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bubba
Akahai
72 Posts |
 Posted - 07/06/2009 : 07:02:34 AM
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What's the story with aloha shirts, are they held in disdain by the locals? Reading "Performance/Events - Aku Bone Lounge" is sounds as if you could get beaten up at various music venues for just wearing an aloha shirt. I personally wear aloha shirts virtually every day whether in Hawaii or in Santa Cruz as I love to wear color - but I don't get to Honolulu often. My pants are just blue jeans if you care. Would I be given leeway for age as I'm 70 years old? I don't know any locals, large or otherwise, that would be escorting me around to places.
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wcerto
Ahonui
USA
5052 Posts |
Posted - 07/06/2009 : 08:28:47 AM
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| You know Bubba, Paul has been wearing his aloha shirts for at least 30 years, way before they were "cool". That is just the style of shirt that makes him comfortable and happy. He does not care what anyone thinks about his sartorial choices. But I do, that is why he and I never have had the matching shirts or even a holuku or mu`umu`u that matches him. As soon as I open my mouth, someone is liable to know I am not local anyhow. Paul wears a palaka shirt also, looks jalike Uncle Raymond Kane, sorta, almost. |
Me ke aloha
Malama pono,
Wanda |
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Retro
Ahonui
USA
2368 Posts |
Posted - 07/06/2009 : 10:21:02 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by bubba
What's the story with aloha shirts, are they held in disdain by the locals? Reading "Performance/Events - Aku Bone Lounge" is sounds as if you could get beaten up at various music venues for just wearing an aloha shirt.
Nah, they mean (in their words) "funnykine" or "loud" aloha shirts; the kind popular with a certain breed of visitor. You've probably got planny shirts that are a bit more subtle/classier, the kine that don't shine so bright that they might as well be a neon "TOURIST WITHIN!" sign.
You've heard of "the ties that bind?" Beware "the shirts that blind." |
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Allen M Cary
Lokahi
USA
158 Posts |
Posted - 07/07/2009 : 08:41:27 AM
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Reyn in--Hilo Hattie out
Aloha
Allen |
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PoiDog
Lokahi
245 Posts |
Posted - 07/07/2009 : 09:12:19 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by Allen M Cary
Reyn in--Hilo Hattie out
Aloha
Allen
LOL! Reyn? Not too many kanakas wearing Reyn's. It's not the peel, it's the fruit.  |
Aloha,
da Poi Dog |
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Russell Letson
`Olu`olu
USA
504 Posts |
Posted - 07/07/2009 : 09:24:47 AM
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I bought one of my loudest (and prettiest) shirts, a sunset design, in 2001 at either Liberty House or a shirt shop in the Ala Moana Center. It didn't seem out of place with other fancy shirts I saw on the street or at the Hoku ceremony I attended that year.
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hapakid
Luna Ho`omalu
USA
1533 Posts |
Posted - 07/07/2009 : 11:44:45 AM
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Not many locals wear aloha shirts, but if they do, they're usually two-tone or low contrast variety. Just an observation. I usually try to copy that style when I go to the islands, though I would also add to that traditional 50s/60s colors and patterns, including gold and brown as well as tapa cloth patterns.
Jesse Tinsley |
Edited by - hapakid on 07/07/2009 11:48:24 AM |
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Hookani
Lokahi
232 Posts |
Posted - 07/07/2009 : 12:12:33 PM
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I wear aloha shirts everyday to work. Brand I prefer is Kahala. I usually get the pull overs cuz I no like tucking in da shirt. If you get to da Big Island, Sig Zane makes nice shirts.
Ho'okani |
Ke Kani Nahe
YouTube
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sm80808
Lokahi
347 Posts |
Posted - 07/07/2009 : 12:28:24 PM
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I wear aloha shirts for job interviews or other work functions and not much else. They are a lot more comfortable than the dres shirts I had to wear to work on the mainland. I think the ones I have are Kahala but my wife got them from Goodwill... (They actually have a good selection of aloha shirts at the Goodwill on Beretania.)
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Edited by - sm80808 on 07/08/2009 8:04:49 PM |
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wcerto
Ahonui
USA
5052 Posts |
Posted - 07/07/2009 : 1:35:24 PM
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| Kahala brand are really very well-made shirts. Take it from a former DoD clothing inspector. I think the important thing is to buy Hawaiian. |
Me ke aloha
Malama pono,
Wanda |
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sandman
Lokahi
USA
181 Posts |
Posted - 07/08/2009 : 7:28:40 PM
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Kahalas are nice but every Christmas my wife buys me the special edition Reyn Spooner shirt. In 2005 I wrote an article for the Vietnamese magazine I do a column for about Spooner Christmas shirts and as a courtesy sent a copy to the Spooner company. A week or two later I received a nice letter from Tim McCullough, Reyn's son and the CEO, thanking me for my kokua. In the article I had mentioned Ralph Larrabee and the 161' gaff rigged schooner Goodwill which I had been aboard but never raced on. It turns out when the McCulloughs lived in Avalon before they moved to Hawai'i Larrabee would anchor off the harbor and Tim would row groceries out to him. Larrabee later sailed to Hawai'i and continued to enhance his reputation as a rich alcoholic and abusive womanizer.
The year Newport Beach celebrated its 100 anniversary Spooner did a special commemorative shirt for the city and also a special shirt for the Catalina Conservancy. McCullough gifted me with both. (You can see me wearing the Conservancy shirt in Zihuatanejo on the Spooner website. I was 40 pounds heavier in the picture if you are comparing it with my Taro Patch shot today. Cancer surgery will do that to you.  )
Goodwill, the biggest boat to race in the TransPac, was majestic to say the least and must have been a handful to run even with a huge crew. In 1969 she foundered on Sacramento Reef off Baja California and all hands, including Larrabee, were lost.
Sandy |
Leap into the boundless and make it your home.
Zhuang-zi |
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hikabe
Lokahi
USA
358 Posts |
Posted - 07/09/2009 : 2:27:52 PM
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I don't wear aloha shirts in Hawaii. I don't wear any kine shirt, period! Too hot!!!
I don't think locals in Hawaii have disdain for people who wear aloha shirts. So many people wear them that it's hardly even noticable. Maybe on the mainland it might be easy to stand out in a crowd in certain areas. I guess some people may look goofy in an aloha shirt. Some people look goofy no matter what they wear... |
Stay Tuned... |
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Retro
Ahonui
USA
2368 Posts |
Posted - 07/09/2009 : 3:21:49 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by hikabe
Some people look goofy no matter what they wear...
Do you see me raising my hand?  |
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Mark
Ha`aha`a
USA
1628 Posts |
Posted - 07/10/2009 : 08:18:52 AM
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quote:
Goodwill, the biggest boat to race in the TransPac, was majestic to say the least
Wow, thanks for bringing back some old memories. I grew up in Newport & remember seeing the Goodwill on an almost daily basis. As a kid I dreamed about sailing on her.
I moved away to college in '68 & I'd forgotten the end of the story.
Always amazing what one reads here.
Found this rather rambling account of sailing the Goodwill from Hawaii to SF. Nice pix:
http://www.davearcher.com/goodwill.html br /
I grew up wearing what we called "Hawaiian shirts" (and "go aheads" -- rubber slippers to you) & I don't see any reason to stop now.
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Edited by - Mark on 07/10/2009 08:46:01 AM |
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salmonella
Lokahi
240 Posts |
Posted - 07/10/2009 : 08:37:05 AM
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"go aheads". Yikes. What a memory.
We only wore them late summer-midday when the black top was too hot to cross in bare feet without burning the skin off on our way to the beach (Redondo/Hermosa/Manhattan and later Huntington). Not all of the intersections had white painted crosswalks to use as low temperature bridges to cross, otherwise we could have made it without the extra foot protection.
I wonder if "go aheads" came from "white front" department store?
Dave |
Edited by - salmonella on 07/10/2009 08:39:54 AM |
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PearlCityBoy
Lokahi
USA
432 Posts |
Posted - 07/10/2009 : 09:10:08 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by hikabe
I don't wear aloha shirts in Hawaii. I don't wear any kine shirt, period! ...
Hmmm . . . Kanaka or not, now we know why da waitress at Honey's nevah like come by fo take your order  . |
Edited by - PearlCityBoy on 07/10/2009 09:20:49 AM |
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Aloha Shirts
