Readers React: Letters: More memories of Hawaii in the days of ocean travel

Thank you for the wonderful trip back in time with the Hawaii stories in the Oct. 18 issue [“Still a Draw,” by Catharine Hamm].

It was 1950 and I had a vacation coming up, and where better than Hawaii? I had borrowed $500 from my boyfriend and talked a friend into going with me. The Lurline was leaving from San Francisco that week, but that didn’t hold us back; we even had a bon voyage party onboard before we left. It was a very stormy crossing, which kept the other six passengers at our table in their cabins. That meant extra attention was paid to my girlfriend and me; we had a wonderful five days dancing every night and eating gourmet food.

My first view of the Aloha Tower was exciting for me since we were the same age. We spent the first two nights at the Moana but moved across the street for $6 a night instead of $12.

While we were relaxing by the giant banyan tree, we were invited to appear on “Hawaii Calls.” A hurried phone call alerted our families to listen in. We saw all the important sights and returned on Pan Am’s double decker. The $500, you ask? I married him and after 64 years I still plan to pay him back.

Katina Murufas McHugh

Rancho Palos Verdes

I enjoyed Hamm’s articles about Honolulu and the Matson Line. In 1908, my 8-year-old father and his family sailed on Matson’s Lurline from San Francisco to Honolulu.

They lived for several months in Waikiki; my father told me stories about this beautiful, tropical island. The Hawaiians and other islanders were extremely hospitable and introduced them to local foods and traditions. He enjoyed playing with the neighborhood children and swimming by the pier close to the Moana Hotel.

My father returned to Hawaii many times with his wife and sailed again to Honolulu on an incarnation of Matson’s Lurline in the early 1960s. My parents saved the watercolor menus from their voyage, which I treasure today.

Barbara Hanson Turner

Torrance

Hamm’s recent articles on Hawaii really took me back. I grew up in the Hawaii of the ‘50s, ‘60s and ‘70s. I could relate to all of it, including malasadas and “the pink palace” (the Royal Hawaiian). My father was with the U.S. Department of Agriculture; we moved to Hawaii in 1952 when I was 9.

The government sent our family back to the mainland every other summer to visit family. We traveled on Matson’s Lurline, Matsonia and Mariposa between Honolulu and San Francisco or Long Beach, a 41/2 -day trip. The Matson liners were simply a method of transportation in those days; “cruise ship” was not a term we knew or used back then.

The menu was a delicious and mystifying experience, especially for my little brother and me. It was on these passages that we had our first taste of baked Alaska, discovered that Saratoga chips were simply potato chips, and figured out how to use the multitude of silverware at our place settings.

At the end of each voyage, our parents would purchase souvenir menus. Two menus hang in my dining room by Eugene Savage, 1956, and Louis Macouillard, 1963. My mother lives in Colorado and has the rest of our menus.

Judy Malmgren

Goleta