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What the Heck?
John Heckathorn
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Auntie Josie decked the halls for all Kauai
Christmas folk art: Auntie Josie Chansky is nervous. "I don't mind talking to two or three people, but this is too many," she says. "They shouldn't honor me."
It's too late. Kauai Mayor Bryan Baptiste is already at the microphone, praising Chansky in front of the nearly 2,000 people who've turned out for the opening ceremonies for the 10th anniversary Kauai Festival of Lights.
When he's done, Chansky steps to the microphone and is short and sweet. "Did I do OK?" she asks. "You did great," says state Sen. Gary Hooser, who'll read another proclamation later. "The rule on public speaking is: Be brief and be seated."
Why is Chansky being honored? From the early '50s to the '70s on Oahu, and then for two decades on her native Kauai, she turned her house into a Christmas fantasy land. It was filled inside and out with lights and with colorful decorations she made from things most people throw away -- egg cartons, beer caps, clothes hangers, Styrofoam cups. Literally thousands of people each year lined up to see her Christmas folk art.
When her husband Joe died in 1996, Auntie Josie felt unable to continue. She almost sold her decorations at a garage sale, but the community stepped in, took over her collection and for the past 10 years has displayed it at the Kauai Historic Country Building.
Her display is now the centerpiece of a whole "Festival of Lights" Christmas celebration in Lihue, which also includes a Christmas parade down Rice Street and a major craft fair complete with dozens of plate-lunch trucks.
After the Kauai Chorale leads the crowd in Christmas carols, after every tree in the park lights up, after the parade passes by, Auntie Josie hangs out for hours, talking to the hundreds of folks who come to see her decorations.
"That wreath is made from those jelly containers you get in restaurants," she'll tell interested bystanders. "Look at this tree. I made it out of 7,500 toothpicks."
Dream cakes: When Hiro Takami was sent by his company from Tokyo to California's Silicon Valley, he couldn't find any Japanese-style cakes there. He suffered. "I really like cakes," he says. "I was stuck there for 3 1/2 years. It was torture."
Eventually he returned to Japan and developed a Japanese golf Web site that made his fortune.
What to do with the money? Bring the Japanese cakes he loves to America, beginning in cake-deprived Silicon Valley and now Honolulu.
Last Monday, Takami presided over the opening of his posh Satura Cakes in downtown's Harbor Square. The location is ill-fated as a restaurant, but its inexpensive rent made it a perfect place for to bake up elegant little cakes for the whole Honolulu market. Expect outlets at Ward Centre and the Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center.
Over champagne and mango tiramisu, Takami surveyed his stylish new bakery. "Ah," he said, "my dream come true."
Almos' pau: It's been a pain to drive down Lewers Street for more than a year, with the new Waikiki Beachwalk under construction.
Take heart. The first phase is opening ahead of schedule. The new Hula Tower of the Embassy Suites Hotel was supposed to open Jan. 7. But the pool's filled, the carpet's installed, the new suites being stocked with snowy white linen. It opens a week from Monday, is accepting reservations starting Dec. 22.
Men and women in hard hats and bright T-shirts are busy laying sod and flagstone on the curvy new pedestrian walkway. You can stroll on it as soon as next week.
The new restaurant and retail complex will require more patience. The Yardhouse Restaurant, which serves more than 150 beers, already has its high-tech keg room built. The new Ruth's Chris is making progress, the new Roy's less so.
Some new shops will open this week. I ran into an ebullient Dick Gushman, who developed Waikele and is now a partner in the new retail space. "Come back next week and spend money!" he says.
When I look skeptical, he offers to buy me a beer, then revises it down to a cup of coffee. It will be February before you can buy a beer here, but the first shop to open, sometime this week, will be a Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf.
Political darts: Joe Pickard, president of Community Planning and Engineering and one of the founders of the No Vote No Grumble campaign, thought he was going to Gov. Linda Lingle's inaugural dinner last Monday. But when his ride detoured through Chinatown, Pickard found Bethel Street lined with 30 sign wavers, all wishing him a happy 50th birthday.
Pickard was hustled into a birthday party at Du Vin. Among the gifts: a dartboard bearing a picture of City Councilman Charles Djou.
Djou, you'll recall, demanded a federal investigation when Pickard, a Hannemann friend and supporter, made a last-minute appearance as a subcontractor in the city's $9.7 million rapid transit contract. Pickard's contract survived the investigation, but apparently ill feelings linger.
Dalton vs. bird flu: Whatever happened to Dalton Tanonaka, who ran in 2002 for lieutenant governor and 2004 for Congress, only to end up with a three-month prison sentence for campaign finance violations?
He's now anchor for Metro TV in Jakarta, Indonesia, and on the steering committee of Indonesia's "Beat the Bird Flu" campaign. Also on the committee is Tanonaka's Kalani High classmate Ron Mullers, founder of Indonesia's "Papa Ron's" pizza chain.
Saturday, Tanonaka will appear on stage at a Jakarta "Beat the Bird Flu" concert with Honolulu oldies band Flashback.