Chapter 2: The Virgin in Detail’ing

On the cusp of Waikiki

This image roughly depicts reality back then, mid 1960’s. In the distance, beyond the stop light -> right, just above the ghostly old half sunk into earth 58 Ford pickup, was Ala Moana beach and you could park anytime, always room in much less populated Honolulu. The brand new Ala Moana shopping center was built down to the left on the boulevard and friend Dave had his car lot facing Ala Moana beach, his office the green building in the distance. That was a choice spot for sales, a short distance from old Waikiki, and he was the reason I got hooked up with the owners of Repo Auto Center.

I doubt I submitted a resume or had a real interview with the owners, the two of them, Wally, Dave. I don’t remember any whatsoever. It seemed as though they were only half serious about business and I would find out much more, soon, regarding their philosophy of life.

My new friend Dave told them I was a good guy and that was about it. Without any ceremony I met them and they acted like I had the job without much conversation. I was told what my duties would be and I was allowed to continue college courses, of course. I guessed I had the job although it was not set in stone or signed off or, well anything. I just had to show up before classes to make sure the “front Line” of cars all started.

Wally showed me the simple board with tiny hooks for the keys and they were supposed to be in order to follow along the car line from west to east. “You can’t sell a car if it won’t start,” was the simple philosophy. And then after classes I showed up again to start detailing cars, the part I liked. I did not ever once sell a car.

I wasn’t really sure they’d ever had a “lot boy” working for them before. I kind of got the impression they must have done the work themselves, perhaps Wally, he being the originator of car business. But he was quite adept at bossing, kind of a hard ass character, wanted to give me the impression I could easily be replaced. “Whatever,” I thought. He was apparently wanting to establish his pecking order, a sort of nervous need for authority.

The Front line by the sidewalk included cars that both started and were considered the best chances for sales. It doesn’t depict it here but there were front line car wheels parked in grass never mowed yet somehow seemed to add some sense of class to the otherwise happenstance looking operation. Funny thing was the sugar ants dwelled in that grass in the sand, the soil (we were close to the beach) and those critters could bite, really bear down.

The flip flop sandle foot donned customers had only moments to dally looking over the vehicles before they started to get attacked which for some reason brought a smile to my face. It was harmless enough. But Wally got really pissed off about the invasion and he always cussed and fumed, never actually did anything about it and wore white shoes to match his white belt and polyester fashions making his own flesh unavailable for biting. But I’d seen him more than once out stomping on ants in a frenzy hopeless attempt at ridding them.

Coconut palms grew out of the sandy soil and there was pavement plastered here and there, a kind of a parking lot shared with dirt, sand, cracks, you name it. The buildings were all quite temporary.

The property was owned by absentee folks living somewhere else, probably Asia and was managed by a company representing them. It was just flat secondary beach paved in spots available before building development took center stage and transient businesses, like fly by night companies with legs, used cars, were perfect for leasing and collecting revenue.

I was bound to learn so much about raw life in the new environment. Those were tawdry times indeed and very much unlike the atmosphere of the private run by Jesuits college I attended every day. It was a major shift of worlds from one place to the other, a kind of escape in either direction. But you have to remember this was Hawaii, not cold, really ever, and just hanging outside all the time was the norm. Accouterments like buildings, not needed. That was another thing new to this haole from the maritime wet cool Pacific Northwest, the Mainland.