My dad, John M. Lind, was a restaurant supply salesman who arrived in Honolulu in mid-1939 to work in the local office of San Francisco-based Dohrmann Hotel Supply Company. Within a couple of years, he was promoted to manager, and stayed with Dohrmann until 1959, when he left to start his own small company, Honolulu Restaurant Supply Company.

I found these photos among his many boxes of papers after his death in 2010. They depict several restaurants and bars in or near Waikiki, and date from the late 1930s. They are commercial quality B&W photographs, probably commissioned to show off Dohrmann’s work planning and equipping restaurants and bars.

Kau Kau Korner

Located at 1819 Kalakaua Avenue, it was a landmark from its opening in 1935 to until its final meals in 1960.

The first mention I found in a newspaper search was in the “Help Wanter-Female” section in March 1936: “Attractive haole girl, good salery. Kau Kau Korner, 91252.” The following month, there’s a brief story reporting “an unidentified burglar” had stolen cigarettes and gum from the business.

A year later, the help wanted ad had been rewritten. “Young, attractive haole waitress.”

A brief history can be found here.

Waikiki Drugs

The first mention I was able to find was an announcement in Honolulu Star-Bulletin about the opening of a new shopping area to include the new Waikiki Drug Store. It was one of several stores to open for business around the Waikiki Theater in September 1937.

Click to see a larger version.

Waikiki Drug

Located at 2282 Kalakaua, it was touted at the time as the first drug store in Honolulu to be open 24-hours a day, seven days a week.

Hawaiian Town Cocktail Lounge

1502 Kapiolani Blvd.

Honolulu Star-Bulletin, January 8, 1938:
“HAWAIIAN TOWN OPENS COCKTAIL LOUNGE-Hawaiian Town on Kapiolani Blvd. opened its new cocktail lounge on New Year’s Day. The main room is furnished with chromium upholstered furniture and lauhala mats. Private booths are off the main lounce. In the enciosed area behind the lounge are tables and chairs arranged under gay umbrellas.”

Mother Page’s Waffle Shop

The Waffle Shop opened in 1932 at 2394 Kalakaua Avenue, across from what was then the Moana Hotel. The proprietor, Mildred Page, was trained as a nurse and dietician, and was previously assistant manager of the Niumalu Hotel (located where the Hilton Hawaiian Village now stands), and had worked at several other hotels.

In 1940, the Waffle Shop was purchased by the well-known Honolulu restaurateurs Peaches and Tony Guerrero, and transformed into the renowned “Tropics” restaurant, a popular haunt for locals and tourists alike.

Kau Kau Korner Renovation

Kau Kau Korner details: Pastries displayed in tht upright cabinet on the counter next to the jukebox, the sweeping counter, sugar at the ready.

Kau Kau Korner detail: It’s 50-50 on the white shirt & tie. And a mystery view out the window in the background, just hinting at what that busy corner was like in the day.

Interior of Waikiki Drugs. Could it have later become Stewart’s Pharmacy?

Waikiki Drug details: Macadamia nuts in various gift containers.

Hawaiian Town Cocktail Lounge, Kapiolani Blvd. Those chairs are so retro that they would probably be worth a lot today, but all the metal must have taken a beating in Hawaii’s climate, especially before air conditioning was common.

Hawaiian Town details: check out what’s outside the windows and the back door along Kapiolani Blvd.

The bar at the Hawaiian Town Cocktail Lounge.

Hawaiian Town details: SIgns advertise their Laulau Luncheon and Hawaiian Dinner, but I can’t quite make out the prices. Note how the bar is stocked, the old cash register, champaigne on the shelf, etc.

The Waffle Shop, Waikiki. Penciled on the back: Mother Page’s

Wood & vinyl all the way. Mother Page’s Waffle Shop was at Seaside and Kalakaua. In 1940, the location was sold and the landmark Tropics Waikiki opened at the site.

Waffle Shop details: Closeup of the table settings. What is the china pattern? Vernon Kilns Ultra? Russel Wright?