Hawaii
SUNDAY is both Father's Day and Grandfather's Day for Steven and Carol Ai of City Mill. The two are screwing up their courage and hammering out an awl-in-fun 100th Anniversary party on Saturday to honor their grandfather, Chung Kun "C.K." Ai, who founded City Mill in Chinatown in 1899, and their father, who ran the home improvement center from 1955 to 1992. And while massive new stores worm their way into the market, City Mill remains the first spot many oldtimers think of when looking for household items ... City Mill centennial
DON'T call Mary Bitterman an "ex-isle resident." I did that recently and got a letter from her saying, "I am and will always be a resident of Hawaii." She's the president of KQED in San Francisco and spends the bulk of her time there, but her husband Jeff remains here at UH and "our dearest friends are in Hawaii." She recalls a conversation with Tommy Trask when she was mulling the offer from KQED. He advised her, "Just tell them you're working off island." ...
RACING fan Ray Sweeney (called "Race Weenie" by pals) was watching Mauricio Gugelmin drive a Mercedes racing vehicle at more than 200 miles an hour at the Barber's Point Naval Air Strip, which will be the site of Hawaiian Super Prix I $10 million invitational in November. He was bemoaning the fact that he got a ticket for driving without a seat belt, a rarity for one who's been buckling up since he first got behind a wheel in 1955. Honolulu Ford's Eddie
O'Toole deadpanned he had the perfect excuse Sweeney should have told the cop -- he couldn't find the extender that would enable to seat belt to fit around his ample girth. Sweeney was unamused ...
Morley the merrier
MY London pal Sheridan Morley was ecstatic about the rave review this week in the New York Times of "If Love Were All," a reworking of his "Noel & Gertie" revue. Starring Twiggy, it's playing through the summer and perhaps into the winter at the Lortel in Greenwich Village. Sherry and wife Ruth Leon attended the wedding of one of her godchildren over the weekend, and wouldn't you know they're honeymooning in Hawaii. Greg and Aimi Adams are at the Hilton Hawaiian Village before moving on to Kaanapali. Sherry writes, "Still hoping to get to Hawaii for millennium celebrations. If the world is going to end, I'd rather be there than here." ...TODAY is Bloomsday, and if you're a fan of James Joyce you'll know that the action in "Ulysses" took place on June 16. Irish saloons in San Francisco stage Bloomsday parties and bring in actors and celebrated Irish folks to read from the book, a tradition that hasn't reached Hawaii as yet ... Dr. Jack Scaff was amused to read in the HECO Consumer Line that if one comes in contact with a brown tree snake that's found its way into Hawaii, "contain the snake by hitting it with a heavy object behind the head." Contain? Scaff muses they might add we could "apprehend cockroaches by squashing them." ...
Two types of swingers
THOSE gorgeous Tahitians you may have seen strolling around Waikiki are part of promoter Tom Moffatt's "Tahiti Spectacular" taking place Friday at 7:30 p.m. at the Waikiki Shell ...Or if you like the old-fashioned type of swing, Moffatt will have that in a Fourth of July dance celebration on board the USS Missouri. Featured will be Sgt. Willie Barton and the Company B Boogie Woogie Band ...
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.