remember the Old Ala Moana Center?

[localgal]

Have watched how Ala Moana Center has changed over the years. Many fond memories of stores and restaurants no longer there. Do you have special memories?

[Brandon Tate]

It's a mall, who cares!

[Cutchase64]

This is another quirky Cutchase
post (ignore if ya want):

The Honolulu Bookstore at the Center was the only game in town.
They (kinda) frowned on reading
stuff. When the Borders and
Barnes & Nobles opened, I couldn't
believe they encouraged sitting and reading. I couldn't get used to it.
After my first few visits, I had a dream the manager called me into his office and warned me about sitting and reading too long. Not all chains are bad stuff. I still feel a little
guilty for the pleasure of
parking my butt and reading
like a pig.Out of guilt, I'll be sure to place all materials
back where I found them.
The strategy works to allow a
person to sit and read as
eventually I'll come across a
book I have to buy!

I do miss the Bumpei Akaji
sculptures over the original
fishponds.One morning, I saw
two 10 year old local "Huck Finns,"
diving underwater to scoop up
all the loose change and place them in their pockets.I saw a security guard make the kids empty their pockets and to
the passing crowd's silent delight, the guard gave each kid a dollar bill.

[keola]

localgal wrote:

Have watched how Ala Moana Center has changed over the years. Many fond memories of stores and restaurants no longer there. Do you have special memories?

yeah they had a kiddie land with big rides and games...also the Kau Kau corner...best mini curry stew bowl...

[localgal]

keola wrote:

<quoted text>
yeah they had a kiddie land with big rides and games...also the Kau Kau corner...best mini curry stew bowl...

I don't remember Kau Kau corner. What part of the mall was it?

[AMG SL55]

I remember birthday parties at farrells

[5 and 10]

My first job was at Woolworths which was next door to Longs with 2 floors upper and lower level. I remember handling the regular toy orders for the Checkers and Pogo show. Patty's Chinese Kitchen was so ono & had its own store, which now is Pearl's I think? No food court then. I bought my "really cool" prom dress at Villa Roma. And of course, I will always refer to the "Libery House side", forgetting Macys is there now.

[Mach5Motorsport]

Always was the biggest shopping mall in the state.

[Pali]

The boiled peanut stand next to the ewa side parking lot by Sears.

[alice]

Ala Moana is too crowded and uninteresting for me.

[rooster]

Being less than well off when we were first married, my new wife and I went shopping at Ala Mo as our honeymoon. Right after the ceremony at the downtown courthouse we spent the rest of the day hanging out at the mall.

[halemalu]

localgal wrote:

Have watched how Ala Moana Center has changed over the years. Many fond memories of stores and restaurants no longer there. Do you have special memories?

jc penny's restaurant. reasonable and good lunches. i liked their saimin. i guess that restaurant became a beautyshop after the mid 80s.

[mall_rat]

Brandon Tate wrote:

It's a mall, who cares!

Right on. People who go nostalgic over a shopping mall really need to get a life!

[halemalu]

mall_rat wrote:

<quoted text>
Right on. People who go nostalgic over a shopping mall really need to get a life!

nostalgia comes with age. i have earned it.

[halemalu]

ok, here is one: how many of you remember what was on that corner of kalakaua and kapiolani before they built the convention center? a used car lot,(i think aloha motors), and a neat little fleamarket under a roof.

[Cutchase64]

Nostalgia for the ol' Ala Mo Center
was prior to the great High Priced
"no-can -afford 200 dollar ties"
type of newer Euro styled shops that targeted the wealthy Japanese
tourist. I don't expect the newer
generation to understand. It was a time where you'd always see someone
you new. In effect it was a small town community meeting place.
Audrey Fu's "Villa Roma," set the
trends for the island Teeny Boppers.I remember when they had
High School "Hip Hop" dancing
contests center stage. Now, the
kids are becoming "persona non-grata" if no mo kala (money).
Yeah, it ws part of a "life (small-kine)."

[BUSTED]

alice wrote:

Ala Moana is too crowded and uninteresting for me.

You are not old enough as you say to know what Ala Moana use to be like and don't appreciate what it was then compare to now! Now it is very confusing.

[halemalu]

yes, those shops which catered only to the rich japanese in the late 1980s have bitten the dust since they stopped coming in droves. they suddenly stopped coming in 1990. during that first mid-east war which lasted only a month, i walked through waikiki which almost became a ghost town. then i saw some vacant shops. at rents of 10k per month in waikiki and ala moana i wonder how many went bankrupt. i think it is a good idea for shops to carry a variety of merchandise in every price-range. those are the businesses which survive a recession.

[Cutchase64]

Pali wrote:

The boiled peanut stand next to the ewa side parking lot by Sears.

Incredible recollection! I remembah!
The synapses are connecting to the millions
of peanut shells under the old Honolulu Stadium and ..and..I gotta get a cigarette,
this is too much for my (cough) heart.

[ETA136]

Wow! I miss the old mall...

I remember The Ritz, Ethel's, Villa Roma, Singer, Hartfield's, Hino's Hair Salon, Joe Pacific, JC Penney's, Woolworth's, Francis Camera Shop, Honolulu Book Store, what was the music store next door?, J. Magnin, Liberty House (before Macy's), Byron's, what was the Italian restaurant Bella Italia?...

I wish I kept the mall maps I had from way back when...