Irwin-Hentschel up for Calif. LG
THE name of Noel Irwin-Hentschel hasn't been mentioned much in Honolulu papers of late, but she certainly made her mark here in the past. When she was 24, she took her $5,000 savings and started a travel company called American Tours International at the L.A. airport. She went on to become the wife of Gordon Hentschel, first manager of the Hyatt Regency Waikiki, and raise six kids. That didn't stop her from engaging in a business that in the past 20 years has made her a multimillionaire, while at the same time starting up the Noel Foundation to benefit organizations such as the U.N. Development Fund for Women. In 1990, she organized a black-tie fund-raiser for Unifem at the United Nations, attended by then British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and former Pakistan P.M. Benazir Bhutto, and emceed by Barbara Walters. I bring all this up because Noel has now surprised a lot of California politicos by jumping into the GOP primary for lieutenant governor of that state, and is being given a good chance of pulling it off.
FORMER Maui resident Sharalyn Tenorio now lives in Boise, Idaho, but recently traveled to Seattle to see her favorite group, U2. As it happened, she was prepared when she bumped into the group's lead singer, Bono, at her hotel and gave him her Hapa album containing the U2 hit, "Pride in the Name of Love." Bono noticed that one of the Hapa members is named Barry Flanagan and the Dubliner quipped, "It's gotta be good." When Flanagan got word that Tenorio had given away her only copy of the CD, he sent her two more with a note reading, "One set for you, one set for the next time this happens." ...
Another Barry, another Bono
THREE members of the House of Representatives not in Palm Springs for the funeral of Sonny Bono were all at a dinner table at the Outrigger Canoe Club that night. Local Reps. Patsy Mink and Neil Abercrombie were on hand to welcome California Rep. Ana Eschoo, winding up an isle respite while the House of Representatives is shut down for the holidays. All were guests of Dick and Mary Alice Barry, friends and former neighbors of Eschoo in Atherton, Calif. The Barrys have taken up residence in Hawaii as well as in S.F. ... Speaking of Barry, the former chairman of the board of Georgetown University greeted old buddy Lawrence "Black Bart" McGivney at the airport with a group of Polynesian dancers. McGivney was all smiles and wife Nancy was also impressed, asking, "Do they do this for all the planes?" ...
Centennial to remember
PEPSI is going to have to sell a lot of soda pop to pay for the huge Big Island party to mark the 100th anniversary of Pepsi-Cola being. It'll be a small first step, but the Kohala hotels where the 5,000 Pepsi execs attending will be staying, have dumped Coke for all of next week, and will make Pepsi available exclusively. How to entertain all these people for a week? Well, Pepsi hired the Rolling Stones for starters, performing privately for the Pepsi People on Jan. 21 on a stage under a tent that's two football fields long. Total cost for tent and stage is a reputed $3 million. How much are the Stones making? Don't even ask! Also performing at the weeklong Waikoloa Pepsi affair will be the "Lord of the Dance" troupe. If that's not enough entertainment, they're closing with Ray Charles and the Honolulu Symphony! Even the Spice Girls are rumored to be coming to Spice things up a bit. Kohala should be the entertainment capital of the world next week ...
Contact Dave by e-mail: donnelly@kestrok.com.