The second we called Hirota Painting Co. to ask about the toy truck parked incongruously atop the pole outside their shop, the woman who answered said, "You can't have it! We're keeping it!" Don’t toy with this
Kalihi ‘landmark’
She went on to say that people keep asking for it. And why not? It's been a Kalihi fixture since at least the 1940s, and probably before. President Herbert Hirota, whose father bought the property in the late 1960s, says "it was old even then."
The area, the cusp stretch of Kamehameha Highway just before it changes its name to Dillingham Boulevard, and across the street from the Oahu Community Correctional Center, has generally been known as an enclave of auto workers; the famously named Dang's Bangs was next door to Hirota.
"The shop has changed hands so many times since the 1930s that we're not sure who put it up there originally," said Hirota. "I can tell by looking at it that it's an antique, though."
In the next month, the Hirota Painting Co. building is to be torn down, and a newer, grander Hirota Painting Co. building will rise in its stead. The only original part to be retained will be -- you guessed it -- the toy truck.
"I told the architect, you gotta reinstall this truck," said Hirota. "It's a landmark!"
Burl Burlingame, Star-Bulletin