Bay area visit
well stagedIT seemed fitting that I checked out of the Sheraton Palace Hotel in San Francisco on Kamehameha Day. That, after all, is where King Kalakaua died, having had, one guesses, a merrier time than I. President Warren Harding also died at the Palace, but neither death seems to have hurt business. What a lovely final memory to carry away -- opening night of "Riverdance" at the Golden Gate Theater. The fabulous footwork of young Michael Patrick Gallagher made one forget all about original "Riverdance" star Michael Flatley. Oddly, my vacation began with the closing night of the drama "Gross Indecencies: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde" and ended with the opening of "Riverdance." That's called planning! ...
THE rains that had plagued the Bay area for the past six months had played themselves out and the weather for the most part during my visit was fine. I spent a couple of days in the wine country where I lunched with Seamus McManus at Meadowood, the delightful (and pricey) resort in Napa where the former Kahala Mandarin topper now holds forth. He was preparing for the huge Napa Valley Wine Auction at his resort shortly after my visit -- some 30 private jets of Fat Cats were expected holding well-heeled bidders ...
WE stopped at Brix, a first class Napa Valley eatery where an old pal, Billy Wolter, runs the bar operation and purchases the wine. The head chef there, Todd Kawachi, is from Roy's in Kahana, Maui. And just up the road at the old Christian Brothers Winery is Dick Bradley, who opened Sunset Grill and Compadres here. All together: "Small World" ...
Desert storming
MY friend Dick Barry and I flew down to Palm Springs for a couple of days and met up with Dick "Murph" Main, former Smirnoff manager in Hawaii and now retired at La Quinta where he golfs six days a week and is Smirnoff-free. We met at a sports bar, The Beer Hunter, not far from the the dessert shop, Humphrey Yogart, a mother-to-be shop called The Stork Exchange, an upscale pet shop, Reigning Cats and Dogs, and an upstairs hair styling salon called A Cut Above. Cute, those Palm Springs folks ... As we walked into Melvyns, a hot spot where Gene Sontag was the host before relocating to Las Vegas, who should stroll in at the same moment but Pete Sansavero, former Merrill Lynch honcho both in Hawaii and S.F. Among the homes he owns is one in Palm Springs and Barry reminded him he tried to buy his condo on Waikiki's Gold Coast a few years back ...WHILE everyone knows night games are just too darned cold to attend at Candlestick Park, I did manage to get to one game and as luck would have it, the game was the Giants's first defeat after 11 victories in a row. After the game we repaired to Seal's Cove where a typical Giants fan asked, quite sincerely, "What's wrong with the Giants?" Talk about "Great Expectations"! ...
Angela's Ash heap
STILL holding forth behind the plank at Seal's Cove at Pier 33 is old pal Michael McCourt. Not only does his brother Frank have a two-year best-selling book in "Angela's Ashes," but a second brother, Malachy, has a new book out called "A Monk Swimming." The title comes from Catholic teachings the irreverent McCourts remember from their childhood in Limerick: "Blessed art thou, a monk swimmin' " ... I invariably have a ball when I visit the Bay area, but just as surely am always ready to get back home. We'll return to Hawaii doings on Monday ...
Dave Donnelly has been writing on happenings
in Hawaii for the Star-Bulletin since 1968.
His columns run Monday through Friday.Contact Dave by e-mail: donnelly@kestrok.com.