Pictures are excellent for seeing Hawai`i’s past, while you imagine yourself in it. That’s what HAWAI`I 50 – FIVE DECADES OF PHOTOGRAPHS  has. The “…best and most representative photos, arranged by decades.”

I choose 1959 (Hawai`i statehood) through 1969. Leafing those pages I enjoyed the image of the younger Kingston Trio – I remember “Hang Down Your Head Tom Dooley”, the #1 folksong of that time?...sung by Punahou School graduates, I seem to recall. There’s a photo of James Michener autographing his book “Hawai`i” – I loved reading it, but the movie version was junk. There’s the one of Frank Sinatra in front of an old-fashion mike in concert – so precious, his role in the movie “From Here to Eternity”…so was that chicken-skin, love-scene on the beach between Burt Lancaster and Debra Kerr. Or two of several…of Olympian Duke Kahanamoku in the sea and beside a surfboard -- Wow! he sure did us Hawai’i folks proud.

There’s one of Elvis Presley, his arms round the smiling promoter, Tom Moffat – I remember working at the Polynesian Cultural Center when Elvis was shooting his movie. (Here’s a quiz question: was the movie “Drums of the Islands”; or, “Blue Hawai`i”? -- Or, has my memory failed?...Help me!) Anyway, he was a handsome dude who just mixed-in great with us Church College of Hawaii (CCH) kids who were part of the cast. Now, CCH is called Brigham Young University Hawai`i – and that’s another change.  

There are photos of places as well. One of Ala Moana Center under construction – they still continue to fix up that place don’t they? And the aerial photo of Honolulu Stadium in Moilili – I remember playing high school football in that so-called “termite palace” in 1954…now its a grassy, tree-lined park. Another of the Varsity Theater, on University Ave, with University of Hawaii students picketing at the entrance to protest the classes held there…just this month that theater was knocked flat to become an empty lot.

Take your turn to reminisce from the 750 photos. Get the book, published by the Honolulu Star-Bulletin.  

Tags: Hawaiian Stories

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