“Aunty Betty” Makia dances “Aloha Kaua‘i,” her signature hula, during the Hawai‘i Cultural Foundation’s 2001 holiday party in New York. Photo courtesy ww.hawaiiculturalfoundation.org

Elizabeth Puanani Kalolo Makia, far right, gained fame in New York dancing in the Hotel Lexington’s Hawaiian Room. RAdvertiser library photo • 1948

Elizabeth Puanani Kalolo Makia died July 2 in New York. She was 88.

Makia was the matriarch of the Hawaiian entertainment community on the East Coast for decades, family and friends said.

"Everyone knew her," said her daughter-in-law, Lynn Makia. "She was the epitome of true aloha. In her generosity, her love, her faith, her caring and her giving. She never said a bad word about anyone."

Aunty Betty did not know how to dance when she moved to New York in 1938, following her husband, musician Sam Makia. Other hula dancers from Hawai'i taught Makia and she started dancing in 1940.

Makia danced in the Hawaiian Room of the Hotel Lexington from 1947 to 1958. She performed with Hal Aloma, Johnny Pineapple and dancers Tutasi Wilson, Napua Wood, the Mossman sisters and Momikai Alair.

Adria Imada, who filmed a documentary on Makia, called her "a natural performer."

"She was somebody who had this incredibly warm and sassy demeanor," Imada said. "Even though she stopped dancing professionally in 1958, she was just a natural."

Whenever the camera rolled, Makia's face lighted up and she danced, Imada said.

Imada said Makia loved being around young people and worked until age 85 at a fast-food chicken restaurant in Greenwich Village called Pluck University.

"We filmed her at Pluck U.," Imada said. "She loved being busy. She wasn't even deterred by having to take two buses to get to work every day."

Makia loved New York City and considered it her home. She and her husband lived a few blocks from the Hotel Lexington.

The couple always opened their home during the holidays to former Hawai'i residents and entertainers. Christmas Eve was a big event with beautifully wrapped gifts freely handed out and plenty of food.

Makia had two sons, Leonard "Sonny" Makia and Leonard "Spike" Makia. Sonny died in 2001. Spike lives in Cincinnati. Her husband, Sam, died in 1987.

Longtime friend Hale Rowland of Kane'ohe met Aunty Betty in 1960 when she moved to the Mainland. They used to dance together, said Rowland, who lived in New Jersey at the time.

"We used to do the hula with our hands, in the old way," she said.

Makia is survived by son Spike Makia, five grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

Services were held yesterday at St. Michael's Catholic Church in Manhattan. Another service is planned for Aug. 9 at St. Patrick's Church in Kaimuki. Internment will follow at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific at Punchbowl.