Tag Archives: Spencecliff

More background on the Swanky Franky

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Remember this photo of my mother, Helen Lind, in the Swanky Franky hot dog stand operated by two young entrepreneurs, Spence and Cliff Weaver, in around 1939 or 1940?

Helen Lind

It was posted here earlier along with several other photos from the period, including one of my dad with the Weaver brothers sitting on the Swanky Franky.

So was surprised to get an email yesterday from Cathy Cunningham of the American Austin Bantam Club seeking permission to reprint the photo of my mom and adding some background on the Swanky Franky.

As you may know, the customized Swanky Franky was based on the American Bantam chassis. The Swanky Franky was first noted on the streets for the 1939 New York World’s Fair. We are a small club that supports the marque of the American Bantam car, which was built in Butler, Pennsylvania. I’m sure our readers would love seeing the photos.

Who knew!

Check out their website if you’re interested in this little historical nugget.

From Swanky Franky to backyard bomb shelters: More views of Hawaii in the 1940s

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Swanky FrankyI’m still coming across old photographs among my mother’s papers and making quick scans using my iPhone and an app called “CamScanner.” The results aren’t bad at all for sharing on the web.

This photo from 1940 shows my dad, John Lind, on the right, sitting in front of one of the Swanky Franky hot dog carts that gave brothers Cliff and Spence Weaver their start in the restaurant business. And I’m guessing those are the Weaver brothers with my dad in the picture.

My father came to Hawaii to take a job in the Honolulu office of San Francisco-based Dohrmann Hotel Supply Company. He was a good salesman, so it would have been natural to make friends with the Weaver brothers and other up-and-coming entrepreneurs.

This batch of photos ranges from Kahala to the University of Hawaii and back to downtown Honolulu on VJ Day.

–>See all of today’s gallery of old Hawaii photographs from my mother’s collection.

Another classic memory of the Queen’s Surf

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To the list of comments about the old Queen’s Surf, add this great one from retired Star-Bulletin editor Chuck Frankel.

I loved the Barefoot Bar at Queen’s Surf Beach. I proposed to Helga there one midnight in 1962, while S. Mossman, the Isaac brothers and Veroa Tiki performed.

I loved the downstairs bar and restaurant too, where you could get a roast beef buffet dinner for $2.99. I remember the first Sunday when you could buy liquor before noon, and we ordered a pitcher of bloody marys.

On the beach, you sometimes could hear Kui Lee rehearsing “I’ll Remember You.”

On the last day of the Spencecliff operations, a big crowd sang “We’ll Hang Frank Fasi On a Tall Coconut Tree,” to the tune of “John Brown’s Body.”

The bar and restaurants are long gone. Much of the sand on the beach has disappeared. The crowd of beachgoers has dwindled..

I try to swim there daily. I am sometimes the only swimmer in the water.

–Aloha, Chuck Frankel