were in debt because we could not afford the payments for this new home but Dickie insisted that we buy it with my mothers' money (it wasn't that much of a down payment, really.) We were in debt and I was over worked and overwhelmed with loneliness and being so far from my friends and any family. I was so close to a breakdown. All I could think of was moving back to Hawaii. Our home went up for forclosure, Dickie filed bankrupcy and we did move back...now we had three kids. Robby, Heidi and Tiare.
Tia was born at French Hospital 14 monthes after Heidi was born. She was born 15 min after I entered the hospital door...Dickie and the two kids and I were at the Drive Inn theater in San Rafael, watching The Great Escape starring Steve McQueen when I went in to hard labor. We rushed over the Golden Gate Bridge in our little VW Bug and almost had her on the way. Tiare was born in 1963 with curly locks and a lot of spunk in the first room that had a gurney in it. She was also pretty shy and quiet. She slept her first few months in a dresser drawer...it worked just fine...it was on the floor.
I always loved the name Tiare, a fragrant flower known in Tahiti, and one day at the park in Tiburon, before she was born, I had the 2 kids playing with another little girl who was with her grandmother. Her grannie called her "Tia" and that was so cute, I thought, and asked about her real name and it was Tiare. That was it. If my next baby was a girl, she would be Tiare. So it was.
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
THE LAUGHTER AND PAIN
One thing that happened in Honolulu while prepping for the wedding, at my Mom's house on Kolohala St, there was a knock on the door...there stood Johnny. He finished the marines, had met a girl visiting on Maui and they were also getting married. We both hugged and knew there was still tons of chemistry but the timing was impossible and it was too late to be together.
1960 we each married someone else that was "second choice", for very different reasons. They would live on Maui and we would live in the San Francisco area of Pacifica. Our first child was born in St Lukes Hospital, their's a year later in Maui Memorial, each a boy. They went on to having 2 more boys and we, two girls.
This all reminds me of another Johnny story in high school.
He decided to loan me his corvette (stick shift of course) while he took a trip home to Maui for a few weeks. I was excited but had no clue how to drive it..and I didnt tell him that small detail. He jumped out at the airport and handed me the keys. I jerked that little bomber like it was ready to throw up..and of course I stalled it too. I made it home, parked it in our driveway, and the next morning it had rolled in to the middle of the street...Of course I didn't know you had to leave it "in gear"...and I never told him.
I had a really easy delivery with my son, my first child, Robert. He was born on June 24, 1961 and I was 20 years old. He was 8 lbs8 oz and I was one of the first to have natural childbirth. I had gone to classes to learn the breathing techniques . They also provided a private labor nurse in my room to help me remember how to concentrate on my breath. I remember her saying "think in your throat..think in your throat" the theory being that ones mind can only think of one place at a time ie I could not think of the pain that was happening down below.
These doctors & hospital were the very first to allow the fathers to watch the delivery, but Dickie couldn't bear it. He was there for the labor but couldn't take the final show. He was certainly excited to see what he did experience and the miracle of it all but he missed the wonderful happiness of being there as Rob was being pushed out of me, seeing whether he was a girl or a boy. I even had a mirror up on the wall so I could watch. It was such elation. I was so hyped that I was able to get off the gurney and carry my BABY to the hospital nursery where they would clean him up and check all his fingers and toes. My doctors worked as a team..Doctors Miller, Winch and Moss and each were at one of my childrens' births.
Rob was named after his paternal grandfather, Robert, his middle name, my Mother's maiden name. I was so ready to be a Mom..but my Mother was now in a hospital in LA, dying of her breast cancer. Her brother was caring for her and they were waiting for 2 weeks after the birth for us to fly down to see her and be with her. My milk was overflowing but it wasn't filling my boy so he was crying all the time until we figured it out...something was wrong with my milk..we put him on formula and at last we got a night's sleep. We fly to LA, my mother just looked terrible and she was on heavy doses of Morphine..she was hallucinating that my Daddy was on the phone down the hall so I had to pretend to go there and talk with him. Mama died the next day.
I was not prepared for the funeral. I was so preoccupied with motherhood that I wasn't thinking much about how sad and sorry I was that my mom had to suffer so much...that was until I saw the back hoe shoveling dirt and digging the hole. I cracked. To even write , at this moment, I can't help but cry again and choke up. It's such a terrible last memory that I must live with...that along with my sorrow over being such a brat and selfish daughter. I think this is why I write this..it is healing and it is exhaling all that stuff that you wish you could take back. Thank you whoever you are for listening.
1960 we each married someone else that was "second choice", for very different reasons. They would live on Maui and we would live in the San Francisco area of Pacifica. Our first child was born in St Lukes Hospital, their's a year later in Maui Memorial, each a boy. They went on to having 2 more boys and we, two girls.
This all reminds me of another Johnny story in high school.
He decided to loan me his corvette (stick shift of course) while he took a trip home to Maui for a few weeks. I was excited but had no clue how to drive it..and I didnt tell him that small detail. He jumped out at the airport and handed me the keys. I jerked that little bomber like it was ready to throw up..and of course I stalled it too. I made it home, parked it in our driveway, and the next morning it had rolled in to the middle of the street...Of course I didn't know you had to leave it "in gear"...and I never told him.
I had a really easy delivery with my son, my first child, Robert. He was born on June 24, 1961 and I was 20 years old. He was 8 lbs8 oz and I was one of the first to have natural childbirth. I had gone to classes to learn the breathing techniques . They also provided a private labor nurse in my room to help me remember how to concentrate on my breath. I remember her saying "think in your throat..think in your throat" the theory being that ones mind can only think of one place at a time ie I could not think of the pain that was happening down below.
These doctors & hospital were the very first to allow the fathers to watch the delivery, but Dickie couldn't bear it. He was there for the labor but couldn't take the final show. He was certainly excited to see what he did experience and the miracle of it all but he missed the wonderful happiness of being there as Rob was being pushed out of me, seeing whether he was a girl or a boy. I even had a mirror up on the wall so I could watch. It was such elation. I was so hyped that I was able to get off the gurney and carry my BABY to the hospital nursery where they would clean him up and check all his fingers and toes. My doctors worked as a team..Doctors Miller, Winch and Moss and each were at one of my childrens' births.
Rob was named after his paternal grandfather, Robert, his middle name, my Mother's maiden name. I was so ready to be a Mom..but my Mother was now in a hospital in LA, dying of her breast cancer. Her brother was caring for her and they were waiting for 2 weeks after the birth for us to fly down to see her and be with her. My milk was overflowing but it wasn't filling my boy so he was crying all the time until we figured it out...something was wrong with my milk..we put him on formula and at last we got a night's sleep. We fly to LA, my mother just looked terrible and she was on heavy doses of Morphine..she was hallucinating that my Daddy was on the phone down the hall so I had to pretend to go there and talk with him. Mama died the next day.
I was not prepared for the funeral. I was so preoccupied with motherhood that I wasn't thinking much about how sad and sorry I was that my mom had to suffer so much...that was until I saw the back hoe shoveling dirt and digging the hole. I cracked. To even write , at this moment, I can't help but cry again and choke up. It's such a terrible last memory that I must live with...that along with my sorrow over being such a brat and selfish daughter. I think this is why I write this..it is healing and it is exhaling all that stuff that you wish you could take back. Thank you whoever you are for listening.
I AM SO SORRY, MAMA
Remember the shorthand class? Well, Fay and I got together with Colleen, her brother, Dan and Dickie Lee from Maui. Fay started dating Dan and I, Dickie. I had met Dickie years before in Honolulu, briefly. He was working for Boys Clubs of America now, in charge of the SFO branch. He was half Chinese, half Portugese which I have always thought, looked Mexican...oh well.
We immediately took to each other and had a fun time in the city....parties with other kids from the islands etc. It was quite a change to be courted and meeting some "normal" people.
AND THEN I GOT PREGNANT. We immediately decided to get married but I did not want to tell my mother I was pregnant as she was now in a re occurance of her breast cancer. I did not want to upset her. I decided to plan a church wedding back at home in Honolulu and do it the way she would want. My daddy was gone and she could at least be a part of this. (in hind sight I should not have put her thorugh this disaster)
Fay and Dickie saw me off at the airport so that he could keep working and I could plan and organize the wedding to be on December 28th 1960. What I didn't know then, was that Fay and Dickie went to a party that evening, after the airport and had sex with each other.
She became pregnant but her story was that the baby was Dan's. Somehow, I KNEW by the way Dickie started acting that it was his. He wasn't allowing me to get together with Fay...not liking Fay...she had her baby 9 mos to the day after that party night. She gave the little baby boy up for adoption never admitting to whom the father was.
Our wedding was small and beautiful at Central Union. My college roommate, Anne, was my maid of honor, and my mother seemed happy, but only after we fought over everything we could. She asked if I was pregnant.I lied and said NO. I totaled her car..it wasn't my fault, but it certainly wasn't convenient. She didn't want Dickie sleeping with me in the same room. We were like at each others throats...I so regret this. We were each so full of our own pain. I am so sorry, Mama.
We immediately took to each other and had a fun time in the city....parties with other kids from the islands etc. It was quite a change to be courted and meeting some "normal" people.
AND THEN I GOT PREGNANT. We immediately decided to get married but I did not want to tell my mother I was pregnant as she was now in a re occurance of her breast cancer. I did not want to upset her. I decided to plan a church wedding back at home in Honolulu and do it the way she would want. My daddy was gone and she could at least be a part of this. (in hind sight I should not have put her thorugh this disaster)
Fay and Dickie saw me off at the airport so that he could keep working and I could plan and organize the wedding to be on December 28th 1960. What I didn't know then, was that Fay and Dickie went to a party that evening, after the airport and had sex with each other.
She became pregnant but her story was that the baby was Dan's. Somehow, I KNEW by the way Dickie started acting that it was his. He wasn't allowing me to get together with Fay...not liking Fay...she had her baby 9 mos to the day after that party night. She gave the little baby boy up for adoption never admitting to whom the father was.
Our wedding was small and beautiful at Central Union. My college roommate, Anne, was my maid of honor, and my mother seemed happy, but only after we fought over everything we could. She asked if I was pregnant.I lied and said NO. I totaled her car..it wasn't my fault, but it certainly wasn't convenient. She didn't want Dickie sleeping with me in the same room. We were like at each others throats...I so regret this. We were each so full of our own pain. I am so sorry, Mama.
LIVING DANGEROUSLY
FAY drove up from Phoenix, actually Eloy, Az in her '49 Dodge sedan..a few dents, faded paint. We bought a gallon of Peach Ice Cream, packed up all our belongings and headed off, passing the ice cream back & forth, to San Francisco (via Las Vegas, Tahoe etc) We slept in our car most nights pulling into manicured driveways sometimes and other times we would get a motel 6. Somewhere and sometime during this trip our car started steaming, looking like it was going to blow up so we pulled over on the side of the road on this very baron part of hwy. 66 and got out....We had no clue about cars or what it could be and of course, no cell phones in those days...we had to wait for someone to come along and help us.
Finally, an old car, a similar age as ours, pulled over. A short frumpy little couple, probably in their 60ies, got out..."Yah need some help, girls?" Yikes...they could be murderers...what were we going to do. Oh my God. "Wahl...ah think it's the water hose," the man said. "Why don't one of ya gals stay with the car and one come with us?"I can't tell you how we decided, but I went with them...we went to Prescott and everything was closed......it must've been a Sunday, but some how we got a hose, Fay was still alive (and so was I, thank God again) the hose was fixed and we drove back to Prescott where we had to spend the night to fix the radiator.If I had to give them names, it would be Eddie Boy and Flossie.
When we reached San Francisco, we had $5 between us. We drove directly to a used car lot and sold old Bessie for $80.00..that was our first months rent...we rented a small studio apt. in the same neighborhood as the used car lot, close to the beach. Let's just say, it was not UPSCALE. We went out job hunting ( by bus) and both were hired at the Bank of America. I was in the business district on Montgomery St. at the Int'l Banking Office and was put on this archaic bookkeeping machine. (like I had any idea of how to use this thing!) They very soon placed me at the teller window and I did the receiving of the large funds from Int'l businesses which were brought in by couriers.
My boss, whom I sat next to, made passes as often as he could get away with it. He was disgusting but there was no way I could do anything about it. I desperately needed this job.
In the meantime, I thought I would so much rather be a secretary, so I signed up with the bank's shorthand class that they gave in the evenings. ( I wasn't too good at this either!)I stuck with it for awhile and ended up knowing a girl from Hawaii in the class. She said her brother and DICKIE LEE, a friend from Hawaii were also living in the city...Let's all get together!
Fay and I stayed in our apartment and ate most of our dinners at the bar across the street. The bartender, had his eye on me, (of course he was another bad boy) and would give us free sandwiches with our beers. His name was SPIDER. His real name was Robert Chacon. He was fair colored Mexican and was Codeine Addict. He would ask me to pick up cough medicine for him down at the neighborhood pharmacy and I would as a favor....I didn't think much about it. Later when Fay and I moved to Potrero Hill, he began stalking me and wanting me to be his girlfriend. When I finally told him to get lost, he slit his stomach in front of Fay and we never saw him again. That is, not for many years and not in San Francisco.
Finally, an old car, a similar age as ours, pulled over. A short frumpy little couple, probably in their 60ies, got out..."Yah need some help, girls?" Yikes...they could be murderers...what were we going to do. Oh my God. "Wahl...ah think it's the water hose," the man said. "Why don't one of ya gals stay with the car and one come with us?"I can't tell you how we decided, but I went with them...we went to Prescott and everything was closed......it must've been a Sunday, but some how we got a hose, Fay was still alive (and so was I, thank God again) the hose was fixed and we drove back to Prescott where we had to spend the night to fix the radiator.If I had to give them names, it would be Eddie Boy and Flossie.
When we reached San Francisco, we had $5 between us. We drove directly to a used car lot and sold old Bessie for $80.00..that was our first months rent...we rented a small studio apt. in the same neighborhood as the used car lot, close to the beach. Let's just say, it was not UPSCALE. We went out job hunting ( by bus) and both were hired at the Bank of America. I was in the business district on Montgomery St. at the Int'l Banking Office and was put on this archaic bookkeeping machine. (like I had any idea of how to use this thing!) They very soon placed me at the teller window and I did the receiving of the large funds from Int'l businesses which were brought in by couriers.
My boss, whom I sat next to, made passes as often as he could get away with it. He was disgusting but there was no way I could do anything about it. I desperately needed this job.
In the meantime, I thought I would so much rather be a secretary, so I signed up with the bank's shorthand class that they gave in the evenings. ( I wasn't too good at this either!)I stuck with it for awhile and ended up knowing a girl from Hawaii in the class. She said her brother and DICKIE LEE, a friend from Hawaii were also living in the city...Let's all get together!
Fay and I stayed in our apartment and ate most of our dinners at the bar across the street. The bartender, had his eye on me, (of course he was another bad boy) and would give us free sandwiches with our beers. His name was SPIDER. His real name was Robert Chacon. He was fair colored Mexican and was Codeine Addict. He would ask me to pick up cough medicine for him down at the neighborhood pharmacy and I would as a favor....I didn't think much about it. Later when Fay and I moved to Potrero Hill, he began stalking me and wanting me to be his girlfriend. When I finally told him to get lost, he slit his stomach in front of Fay and we never saw him again. That is, not for many years and not in San Francisco.
Monday, June 7, 2010
BOYS TO MEN
JOHNNY B. I took to my senior prom that last year in high school, 1958. The Four Freshman played their soothing dance tunes .
Johnny had been "kicked out" of the Punahou dorm, the year before, for smoking and he was from Maui so his parents made him leave and finish school in a public school there. He had graduated 1957 and came back over to Oahu for the prom. After the dancing, we scurried out and drove in his corvette to Waikiki where all the real action was happening on PAU ST. There was a party and beer and loud music...smoking...puff puff away (Marlboros)
After that, Johnny joined the Marine Corp Reserves and left for San Diego. I think he was just too much for his "missionary" parents. They probably bribed him.
I go off to Arizona to college and he decides that he will join me in Arizona when he finishes his duty..Fortunately or unfortunately, I dont' know, he signs up with the wrong school. He ends up in Tempe, hours aways....(and he didn't know I was having the time of my life without him)
He would drive up to Flagstaff with a buddy and we would double date...go to the Museum Club and other bars...drink and actually get sick a few times. He was a wild one too. One time on Oahu, we were on a date seeing a movie at the drive-inn theater and he just pulled out, with speakers and all.....just for fun. We used to drag race in his corvette down at Sandy Beach at night...it was crazy.
The first semester of my second year at Arizona State, my father found out he had lung cancer. I went home to help my mother and my grandmother take care of him. He was gone in six months. The last month, we each took 8 hour shifts taking care of him every day and night at Queens Hospital. I will never ever regret those times I spent with him. I was working in between shifts back at the International Marketplace job and making money to hopefully continue college.
I was able to.
I flew back via California where my cousins lived and then took a flight to Phoenix where Bruce ended up meeting me to drive back to Flagstaff. He claimed he had an important meeting there and it wouldn't be any trouble or hanky panky...
When I stepped of that plane in Phoenix, I was in excruciating pain on my tail bone..I couldn't sit..and Bruce took me to a doctor there who sliced a cyst and gave me a rubber pillow for the ride back to Flag. As this interupted his time there, we had to get a hotel room and leave the next morning...the worst part was that my cyst filled up again and Bruce had to drain it. I figured if any guy could do this and not get grossed out, he was a pretty good one. We drove the next day direct to the Flagstaff hospital where I had some minor surgery. Now, Bruce was in my good favor but I still wasn't really very interested in him as a boyfriend. Now this was getting a bit complicated. Bob F. was gone. Johnny was hours away. Bruce was begging.
It didn't last long though. I had to quit as money had run out. This was now a MOVE that would change my whole future.
Little would I have ever guessed this stupid decision would be the CREATION of the rest of my life.
Johnny had been "kicked out" of the Punahou dorm, the year before, for smoking and he was from Maui so his parents made him leave and finish school in a public school there. He had graduated 1957 and came back over to Oahu for the prom. After the dancing, we scurried out and drove in his corvette to Waikiki where all the real action was happening on PAU ST. There was a party and beer and loud music...smoking...puff puff away (Marlboros)
After that, Johnny joined the Marine Corp Reserves and left for San Diego. I think he was just too much for his "missionary" parents. They probably bribed him.
I go off to Arizona to college and he decides that he will join me in Arizona when he finishes his duty..Fortunately or unfortunately, I dont' know, he signs up with the wrong school. He ends up in Tempe, hours aways....(and he didn't know I was having the time of my life without him)
He would drive up to Flagstaff with a buddy and we would double date...go to the Museum Club and other bars...drink and actually get sick a few times. He was a wild one too. One time on Oahu, we were on a date seeing a movie at the drive-inn theater and he just pulled out, with speakers and all.....just for fun. We used to drag race in his corvette down at Sandy Beach at night...it was crazy.
The first semester of my second year at Arizona State, my father found out he had lung cancer. I went home to help my mother and my grandmother take care of him. He was gone in six months. The last month, we each took 8 hour shifts taking care of him every day and night at Queens Hospital. I will never ever regret those times I spent with him. I was working in between shifts back at the International Marketplace job and making money to hopefully continue college.
I was able to.
I flew back via California where my cousins lived and then took a flight to Phoenix where Bruce ended up meeting me to drive back to Flagstaff. He claimed he had an important meeting there and it wouldn't be any trouble or hanky panky...
When I stepped of that plane in Phoenix, I was in excruciating pain on my tail bone..I couldn't sit..and Bruce took me to a doctor there who sliced a cyst and gave me a rubber pillow for the ride back to Flag. As this interupted his time there, we had to get a hotel room and leave the next morning...the worst part was that my cyst filled up again and Bruce had to drain it. I figured if any guy could do this and not get grossed out, he was a pretty good one. We drove the next day direct to the Flagstaff hospital where I had some minor surgery. Now, Bruce was in my good favor but I still wasn't really very interested in him as a boyfriend. Now this was getting a bit complicated. Bob F. was gone. Johnny was hours away. Bruce was begging.
It didn't last long though. I had to quit as money had run out. This was now a MOVE that would change my whole future.
Little would I have ever guessed this stupid decision would be the CREATION of the rest of my life.
RUM TUM DITTY AND BOYS
1958 Graduation from Punahou School. There were 365 students in our class. We sang acappela, two Hawaiian Songs, "Wailana" and another I can't remember .. One of my closest friends and I had chosen to go to college in Flagstaff Arizona where it snowed and wasn't so far from home...neither Anne nor I were too interested in our studies..we would have hamburgers, fries and Coke for breadfast instead of free cafeteria food We played canasta with Faye, Jody R, Carolee and others in our all girls dorm for hours, pretty much daily and Anne would get after me for my sloppiness but it was so much fun. We had Hawaiian posters above each single bed and Bates bedspreads.We were feeling so grown up.
We started dating these two guys that had a house off campus (big shots)...Bruce and Paul. They cooked on our first double date something they called RUM TUM DITTY which was canned tomato soup over cookies. I think we actually ate it. Anne continued seeing Paul but I met someone else that got my attention ( probably because he was not a student and he was pretty wild) His name was Bob . He was in Flagstaff working on a movie, doing stunt work.. He ended up staying in Flagstaff as a ski instructor.
Bruce was jealous and decided he would find out about Bob's background behind my back. Bruce started stalking us...and told me Bob had robbed a bank somewhere. It was all so mysterious & crazy but after a while Bob left town but this wasn't the last time I would see him.
On the first Spring Break, my boyfriend from home when I was 16 and 17, called and asked me to join him in Big Sur California where we would begin a surf quest south, hitting all the beaches and beach towns in his new VolksWagon Van (the first I had ever seen)...Boards on racks, we played all the way down to Laguna where his mother lived . Joe eventually became the first International Surfing Champion of the World..Unfortunatly, I was gone again and didn't get any of the glory of being his "girl".
We started dating these two guys that had a house off campus (big shots)...Bruce and Paul. They cooked on our first double date something they called RUM TUM DITTY which was canned tomato soup over cookies. I think we actually ate it. Anne continued seeing Paul but I met someone else that got my attention ( probably because he was not a student and he was pretty wild) His name was Bob . He was in Flagstaff working on a movie, doing stunt work.. He ended up staying in Flagstaff as a ski instructor.
Bruce was jealous and decided he would find out about Bob's background behind my back. Bruce started stalking us...and told me Bob had robbed a bank somewhere. It was all so mysterious & crazy but after a while Bob left town but this wasn't the last time I would see him.
On the first Spring Break, my boyfriend from home when I was 16 and 17, called and asked me to join him in Big Sur California where we would begin a surf quest south, hitting all the beaches and beach towns in his new VolksWagon Van (the first I had ever seen)...Boards on racks, we played all the way down to Laguna where his mother lived . Joe eventually became the first International Surfing Champion of the World..Unfortunatly, I was gone again and didn't get any of the glory of being his "girl".
YING AND YANG
Downtown Honolulu housed most of the offices. My orthodontist, Dr. Glenn, was in the Alexander Young Hotel Bldg. I don't remember it ever being a "hotel" but I do remember it had the best bakery in town and the first Longs Drug Store was across the street. Everyone took the HRT, the bus from school or home to their appointments.
And...on weekends we would meet our dates for a movies at the Princess Theatre. PT had "loges" ( a dark balcony where we would kissy face all through the movie...oh, and smoke! ) Yes, we smoked in theatres then.
One time in High School a bunch of us (with our drivers licenses) met downtown and went to the Swing Club where all the sailors and loose women would dance and play around..They had fabulous live JAZZ and we all loved to dance, didn't drink and we were totally oblivious to the danger that lurked at night in downtown Honolulu.
There was another time we went to a club down there in the depths of it all, that advertised male/female impersonators on stage......they were hysterical. And I am sure they thought we were too.
During the day, the area, also called China Town, reeked of fish, fermented duck eggs, creepy Chinese herbs in little dark hovels....jars of snake heads, goat innards, grasshoppers and other un- edibles. Shops sold Mahjongg sets and Chinese silk.
The HUGE Market on King St , colorful with rows of skinny defeathered chickens, pigs feet and heads and of course, all the fish came in from the docks fresh for auction if you got there early enough...Actually this place still exists in 2010.
During the war, the streets were filled with ladys of the night and drunk military men having fun .... and now it is mostly the Homeless, Art Galleries and Popular ethnic Restaurants. It's guess it has always been the Ying and Yang.
And...on weekends we would meet our dates for a movies at the Princess Theatre. PT had "loges" ( a dark balcony where we would kissy face all through the movie...oh, and smoke! ) Yes, we smoked in theatres then.
One time in High School a bunch of us (with our drivers licenses) met downtown and went to the Swing Club where all the sailors and loose women would dance and play around..They had fabulous live JAZZ and we all loved to dance, didn't drink and we were totally oblivious to the danger that lurked at night in downtown Honolulu.
There was another time we went to a club down there in the depths of it all, that advertised male/female impersonators on stage......they were hysterical. And I am sure they thought we were too.
During the day, the area, also called China Town, reeked of fish, fermented duck eggs, creepy Chinese herbs in little dark hovels....jars of snake heads, goat innards, grasshoppers and other un- edibles. Shops sold Mahjongg sets and Chinese silk.
The HUGE Market on King St , colorful with rows of skinny defeathered chickens, pigs feet and heads and of course, all the fish came in from the docks fresh for auction if you got there early enough...Actually this place still exists in 2010.
During the war, the streets were filled with ladys of the night and drunk military men having fun .... and now it is mostly the Homeless, Art Galleries and Popular ethnic Restaurants. It's guess it has always been the Ying and Yang.
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