LIHU‘E — Lihu‘e Business Association members took a stroll down memory lane last week during their final meeting of the year at Duke’s Canoe Club in Kalapaki. A 150-year reflection of Lihu‘e was presented in about one hour early Thursday
LIHU‘E — Lihu‘e Business Association members took a stroll down memory lane last week during their final meeting of the year at Duke’s Canoe Club in Kalapaki.
A 150-year reflection of Lihu‘e was presented in about one hour early Thursday morning. Black and white images flashed across a big screen in hopes that panel speakers — kama‘aina Holbrook Goodale and Claire Sasaki Lundgren — would “add color” to them, said LBA President Pat Griffin.
From the 1850s when Lihu‘e plantation and the Lihu‘e store first made their mark on the island and houses started to “crop up,” to the 1980s when Kukui Grove made its first appearance, businesses and small town life were reminisced.
Griffin made transportation a key focal point because it seems to come up in every planning meeting.
“I think it’s the single most dominating factor in determining the last century,” she said.
Goodale, who grew up between World War I and World War II, spoke about his memories of vehicles from various eras, including those he sold at his family’s business, Garden Island Motors.
Using his “sermon voice” because there was no microphone on hand Thursday, Goodale fondly joked about one vehicular memory he had of the sheriff.
He was a “crash and go” kind of guy, he said. He would drive 50 miles per hour in a 25 mile per hour zone and if you passed him you got a ticket.
Lundgren recalled her memories of transportation during the post-war generation in which she grew up.
“We walked everywhere,” she said. There was “no time to drive,” as her parents often worked six days a week.
Weekends were really the only occasion where the family would travel to a cabin in Koke‘e or a beachhouse in Anahola for some rest and relaxation.
But what also stuck out in her mind as far as childhood memories were concerned was the stack of dishes “taller than I was” that she had to wash at her family’s restaurant for 25 cents every Sunday.
Living through the plantation era to a time when the last sugar cane crop on the island has been through its final harvest, the panelists have “a lot of memories” to share, Griffin said.
The pair are “always so articulate, interesting and amusing,” she said.
• Coco Zickos, business and environmental writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 251) or czickos@kauaipubco.com.
