Hawaii Kai In A Nutshell By Rich Budnick
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Del.icio.usAs a diligent author, Rich Budnick always has a few facts up his sleeve.
But this time around, the Hawaii Kai history nut counts 2,001 of them - all about Hawaii through the entire 20th century.
In his latest volume, Hawaii’s Forgotten History: The good ... the bad ... the embarrassing, he offers curious readers a sweeping take on the Islands gleaned - by his count - from 300 books and 8,000 newspapers.
“It was a lot of fun, and a lot of work,” Budnick admitted recently. Some of the researcher’s uncovered facts prompted him to “fall out of my chair - I couldn’t believe what I read!”
From his own back yard, for example, Budnick learned that Hawaii Kai developer Henry Kaiser once envisioned a minor league baseball team for the area. Games would be played “in a 50,000-seat stadium in Hawaii Kai.”
A World War II pilot took a joy ride over Honolulu on May 7, 1965. Budnick reported that the former fighter pilot stole a B-25 airplane and soared over the city in the middle of the night. “He scares residents by flying near hotels, and at tree top heights near Hawaii Kai.”
“I have all the area tidbits,” Budnick said proudly, “everything you’ve always wanted to know.”
According to his research, Hawaii’s first gangland killing was in Hawaii Kai: “Two known gamblers, Joseph K. Hong and Joseph Y. Hong, are shot in the face in the back seat of a car in Hawaii Kai. The crime is unsolved.”
Kahala entrepreneurs Crisula Markoulis and Jenna Oley held a “Proceeds for Paws” sale July 20 and donated their $157 profit to the Hawaiian Humane Society so it can “make an even better shelter for the animals.” Photo from Carri Markoulis.
Residents today have experienced the crush of houses and traffic. But Kaiser’s dream, after all, was to fashion out of Kuapa Pond “Hawaii’s second largest city with 14,000 homes and 50,000 to 70,000 population.” When he signed his agreement with then-Bishop Estate on April 27, 1961, he also envisioned a resort at Queen’s Beach. Sound familiar?
“Readers are very surprised at what they discover,” said the author, who also wrote the books Stolen Kingdom, Maui Street Names and Hawaiian Street Names. “Some events will make you laugh, and some will shock your senses.”
Married to Min-Tzu Hsiao, Budnick has degrees in history and political science from UCLA and a master’s in government from Cal-State Sacramento. He is the founder of the Honolulu Writers Conference and readily assists others in their pursuit of wordcraft.
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