Post #162337 by kimoaz on Mon, May 30, 2005 11:57 AM

dogbytes, We moved to Hawaii in 1964. Mom, Dad, 4 boys, 2 dogs and 13 pieces of luggage. After 2 weeks in Waikiki, Dad started to research opportunites in Hawaii.
CoCO Joe's owned the Tiki business at the time, which was products made out of a black lava blend. Dad did some looking around and realized he could take that idea a bit further and he developed the molds and process to make tikis, ashtrays, keychains, poi pounders, pen holders and other products not only out of black lava, but red lava, coral, sand, olivine and anything else he could mix and mold. We started in the kitchen, in Manoa, making molds of checker chips and filling them with different material mixes until we came up with the right mix.
This story goes on but before we go any further, my dad's name was Sam Bulkley. He fell in love with Hawaii on a few business trips and had the courage to move us all from Colorado to Hawaii. Then he found a way to put us all to work starting HIP.
Let me put together a better history and I will include pictures. I have the originall
checker chips we made in the kitchen. Please be patient.