Post #569730 by MadDogMike on Tue, Dec 21, 2010 2:56 PM

I posted this in SHOUT! but thought it might be worthy of a more permanent place :)

I met a lady today who was born in July 1927 and named "Aloha". The name intrigued me because I thought that 1927 was pretty much before Hawaii was in the consciousness of the general American public. Yes, Hawaii became a territory in 1898 and opened the first military base in 1907. But Trader Vic's and Don the Beachcomber's didn't open until the 30s, I had thought Hawaii to be pretty much off the radar at that time.

So I asked Aloha about the origins of her name. She said her father named her and he was a "romantic". He had told her that he had seen a movie in a theater about Hawaii shortly before she was born and that's where she got the Aloha name from. She didn't know the name of the movie, but my research shows there was a short documentary called "A Dash Through Hawaii" that was released in May of 1927. Could this have been the one?

Aloha told me as a teen, she had a good time with her "exotic" name. During WWII, she and her friend Ruby would drive 100 miles to San Diego where they would frequently encounter Sailors and Marines who were stationed there. She would have such a good time making up stories about her name to tell the servicemen that Ruby would insist that they take turns being "Aloha" so she could get in on some of the fun too! :lol: