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Hawaii
LEADERS Magazine has come out with a reader survey in which a panel of frequent travelers was asked, "Who are the best hoteliers?" Thanks at least in part to the fact the Top 10 were listed Bickson among the best
alphabetically, Raymond Bickson sits atop the list. He's also, incidentally, the only non-haole among the leaders. A group of 28 other hoteliers followed, and only one was in Hawaii -- Ritz-Carlton-Kapalua G.M. John Toner. And it was interesting to note that five of the Top 10 managed hotels in New York City. Crusading for excellence comes naturally to Bickson, G.M. of the Mark Hotel in New York, he's a 1973 graduate of St. Louis High School ...
SO if you were the prime minister of Fiji in Hawaii on a business trip, where would you go for a bit of relaxation? To the Polynesian Cultural Center? To hear Fiji, the much-praised local singer? If you're Mahendra Pal Chaudhry, the current Fijian P.M., you'd head for the Zanzabar Nightclub to visit owner Peter Maharaj, who was born in Fiji, and whose family has business interests there. The P.M. declared it was the finest club he'd seen, and wants to build one like it in Fiji ...
SEEING the item about the ska band Warsaw performing at the Cave in Honolulu, a reader called to say he couldn't find a listing for it. The Cave is at 1146 Fort Street Mall, and the band will be performing there April 15 at 8:30 p.m. ...
Board silly
AS reported here Wednesday, "Big Mike" Palcic, who dances to a different drummer, was voted off Neighborhood Board No. 5 by fellow board members. His response: "What a hoot! I hadn't heard of any board action on my case until reading your column. A new method of notification?" Not that he was surprised, mind you, since his was "the only board to schedule a meeting in an inaccessible location for wheelchairs and then demand (and receive) the resignation of a wheelchair user for non-attendance." The board probably hasn't heard the last of Palcic since, according to him, "the raging incompetents misspelled my name on the official, certified letter threatening to vacate my seat." To him this means, "the person they warned does not exist." They wish! ...BACK in the early 1980s, publicist Elissa Josephsohn and Compadres manager Karen Takabayashi were roommates. Eventually Karen moved to the mainland and the two lost touch. But you can imagine their surprise when they found themselves getting off the same red-eye flight to San Francisco, Takabayashi returning to her job at the Schramberg Vineyards in Calistoga after visiting family in Maui, and Lisa off to a management meeting in nearby Yountville ...
Early TV daze
SAVING money by not creating new programming may not be the sole purpose of the spate of old TV shows being rerun on KHET-TV, but it doesn't hurt. As part of the "Celebrate Our Heritage" series, "Hawaii Five-O" is revisited and in a reprise of a 1974 "Paul Hana Years" show, host Bob Barker interviews the only cast member other than Jack Lord to appear in the original pilot. No, it wasn't Jim MacArthur -- he replaced the actor who played Danno once the series was picked up. It was Kam Fong, a former isle stage actor. The show will air April 1 at 7 p.m. ... I'm frozen in fear they'll re-air an episode of one of the shows I hosted 30 years ago, "The Green Room." How about the one with Peter Fonda when we both had dark beards? ...
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