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Wood Craft
Ben Wood
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Moana painting brings back fond memories for Penny Kelii
Penny Kelii, who enjoyed working at the Moana before moving to the Big Island, sends word that she liked the story about the hotel and the photo of a painting of the resort that ran with it in Wood Craft.
The large painting by
Carter Black showed what the hotel, with its pier, looked like in the early 1900s. The painting is in the hotel's Beachhouse restaurant. Hawaiiana expert Penny says the Moana was the favorite hotel of her parents,
James and
Mary Pitman. They told her that during Prohibition, 1920-33, they'd call a man who lived on Diamond Head to bring okole hao to them at the hotel. They'd hide it under the table as they dined and ordered glasses of ice. She said her dad told her It cost "a buck fifty" to stay at the hotel back then and it was "two bucks to stay overnight and enjoy the buffet." She heard them tell friends how they used to "skinny dip" off the Moana pier at night. No doubt the potent okole hao had something to do with that ...
MOVING ON: Kon Tiki performed at the grand opening of Hawaiian Tropic Zone in Planet Hollywood's Miracle Mile Shops in Vegas Jan. 26. Celebs catching the sounds included Kevin Dillon and Kevin Connolly from "Entourage," Lauren Conrad and Audrina Patridge from "The Hills," pro football star Reggie Bush, actor Mario Lopez and Carmen Electra. Hawaii folks there were Arlene Iwamoto, Phyllis Kihara, Myra Rabanal and Lee Hacohen ...
Betty Loo and jazzy pals play at kawaiahao
Kawaiahao Church is inviting people to attend a free "Lenten Celebration and All that Jazz" with
Betty Loo Taylor and friends each Wednesday at noon through March 19 in the church sanctuary. Groovy pianist Betty Loo has some of Hawaii's top jazzmen with her in Wednesday's opener.
Jimmy Borges will sing, backed by
Gabe Baltazar on sax, bassist
Steve Jones and drummer
Sonny Froman ...
...Honolulu's Shannon Winpenny spent the last 10 years performing and studying with some of Chicago's leading improv teachers and groups. She is back home and will offer eight-week improv classes starting Feb. 20 at 1121 Nuuanu. Cost is $175. To sign up, call 384-3392 before Friday ... Mauna Lani Resort has been named one of the world's top earth-friendly getaways by Conde Nast Traveler magazine ...
Ben Wood, who sold the Star-Bulletin in the streets of downtown Honolulu during World War II, writes of people, places and things in our Hawaii. E-mail him at
bwood@starbulletin.com