Episode 21: Wakiki Part 1: Hot Dog Stand

⚠️ Content NoteThis episode includes adult subject matter related to Honolulu’s 1970s nightlife, including discussion of an adult bookstore, sex work, and crime. Listener discretion is advised.In this first half of the Waikīkī years, Aunty Piilani remembers her time running a small hot-dog stand that just happened to sit beside an adult bookstore on Kuhio Avenue—right in the middle of the wild Waikīkī nightlife of the 1970s. The stand drew every kind of customer imaginable, each with a story of their own. Amid the chaos, she also meets her third husband, whose promise of opal mines turns out to be far from shiny. With plenty of laughter, surprises, and street-corner wisdom, this episode captures the energy of a city—and a life—always in motion.