TODAY Bob Dole is reaching for the Big Enchilada, but back in 1960 he was just getting his feet wet in elective politics in Kansas. At that time the "kaffeeklatsch" (or coffee klatch) was a popular way homemakers and others found to get together over a pot of java and usually hear a pitch for a particular candidate. One group of Kansas women got the bright idea to hold a different kind of gathering for Dole - a pineapple klatch, if you will. They wrote the Dole Food Co. in Honolulu where president Herb Cornuelle and public relations head Dave Eyre thought it was a good idea, particularly if it resulted in some favorable attention to their product. So Eyre sent over cases of Dole pineapple juice and other promotional materials for the women to serve at the gatherings. Today, of course, Dole would have a hard time restaging such a folksy get-together, since Dole no longer makes pineapple juice in the U.S. and if Bob Dole wanted to serve any he'd have to get it from Thailand or the Philippines where labor is cheap. ("Scratch that klatch, Maude!") ...IT'S A FASCINATING idea: creating a galleria shopping complex as part of the Federal Post Office complex on Queen Street downtown. Which leads me to the other question about downtown development: If C. Brewer moves its headquarters to Hilo, is there any way to preserve that wonderful historic C. Brewer Building at Queen and Fort Street Mall? A story on the move didn't address the issue.
IN a Bankoh TV commercial, "Harry and Myra" are making laulau, and at the end of the spot three of Honolulu's best known chefs, Alan Wong, Roy Yamaguchi and Sam Choy are sitting there eating them with gusto. (And chopsticks.) In something of a role-reversal, when I had dinner at Sam Choy's recently, who should be waiting for a table at the door but Ben and Gloria Tamashiro, the diminutive couple who play "Harry and Myra." I didn't see if they ordered laulau.
NOT everyone in town for Pete Newell's "Big Man's Camp" of NBA'ers is all that big. Just ask David Nagaishi of Nick's Fishmarket who escorted both the Seattle Supersonics' George Karl and Larry Brown of the Indiana Pacers to their separate tables. Of course they're both coaches! ... And Nicholas Nickolas looked like a sports bar the other night when former NBA great Wayne Embry, now an exec with the Cleveland Cavaliers, was in with two top draft picks for dinner. Also, floor captain Al Souza III and his dad, Al Jr., picked up a trophy for low gross honors in the Father/Son golf tourney at Waialae. And the Nick Nick paddling team took third place in the Mike Meyer Memorial Canoe Race ...
WHAT to take out for dinner while visiting New York? What could be more perfect than Ham, thought UH music Professor Laurence Paxton. That would be Hae-Young Ham, wife of the Honolulu Symphony's new music director Sam Wong, who was in Germany. Paxton, who's directed and acted in many local musical productions, took in "Salome" with Maria Ewing at the New York Philharmonic, where Hae-Young is a member of the violin section ...
