Post #448344 by Louiethefish on Mon, Apr 20, 2009 11:38 AM

Nice work Haole'akamai! Way back in the 60's, I remember when I lived in Hilo with my bestest buddy and phenominal collector, Dick Crawford, who still, to this day, sits in his little store, called Mid-Pacific store, in Hilo (808 935 3822), selling all sorts of Hawaiiana, shirts, dresses, and that shop is a trip, just crammed full of interesting old stuff.
Dick was great at finding really valuable old stuff, and he met a Mr. Kichi, over 90 years old, whos job back in the 30's, was to go around to Hawaiian homes selling fabric and other stuff, by horseback and wagon! Mr Kichi had a warehouse full of old stuff, and we all got to be the first to see it in over 20 years. He had piles of fabric remnants of the really valuable 1936 rayon Hawaiian prints, now in collectable catalogs. Dick and friends bought it all! I made vests, shirts , etc out of the stuff I got. I made stuff with combinations of fabric prints, but like an idiot, I wore them all out! I'm sure Dick still has the good stuff tho, and I recently got a classic shirt in his shop. If you ever get to Hilo, check it out!
I was into making my own hippy clothes back then, and even tracked down all the original brocades and fabrics worn by the Beatles back then, the Neru look, and made copies of all that, and wore it all over, adding to my already mega-hippy persona!
Later,
Louie the Fish!
http://www.louiethefish.com