EVA MAUAEIKAKALUAOLONOIKAHIKI ~OMROY
An Interview by J. Ward RLJssell
January 14, 1986
This oral history interview is a project of the Historical Committee of the Outrigger Canoe Club. The legal rights to this material remain with the 0LJtrigger Canoe ClLjb, Anyone wishing to r·eproduce j.-t 01~ quo·te at length From it should contact the Historical Committee of the Outrigger Canoe Club.
*
"The reader sho..tld be awcre tha t an r.r.a.l history document portrays informati on as recalled by the interviewee, Because or the spontaneous nature of this kind of document, it may contain stat:ements and imp,~essions that are not .factual. 11
--Quoted by permission of the University of Hawaii Ethnic Studies Program, Ot~al Hista~y P!"'Oject . DCC 27-1
EVA MAUAEIKAKALUAOLONOIKAHIKI POMROY
Inte1~view by .J . Wa..,d Russell January 14, 1986
Th is is Tuesday, .January 14, 1986, I am Ward Russell a member of the Outrigger Canoe Club ' s Histori cal Comm i ·ttee and this morni ng it i s my pleasure to interview a long-·time employee of the O~Jtt~i g ger~ Ca noe Club, Eva Mauaeikakaluaolonoikahiki Pomroy*. Eva worked for· the Club for over thirty years and thi s mol"ning we are seated in hel~ apartment on Leahi Avenue on the slopes of Diamond Head just a few steps away fl~om the Outrigger Canoe Club. It is a love ly morning and we have been t a lking aboLJt ·the past. We are now ready to start our interview.
WR: Eva, when and where were you born?
EP: In Honolulu at 3213 Monsarr at Avenue.
WR: And wi1at year' was that?
EP: 1904. November 27, 1904 .
WR : We ll, now that would make you, how old?
EP: I will be eighty -two yeEl!~ s o l d this November 27 , 1986.
WR: You ar'e extraordinar•y. You ar'e cer tainly a ver y active and youn g 82-year old .
Eva, tell me about your ps~en·ts.
EP : We l l , my .f'a·ther 1 9 name was Walter Me l vill e Pomroy . He came From San Fr a ncisco , Originally From Engl and, b ut thE~ Y set t .l ed i n San Frsncisco - he a nd his family .
W R ~ How did he hsppen to come t o Hawaii?
EP: He wcrked f er the newspapers so ·t hey sen t h i m he , ~e to wor•k for the Ho n olulu Gazette .
WR: Oh, the o l d Gazette .
EP : The Advert iser, now. It used to be the Gazett e - t h e Ha wa ii Gazett.e. P apa was a printer and he wcrked t here u nti l he passed away .
WR: And, your mother• ?
>~ Nee Pomr•oy - married n ame DeCcJteau ( became DeCota) - when h t.i sband died, name legally changed b ack to Pomroy by Mr . Wi J.J. iam Barlo w. ace 27~-2
EP: My mother was born in Keauhou, Kana .
~IR : Keauhou?
EP: Yes. Laei Pukt.Ji was her first name.
WR: Was she related to Mary PtJku.i'?
EP: Mary married her brother. Auntie Mary mar·ried r-lomma ' s bJ~other,
WR: How many child1~en were in your mother's family?
EP~ Momma had, let me see, nine childr~en.
WR : And you were?
EP: I am the youngest.
WR: You are the youngest?
EP: rhe youngest, yes. Well, we had one ma"'e, but when momma had the last child she died, and my uncle, Walter Davis, I don 't know if you have ever heard of Wally Davis, Sam King 1 s nephew?
WR: Oh, yes.
EP: ·I mean, Sam King was his nephew. Big Sam.
WR: Sam 1 s youngest son was named after Davis.
EP: Yes . That 1 s right. Well, thet was my uncle through mar•riage . He married momma's cousin, so they took my new brother a nd raised
him until a year old. In those days t hay had pneumonia 1 but they didn't have medication, you know, and he passed away •••. •
WR: I see.
EP : ••••• at the age oF one year old •
WR : How many of' your· br•others ancJ s isters ere 1 i ving now?
EP: None. Just myself.
WR: You are the lsst of the family , that's inte,~esting. Now, tell me about your relationship to Many Pukui, you say she ••.• .
EP : Auntie Mary married my uncle Napoleon Pukui . As a l i ttle boy he was taken by some rich haole people, t h ey came to Kana and wanted him s o Tutu let him go, and he went to Utah and he b ecame a Mor"mon elder.
WR: You say you were bonn on Monsarr at Avenue, were all your brothers an d sisters bonn . . . . . DCC 27-3
EP: ,Jus·t my brother 1 Heni~Yv and I.
WR: .Just you and your• brother . Where would that l;ouse be today?
EP: The corner or Monsarr•at and Campbell.
WR: Oh, r•ight where the ser~vice station is now,
EP: Yes, they bought it rt~om us.
WR: Oh, far goodness sakes.
EP: Yes, Texaco bmJght it from us ..
WR: Texaco. And then you moved here from ••••.
EP~ Yes. I bought this apsrtment.
WR: I see. Well 1 that wasn't too lon_g ago, was it?
EP~ I came here in 163.
WR: 1 63. Well, you've been •••••
EP: No, '62 - November.
WR: Almost 24 year•s. Tell me about MonsSJ..,rat Avenue when you wer•e a 1ittle gir 1 • Wh at was it like?
EP ~ Well, ·there weren't too many people. Papa was the first person that eve r~ lived on Monsarr·at.
WR: For goodness sakes.
EP; Then came the Mar•tins, Chwlie Martin.
WR: Oh, Chwlie Martin, a member of the Outrigger Canoe Club?
EP: Yes,
WR : Oliver Mw·tin,
EP~ Yes, his gr~andpa. And then tile Bush family. I don't know if you know Lo.l it;e and Jeannette. , • ••
WR: I 'm not suee.
EP: They-live right over here. Then came the Black ramily - the momma was a Rice From Kal ihi.
WR: And what was Monsarrat Avenue like?
EP: All dir-t road and 5. t. wa!"; all c::urvey and a11 dab?. trees, and we had ace 27-4
all marsh, you know - all dirty water.
WR: Fish ponds?
EP: Yes, plenty ·fish. We used to get mosquit;a fish.
lr>IR: Mosquito fish. (Laugh) Well was Kapi.olani ••• • .
EP: Oates, oh, b eauti f'ul datf.:lS - all along there wer~e dates.
WR: The zoo wasn ' t there .
EP: Oh, na. Laten d a te it came .
WR: What was Kapiolani Park 11ke in those days?
EP: Beauti ful, beautiful. They had prisonens came up and clean there.
WR~ Now, tell me about the beach along in front af Kapiolani Park.
EP : Oh, we US(,?d to s it on the stone wall and the bF-H3ch boys used to bring music. Haw<:liian music. Oh, it was nice, when the ships came in, you know , t hey used to play on the shi ps and when the ships came in the y c a me out to Wai kiki and play, you km.Jw.
WR: Wha·t was Kuhi o Beach l ike i n t h ose days?
EP: A l o t or sand .
WR : A l ot oF sand?
EP : A l o t of sand - go way out.
WR : That must have been bef" ore t hey buil t those beach r etain i ng walls.
EP: Yes . Oh, yeah, way ou t, a n d t;he Queen had her .l ittl e hou se , you k n ow, and t he h r::1use came way 01..1t - t he Kanakanuis , they l i vr::!d t her e and Alec C l eghorn - Al ec, he l ived the r e t r.m . And t hen Steiners - .Judge s·t einer i n t h e big wh ite h o u se .
WR : Oh, y es . I remember we u s e d to keep slmfboaJ..,ds u nder,n eath the ,Judge's h ouse a n d change c l othes t h e r e.
EP: My b r other used ta .•• we used to keep ou r boar d u nder Akana's place across from K1...1h io Beach .
WR: We l l, I am going to come b sck tc1 Wai kiki in a mi n ute but now I want to tal k a b out your early days. Wher"e did y o u go t o school'?
EP ~ Waiki ki Schoo l , first .
WR : Where was that located?
EP : P r·in cess K<=du l ani. Th a t was in the chu nch , the p ictui-e you j u s ·L saw . occ 27-5
WR: Oh, yes.
EP : Hawaiian Church , and the graveyard was right there.
WR: This is whePe the QLJeen Kapi olani Hotel is .•• • •
EP : Yes. Ttlat was a branch of the Kawaiahao Chunch .
WR: I see .
EP: ••••• for Waikiki £'lide. You know how they have branches - Kaimuki ....•
WR : Yes. A brancl1 oF the Kawaiahao Chur~ch •••.•
EP: At that time nobody was using it so the school must have rented it - you know the State must have rented it out.
WR: I see. You showed me a picture oF your Waikiki School classmates when you wer-e seven years old. Who was in your class besides you?
EP: O.K. Fneddie Paoa, Freddie Lambert, Chinr'1 Ho •••••
WR: Chinn Ho?
EP: Uh-uh, Chinn Ho, Malia Ak ana - I don't know iF you know ~ l oe 1 Joe's sister - Ah Kong Pang 1 s sisters - Ah Kor1g was a littl.e higher grade than me. His twa sister s, right in the front you can see their pictures,
WR: That's interesting because Ah Kong was a member o f the Club For years. I remember him so well .
EP: We used to go steal his Fathen's duck e ggs down there. You k now, we ride the street car and the ducks used to go lay their eggs all aver the place (Laugh) a nd my friends say as we used t o go to school, "Go get eggs, duck eggsrr.
WR: (Laughter) Waikiki School - that was what'? Grade school ?
EP: To t h i r•d grade. YoLs went Kaahumanu or ym.J go Li.liuokal.ani aFter wards.
WR : And then where did you go, did you go to Karn School rr.om there?
EP: I went to Kam School.
WR: How many years wer.e you at Kam?
EP: Thr.ee.
WR: Where was Kam School then?
EP: ThE! old school, you kt"l OW down by thE>. railroad . . . . • DCC 27-6
WR: Yup, by the railroad.
EP: By ·the railroad. That ' s wher•e ·the gir~lst school was and the boys, school was where the Museum is.
WR: And then From Kam School where did you go?
EP: To the Prior•y.
WR: You had to bosr~d at the Priory?
EP~ Yeah , ror one year and then I do my studying at home,
WF~: Tell me about tr10se days at the Priory, that was right next to., .•.
EP: ••••• to Queen LiliuokalEmi. She used to call us over and we used to go over ron tea.
WR: Oh , for goodness sake.
EP: She was in the beck there, and she r1ad a chair and she used to wa tch us play volleyball, you know -- and basketball, we used to play basketball, and she said, "Come over you girls, when pau, come over, 11 and she had those f inger sandwiches and cool dninks, and a Japanese l ady senved.
WR: Wh at was she l i ke?
EP: I don 't k n o w too much about h er , but s h e was beau tiFul , • • ••
WR: About h ow o l d wer1e you at tha·t poi n t , y ou mw:.·t have been a teenager?
EP : Yeah. Four ·teen.
WR: Fourteen . You must have some vi v i d impressions o r her at t t1 a t t i me,
EP: I we nt t o the Priory when t h e i.: wo tvl oone girl s we nt - three o f t hem1 y ou k n o w Anne Kau aihil o , yeah , t hey we r e boar ders . Thel ma marr•ied Akana and . .• • •
WR: The l ma a n d Anne • .• • •
EP: The l ma , and Anne an d Flor•enc:e M c: N amar~ a - t hree of them we 1~e b oardin g ther e.
WR: The same time y ou were'?.
EP : And, we h a d sis ter s. We di d n ~ t have teacher s, they were a l l sisters.
WR: Aft en y ou t"i.ni shed sch o ol, did y ou gD t o wor1k?
EP: I got married . ( Laughter ) ace 27-7
WR: How old were you when you ma~ried?
EP: Seventeen.
WR: Seventeen. Tell me about your~ husband.
EP: My husband worked on the boa·ts and my bnother used to wo.-'k on the boats. He 1..1sed to bring him home up to the house . My husband was I n dian- French.
WR; Indian-Fr ench. Amenican Indian'?
EP: American Indian - from Michigan.
WR : What year did you manry him?
EP: 1920. {Laugh)
WR: Well, now, did you have any children?
EP: Yeah, I had two and I adopted two. I adopted my niece's children. That 1 s one of them I adopted (pointing to photogr-<;!ph). He died two years ago - that's l WR: Yes. EP : Remember? He was a naughty boy - a nascal . You k now, he went 1.1p to Oregon and he gr·adu ated frclln Onegon College. It changed his liFe . WR: Now , this was the adopted son. EP: This was the adopted boy . I got him four days old. WR: Four days old? EP: Four days old. My daLJghter· went to the maternity t1ome ·to get him and his sister, I had hen when s he was seven mont;hs old. So I had two to take care of. Yo1.1 see, my daughter Eva just gr•aduated from the Priory. WR: Who was the oldest of your own two c hildren? EP: Eva. WR : Now, what's happened to hen? EP: She was married to Alan Silva and he just passed away two years ago. WR! You have some mo'opuna Fr~om her . EP: I am a great--great ••• this is my great-great • • . ace 27-8 WR: You hsve two great-grandchildren? EP: Only one great-great • •• two gr•eat-gf'landchildren.,. WR: Those fnom Eva 1 s children. EP: Yes, this is her, son's son. WR: Well, then, after Evco ther~e was •••• • ? EP: Spencer•. My boy. WR : And what's happened to him? EP: He died. He w01~ked all his life on the ships. He was a boatswain on a ship, and he died in Hong Kong - a heart attack, in Hong Kong, China. WR: My goodness. When was this? EP: I was still working for t;he Outr~ igger. It; was about 1960. WR: 1960? EP: 1960-something. WR : Th ose were your twa regular children . ( Eva an d Spencen) • EP : My own children. EP: Yes. WR: And did he have cr1ildr en? EP~ Yes. WR: Then , the ai:her t wo - Kenne·th {poin ting to picture) , the one you adopted . Did he h ave chil dren? EP ~ That's his little g i rl over t here . He ne ver~ did get ma·w.,ied to the mother, they we r e going t o get mar~r.i.ed. He was going to bring her home to corne see me when he h a d this hear·t at.tack - yec;ns ago . WR: Oh, my. EP: Tw o year"'s ago, t he momma brought her - I met h er. WR : Ah , wonderful . And then, the youngesi~ one - the girl that you adop·t.ed, EP: Oh 1 Ka1iko? She T g here, She has several chil dren , she J.i v(~ s down in Wa imanal o. DCC 27-9 l!IJR: My goodness. You 1 ve got a whole slew of grandchildren, great grandchildren and a great.-great-gr'snc.:!Gh.i.ld. That 1 s remarkable. When die! your husband die? EP: 1964. WR: Were you working for the Club at that time'f EP: Yes. WR: When did you start ·to work For• the Club? EP: Down at the old Club, WR; Was this during trn:~ war years? EP: In the early for ties, WR: How did yOt.J come to wonk for the Outrigger Canoe Club? EP: I was looking for a job in Waikiki t me and my nieces. So I said, I saw Tony, my cousin - Tony Gl.lerrero is my cousin. WR: Oh, Tony is your cousin'? EP: I said, HTony ~ I like jobu. He said, "Where 1 s Spencer?" I said , vtoh ~ he went on the ship, I need j t1b, I got to support these kids, they ar·e going to school. Two o"f" them are going to ThomF-is Jeffers on , n Right away, he said, "You come with mert, and right away he took me to meet Char•lie Hee , and Charlie Hee said, "You want; to start now ol~ tomor•row morning?tt I was shocked. You know I said, "I don't know what I am going to do, I 1 v e never run a switchboard before, I never do this kind of job .inside the of'Fice,n Charlie was ver·y nice, he s aid, "The girls will s how you ,H He said, "We want you on the desk .. " I said, nrony, wait, I no like this kind of job, I no can do the wor-k." H<'3 .said, rry ou can do .it. tr I said, '~Look this sw i tchboerd, I n ever run this kind of' board before . " You know when you look at them at fir·st ·• strange! Wf1: (Laugh) • EP: He said, nyou leern it, you learn it.n "O.K., O.K. I need the money I am g oing to work". I said to myselF I got to work. Sa I went home and the next mor-ning I was there at seven o ' clock - we started at seven . WR~ Well, .let 1 s continue wi·th your work. You were o n the front desk mast; of the time. EP: Yes. WR ~ Who was the offi ce manager at that time? EP: When I came it was Mr. (Henry) de GO""og, but he was j ust leaving, he was going, you know . So Gay came . WR: Who? EP: Gay Harris. EP: Ga y Harris came. WR: What kind of s manager was Gay? EP: He was O.K. I liked Gay biJt ••••• lr'lR: (l.aughtet~ ) EP: He ••••• WR ~ Yeah, I know, he had a little pnoblem •.••• EP: I was r•ight there, you know. They had no tact. His gues·t was t he re and she tur~ned right around and she said, "You can't bring a .Japanese in a club like this. 11 WF! : Th i s was ••• Who sai d . that? EP : Terry . Terry, a .Japanese, she used ·to work in the office and ~Jhe told Bill Smith t hat. WR: Bil l Smit h was bri nging the ,Japanese guest? EP : Yes. WR: And who tol d Bill Smith he couldn ' t bring the .Japanese guest'? EP : Terry. TePry was the desk c l erk - y ou rememb e r Terr·y , her husband was the chef. WR~ That 's right . EP : Down at the old Cl ub . WR: Th a t 1 s when Ga y was managen . EP: Yes, when Gay was manager . You k n o w they had no ·tact 1 an d you know , t hey didn 1 t want ·to approve people . WR : ( L augh ) I had almost f'orgott;en about that inciden t . This is the f" i nst t.ime we have ever• p ut it on tape . (Lau ghter· ) EP : We no l ike to talk abou t it ,. I never·• 't~ alk <'bou t i t . I never tel l nobody. ace 27-11 WR: Well, its all right because ••••• EP : I don 1 t like because ••• • • WR: •• , •• so many people remember~ ·that, and the pol icy has chang ed over the years. EP~ That 1 s true. Well , Gay , all I k now is that he was kind and he tr.i.ed to be a good manager. He tried. He tried to please every- body . WR: W11o followed Gay? Do you rc,)member. EP: Mr , Cain. He cl!lly stayed ther"'e a little while. He was not good .~ he used tc1 go out and drink all 01.1r~ wine. WR: Cain did? EP: He used to go in the k.i.·tchen e arly in the morning. When I used to go t.a take ·the r eading f·an the cash register he 1 s i n the kitchen there drinking right foam the gallon. (L.aughter) WR: Beautiful • EP: I u s e d to c o me d o wn and t ell t h e g i rls , "He ' s dr" ink ing wine . 11 Earl y i n t h e mcrning he 1 s drin kin g wine. WR: Who f all o we d Cain'? Do you remember who followed Cain? Efl: Let me see •• • Mr•. McGill. WR: McGill - oh , Ted McGill . E P~ Ted McGill. He came t h ree times y ou k n ow. WR: That ' s right;. Ted was q u ite a popular manager. EP : He was. No fool arm.md with h im. He was good f rr t h e wor·k. WR: Smart. He knew how to run a club. EP: But he had p ili kia you know becau se this w2mn 1 t h i s wi fe . She had h u sban d u p t here . Th e detectives came a n d wen•e looki ng for h i m. WR: You mean he W;;Js playin g aroun d with someb ody e l se ' s wi f e . EP: Yes . WR: Oh , reall y ! ( Laughte 1~ ) E: P: The detectives came to me and s<.-> i d, nyou hav e 2'l M 1~ . McG i ll he l~e?" 1 I didn't know the score y o u k n o w e n d I sai d , "Yes 1 he s our manager.n " Wh Br e :i.. .::: he?" I s aid, "He wee::: in h i.c::: of'fice , T dot'l! t know wh e re he DCC 27-12 i.s now." So I went insi de looking) he was n' t inside his office. He mw:;t have got wind of it, you know. I never. see him a Ll day. I don r t know where t-.e disappeared . So Char .les took over. WR: Did he leave the Club then? EP: No, no, no. He came back . Then Charlie Amalu. You remember when Charlie Amalu was carrying all that money in a big suitcase, $9,000, He carne to u s, he bragged ·to LJS and he said, "You know how much is inside her.e'? $9 , 000." That ' s when the wife died . He was carrying $9,000. What did the FBI do. He went put it in his locker- and the FBI went sealed that locker- and they came back and they took the whole suitcase . She owed so much money in taxes . WR ; Oh, she owed the money . Mur i el , his wife. EP: She owed the money. WR: So he took the cash that was on hand. EP: Well, evidently. WR: And he put in the ••• •• EP : He put in the b ag • •••• WR: And he put it in a locker at the Outrigger- Canoe Club (Laug hten) EP: He was ccrnying it in a suitcase - and he came t o us and brag and said, 11Yow know how much is inside her~;;·e 11 I s aid, HHow mu ch Char:.lie?tt 11 $9 ,000" . He go J.i.ke that to me, a nd I saidJ 11 0h , you lucky." (Laughter) WR: So the FBI ••••• EP: They took it . WR : We ll, what happened to Char·~l i.e 11 Did they get after him at all? EP : No , he coL!ldn 1 t do nothing. She c ould. WR: She owed the money . EP: But he was the hLtsband, and natu r"'al.ly whatever· h e had they COlJld take. WR ~ Was Ted manager then or W<~ s this after Ted had J.eft? EP: No , Ted was still. manager. The n he wen t back , h e went back to California and then the Boar.d wrote for him to come back again. DCC 27-'13 WR: Yes, I remember. when he came the second and third times. EP: That' s what Charles said, and then he came back. WR : Who was manager berone he came back? Do you remember. EP: Mr. Cain . WR ~ Oh, Cain . EP: Then 1·ed came. He had to leave 1 you know. He !1ad pilikia wU:h the Family - with ·t he divorce ••• no give alimony. He had kids, too, you know. WR: Yes . Well Ted was there For a year or two, wasn't he? EP: Yes. He went a nd then came back ror another year. WR: Well, who succeeded Ted the second time? EP: Gay. It was Gay . WR: I remember. some oF the more recent managers, EP: Mr. Ross. WR: 011, yes . He was a good manager•. And .Jake TudCJrl. EP: Jake came after that. WR: Ross and Jake and ••• • • EP: But Cline never liked .Jake, you know. Because he make it just like the Navy. He u sed go put a ll those things up on the walk (Laughter) , • • and Cline used to get mad, he'd say, 110amn, that stufF going up ther.>r.?, he ·thinks this is the Navy?" He was puttin g nets, mske it look nice, you know. WR: Oh, yeah. I remember - wi.tl·1 sea shells. EP: With sea shells. Cline didn 1 t .like that . WR: •.• a n d the paintings, •• and the wishing well. EP: The wishing well ••• (Laughter) WR: Oh, I remember the wi s hing well, yeah • . ••• (Much laughter') EP: Those were the good old days, they really were . WR: I know, I remember. I had the unFor~tunate expe t~ ience o r having ·to give Jake his walking papers. We had a mee·ting of the Board, and .Jake was e good mai tr•e d 1 ••••• ace 27-14 EP: ••••• b u t not a managen. WR: No, he neally didn't know how to run the Club. I remember. I used to sit with Chanles end we used to go over the books, and J ake just didn't really know what was going on too well as far~ as oper~at i ons wePe concerned , but he was a good mai t;re d 1 -· he handled people well . EP: Yes, y es. Tha t kind O. K., you k now diningroam manager and r1e went over. to the Elks. WR: Oh, that's night. EP: He went over to the Elks a nd he used to give me a nd Ma.lia a job. When we pau Outrigger we would go to the Elks Clu b end every Sunday night they have a buffet and me and Malia used to collect the tickets a nd he'd pay us $10 . a night. WR: You mean, after you had wcr-ked at the Club you went over ·there and worked at the Elks Club? EP: Yeah. And then we'd eat- we'd get fr~ee eats- after all t hese people we serve the ticket, you know. WH : Now, after .Jake, wasn't it Ar·t: .Jarl ? EP: Yes , very short, ver~y, very short. WR : Before we got Ross. EP : Ross . WR: Then we got Ross, t hat was just before - when we were working on the move to the new Club. EP: Uh-uh , and then we got Mr, . Van Dc::x-:n. WR : Ross was a good manager. EP: And we liked him - I liked him~ I liked Mr . Ross . He was a busin ess man . WR : Yeah. He was a businessman. Tell me about Van Darn. He was manager when we moved to the new Club . EP : He 's all right, he's all right . But I don 1 t know - he was s-1-o-w •• •• • WR: He was very reserved as I remember . EP: Yeah , reserved, WR : Well, let 1 s see, then • • ••• DCC 27-15 EP: •• • •• he's helping Cec Heftel. WR : Oh, he is. EP: Yeah. He live r ight over her e. WR: I didn't realize that. EP: Yeah. He comes in - hr~ used trJ come every Wednesday and we go listen to Hawaiian music down by Elks Club . WR: Oh, for goodness sake. EP: Yeah . Every Wednesd<3y 1 ten o'clock . WR : Wasn't Freddie Mosher - d idn 't he run the Club for' a while. Fred Mosh er? EP: Just before I came to the Club . WR : Oh, that was before you came to the Club. EP: He was just l eaving ·then - t1e was jus t l eaving. I h ad a little time with h im a nd knew him and knew his Family. WR : Yes. Yes. Isla nd family. Well, you've seen a .l ong succession of managers, haven 1 t you? EP : Yes ••• and Jane , the secretary, ycu k n ow. w r~: 0. K. , let 1 s talk about some of the employees. Who was working in the Club when you fir·st j oined the Club'? EP : O.K. - what ' s that Filipino boy ' s name? Maxie was the head waiter. WR: Yes. Maxie. EP: The Fi lipino who was behind the bar - wbat 1 s his name? WR : Oh , 8 i l.l? EP : Bill, and then Helen, Momma Helen, and then •.•• • WR: Oh; then that good locking Fil ipino girl who worke d in the dining room - Aggie Sayers . EP: Oh, yes, yes, yes. I remember her • •• and then I forgot the cash iel"', now , because we used to go cash ierin g too, you know . Kind of re .lieve t hem, Malia and I, t h ey would send us upstairs to relieve the girl; ar if somebody sick, they call us and then we go. WR: You mention Malia. Malia Lut z? EP : Yes. Lutz. WR : Tell u s about Malia. DCC 27-16 EP: Oh, Malia was b eauti ful, beautiful , but then she was always f or getting . Before - s he was O. K. when I first work with her, she was alert - good. But then as the years came, you know s he was getting into her. age, she was only 80, She was only 80 when t he Club asked her to l eave . She was already missing a l at. a nd I wa s c overing up for her, and Charl es knew I was doing i t - you know, a lot or her work f'ol"l her~. Because, I rel t bad For het~, you k now . WR: I was President at that time. We had a problem. We knew she was s1etti119 along in years a nd was forgetful. EP: Irr·i table. Very , very ••• , , WR: Everybody loved he r ••• •• EP: I k now • • • • • WR: • • •• • she was a lovely person, and then we found out that we were actually violating the law becaLISe she was over 75 a n d she was s till working , so we had to ••• •• EP : Eighty . She wor•ked unti l she was 80 •••.. WR: So we had no a.l ternat.i ve. When it was pointed out to u s tha t she was 80, we had to l et her go. It was a very difFic ult step to t ake . EP: I know, yes. She was a nice lady. WR: The Fron t desk must have been a Fun experience - to see all the different peopl e • . •• • EP: Yeah. When Duke brought in Clark Gable and said, " I want you t o meet Eva.u Yo u k now he 1 d bring i n a lJ_ these people and he'd t a l k Hawaiian to me, you know a n d everybody look ar.ound, and he 1 d t e ll me in Ha waiian he 1 s goin g to the canoe shed and no tell anybody 1 that he s her.e 7 he ' .s going to cover• himself wi tt1 the canvas a n d he 's goi ng to s l eep al.l after.,noon. WR: { L augh) EP : I'd know he's i n the Club , you k now. WR: This was the Duke ! EP: The Duke . The n he 1 d come in with this big bag oF poi and he'd say, HNobody mix the poi like Eva." And I'd say, "O . K. , I go up stairs a n d mix the poi f'or you . " S o, I 1 d go u pstairs a nd mix the poi and keep it up there, a n d he 'd eat that f'or d inner. . WR: And he used t o h ave canned sal mon and onions wi th his poi . (La ugh) ace 27-17 EP: ••••• and he used Hawsi ian salt. (Laughter) WR: Tell me about some of the crther· chsrCloters that used to cOITIF.! in there. Panama? EP: P<:mama. Oh, Chick used to sit CJut on the hau terrace! whel~e they make the mails leis f·or the canoes. WR: Yeah. EP: They spend all their money on the haw terrace, you know those boys. Chick would make say~ $40. And Momma Helen'd get two pieces of $20. then she 'd get the tape and she v d tape it up and she 1 d say, HNow, here for you, put this in you1~ pocket, u She'd ·tc.'lke r.osre of all the boys . WR: How about Sally? Sa.l.I.y Hale. EP: Sally, too. Yeah. And, let me see. You know Curley? He still write to me, he's up in Snohomish, Washington. Way up Canadr:Jside. He lives with his son. His son is a school teacher and his son v s wi. fe is a school ·teacher·. WFl: Cur~ley Cornwell'? EP~ Cornwell. He takes care of the children, b ut they are all big now, He is still witt-1 his family, he live one apartmeni; and they live the other apartment . Every year• he writes me, and I write him back to tell him how everything i s down he,-·e, WR : Thst's wondet~ful. Steamboat. How about Steambost? EP~ Steamboat Mokuahi, his wife and the litt.le kids. You k now Steamboat, he • •. and, you know the Buck childi"'en, tl WR: You mean, right .in the Club? EP: Oh , yes. "Come her•e Mai"'k ,n nr never do nothing 1 n he said • "1 never do nothlng.n uc-;~J, get the broom, sweep all that outside. You t;oo Maile, you go get ' ern, too.n That 1 s the Buck 9i1~1.. WR: Yes, MElile and Mark. EP : Yes. (Laughter} "Go s weep 1 em out - oh, you good boy, you good gir.l.tt They come show me} you know .. You got to t:each them. And Timi (Guard) • You remember" Tirni'i' WR: Yeah. DCC 27--18 EP: "Auntie?" "Now wh at Timi ? 11 "I borro w a dollar f"rom you ." "Timi, the last time you borrow f"rom me, you know whe n you come in the Club, you go out back way, you go Moana Hotel side, you hide from me, b ut I see you over there. You don 1 t want to pay me , you go spend the money . You better· p ay me, you owe me 1,ow, I got I OU, IOU, IOU- look, three IOUs. Look Malia's IOU. Whe n you g oing to pay us?n He said, "My f".:rther going to pay you folks," The next day the father come down and pay us . (Laughter) I dan ' t. ca~e, you got to pay. WR: Sure, they got to pay. EP: You k now why? They want to go what-you-cal.l, Waikiki Theater. WR: Yes. How many of" the kids used to b u m money from you ? EP: Timi, the Buck bays, oh 1 b oy, I can't name them a ll now. WR: They paid you back? EP : Yeah . Every one. I make 'em s h ame . WR: (Laugh) EP : I would say, "Come here." They know what I am calling them f or . "When you going to pay me bac;k?H I don ' t talk loud sa o·t: her~ can hear . I say, 11 You folks get allow c:mce eve r" y week. " 11 This SatLirday we bring back money .11 They brin g i t back . WR: Tell me about Suns hine . EP: Oh, S unshine lived with u s . WR : He l ived with you? EP: Dh, yeah , with my brother. WR : I didn t t r ealiz e i.:l"l at . EP: Yes. We took cat~e of' him. Suns h i ne First came to our neighbor" a c ross the stree·t with s ome Spanish people. He was on wel'fare , so h e u sed t o s ee me outside - avery Tuesday was my d ay of'f - and I used t.o dig weeds in my f roni.: yard, you know, I LJsed to c l ean my yard. S o he would come over a nd he say, rroh, you go wor k and on your day o'ff you work a ll the time ." And I say , " Who goin g c l ean 'em. I got to do it. 11 So he said, nr 'll help you, with lawn mowe r .n Sa he u sed the .l awn mower, b u t he was sick, he had a sthma. WR: That ' s right, yes. EP: So I said , 11No, no you sick boy, tao much l a wn mower , 11 So he say, " 0 .I<. , I g o weed." So he h e lp we with weeds - got the weeds out. So on e time he went over• talk story with my bnoth e r . My brt'l·t: her DCC 27-19 have a little r.oom right outside , n ice room un de r~ the building with toilet and ever•ything. So !1e was telling how the Spanish people mean to him, he only eat one meal a day, so my bro·ther say , "Y OLI come our house. u WR: So that's h aw h e came ·to stay with you? EP: That's haw he came. WR : Wr1en did he go to work with the Outr~ i gger Canoe Club? EP: I we nt ask Duke . WR: Oh , you'r e responsible For getting him a j ob at the Club? EP: Yes. I went: ask Duke , I said, ttGive job Outrigger for our Ghana - he's just like family. He said , " What kind j ob he can do?u "Any kind, any kind , Duke, sweep, any kind . n He said, rtNo - n o sweep.u I don't know wh at kind he get. 1 f'inal.ly I h ear""d he was outside in the perking lot . WR : Oh, my , he ran the perking lot f'DI'"' yecr.s - he was a fixtur e. EP: " Sunshine, Th e Beach Boy". You know who took t hat song away from him, e h'? Andy. WR : Andy Cummings? EP: But he , he made the s on g. Sun shin e . WR ; That ' s right. I nemember that. Andy stole the song'? EP: Andy stole the song . WR: Well, what othen charact;ers can you think of who were members or WOC"ked there? EP: The Obermers, they were very wealthy peopl e . And then , er -- l WR: Godbol d~:' EP : No. He got big s h ares down Hawaiian Memoria l - he a n d Felix. WR: Oh, Bill Barl ow . EP: Yes . She was a very close f r~iend, becau se s!ce like Sunsh ine. See Sunshine used to gt? up there and cl.ean the house . . ••• WR: That ' s right, yeah . EP: •.•.• a nd she was o ne malu 1 y ou know. ace 27-20 WR: Yes. ~'lhat was her f' i t~st name, do you remember? EP: No. WR: Dh, I remember -Rosalie. EP: I used t o go up there. Barlow used to go hospital - he asked me to go up t here stay with h er. An d she 'd cal l dawn Aoki 's stare and order one case of whiskey. So he s aid , "Eva , you go call Aoki an the side end you tell them - my orders , don't bring no ma~e liquor ." I said, "I can't do t hat. You cell them f rom hospital." You see he had s urgery. WR ~ Yes, I remember. h e went to the hosp.i tal to have stJrgery. EP: He was very good ·to me. Very good to me. I took care c:Jf her t ao, you see, me and Sunshine . Wr~: You a nd Sunshin e. EP: Sunshine cleaned the yard , and I helped in the house. That extra money for. us, you know. WR: How about Richard? EP : Richard! . • • t hat Christmas when he went dancing with t he candle! WR: Yep. EP: ••• •• on the porch? (Laugl1ter ) . We went to see h irn - he told Minnie a nd me, "Come see me down the Glades." WR : Oh, that' s righ t, he performed at the Glades . EP: Minnie say we going down by We Fat, and I say, 11 Wh ere Minnie? I don't go down those p l aces." I said 1 HAll my li f e I never• go down t here . We went. Chop Suey, but that 1 s a ll." And she said , "No, we go see Richsrd dance." So Richard bought t i cket fa.~ u s and we went inside t h e re For 1 oak . Oh, its a beauti rul place! WR: (La u gh) EP: Hey, what's that Hawaiian g u y ' s name? WR: I can 't remember. EP: Oh, beautiful. I said, "Minnie look up." Minnie wanted to go J.ua, I sc.~ id, "Minnie, which is the l adies 1 and which is the men?" I said, "You'd better not go in the wr ong one, you k n o w. " (Laugh J WR: Wh at ' s Minnie's last n ame? EP: Wren . DCC 27-21 WR ~ Oh, yeah. EP: She 1 s in t he hospital , you know. WR: Oh, s he is? EP : Yes. Three months. WR: Oh, that ' s too bad. EP: Broke her hip. I call her every time s he's down Kailua. WR: She wcr~ked at the Club a 1 ong time . EP: I know. I hear the girl s don't even call her to see how s he is. WR: She c ame in the Cl ub a c ouple oF months ago. She was on c rutches . EP~ Yes. WR : I thought she was getting along better. EP: No had to go back hospital, cut up again. WR: Oh, I am sorry to hear 'that. EP: I talk to her •.• I call her a U the time . WR: Oh , gee, next ·time give 1181"' my love will you? EP: I will. WR: I am very Fond oF Mi nnie. EP: Me , t o o . I love h e r because we were very close. WR : Was Char-les Hee the oFf .ice manag&lr. when you s t arted? EP: Yes . WR: He was oFfice manager. all the years you we re there , wasn't he? EP: All the years . He' s been over here, too. WR: Yeah. He only retired a couple or years ago. EP: I know . He came to the employees• ••. ever y year we have that em ployees' Christmas pcrty a nd he invite me, and he come. He was ther·e t his year.. We we nt to the Ilikai - nice party. WR : I l iked Charl es. EP : Yeah. ace 27·-22 WR: I thin k everybody like d Charles. EP : Yes. He was devoted t o the Club, you know . WR: Oh, yes . I know, ·they asked me to make a little speech at his neti~ement pcnty , and I e n j oyed that ve ry much. EP: He looks good. You know the wife died. WR : I didnrt know that. EP: Oh, yeah - two years ago. WR: That was after he r~etired'? EP: Yes • •• •• WR: Oh, that 1 s too bad . EP : She had diabetes, you know . So, it took him man y years to come back to himself - r1e says he plays tennis and he go dancing. He loved dancing, y ou know, becau se he a nd his wife both took from Arthur Murn ay • WR: That's night. EP: He took fr~om Anthun Murway. WR : He d eserves t he best . EP : He takes cane of his gnandchildnen . They live in Addie's house. Hebuilt upstains and he lives upstairs and his son lives down stains with the childr,en . I say, "Good Charles you did that, at l east you got the family home." WR : Do y ou even see Anzai'? EP: No . But Charles see Anzai every day, they go play tenn is togetr1 Hr. WR : Oh 1 they do'? EP: Um-um . He 1 s so busy with his grandchildren . He take t he grand c hildren to school, Charles sai d . Chsnles t2lke the grandchildr-en to school, g o pick 1 em up the same time - the two of ·t hem. WR: Was Anzai at the Clu b when you went t o wa-k there'? EP: Wh at's the o t hen f e lls - t he one v1ent over. to the Royal'? 1 f'orget h is n ame . WR: Oh , my! I can 1 t remember his name e ither. EP: And 1 then Anzai came • . . I still s ee the one over at. the Royal once DCC 27-23 in a while when somebody takes me there. WR: He went ·to the f~oyc:!l after you j ained the Club? EP~ Yeah, yeah. WR: Then Anzai came? EP: Then Anzai came. WR: He had over 20 ye ara when he r:etir~ed. EP~ Yes. Yes. Nice fellow, nice fellow. WR: Oh, what was the other bartender ••• the Filipino? EP: Tony. Tany 1 s still here . WR! No, no, the other one, nat Tony. EP~ Oh, yeah~ er • •.• • Wr-i : Pete! EP: ••• •• Pete. WR: Do you e v er. see Pete? EP: He used to come to our employees' , , • You know I u sr;1d to see him e v e r.y Chrisi:mas at t;he employees ' party, but t his year he didn't come. WR: He was lots of" f'un ·- played the banjo, •• , . EP: Mandolin . WR: Mandolin. EP: He could play. He takes care or his grendchildren, too, while the daughter works . That whet Ire told me. WR : You know, we had a succession of" wonderful. employees at the Club. EP: Yes. I liked everybody oven the r e, and they liked me 1 t:oo. I loved Elsi e , I liked Helen, and you know that ••• I don 1 t know if she was r:~erman, R~J ss isn or" whst - Rose was her name . WR: Yes, I remember Rose. EP: Irish, I think she was - an Irish gir.l. WR: We had s ome intenesting secre·taries ther.e , too. occ 27--24 EP: Yeah. Jeannie telephones me every once in a while. She lives at the Ilika.i - not Ilikai - but the corner one across frrom Ilikc:d. WR: I know which one you mean. EP: I got the address, they don't have a name but they got just an address. She keeps herse.l. f busy -· she does volunteer~ wonk. That's what she says. WR: You mentioned some of the oldtimers - some of the guests that came in to trm Club. YoLJ met Clark Gable? Red Skelton. EP~ Clark Gsble and Red Skelton, and D<=>vid Niven. I like him. When he come he br~ing us one big box of candy for· the girls at the desk. WR: Really. He was a gentleman. EP: Yes. I liked him. WR: What o·ther. movie stars do you nememben? EP~ Tony Mar·tin. One day I said to ·the girls, nyou like to hear me call Tony 1 s name?n They s6id, ttAh, you no c:s.ll hirn." I said , "TONY MARTINH (Laugh) And he hear:d my vai ce and came O(Jt and said, '*Somebody c:al.ling me?" I said, HI was calling you." He said, "Pleased to meet you." {Lsu ghte !~ ) It was fun, you kncJw. WR: I imagine also that you saw a lot of r•ascal.s around that Club. EP: Yes, Pat Wyman, Pat O'Connor and Billy Heilbron. WR : Billy Heilbron'i' EP: And you k now - remember .Joe, the watchman? WR: Yep. Oh , yeah. EP : These bays used to go upstairs and wee -wee on him. {Laughter) •.• you know wh at he tell me, "The sons or bii~ch es, ycJu know tha ·t half Hawaiian boy and the other boys, you know their~ names." I said, "I don't know which ones you ar~e talking about, Joe.n ttYeah, you know, the boy come in the afternoon lEta , he come swim.n HHow I know, .Joe , when I am gone home. I don 1 t know who ·t:hey <-Jre. rr I know who they ar·e. Wfi: I remembe1~ Pat Wyman was • ...• EP: Ooh, he was too much! I saw him one day recently, he came back you know, on vacation, I ·think. WR: Yeah. In f'act, he's here now. EP: Oh, he r s here now? Oh . I di.c:ln 1 t go to the Club this y ear yet, DCC 27-25 so I said, "Pat, you remember wh at you guys used to do?" "Yes," he said. Good boy now. WR: Now he's a distinguished businessman - successrul business man . EP: That's why he come back and forth. WR : Yeah. Tell me abou t Billy Heilbron . EP: Billy, paw wi·th the wife, too, you know. WR: Yes . Yes, that 1 s too bad, I 1 iked her very muc h. EP: I liked Billy. WR: His locker 's right next to mine in the Locker Room . I am going to ask you some questions now i3bout your recollections of Waikiki Beach, as a youngster. EP: Well, I d i d a lot of surring. WR= You did? EP: Yes. My br~oth ers used t;o su1~f, and then .Joe Akana - he used ttJ take me out, that' s how :r learned to surf . He wou l d push me on small wave firs t and then show me how to catch the big waves. WR: Did you ever know rny aunt? My almt; lJsed to be quite a surfer, Josephine Paris , Josephine Pratt. EP: Dh, yes. Oh, she was a good surfer. WR: She was a c h ampion sun fer , she used to surf' with Duke. EP: Dh, yes. They took her pic·tune, eh, and put i n the Club, eh? WR: Wel.l, I dc.m't .• • she had a trophy in there f'or a long time, maybe her pictur·e is the re , I thin k it pr•obebly is. EP: Yes, yes. I saw with Joseplli ne Hopkins, you know. WR: That's r ight. My a~m t, Josephi ne Pratt was the f'ir•st woman champ ion, and thet> Josephine Hopkins was the second. They had the trophy and they bo·th had theit- names on the trophy. EP: Right ) and Lillie Bowmer May (Mackenzie) . I used to go to school with Lillie. WR: Oh, YOLl did . EP: Yes, at Liliuokalani - I only wen t there a short time. From Weikiki to ther' e, I only went the:~e 9hor·t ·time , then I went Kameharneha. DCC 27-26 WR: Well, you went; to school with so many of' the people I know. EP~ I can tell you some who were at Kamehamerm . •. ell those half-white girls 1 you know 1 Har•riet Beamer~ she was there; the one who owned the Willows - McGuire •• , •• WR: Kathleen. EP: Kathleen . They were ell there the same time I went . Plenty, plenty - all' hepa-haole girls, no more Korean or any ather kind - the same way with the Priory. It; wss only haps-haole girls and hsole girls, to day ·they ell Japanese. WR: Yes, that's true. EP: You see we had free ••• Momma was pul-e Hawaiian. If you pune Hawaiian, • • You see Queen Emma left this legacy or something that they paid for our schooling . WR: I see, at the Priory. EP: It came under that - whatever - so my sisters went to the Priory and graduated ·· two sisters and me -- cmd Eva. WR: She' s a good .looking girl. How old i s Eva now'? EP: S he 1 11 be six ty- s ix t he 30th of March. WR : My goodness, .it doesn 1 t seem possible. EP: Yes. She's a good, good g.inJ.. She cook a ll my meal s, put 'em in .little containers, bring 'em u p ~ put 'em inside the f reezer . WR: Who lived along where the Outrigger .is now? Wer•e there any homes al ong t h at area? EP: Castle. WR: That ' s where the E.l k • s Club is now - r i ght next door ..• • . EP: •. , • • an cL Mcinerny - where the ,Japanese t1 otel • . ••• WR: The Kaimana Hotel. EPr. The Kaimana Hotel, yes, that was Mclnerny 1 s. WR e Then Cunha was along there tao'? EP: Cunha was down by the col~n e r . WR: Oh , yeah . EP~ As soon as you come up, then Or• . Murr~ ay - he married a Cunha g i rl. Tha t u sed t o be our•· doctcJr; 01...11~ Family doctor. The n t he Hc1lm~'ls came. DCC 27-27 WR: Chris Holmes. EP: Chris Holmes. WR: Wher e the Queen 1 s SurF used to be. EP: Righ·t. Then they start digging LIP - they made a nice swimming pool aver there. They tried to stop everybody, but they couldn 1 t - we used to go over there to swim. WR: Now, where the old Club was .located - were there any homes around that area by the old Club? Of course , there was the Steiner house . EP: Oh, the old Club. O.K., the Uluniu ••••• WR: Yes, the Ulu Niu - was there a house there? Was that a home? EP: Yes. WR~ Who lived there? EP ~ I don 1 t know who lived ·there ~· the Wi 1 ders, I think. WR~ Oh, Wilder lived •••• • E:P: Fur· thew dcJwn, yeah? WR: Furt:her down by the Royal. EP: Oh! O.K. All inside there wher·e the Royal Hawaiian Hotel - over there, that beach over ther·e, that 1 s where Maria Pi ik o i and Ev21 King , you know? WR: Yes, Eva King. EP: • • ••• e ll live over there , an d David Atkins and Maria Pi i koi. WR ~ In those days there was no wall - was there a beauti fu.i beach -t;here? EP: ,Just beach. And Li.ko Vida a nd them • •••• WR~ Yes, Li.ko. Like's sti.ll alive . EP : Yeah. 1 meet hirn once in a whi.le. WR: I was at a football game the othel~ day witl1 Warren Height and he and his wiFe were going to sae Likr1 that evening. EP: Liko looks good, only arle not we11. And Beck •.. d:i.d you know Alec Beck? WF!: Ot'1 • very well. DCC 27-~28 EP: I still see him because he and my brothel~ were good f'r~iends because they were old Shriners. Were yoLi a Shriner'? WR: No 1 I am not. I nevcO!r was. Eva, we're coming to the end of the tape -so we'll have to bring our interview to a close. We've covered a .lot of territory. This has been a wonderful interview for me •••• • EP: If you need some mor~e of' things to tell •.•• • WR~ Well, I tell you what, letfs call it pau for now ••••• EP: Right. Yes. WR: And if anything more • •••• EP: And if something come up, you come anytime. WR: Eva, thank ymJ ver•y much for a wonderful interview. This has been t~~emendous Fun for me. Thank you very much.