For your Hawaii history file. People’s history, not political history.

In October 2003, my mother typed out a page of memories about some of the old-time vendors in Waikiki during the early 1930s. At the time she recorded these brief memories, she was 89.

The typed note began with a description of the “Flower Lady” in the part of Waikiki where my mom and her older sister lived during several years when they were attending the University of Hawaii. I believed they lived down on or near Seaside.

In the 1930’s when my sister and I were apartment dwellers in Waikiki, we listened every Saturday morning for the “Flower Lady”. She was a little Japanese woman who carried a large basket filled with bunches of flowers and walked slowly down the block calling out in a rather melodious voice: “fla-WAH, fLa-WAH”.

Although I have retained a clear mental picture and the sound of her voice, I don’t remember what flowers she sold besides the carnations which were our favorites. We discovered there wasn’t just one “flower lady” in all of Waikiki, there were several, each with her own territory staked out.

To me they all looked alike, all small middle-aged Japanese women with the same call to potential customers in the same tone of voice: “fla-wAH” fla-WAH.

I recently ran into her page of memories while browsing old files, and it triggered a memory of my own.

I was visiting my mom sometime in 1970 when a modern version of the flower lady came walking up Kealaolu Avenue past my parents’ home, her melodic “fla-WAH” announcing her presence like a voice from the past. My mom was quickly out the door and asking her into the yard where she could look at and purchase some of the flowers. I happened to have a camera with me, and was able to find a couple of the resulting photos courtesy of Amazon Photos (I searched for “flower lady” and these were among a larger number of photos Amazon identified that included flowers and women).

I don’t know if any flower ladies are still peddling their wares in the same way. It’s been a long time since I heard one of their sing-song voices, and certainly this neighborhood has changed enough that most current residents would no longer recognize what they were hearing, nor would they be likely to buy flowers from a street vendor.

Click on either photo to veiw a larger version. And the link at the top of the post will take you to my mom’s full typed page.