In the late 50s, before the water in the Ala Wai got so gross, people use to fish there all the time. Mullets mostly. People ate the fishes they caught then. They didn’t glow in the dark or get so gigantic like the ugly mantis shrimp they got in there now. On the makai side of the canal, fishermen who’d come all the time would build small shacks. They were like their own personal shack. They’d sit under them. Hot in Waikiki.

In the mid 60s a U-Drive boat business opened up. I got to ride them two times. Was pretty expensive and mostly tourists rented them. Sometimes locals went on dates in them cause you could rent them at night too. I guess the couples could make out. They let you ride them from close to Kapahulu to the McCully overpass. Of course you weren’t allowed to take them to the ocean.

Irving Kam, 2003