Hawaii
IT'S not much of a shock to see Barbi Benton in Neiman Marcus, but in this case she had a lot of company. Barbi, ex-bunny and "Playmate" of Hugh Hefner, has made the remarkable transition of being the girl on the arm of Hef to wife and mother. She was at Neiman Marcus attending the ConTempo 2001 fund-raiser, which raised big bucks for the Contemporary Museum. Hubby George Gradow wasn't with her, however. The two have just sold their house in Koko Kai -- they still have a condo here -- and he took off for the mainland to leave the packing to her. They still have large homes in L.A. and Aspen. The Aspen house is really more than "large" -- it's 27,000 square feet under roof. I once asked developer Gradow why he needed so much space. He turned around to see that Barbi wasn't listening and confided, "About 25,000 square feet are for Barbi's closets." ... Benton’s got a lotta
packing ahead of herSPEAKING of art, the Honolulu Academy of Arts opens its $17 million Luce Pavilion complex on May 13, named for Time magazine founder and Kahala resident until his death Henry R. Luce. His widow, Clare Booth Luce, lived on there for years after his death. And those clever folks at the Academy have slated a showing of George Cukor's 1939 film, "The Women," based on the play written by Mrs. Luce. It will be screened at the Academy Theatre May 9, 11 and 12 ... And if you're planning to attend the Hawaii International Film Festival at Waikiki No. 2, be prepared for a head-scratcher in "Memento." I saw it in London, and it was bizarre but still well done enough that I'd like to see it again. It's being screened April 23 ...
The Hella you say
FORMER isle public relations exec Hella Rothwell still follows doings in Hawaii through the Star-Bulletin online edition and this column, even though for six years she's been living in Carmel-by-the-Sea just south of San Francisco. She'd seen her daughter, Leila Rothwell Sullivan, interviewed about the teachers strike on KHNL, and was hoping she wasn't the student I'd referred to as saying the strike was a "distractor." No, it wasn't Leila, a UH student now married to Mark Sullivan, who came up with the Bush-ism. As for Hella, she worked with Americanserver.com and just created a great Web page for the town of Carmel ...IT had to happen sooner or later. Someone ate the 2-pound "Bust Yo Belly Burger" and all the fixings at Dixie Grill Aiea. This young man with the gargantuan appetite is Bobby Wilson. He stands 6-5 and weighs in at 280 -- perhaps 282 today. If you consume everything in 30 minutes, the meal is free, and manager Rosie Ramirez not only picked up his tab, but put his name on the restaurant's marquee to congratulate him ...
Oh, Yu kid
IT'S been a model year for Honolulu graphic designer Roger Yu, but his latest accomplishment came from his hobby instead of his profession. Yu became a triple award-winner at the Greater Salt Lake Model Car Competition, the "Super Bowl" of his hobby. He recently completed a 10-page, two-part article for Scale Auto Enthusiast on building a detailed Formula 1 racer, and now Finescale Modeler is after him to do another. And yet he finds time to be half of the award-winning graphic firm Goodson and Yu Design.
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