In the previous MLC post, yukie commented to answer our question of where this fountain was.
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She said that her husband identified the fountain as in front of the Coral Reef Restaurant where his mother used to work.
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Check out the 6 digit phone number.
Looking to the ad, I think I can vaguely make out the fountain in the drawing.
Now where exactly was the Coral Reef restaurant? In the ad, it says that it’s located “Lower level next to Shirokiya“.
Was this when Shirokiya used to be located next to Longs when only the first phase of Ala Moana opened? And if so, then did Shirokiya have 2 levels (Mall and Street)? That would make sense because then when Shirokiya moved to the Phase 2 side, then Woolworths would’ve moved in and they had 2 levels (Mall and Street).
Truthfully, I don’t remember Ala Moana having only the first phase because that was when Ala Moana first opened and I would’ve been less than a year old. I just know by pictures that I’ve seen.
Hmm… It’s starting to come back now. Was the Coral Reef restaurant where the Post Office is now? I remember a fancier restaurant down there. Or was that the Prince Kuhio restaurant? No wait – the Prince Kuhio restaurant was on the makai street level by the Down Under Bar and India Imports, no?
I’m so confused with all the fancier restaurants that I never ate at. In fact, I never even ate at the Woolworth’s Coffee Shop!
I guess that being a poor intermediate/high school kid back then, I didn’t eat at any sit down restaurants where they served you.
For me, I ate only at a handful of places.
The original McDonalds that used to be located in the elevated section of Foodland – where you could dine and watch everyone doing their grocery shopping. I used to always order the Big Mac because it was McDonald’s specialty. I always wondered why my friend would order a smaller burger – then I figured it out. See, back then when we used to go scabbing shopping, we’d be self-conscious that some girls might be “checking us out” (yeah, right) and there is nothing more embarrassing than having secret sauce on the corners of your mouth. Plus, you had to open your mouth wide to fit the whole burger in. Yeah, we were oshare like that.
Another regular place to eat was at Patti’s Chinese Kitchen – even if the line went out the door. Remember how there was only one long line spilling out the door onto the sidewalk? And once you got in the door – under that pesky blower that blew air down from above the doorway that was meant to keep the flies out, but all it did was mess up your hair – the long line split into two where you could either go left or right to make your plate and choose your entrees. Then after paying, you’d be lucky to find one of those small tables that had only 2 chairs that wasn’t occupied. Or you ate outside. But the food was always so ono. Chow mein, shrimp canton, kau yuk, sweet sour spareribs, beef broccoli (not). Or sometimes I’d blow off the whole plate thing and just go for the manapua, pepeiau, half moon, rice cake, Honey twists (for Paula), etc. We didn’t call it Dim Sum back then because the word wasn’t invented yet.
Then one day, one of my friends turned me on to Lynn’s Delicatessen. That was the first time I tried pastrami. And I liked it! I really didn’t care for the rye bread with the caraway seeds though. Then later I learned that I could order it on white bread. Winnahs! But because I was a cheese-hater back in those days, I never took the opportunity to try it with cream cheese.
I remember that Lynn’s also served a spaghetti plate. I remember grinding that a few times. I recall this one time when I was in line ordering, I saw this lady walking back to the counter with a whole pile of black pepper on her spaghetti. Someone pulled the old “loosen the top on the salt or pepper shaker so the top comes off when someone tries to use it” trick. Poor thing. Ever since then, I always check to make sure that the shaker tops are tightened securely.
Woolworths had a little deli that I passed many, many times cutting through the store to get from the street level to the mall level – but not once did I try the pizza slices or fried chicken. I wish I could go back and try them…
Back in the day, which Ala Moana eateries did you patronize? Do you remember the Sears Coffee Shop? Or the Penneys Coffee Shop? Superman808 mentioned Rada’s. Do you remember Rada’s Piroscki at Ala Moana? Remember passing by the shrimp tempura in the take-out window at Wong’s Okazuya? Where were your favorite places to eat at Ala Moana and what was your favorite dish? Snacks included. Image may be NSFW.
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