Robert “;Bob”; Burns, the much respected hotel developer and manager who was general manager of the Kahala Hilton in the 1960s, has not let the years slow him down. By request, Bob let me know what he is up to. “;I moved the family to Hong Kong for the school year to immerse Robert III in Mandarin,”; Bob e-mailed. “;He's 9. I bribed him with a beautiful new dog.”; Businesswise, Bob has two new projects, both in China. “;In Beijing, we're doing a very grand, low-rise 80-room boutique hotel along with 18 beautiful homes to be built in the old Qianmen district, right at Tiananmen Square. The area dates to Ming times —1420s. In Shanghai, we'll convert a 1920s building, right on the 'Bund,' into 80 rooms and exquisite restaurants. In Beijing, we'll be called 'The Tian' — a Robert Burns Hotel. No name yet for Shanghai. Although, we did do a lower case graphic 'the robert b.' in script, but not yet approved.”; Bob has been a strong supporter of the UH Travel Industry Management program …

Charlie Beeck, owner of Tropical Roofing and Raingutters, picked the private area of Wolfgang's Steakhouse for his annual party shortly before Christmas. Some 75 people attended. Charlie's daughter Kealoha, 12, handed a Christmas tree ornament to guests as they entered. Charlie always pours good wine at his annual blowout and Mike Irish, with wife Sandy, brought in some fine reds for guests at the head table. Bill Nickerson has moved up to general manager at Wolfgang's, replacing Amir Ibrahim. Amir opened the steak house in Royal Hawaiian Center on Valentine's Day last year for owner Wolfgang Zwiener and remained until the new year …

The beautiful photos on Candes Gentry's Christmas CD cover and folder were taken by none other than her mom, Nora Gentry, who is quite the photographer. “;I'm so lucky to have such a great photographer in the family,”; Candes said. Candes and Hilton Hawaiian Village food and beverage executive Milan Drager were married at Lanai's Four Seasons Resort Nov. 15, 2008. The wedding will be shown on WE television's “;Platinum Weddings”; Jan. 17 at 7 p.m. …

… The third annual Southern California Slack Key Festival, featuring outstanding Hawaii guitarists, will be held Jan. 24 at the Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center. The lineup includes Ledward Kaapana, Jeff Peterson, Makana, Jim “;Kimo”; West and John Cruz, and the Pahinui Hawaiian Band, made up of Cyril Pahinui, Sonny Lim, Kunia Galdeira and Peter Moon Jr. A Southern California hula halau will participate. Mitch Chang is the promoter and Hawaiian Airlines is sponsoring …

… Tama Fukuyama and Maya Grossman, the two Punahou sophomores who “;made a difference”; by organizing a recent 5K run-walk that netted $15,750 for the homeless, had some high-level support. Their school president Jim Scott ran the race and Mayor Mufi Hannemann and city managing director Kirk Caldwell got their exercise by walking it on the slightly rainy Manoa morning. Lex Brodie's and its president Scott Williams provided a big promotional assist to keep thing rolling. The girls are already planning a repeat for this year. Good going girls! …

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Ben Wood, who sold the Star-Bulletin on Honolulu streets in World War II, writes of people, places and things Saturdays. E-mail him at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).