Zulu's friends come through big time
By Catherine E. Toth
Advertiser Staff Writer
Five years ago Gilbert "Zulu" Lani Kauhi told his closest friends exactly what he wanted.
Rebecca Breyer • The Honolulu Advertiser
A funeral service done in traditional beach-boy style, his ashes scattered in the waters off Waikiki, a party afterward that went beyond sunset.
As part of the Waikiki service yesterday for Gilbert "Zulu" Lani Kauhi, his friends gathered on the beach for a round of songs in his honor. From left: Melveen Leed, Buffalo Keaulana (in light-gray T-shirt), Danny Kaleikini and Freddie Merino (in T-shirt and fringed ti-leaf lei).
What Zulu didn't expect was just how many people would show up and how much fun they would have.
Yesterday hundreds of his family, friends and admirers gathered at Duke's Canoe Club Waikiki to remember the former Waikiki beachboy and TV star who died last month of complications from diabetes. He was 66.
His ashes were brought in from Puna on the Big Island, where he had lived for the past two decades.
"This is what he wanted," said longtime friend and fellow beach boy Geno Fernandes, 65. "He wanted a beach-boy funeral, he wanted everybody to have fun."
The beach area fronting the restaurant was packed with people, from surfers to paddlers to local entertainers. Many gathered around a photo display showing Zulu with Tom Selleck, Prince Edward, Duke Kahana-moku and Don Rickles — a testament to his fame for his role as Detective Kono Kalakaua on "Hawaii Five-0."
Even James MacArthur, who played Danny "Danno" Williams on the show, came to pay his respects yesterday. MacArthur, who owns a home near Diamond Head and still wears cuff links given to him by Zulu, said: "He was so upbeat. ... He saw wonderful humor in everything."
As an entertainer Zulu forged lifelong friendships with many local artists, including Jimmy Borges, Danny Kaleikini and Melveen Leed who showed up at yesterday's service.
"He was a good friend," said Borges, who has been wearing a pendant of the seal of the Hawaiian monarchy since Zulu gave it to him in 1972. He said Zulu took a lot of pride in being Hawaiian. "He knew that being Hawaiian is a designation," Borges said. "It's not about the color of your skin."
But despite his fame and reputation as a Waikiki entertainer, Zulu's roots remained firmly planted in the sands of Kuhio Beach. The turnout of former beach boys yesterday proved that.
Only about two dozen of those beach boys from the early '60s are still around. Most of them came dressed in gray T-shirts that read "Zulu" on the front and "In Loving Memory" on the back. Beers in hand, of course.
"He never had a care in his life except living it to the fullest," said longtime friend Freddie Merino, 68. "We used to paddle together, surf together, never-go-school-when-supposed-to together."
Legendary beach boy Buffalo Keaulana drove in from Makaha to take part in the ceremony.
He recalled the first time he took Zulu surfing on his turf in Makaha. Zulu brought his new longboard, painted with a Hawaiian flag. On a wave Keaulana urged him to catch, Zulu wiped out, the wave taking his board all the way to shore.
"You wen' set me up!" he yelled to Keaulana, who just laughed.
When Zulu got back to Waikiki, he told his fellow beac boys how Keaulana took him way outside the break, into a bowl that was 10 feet high. The story, like many of those told on the beach, grew and grew.
"He never did trust me after that," Keaulana joked.
Everyone who knew Zulu had a story to tell — how he used to surf on a sign taken off a saimin stand, how he loved to eat in Chinatown, how he would read his Bible every night.
"My uncle tried to live his life to the fullest," said niece Laura Kauhi-Leffingwell, wiping away tears. "He did so much good. ... And he had a lot of fun."
After prayers by kahu Rodney Arias and songs led by Kaleikini, the remaining Waikiki beach boys gathered on the beach for one last kanikapila. They sang "Another Kanaka Like Me," "Hawai'i Aloha" and "Aloha 'Oe."
Four canoes and a catamaran took Zulu's ashes three miles out, beyond the surf break called Canoes. Fernandes paddled with the large carved paddle Zulu used on the original voyage of the Hokule'a. This was, his friends said, his homecoming.
The blue sky had quickly faded to gray and, as the canoes paddled out, a light drizzle fell on people lingering on the beach.
"I call him the 'Ambassador of Aloha,'" said longtime friend Diann "Dizzy" Keli'ikoa-Coito, 64. "He had the greatest laugh. He loved people, he loved the ocean. This is the best place he could be."
Reach Catherine E. Toth at 535-8103 or ctoth@honoluluadvertiser.com.
