Hawaii
YOU'LL pardon Jane Hopkins if Elvis' "All Shook Up" is her new favorite song. She was one of those unlucky souls from Hawaii who was in Taiwan when the big 7.6 earthquake hit, and was on the top floor of a hotel, Sam shakes and bakes
which fortunately remained standing. Hopkins was in town on behalf of Mutual Publishing, checking out the proofs on two new books by Chef Sam Choy. After the quake, the printers called to say everything was fine except they had no electricity, and could they bring the proofs to the hotel for her to check. Still shaking, Hopkins was happy not to have to go anywhere, though she's taking issue with the title of one of Sam's books: "Cooking Doesn't Get Any Easier Than This." ...
LONGTIME food and beverage man, restaurateur and all around wine connoisseur Jean-Pierre Germain was puzzled when he began to get a series of phone calls commiserating with him on his failed attempt to land the Aloha Stadium Swap Meet contract. "What are you talking about?" Germain would ask in his patented Gallic manner. He's into the cuisine and wines of his beloved Burgundy, not aloha shirts and swap meet trinkets. Turns out that there are two Jean-Pierre Germains living in Honolulu, but the other one isn't French. J.P. is planning to depart soon to become food and beverage director of the new Hotel Tahiti in Papeete, the hotel formerly owned by Spence Weaver and now run by Outrigger Hotels. He's hoping his namesake doesn't move to Tahiti to open a swap meet ...
Pit stop
PERHAPS the most famous Indianapolis 500 race car driver of all time, Mario Andretti, is revving into town and will appear at a reception hosted by the Hawaiian Super Prix people at Duke's Restaurant on Tuesday evening. He'll also make a pit stop at Liberty House Ala Moana on Oct. 1 from 3 to 5 p.m. to help promote the Grand Prix event. As official spokesman for the November race, Mario will sign autographs with each purchase of Super Prix merchandise ...CURRENTLY in town and staying at the Kahala Mandarin is noted hotel consultant Charles A. Bell. The place will look somewhat familiar and somewhat different to him, as Bell was working with Hilton International when the property was in its planning and infancy stages back in the '60s, and became a close friend of the property's most famous general manager, Bob Burns, when it was known as the Kahala Hilton ...
REAL estate appraiser Richard Hardy of Hartz Appraisals had his fax go out on him, so he trekked off to one of those new office outlets and bought a new one. He couldn't get it to work properly, and after trying to plow through the two-inch thick manual, called the store for assistance. They told him to call their tech support specialist and gave him the number. He dialed it and got the Psychic Hotline. Your call -- an accident or not? ...
From burgers to crab cakes
THE Cheeseburger in Paradise folks say all of the stars of "Baywatch Hawaii" are expected there tomorrow from 4 to 7 p.m. for a party to celebrate the airing on KHON-TV of the first episode of the show on a big screen ... And Alan Wong prepared pineapple martinis and pineapple crab cakes for the grand opening of his Pineapple Room at Liberty House. Emceeing were a couple of self-proclaimed pineapples, Michael W. Perry and Larry Price, who are soon moving their KSSK studios to -- where else? -- Dole Cannery ...
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: ddonnelly@starbulletin.com