SCOTT, Block Arena!!! YES! Many times!
I also knew a lot of those wrestlers because I was a member in good standing of Dean's Gym where they all lifted heavy things and where a three-year old Dwayne (The ROCK) ran around under the un-watchful of his dad.
I think I was the only Hauoli member and possibly the only one in 'good standing'.
I gotta assume that you are also familiar with the name of HOT-DOG-ANNIE .... at who's hot dog stand we used to gather after those Block Arena fights and devise ways to get on the spot TV and newspaper coverage for next week's battle.
I had no idea that you were back there then! It's possible that our paths have crossed!
Do you recall the name of the little local restaurant immediately next door to the Block Arena? We 'fine dined' there before every Block Arena event but have forgotten its name.
And possibly the names ... Hank and Valerie Grundman?
Those had to be Hawaii's best years ever! A lot of murder and mayhem, drugs, and shit and trips to Kaiser Emergency and every day on Ash-Can Beach which was actually that section of Waikiki Beach by the ash-can beghind the Royal Hawaiian Hotel.
Any of this familiar to ya?
I was there for the return of the one and only Sweet Daddy Siki! The Samoans loved the Sweet One! Mad Dog Mane was there too (I think that was his name...fuzzy memory right now). I would eat on base the small NCO (I think) club. This is nearly 50 years ago...Dammit!
I cannot (yet) recall the Grundmans but yes to Hot Dog Annie's! Been to Tripler Hospital a few times, and Hotel/Shit street was wild. I recall a bus stop right outside a porn theater and they put a speaker out there from the movie playing...That would be "bothersome" to us, LOL!
Ate at many roadside diners with teriyaki steak and chicken. Patti's Chinese Kitchen "King" plates were always a treat and Ala Moana headshops with their black light posters and "Keep On Truckin'" Posters, LOL! Used to go to the movies at the Sub Base theater and saw my first R rated film there, "The French Connection" there in I think, '71. Saw "Shaft" at the Ford Island Theater. That was a riot when the lights went up! Fun film that one.
I need a WayBack Machine, now! Damn...I am old.
