|
Wood Craft Ben Wood |
Infamous torpedo
scores direct hit on
the desk of ‘Kini Popo’'Damn the torpedo" is what Carl "Kini Popo" Hebenstreit, president of Trade Publishing, could have said when he came to the office on Trade's 50th anniversary May 8 and found a full-sized torpedo embedded in his desk. His thoughts must have raced back to the days when the late Don Over, Carl "Link" Lindquist, Ted Sturdivant, and others, including Kini Popo himself, pulled stunts with that torpedo. The big black torpedo was found in a Sand Island junk pile recently. It was cleaned and signed by Trade's staffers. Sturdivant originally sent the torpedo to Link as a Christmas "gift." To get even, Link had it embedded in Ted's desk at Trade. Guess who the ringleader was and who lugged it upstairs with Sturdivant and Chris Thometz and put it in Kini's desk? Yep, it was Link again. "He's ruined two desks here," Kini said. Perhaps the most notorious stunt with the torpedo was when the gang hung it over the late Sam Sanford's wedding bed ...
Corky and Hana welcome a grandson in S.F.
Corky Trinidad, the Star-Bulletin cartoonist, went to San Francisco during his vacation to join wife, Hana. They were there for the April 24 birth of their grandson, Matthew Jacob Trinidad-Sprague. The child's parents are Pia and Mike Sprague. One sour note: While Corky's son, Manny, drove him to Honolulu Airport, burglars hit the Trinidads' home, the second time in four months ...
THE theme for the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation fund-raiser at the Royal Hawaiian Saturday was the film "Grease." The Nueva Vida band, in biker gear, pumped out rock 'n' roll. Anita Hall, dressed as a '50s teenager, and Darryl Carter sang. It was also the 13th birthday of Anita's twins, Matthew and Joshua. They spent the night at the hotel with their mom. Band leader Robert Shinoda's guitar that he's played for 25 years is still missing. It's a custom-made koa strat-style guitar with a "Stringman" headstock. He's offering a "no-questions asked" reward for info or recovery. Call him at 282-4582 ...
Bonita Wilkie marked her birthday at Michel's Saturday night with Melissa Wilson of Mission Viejo, Calif. Bonita, a lookalike of actress Wendy Malik, and Melissa have known each other since they were tots. Melissa comes to town each year for Bonita's birthday. Michel's fine staff may have tried even harder Saturday because owner D.G. "Andy" Anderson was in the spectacular beachfront-view restaurant ...
See the Columnists section for some past articles.
Ben Wood, who sold the Star-Bulletin in the streets of downtown Honolulu during World War II, writes of people, places and things every Wednesday and Saturday. E-mail him at bwood@starbulletin.com