After 44 years of running Waipahu's first fast-food restaurant and selling millions of pounds of fried saimin, the Yamaki brothers have decided to sell their landmark Leeward Drive In.

The sale is effective at 8 tomorrow morning, and Roy and Melvin Yamaki will be leaving the eatery that has fed generations of Waipahu families since 1963. Roy Yamaki, 80, said it wasn't a difficult decision to sell.

"Number one is we came to our age. You put anything plus 44 and you know what you end up with," he said.

Roy, younger brother Melvin and Jerry Yamaki, now deceased, opened the drive-in at the corner of Farrington Highway and Pupukahi Street in 1963. At that time, Roy Yamaki said, Waipahu was in the "boondocks" and still very much a plantation town.

"It was real country. There was no drive-in," he said. "So that was the best opportunity we had because Waipahu was growing."

Over the years, Leeward Drive In's popular fried saimin and fruit turnovers drew customers from across the island. Yamaki said he will miss interacting with the customers.

"It's a bitter-sweet thing," he said. "In business, it's not only the business itself. You know a person for so long. The first thing they're a stranger and pretty soon you're hugging each other. That's how a business is run. A lot of people go to the Mainland and 20 years later they pop up and you get to meet them again. That's really the type of things that make you happy in business, not only the dollar sign."

A devastating fire on New Year's Eve 1997 heavily damaged the restaurant and forced the brothers to seriously consider closing the eatery for good. But the Yamakis decided to rebuild, and Roy said he's glad they did.

"That was a struggling time, but I think we made the right choice and we recovered pretty good," Yamaki said. "The equipment is almost new, so it's in really good condition."

Yamaki spent a good part of yesterday showing new owner Anthony Kim around the drive-in. Kim was raised in Hawai'i but has run an import/export business in Las Vegas and Los Angeles for more than 10 years.

Kim said he's looking forward to coming home and running the business. He said he will be retaining the 30 employees and the existing menu, so customers shouldn't notice any changes.

The only difference is Kim said he will be adding Korean food to the drive-in's menu. Kim's parents operated Korean restaurants in Hawai'i before moving to Los Angeles.

"This is a good chance for me to come home, and what better than to buy a great and ongoing business that's been around for 44 years," Kim said.

Kim did not want to disclose a purchase price, but the asking price listed by real estate firm Grubb & Ellis was $2.5 million.

Yamaki said he will help Kim as much as he can to make the transition easy.

"I want him to have a good fighting chance. I hope he does good," Yamaki said.

Reach Curtis Lum at culum@honoluluadvertiser.com.