By Kathryn Bender, Star-Bulletin
Former Willows Restuarant on Hausten Street was sold
to First Hawaiian Bank at an auction on July 31, 1996.

Weinberg Estate
buys Willows site

The estate is studying
options for the parcel, home to
the famous restaurant
from 1944 to 1993

By Jerry Tune
Star-Bulletin

The Estate of Harry S. Weinberg has bought the former Willows restaurant property on Hausten Street in Moiliili from a subsidiary of First Hawaiian Bank.

The estate, part of the charitable Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation Inc., purchased the property from Real Estate Delivery Inc., the bank's subsidiary.

The deal closed escrow today and the sale price was not disclosed.

The Weinberg Foundation is studying several options for the site, said Bill Dornbush of Dornbush & Co., real estate broker for the estate. Pacific Acquisitions Ltd. served as the seller's marketing agent.

The Willows restaurant, opened in 1944, became one of the favorite places for diners looking for a Hawaiian ambience. The Polynesian-style restaurant had thatched roofs, fish ponds, strolling minstrels, and waiters with leis.

Randy Lee purchased the restaurant in 1980 from Emma A. Hausten and he closed the Willows in July 1993 in the face of mounting debts and dwindling numbers of customers.

First Hawaiian Bank became the owner of the 49,500-square-foot property March 7, 1996, when a federal bankruptcy judge approved a bank bid of $3.6 million, the only bid in a foreclosure auction the previous month.

City housing officials had wanted the site for an elderly housing project but the City Council rejected the idea.

The Willows site has a history going back to the 1800s when descendants of King Kamehameha owned the property, Dornbush said. The Hausten family purchased the property in the 1920s and continued the tradition of Hawaiian luaus.

The restaurant was named after the willow trees planted by Mrs. Hausten.