Whatever Happened...

An update on past news

Wednesday, November 20, 1996

Old scale weighs in
at Finance Factors

What ever happened to the scale that used to be at First Hawaiian Bank's main branch?

The popular 1930s scale is currently in the lobby of Finance Factors' main office at 1164 Bishop St.

Wendell Pang, president and chief executive officer of Finance Factors, acquired the scale several years ago as a "throw-in" on a business deal with First Hawaiian Bank.

Pang and Walter Dods, First Hawaiian's chairman and chief executive officer, had just closed a deal for the bank to purchase the old Finance Factors building on King and Alakea streets.

"We shook hands on the sale price and he asked me if there was anything else," Pang recalled. "I told him I wanted the scale."

Pang went to the bank every day for 20 years to weigh himself on the scale.

Now, it's in his office building lobby.

First Hawaiian, meanwhile, is replacing the old scale with a high-tech model that digitally registers accurate weight measurement to the ounce.

"When we decided to build First Hawaiian Center, I said the new main branch would have a scale surprise, and we not only have the most reliable scale in Honolulu, but the most technologically advanced in the United States," Dods said.