Post #680460 by Johnny Dollar on Sun, Jun 2, 2013 12:37 PM

the information in this article was related earlier in this thread, but in the spirit of historical completeness, please to review the following article from the WaPo dated may 16, 1965, followed by OCR text provided by me.

Moon Kim Shines in a Suburban 'Hut'
By John Pagones

FRANCE NUYEN, Shirley Yamaguchi, Nancy Kwan - they're pretty enough I suppose. but for breathtaking beauty I'll take Moon Kim anytime.
Moon Kim is the singer in the Luau Hut, the Polynesian style restaurant in Silver Spring one block west of the juncture of Georgia ave. and Colesville rd. She has just about the steadiest singing job you can imagine, for she also owns the Luau Hut.
Though she has had a restaurant for three years, she began singing here only six weeks ago. She did it for a lark and received such a response that now she sings three sets nightly.
What is so odd about this is that Moon Kim is a professional singer. Indeed, except for a brief period when she studied to be a psychologist ("I found I was losing myself more than I could help others," she said, with the faintest lilt of an accent) her entire training has been in music. She attended the Juiliard School of Music, then won a scholarship to the New York College of Music. Her degree was in opera.
An RCA Victor Records talent scout heard her and quickly signed her to a contract. "I thought it would be a succession of Madame Butterflys and then I would luck into some other roles," she said, "but then along came Elvis Presley and rock 'n' roll and I was persuaded to jump on the bandwagon, accent and all, so I cut three rock 'n' roll albums. They actually sold well but rock 'n' roll and I don't see eye to eye and that was the end of that."
BORN IN SEOUL, Korea, Moon Chan Kim (she dropped the middle name for professional reasons) came to this country in 1949. To earn money to put herself through school she became a broadcaster for the Voice of America. She has been with them on either a full-time or part-time basis ever since, having risen to a producer-director.
Moon Kim opened her first restaurant, called the Moon Garden, in 1961. "I knew nothing at all about restaurants,"
she said, "and now that I look back on it I know it was sheer folly. I deserved to fail and I almost did."
Moon Kim was not jesting. The Moon Garden, featuring Korean cuisine, was a bust from the start. It was about two weeks from bankruptcy when some employees of Trader Vic's held a party here. Among their group was the maitre d', Paul Malonson, who took one look at Moon Kim and flipped. They were married early this year.
It was Malonson who suggested a thorough overhauling and more varied cuisine. Today it is a handsome restaurant featuring foods of Korea, China, Japan and variations of Polynesian dishes and drinks.
The waiters are all graduate students and one of their number, Farratti Satoa, is the son of the President of the Samoan Senate.
Music now is an essential part of the Luau Hut's operation. Moon Kim's repertory varies from the pops to the classics.
She is accompanied by pianist John Phillips, who also fills in as intermission soloist.
The music begins at 8 p.m. nightly and goes on to around 11:30 p.m. Moon Kim's first set begins at 8:30 p.m. The Luau Hut is open seven days a week and, since it is in Maryland, serves liquor on Sundays.