Missing Hawaii

I have been to Hawaii twice in my life. The first time was in 1980 when I was 3 months pregnant with Nikki. Stan and I visited San Francisco and Honolulu. Honolulu was great but I couldn’t eat sushi because of the pregnancy so I missed out on all that good fish. It was also during the US Open and I was addicted to tennis. The beautiful Kahala Hilton had a TV out by the pool and beach and I parked myself there. Poor Stan…besides the Open, I was also so tired all the time. But we did all the tourist stuff…Pearl Harbor, Dole Pineapple Factory and Don Ho as seen below.

In San Francisco’s Fisherman’s Wharf, people would be flying colorful kites on the grass and Stan was intrigued and purchased one. The Hawaiian resort was on the outskirts of the city and we had rented a car. We had to pass a gorgeous park each time going to and from the hotel to “town”. He wanted to fly the kite in the park but tennis was on so he went off on his own. Much to my surprise. he returned half n’ hour later. Apparently on the first try, his kite flew into a tree and was stuck there. That was that. Think Charlie Brown.

The second visit was with Nikki in 1997. We flew into Honolulu for a few days and then went onto Maui. It was a great trip. We both learned how to make leis in Maui and excitedly purchased the supplies to make them at home. Suffice it to say, we never made another lei ever again!

Nikki wearing her handmade lei

Having never traveled to Asia, Hawaii was the only destination that I have ever been to, that the locals thought I was a native. It was so strange to just automatically “belong”. When I was buying tickets for the zoo, the clerk asked to see my driver’s license which I thought was odd. But he said this way I could get a resident discount! Then at a supermarket where I was purchasing cold cuts for lunch, the counter man asked me if I was taking a day off from work or did I get out early for the day! It was quite amusing.

I love Hawaii…I love how in Honolulu, one side of the street is like being on Fifth Avenue and right across the street is the beach. What a sight. All really fabulous.

But my title of this piece doesn’t really have to do with all I have just written because as much as I love Hawaii…I don’t have any real ties there. No….“Missing Hawaii” refers to my last quarter for my collection!
Anyone have one???

Burger King to Bergdorf's - Part 2

I worked only part time at Burger King. 4 hours here, 2 ½ hours there. This was right after I graduated from high school and over the summer. There were a couple of times I had to work on the weekends and it was so strange to be in the 34th Street area during a Sunday. It was so quiet! Great fun for me and the rest of the half staff. I met Jimmy there. He was in the back making the burgers. I would call the order in over the loud speaker but somehow it would sound very sexy. It drove the guys nuts and was great fun for me.

I was still seeing my HS boyfriend, Carl. But Jimmy got my attention and I got his. We flirted with each other outrageously. But it did make it fun to go to work. Eventually we saw each other outside of BK. I was juggling 2 guys and it was crazy!! When I left BK, I also left Jimmy….who told me he was Greek but his last name was Dermot but me being so sheltered had no idea at the time that last names could also give you an idea of their heritage.

One of my most vivid memory of BK was during a lunch hour rush. The lines were long and I was taking an order of an African American businessman who looked to be in his 40's. When he was done ordering, he said "Thank you, Esther" which surprised me. Did I know this man? He didn't look familiar but how did he know who I was? When he saw my puzzlement...he smiled and pointed to my name tag pinned to my chest...I completely forgot I had to have that on! Another memory is my whole family standing at the entrance one day....coming to see me at my new job. Unfortunately I was too busy to visit with them and show them around...LOL...as if.

Needlepoint USA was the name of the company I left BK for. It was started by two ladies, Elaine and Cherie who were sisters-in-law. Elaine was married to Cherie’s brother, Stuart. Elaine was the business end and Cherie, the creative force. They had started this business out of Cherie’s apartment and then moved to this small office on 57th Street. Pretty amazing. Besides transferring the designs onto canvas, I packaged kits for shipment to stores and catalogs in the office. I learned how to tie up boxes and send things out by UPS. Sometimes I went to the backrooms of the large department stores such as Bonwits to deliver items.

Obviously Marianne and I saw each other everyday. We had such a good time together. We would play backgammon during our lunch breaks and whenever the ladies were out of the office, the work would go away, the backgammon set taking its place. (Definitely when they went to get their hair done…we were good and free for a couple of hours!). I discovered Chockful of Nuts’s cheesecake and tomato soup from the deli across the street. The ladies were always dieting and discovered lo-cal biscotti before it’s time. I ate a ton of them! Right below our building, a health food restaurant opened up…we were there almost everyday picking up tuna in pita. At the time, pita was the newest thing! When Ann Taylor opened their store on 5th and 57th, they also had a small café upstairs. I had Black Forest Ham on brioche there for the first time. Heck…I didn’t even know what a brioche was! Here I was, a girl who grew up on cha siu baos eating la-di-dah french cuisine. Ahhh...there was no talking to me.

Anything “designer” was of interest to me. Especially Louis Vuitton. I carry LV to this day and have a collection of bags that are lovingly worn and in great need of repair. And even now - LV always catches my eye.

But always…I think a bit of the Burger King girl lives in me. Hmmm...I wonder if that's why the color orange always appeals to me!

From Burger King to Bergdorf's

I became a snob at the age of 20. I will explain how that came about. I had always worked at my parents’ store and at such a young age that I can’t remember when I didn’t work there. But when I turned 18, I knew I should get a “real” job and so I applied at Burger King. Their main office was on 42nd Street. I went there and filled out an application and figured I would go home and wait to hear. But they sent me to work right off the bat. Within minutes, I was dressed in their polyester orange uniform at their 34th Street location. Literally I was thrown in. My first position was filling the soda cups. After an hour of that, I was given the task of separating blocks of cheese slices. And then immediately put on the register. I was supposed to learn to work every position…making the burgers, the fries, cleaning but I never did. After I was placed on register duty, they never had me do anything else.

They were ahead of their time. The registers were programmed with the different items - Whopper, Whopper with Cheese, Fries, Onion Rings, etc. At the time, they didn’t have the value meals so everything was ordered separately and to your specification. Kathy always ordered a Whopper with extra pickles so they would have to make a fresh sandwich. I had a microphone and had to call the order in with each customer. My first day, I was quite overwhelmed and made many mistakes. I didn’t want the manager to know so would throw away the erroneous receipts. Well…at the end of the day, I didn’t know I would have to balance my register..(Duh) and I was off by over $100! At first I didn’t understand how that could possibly happen! I could not have given out change that incorrectly but it turned out I needed to keep all receipts that were “voided” to off set the money in the till. I never made that mistake again and was always pretty much right on the money.

It felt like I worked at BK for years but it was only one month! One of the perks of the job was a free meal. If I worked an afternoon shift, I would bring my Whopper and fries home to eat and Kathy would be green with envy. But in all honesty, I didn’t realized living in my own La-la land. For what it was worth, I had a good time at BK, made new friends and the staff liked me. The supervisors particularly liked me and when I finally quit, they tried to get me to stay on but I was on to bigger and better things.

My girlfriend Marianne had been working at a needlepoint company and when she heard about my BK job, she thought I should work with them. It would be easier for scheduling since I could work from home. I was starting NYU in the fall and I would make about the same amount of money. I would transfer designs from paper to canvas for needle pointing and was paid by the piece within a certain deadline. It was a great gig. The office was located on 57th Street between 5th & 6th Avenue. I got to see Marianne whenever I dropped off my work. I did this until I graduated from NYU with no real skills or idea on what to do with my life. A position opened up at the office full time and I didn’t think twice.

So there I was, a young woman with no real responsibilities working on 57th Street off of 5th Avenue. Where did I shopped? Why, the stores around there, of course. Bonwit Teller’s, Bergdoff’s, Bendel‘s. I opened up my first bank account at The First Woman’s Bank right on 57th and Park Avenue because it seemed soooo “chic”. I had my hair cut at Cinnadre’s….costing at that time about $100 which was outrageous. I carried designer bags, wore boutique styled clothes and desired to be like my bosses. Two ladies who left for hours once a week to get their hair done. Yep…somehow I had become a Fifth Avenue babe.

I love posting photos but I don’t have many from that time. (I guess 5th Avenue babes didn’t take pictures..too busy living life). But I soooo wish I could have one to post of me in that lovely orange BK uniform! Ha!

To be continued...