Hawaii’s
Back yard
Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi
Collector show co-founder
was a pack ratWayne Maeda was once a serious pack rat. As a kid, he remembers collecting coins, milk bottle covers, 45 rpm rock 'n' roll records, business cards local politicians distributed while campaigning and an eclectic array of other knickknacks.
"The main reason I collected was because my friends were doing it," says the 50-ish Honolulu graphic designer. "I wanted to fit in with the group, and share, trade and compare my collection with theirs. I collected things because I liked them, not because they might increase in value some day."
These days, Maeda is more selective about what he collects, but he still looks for objects that catch his eye in terms of color, shape, pattern or texture -- or that strike a sentimental chord.
Hawaii All-Collectors Show
Place: Neal Blaisdell Exhibition Hall, 777 Ward Ave., HonoluluTime: 4 to 9 p.m. Friday; 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday, and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. July 25
Admission: $3.95 adult, $2 for ages 7 through 11. On Sunday, 65 and older will be admitted free.
Call: 941-9754
E-mail: show@ukulele.com
Web site: www.ukulele.com
Also: Maeda and Wong organize two smaller Wiki Wiki One-Day Vintage Collectibles & Hawaiiana Shows in the spring and fall. Pre-1980s merchandise is spotlighted at 91 tables in the Hawaii Suites at Neal Blaisdell Center. The fall show will take place 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Oct. 10. Admission is $3.50 for adults and $2 for ages 7 through 11. Early entry, at 10 a.m., is $15 per person.
"They don't have to be rare or valuable," he notes. "Recently, I was looking through a box of old 78 rpm Japanese records when I recognized a song that my mother used to sing many years ago. Naturally, I bought the record. I'm sure it's not worth much in terms of money, but to me, it's priceless."
Collecting is a passion Maeda shares with his longtime girlfriend and business partner, Ilene Wong. "Our house is like a typical Hawaiian house from the 1940s, with lauhala mats, rattan furniture and old kitchenware," says Wong. "Our TV is a humongous 1950s mahogany case console model with the insides removed and replaced with a modern cable-ready television.
"Collectibles that you can use are fun! We still use an old Snoopy phone with a pigtail cord, and display lots of collectibles all over the house, from floor to ceiling," she adds. "Much more are tucked away in storage."
The couple browse regularly on eBay and other collectible sites on the Internet, and at garage, rummage, estate and warehouse sales. Swap meets, auctions, collectibles shows, antique stores, church bazaars and secondhand shops also have yielded wonderful finds. They've even stopped to examine bulky items left on roadsides. "Every week is a new treasure hunt," says Maeda.
His current favorites are World War II propaganda (anti-Japanese) records from the Pacific, 78 rpm records of Hawaiian and American songs recorded by Japanese artists, and anything related to the 1950s and 1960s Japanese TV show "Kazekozo," which aired in Hawaii.
"I guess you could call Kakekozo the first super hero-type character introduced to Hawaii from Japan," says Maeda. "He came before Kikaida, Kamen Rider and Astroboy. Kazekozo memorabilia is extremely hard to find in Hawaii. I had to go to Japan to continue the search."
Wong loves the vinyl Japanese monster toys from the 1960s and 1970s, "the uglier the better," she says. "I have a whole bunch of them, too numerous to count."
Shoppers digging around at the Hawaii All-Collectors Show never know what they're going to find, which is part of the excitement of the temporary set-up.
IN 1991, the couple founded the Hawaii All-Collectors Show, which has become the state's largest annual antiques and collectibles show and sale. "As die-hard collectors, we wanted to shop for interesting things here in Hawaii and not have to travel to the mainland all the time," Maeda says.
When the couple started the exhibition, there was no such local event allowing mass numbers of collectors and dealers to meet and mingle.
"That's one of the primary reasons we started the show," Maeda said. "Another reason was to give them a market to buy and sell their goods."
From the outset, the show has been staged at the Neal Blaisdell Exhibition Hall. The first show drew 100 vendors; twice that number now participate, hailing primarily from Hawaii and the mainland. Up to 11,000 people walk through the turnstiles each year to peruse trinkets and treasures of all kinds -- from stamps, estate jewelry, and gold and silver coins to Asian antiques, 1950s toys and action figures, and kitchen tools and equipment your grandmother used.
Always popular is vintage Hawaiiana, including silkie aloha shirts, etched glass pieces, koa and rattan furniture, hula girl dashboard nodders, prints and paintings, floral jewelry, and Primo Beer memorabilia dating between 1898 and 1998, when the company was in business. Up for grabs one year, Maeda recalls, were sturdy cast-iron hibiscus motif seats from the old Waikiki Theater.
Prices of the various objects range from 25 cents for a McDonald's Happy Meal toy to several thousand dollars for rare coins, estate jewelry and original art. To ensure the quality and authenticity of the merchandise, Maeda and Wong screen all vendors.
The Hawaii All-Collectors Show brings dealers from the mainland and Hawaii together to present an array of collectibles to those who can't jump on a plane to shop for their favorite old toys and other objects.
THE HAWAII All-Collectors Show's special displays also are big draws. Past themes include comics, surfing, tools, Father Damien collectibles, coat hangers from the Islands' territorial years (1900 to mid-1959), local sports star memorabilia, a doll hospital (where attendees' broken dolls could be repaired) and toilets from around the world.
This year, the Ukulele Guild of Hawaii will be conducting hands-on demonstrations on how to make your own ukulele, and on Saturday, members of the Pacific Outpost 501st Legion (which Maeda and Wong have dubbed the "Star Wars" Club) will be strolling through the Exhibition Hall dressed as characters from George Lucas's film trilogy. Yes, Darth Vader will be there.
Other well-known figures have been known to frequent the show. Actress and songbird Bette Midler was seen browsing a few years ago, and the late '50s/'60s pop singer and composer Teddy Randazzo was among the dealers selling CDs.
For two years in the late 1990s, before it became a household name, eBay reserved a booth at the show. "They had computer demonstrations and gave away free eBay shirts," Wong recalls. "Those shirts are definitely collectibles now!"
If you haven't yet caught the collecting bug, Wong says it's easy to do, especially while you're at the Hawaii All-Collectors Show. "Sometimes just finding that one special toy from childhood can spark the collecting drive," she says. "The show is like a giant three-day party! Fellow collectors we see only once a year stop by the information booth to say 'hi' and share stories of great finds or the big one that got away!
"That's the thrill of collecting; you're always on the lookout for the next item you simply must have!"
Hula figurines and dashboard nodders are favorites with Hawaiiana collectors.
See the Columnists section for some past articles.
Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi is a Honolulu-based free-lance writer and Society of American Travel Writers award winner.
