We all look forward to City Lights, Our Honolulu's Christmas extravaganza, which kicks off Saturday night. Kids especially know the value of turning downtown and the Civic Center into fairylands of Christmas decorations. But not even kids know the part that Moose Tousig's Bar on Nu'uanu Avenue played in the history of Honolulu City Lights.

Picture Honolulu on a Christmas Eve as dark and gloomy as a burial cave. That's what it was like during World War II blackouts. Then came the delirious miracle of V-J Day and the war was over. How to start living at peace again?

An idea surfaced the day after Thanksgiving, on Friday, Nov. 28, 1945, soon after V-J Day. Roy Kesner of Hollister Drug Stores and a few other storekeepers decided to hire a Santa Claus and string some colored Christmas lights downtown.

This sounds like a simple proposal. It wasn't. After four years of war, contacts with the North Pole had been severed. Fortunately, Kesner was vice president of the Retail Board of the Chamber of Commerce of Honolulu. More important, a lively young go-getter named Leonard Withington had been hired as secretary. Withington now lives in Arcadia Retirement Home.

He was assigned to go around and talk merchants into paying for the lights, at the equivalent of $2 for each foot of storefront on their streets, from King to Pauahi.

Consider this: Colored lights were in short supply, so there would be a white light between each pair of colored lights on the strings to be put up.

Naturally, merchants who didn't have Christmas goods to sell weren't very interested in paying for Christmas lights. One of them was the manager of Moose Tousig's Bar, big and skeptical, who served as his own bouncer. Withington said he went inside with trepidation.

The manager offered him a beer but glowered at the mention of money for Christmas lights.

"Lights are not good for my business," he said grimly. "I have to think about this. Come back another time."

When Withington meekly returned, the barkeep gave him another beer, than went to his cash register and came back with a wad of bills.

"Merry Christmas, son," he said. "But turn off those damn lights as soon as you can."

Withington said everybody completely underestimated the impact of a few Christmas lights. A whole new generation of children had never experienced them. It was visible recognition that Our Honolulu was returning to peace after four years of shortages and worries and rationing. Thousands of people packed the streets.

The Chamber of Commerce couldn't afford a float, so Santa and his sleigh rode atop a secondhand car that overheated in the middle of Bishop Street. The car had to be towed away. Since then, Honolulu City Lights have spread as far as Thomas Square. It all started with a string of colored lights a barkeeper helped pay for.

Reach Bob Krauss at 525-8073.