Beachboy reunion puts vanishing breed in spotlight
By Mike Gordon
Advertiser Staff Writer
Once upon a golden time, decades past, they were the lords of Waikiki Beach. Quick to befriend a stranger, sing a song to a pretty girl or share a beer until last call.
Photo courtesy the Jojo Keanu Collection
The beachboys of the 1940s, '50s and '60s were affectionately described as the embodiment of aloha.
Beachboys and friends in a vintage photo from Waikiki's golden era. James "Jama" Keanu is in the white T-shirt.
But they are old men now who rarely see each other. More often, they gather for a funeral than a party.
This is why Jojo Keanu has worked so hard to organize Saturday's 25th annual Kuhio Beach Reunion.
"They look forward to it," said the 67-year-old Keanu, who teaches Hawaiian studies for the state Department of Education. "They say, 'Jojo, if you didn't do it, we wouldn't see each other.' "
So far, 90 people, about half of them beachboys, are planning to attend the gathering at Golden Palace Seafood Restaurant. It starts at 6 p.m. and it's BYOB — as if anyone needed to tell this crowd. (Call 833-9384 for information.)
A lot of the beachboys are in their 70s and 80s, Keanu said. Her husband, James "Jama" Keanu, was a beachboy until he joined the Army during World War II. And even though he made a career out of the military, he was a beachboy at heart.
"If dinner was at 6 o'clock, he would be back at 8 o'clock, especially if there was surf," she said.
Photo courtesy the Jojo Keanu Collection
Jama doesn't get to the beach anymore. He's 79 and lives in a Kane'ohe nursing home recovering from a couple of strokes.
Beachboys gathered near the Waikiki Natatorium, circa 1940, identified as, clockwise from top left, Bobby I., Robert "Fook Duk" Lee, Rabbit Kekai, Blue Eyes Nihcola, Charles "Big Town" Bodie and Jeep.
But he wouldn't dream of missing the reunion, his wife said.
In 25 years, he hasn't missed one.
He goes for the same reasons everyone else goes.
"Just looking at their friends and coming forth to see this ... it's just astonishing to see my husband react," Keanu said. "Looking at each other and feeling each other and holding each other for a second. That is so important to them."
The reunions were started to fill that purpose. To bring the beachboys together at a time when some of them were beginning to stay home more.
Tom "Jucko" Sato has been to several even though he doesn't consider himself a true "career beachboy." For years, he spent much of his free time hanging out at the beach and at 73, the retired ramp worker for Japan Airlines still swims off Waikiki several days a week.
"I still love the ocean, but a lot of my friends, the old-timers, they would rather sit down and talk story," he said.
Sato attended previous reunions at the urging of his old friend, beachboy Abraham "Purple" Kahui.
Q. How tough was beachboy George "Tough Bill" Keaweamahi? A. He could pop the cap off a bottle of beer with his thumbs (in the days when most people thought a beer opener was necessary). Q. What unlikely activity did John "Hawkshaw" Paia combine with surfing? A. He'd sit on a chair on his board and play the 'ukulele as he rode in. Q. Who was known as "the dog-gonest surfer you have ever seen"? A. Sandy, the poi dog taught to surf by beachboy Joseph "Scooter Boy" Kaopuiki. Q. About whom did Jack London pen this phrase: "He is Mercury — a brown Mercury. His heels are winged, and in them is the swiftness of the sea"? A. Hawaiian-Irish beachboy George Freeth, who visited California in 1907 to demonstrate the art of surfing. Q. What well-known actor did Olympic champion and king of the beachboys Duke Kahanamoku play alongside in the 1948 movie "Wake of the Red Witch?" A. The other Duke, John Wayne. Q. Did the beachboys really live up to their reputations as tireless womanizers? A. No one really knows. They were also reputed to be notorious tellers of tall tales. Source: Waikiki Beachboy, by Grady Timmons. Compiled by Karen Blakeman
This year, he has to go alone. Kahui died in March.
Fun facts
Even though other friends will be there, he admits it's going to be "kind of scary."
"A lot of them are walking with a cane and some of them are getting blind," Sato said. "But just to see each other again is the most beautiful part of it."
To this day, everyone in the group feels part of an extended family.
Raymond "Atuk" Chang, now 77, started going to the beach when he was a teenager and turned his passion for the ocean into a 35-year career.
He taught tourists to surf, told them about the best restaurants and nightclubs and sent them back to the Mainland with a gift, usually a pineapple.
The beach was a home to Chang, with firm rules like not playing hooky from school.
"There's no place like Kuhio Beach," Chang said. "Everyone looked after each other. If you were hungry, they took you to dinner. Nobody went without eating."
Chang hasn't been to Kuhio Beach in years, though. He lives in Mililani and the traffic into town is bad; the Waikiki parking even worse. After open-heart surgery in February, his doctor told him to take it easy, so he hasn't been to the ocean.
On the few occasions in recent years that he made the drive to Kuhio Beach, he didn't recognize anyone there.
"I only go when there is a funeral," he said. "The reunion is a good thing because you get to see the guys. Every year, so many of them pass away. I think five of them passed away this year."
As with past reunions, the beachboys will bring out a miniature koa wood surfboard. It's a memorial.
"We still have the love for them," Chang said.
When the first Kuhio Beach reunions were held, the heavy board bore only a handful of metal plates inscribed with the names of beachboys who had passed away.
Now, it is nearly covered.
Reach Mike Gordon at 525-8012 or mgordon@honoluluadvertiser.com.
