Hawaii
DESIGNER Anne Namba is back from New York where she was a "Special Guest" at one of 32 dinners hosted by the prestigious Asia Society. She was joined at the dinner by Chef Tadashi Ono, formerly of the restaurant Sono. Others attending one of the dinners were Andrew Cuomo, Bernard Kalb, Bill Moyers, Charlie Rose, Morley Safer, Lesley Stahl, Amy Tan, Vivienne Tam and Vera Wang. Oh yes, another "Special Guest" was Alice Young, selected as one of America's five most prominent Asian-American lawyers. Namba and Young are both grads of Kalani High, and the bet is that Kalani is the only school to provide two "Special Guests" to the dinners ... Alumnae do Kalani proud
at Asia Society fetes in NYIT'S still more than a week away, but Chef Philippe Padovani is already gearing up for the Guenoc Winery Vintner's Dinner he's staging June 24 at his Alana Waikiki restaurant, with Guenoc's Orville Magoon here as a special guest. Chef Padovani is just back from the world Gourmet's Summit in Singapore where he was one of only 10 chefs invited to showcase their culinary magic ...
A GROUP of downtown denizens was eyeing the mobile shredding truck parked on Nuuanu Avenue for several hours the other day, as box after box of files were loaded into the truck and apparently turned into packing material. "Don't worry," said one wag, "It's just an Arthur Anderson audit." ...
OLD friends from Hawaii days got together in San Diego recently. Ron Cruger, who was publisher of This Week magazine and former Sunset Magazine exec Paul Roos, his old tennis nemesis in Hawaii, are both retired now, but managed the energy to have some Mexican food anyway. Roos now lives in the San Francisco area and Cruger in Carmel Mountain Ranch near San Diego ...
Birthday bash
CAN it have been a year since Kapono's opened in Aloha Tower Marketplace? It would seem so, since owner Henry Kapono is holding its first birthday party tomorrow night. He'll be entertaining along with Ledward Ka'apana, Ko'u Mana'o, Makana, Inoa'ole, Jook Joint and Guy Cruz. It starts at 5:30 p.m., running through sunset to whenever ... Incidentally, one of the most moving moments at the memorial service for the late James Grant Benton was Kapono singing, with feeling, "We Are Friends" ...LOCALITE Paul Klink has become a spa-aholic since meeting Demi Moore in the Connie Gayle salon at the Kahala Mandarin. The two chatted and agreed to meet at the pool the next day for some water exercise which, according to Klink, "she clearly didn't need." ...
Memories of yore
WHEN a party for Miss Hawaii judges was held at Vacation Hawaii honcho Bill Smith's Kahala home, Cathy Foy sang while Beverly Noa danced. The two figured it was the first time they'd performed together since a Honolulu Symphony appearance 20 years ago. Chicken skin time for old timers ... Remember when the late Sam Sanford ran ads on KHAI for Jimmy Pflueger's Lincoln-Mercury dealership? His catch phrase was, "Have you been Pfluegered?" Some Kauai folks are recalling that line and are answering "Yes" thanks to mudslides allegedly caused by Pflueger's grading for a road ...
Dave Donnelly has been writing on happenings
in Hawaii for the Star-Bulletin since 1968.
The Week That Was recalls items from Dave's 30 years of columns.Contact Dave by e-mail: ddonnelly@starbulletin.com