This oral history interview is a project of the Historical Committee of the Outrigger Canoe Club. The legal rights of this material remain with the Outrigger Canoe Club. Anyone wishing to reproduce it or quote at length from it should contact the Historical Committee of the Outrigger Canoe Club. The reader should be aware that an oral history document portrays information as recalled by the interviewee. Because of the spontaneous nature of this kind of document, it may contain statements and impressions that are not factual.
An Interview by Ward Russell
November 9, 1983
WR: Today is the ninth of November, 1983. It is a beautiful morning at the Outrigger Canoe Club. I am Ward Russell (WR), a member of the Historical Committee of the Outrigger Canoe Club, and I have the distinct pleasure this morning of interviewing Victor Kahn (VK), a long-time member of the Outrigger Canoe Club. Vic is a past member of our Board of Directors and has the distinction of being a Life Member. Vic, tell me, when and where were you born?
VK: I was born in Cardiff, Wales, Great Britain.
WR: In England.
VK: In England, yes.
WR: And what, were your parents doing at that time?
VK: My father was in business in Wales. I think he . . . he had a wholesale furniture outfit, but I’m not sure – my sister knew the history, we boys didn’t bother with much of our family background
WR: When did you first come to the United States?
VK: Oh, when I was about two or three years old.
WR: Your family moved to the United States at that time.
VK: My father came right here to Hawaii.
WR: Oh, to Hawaii?
VK: From Great Britain
WR: What year was that?
VK: I don’t know . . . 1904 or ’05, around there, I think.
WR: Well, you’ve been here…
VK: Oh, yes, I’ve been here since I was a youngster.
WR: Almost eighty years ago. That’s very interesting. Tell me what brought your family to Hawaii?
VK: I think my father came here alone and a year later sent for my mother and the kids. Three boys and one girl
WR: Three boys and one girl in your family.
VK: At that time. My youngest sister was born here.
WR: Which one were you? Were you the eldest?
VK: No, I am the youngest of the three boys.
WR: The youngest of the three boys. Well, then all of your family grew up here in Hawaii. That is correct.
VK: And you were educated here?
VK: Yes, at McKinley High School.
WR: McKinley High School, what year?
VK: The year 1 graduated? 1916.
WR: 1916. For goodness sake
VK: I think, that was it. I went right . . . I volunteered in the Navy during the war.
WR: World War I.
VK: World War I, yes. I was in St. Egere, France a couple of months after I left Hawaii. The USS St. Louis was here in the harbor with a skeleton crew and when the war broke out they needed a bunch of men in addition instead of a skeleton crew, do you see? They needed a bunch of sailors, and I was in the Naval militia, the Boy Scouts of the Navy – – we were all just kids. I was a little underage and my mother signed my papers and I volunteered into the U.S. Navy and I went squarely into the World War zone on convoy duty right away.
WR: For goodness sake. How old were you then?
VK: Seventeen.
WR: Seventeen. How many years were you in the Navy?
VK: Until the war ended
WR: And what did you do after the war was over?
VK: In the Navy we were known then – something you don’t hear much of now – as the NNV, that’s the National Navy Volunteer. That’s what we were known as when we went into the Navy. After I came out I went to work for an audit company, I forget the name. There were a lot of audit companies here.
WR: An audit company
VK: Uh-uh.
WR: In Honolulu . . . when you came back to Hawaii.
VK: I stayed here for a while then I went back . . . I went to San Francisco for about a year, then came back here again.
WR: I see. But, then you didn’t have any college education?
VK: Oh, I did have – correspondence stuff, you know.
WR: You and I are in the same boat, I didn’t have any either. I was a correspondence school graduate, shall we say.
VK: I went to the University night school.
WR: The night school at the University?
VK: Hawaii.
WR: What courses did you particularly pursue?
VK: Mostly administrative, accountancy – along those lines, you know.
WR: Tell me a little about your business experience — your business background. What particular jobs did you have?
VK: Well, I started off with the Bishop Trust Company, and then I went into the Tax Office, I was a Territorial tax collector here for a while.
WR: What, year was that?
VK: Gosh, I don‘t remember that!
WR: (Laugh) Times grows a little dim after a while.
VK: Yes. my memory is growing short on me now, you know.
WR: You and I are in the same boat. (Laugh) Well, you were the Tax Collector?
VK: Known as the Territorial Tax Collector.
WR: Uh-uh.
VK: . . .and I went into the Territorial Retirement System.
WR: You headed the department
VK: Yes.
WR: … the retirement system for a number of years, didn’t you? And then?
VK: Then I went out, I think it was 1969, but I am not too sure, in that area somewhere, I’ve been retired for a number of years.
WR: Enjoying your retirement?
VK: Oh, as best I can
WR: You know you look in fantastic health. What do you do for relaxation?
VK: Well, for one thing, I swim every day. See, I live across from the Hawaiian Village, at the Kalia. I try to swim every day for exercise. That’s what I do most.
WR: How much time do you spend at the Club? I see you quite frequently having lunch.
VK: Yeah, but I er . . . just to kill time more than anything else, you know.
WR: Tell me, when did you first join the Club? Do you remember?
VK: Oh, yes . . . way back, 1 joined the Elks in 1919 and I think I joined this Club in ’23, I believe. About 1923. I’m a Life Member here.
WR: What were your early recollections of the Club?
VK: Well, you knew everybody for me thing, and we were closer together. The longer we go the more Mainland malihinis come and you lose… your old friends are gone, you know, and the new ones, the youngsters naturally don’t know who you are.
WR: What were your first impressions of the Club. As I remember, in the early twenties when you joined, it must have been at the old building.
VK: Yeah, well, I was very athletic in those days and I was on the volley ball team and, as I recollect, I started mountainball. See we were playing volleyball at the old club, and too many people showed up for volleyball only six on a side, you see. So I suggested, I am sure I did, that we go across to Kapiolani Park to play mountainball and we ended up with four or six teams which, of course, gave everybody a chance to participate in the athletic program.
WR: As I remember in those days it wasn’t only volleyball and mountainball, but we had track teams…
VK: Yes, Clifford Melim. Very few people remember Clifford Melim, but he was a sprinter you know, a wonderful sprinter. Around ten flat, I think. There were other sports, too.
WR: As I remember, Clifford ran against Charlie Paddock. Isn’t that right? I think it was almost a dead heat between the two, Charlie Paddock in those days was a world champion sprinter.
VK: Yes, that’s right.
WR: Did you participate in any other sports besides volleyball and mountainball?
VK: Well, I was very active in swimming. We didn’t go into that too much, you know.
WR: Did you surf or paddle?
VK: Oh . . .
WR: Everybody . . .
VK: Sure, nothing else to do those days. Sports were very limited you know, I mean . . .
WR: Who were some of your associates at that time with whom you were particularly close?
VK: Oh, I can’t remember now, it is so far back, you know.
WR: You probably would see in those days . . . well, there was Duke . . .
VK: Duke Kahanamoku, in fact, I have some wonderful pictures of Duke Kahanarnoku and myself, you know.
WR: Oh, you do?
VK: Yeah, Duke and I were. . . . he was a Shriner, you know,
WR: Uh-uh.
VK: So when we made trips to the Mainland, Duke and I were very close. We were always shipmates, you know, always together.
WR: Well, this is very interesting, because one of the things that the Historical Committee is doing is collecting pictures of our old-timers and we would be very grateful if you would let us take a look at your pictures and maybe reproduce them for our archives.
VK: I don’t want to relinquish them.
WR: Oh, no, no.
VK: You know, Duke and I with our Shriner fezes on. Duke Kahanamoku. Not too many people know that he was a Shriner, you know. So I can bring them for you.
WR: We’d appreciate that very much. We can copy them and return the originals to you. If you’d do that, we’d be most grateful.
VK: Shall I bring them here?
WR: Yes. Just leave them…why don’t you put them in an envelope and then leave them here and then . . .
VK: Well, they are framed, you know.
WR: Oh they are framed!
VK: They’re framed, and I don’t want to take them out of the frames.
WR: Well, let’s cover that a little later after we get a little more of your background. What prompted you to become a member of the Board of Directors?
VK: Well, I was very interested in the Club on the athletic end and someone…I was approached to run. I knew everyone in those days, you know, not like today.
WR: Everybody knew you.
VK: Yes. So I ran and had no difficulty . . .you know, I was elected.
WR: Do you know how many years you served on the Board?
VK: Its so far back now. I have a picture of a group of us in 1944
WR: Well we can probably check back in the annals of the Club.
VK: Yes. They have them here, I am sure.
WR: When did you become a Life Member?
VK: After 50 years, I don’t know now – four or five years, I guess.
WR: You joined in 1923, this would be…
VK: About that, I think.
WR: Well, this would be the sixtieth anniversary of your membership, So you probably became a Life Member quite a number of years ago. Well, you’ve seen a lot of changes.
VK: Oh (laugh), and of course, I don’t have to pay any dues, you know. What are the dues? Forty or fifty a month, nowadays?
WR: $45 a month.
VK: …a month. I just come to the Club for my meals occasionally nowadays. I don’t swim here. I swim at the. Hawaiian Village practically every day for exercise.
WR: Well, considering the number of years that you’ve been a member of the Club and all the contributions you have made to the Club, it certainly is just recognition that you were made a Life Member. What do you think of the changes in Honolulu over the years?
VK: Too fast, I would say – I mean by contrast, you know. In the old days we knew everybody everywhere we went. You go into a restaurant and, “Hello, Vic, how are you, what’ll you have today”, and all that, but you don’t see that any mare. We’ve expanded to the extent now that we are just like a Mainland city. So many new people . . . I am speaking of how it was before the advent of planes when only the ships came in once a week. We didn’t get too many outsiders, like we have now.
WR: What about the social functions of the Club in the old days?
VK: They were very, very good, I thought, and very close. In those days when we wanted to throw a dance, we knew everybody on the floor practically, you know, and had a ’’hail fellow well met” feeling. You don’t get very much of that any more.
WR: Tell me, did you ever marry, Vic?
VK: Oh, you never married. You are an old bachelor like I am.
VK: Well . . . I knew this girl thirty, thirty-five years, you know. We were very, very close and had all our meals together. She was a wonderful cook. She lived in the same building that I was in. She died last year.
WR: Oh, I’m sorry to hear that.
VK: Now, I’m a patron of the restaurants.
WR: That must have been a wonderful relationship.
VK: Yes, it was.
WR: How about the rest of your family, are any of them still living?
VK: Only two of us – myself and one brother in San Francisco and that’s all.
WR: He’s in San Francisco. Did any of them stay here in Hawaii or did most of them leave?
VK: No. Well, we lived here – my two sisters but they are gone, you know. My brother left for the Mainland, he was with the British Army in World War I – the British Expeditionary Forces – and when the war was over he came home and in no time at all he went back to California, you see. I’m the only one left here.
WR: Did your sisters marry and have families.
VK: One of them married- no family.
WR: Uh-uh
VK: Her husband was a football player. Red Hassal, ex-Navy, a Navy football player, but they are both gone now, and only one . . . my brother in San Francisco, that’s all.
WR: As I remember, when we were planning to move to the new Club site weren’t you on a number of committees?
VK: Yes
WR: Which committees were you on, do you remember?
VK: I know I was on the Planning Committee. I don’t remember all the others, my memory . . .
WR: Well, as I recall, I know you were on the Athletic Committee because you made a substantial contribution in that area.
VK: Yes.
WR: …and I think I also had you on one of the finance committees.
VK: I think so. I’m pretty sure.
WR: Yes, I think so . . . of course there were a whole succession of committees, but your name was always on one or more of the committees.
VK: Yes, I tried… I was pretty active, but I don’t remember now, my memory. I don’t even remember what I had for breakfast…
WR: (Laugh) What did you think about moving to the new Club site?
VK: Oh, well, I think that was progress — it had to be – had to be, you know. This is owned by the Elks Club, isn’t it?
WR: Yes, the Master Lease on this property is owned…
VK: I’m a Life Member of the Elks, too.
WR: Oh, are you?…of the Elks Club. Well you joined the Elks, as I recall – you said you joined the Elks before you joined the Outrigger.
VK: I joined the Elks, I think, in 1919.
WR: Are you still active in the Elks Club at all?
VK: No, not any more. I started the volleyball and baseball programs and mountainball at Kapiolani Park. I was very active in those days. Anything athletic I was a leader in it, you know„ because when I was a youngster most of the Elks were older fellows. You didn’t get the young element like we have today, you see. As a result I was very active in athletics and took on the job of getting those programs started.
WR: Did you ever play any type of organized sport, like in baseball?
VK: No, not organized.
WR: You weren’t in any of the senior leagues or anything….
VK: No, nothing like that.
WR: Just a Club activity.
VK: In those days . . . You remember the Healani Swimming Club?
WR: Oh, sure.
VK: I was a member of their swimming team.
WR: Healani? I was Myrtle.
VK: Yes there were the Healanis and the Myrtles.
WR: Did you row far Myrtle – I mean Healani?
VK: Healani, yes.
WR: I rowed for Myrtle – a few years after you.
VK: Yeah, oh yeah, way back.
WR: Who were some of the prominent oarsmen, do you remember?
VK: Well, there were the Hollinger boys.
WR: Yeah. They were members of the Outrigger Club, too.
VK: Yeah. Johnny and Bill. In swimming, of course, Pua Kealoha was a world champion swimmer. Duke and I were very close in those days. When the Shriners made trips Duke and I were pretty much together, and everybody on the Mainland, of course, was clamoring to meet Duke Kahanamoku. In those days his name was…like the good Lord, you know.
WR: Yes. I remember Duke was quite an oarsman he and “Doc“ (Paul) Withington . . .
VK: Yeah, “Doc” I remember “Doc”. (G.D.) Center was also very active. I don’t remember names much anymore. If I see the pictures I would know.
WR: What about Nicoll? Do you remember him?
VK: Yes, Mel Nicoll.
WR: Mel Nicoll. He was at Healani, wasn’t he?
VK: Healani, yes.
WR: I remember he was quite an oarsman. He and Duke used to compete with each other.
VK: Mel Nicoll was very much of a leaderman at the Club in those days, you know, I knew Mel very well. That was in the good old days, you knew everybody then.
WR: Yes, I went to school with his daughters, they were one year ahead of me at Punahou.
VK: Yes, I remember the two girls.
WR: The two girls – great girls. Mel was quite a friend of my family. I’ve known him since…
VK: I worked with Mel for a while, you know.
WR: You did?
VK: What was the name? Muller, Phipps and Nicoll, I think it was. I worked – I was office manager for a while, way, way back.
WR: You probably knew my aunt, Josephine Paris.
VK: Oh, yes. Wasn’t there an Alika Paris, too?
WR: That was Alika Parrish.
VK: Parrish?
WR: She was Bob Paris’ wife…she was quite active in the old Club, swimming and surfing, particularly.
VK: Yes.
WR: Well, let’s see, any other things you can think of that we haven’t covered? I imagine in all the years you’ve been a member of the Club that you have some real close friends. Any that you could say are your best friends?
VK: Duke was. He was a Shriner and we’d go to the Scottish Rite meetings and we’d be sitting together, you know.
WR: Are you still active in the Shriners?
VK: Not anymore. I’m a Life Member,
WR: You’re a Life Member of the Shriners, too,. My goodness! What other life memberships do you have?
VK: Well? it’s a sequence of events, you know. When I was a youngster there wasn’t much else to do so we joined these things and particularly the athletic end of it, I was very active in those days.
WR: Did you go between the Islands much in connection with club activities? The Shriners . . .
VK: I’d go on pilgrimages with them you know, more in the capacity of a Shriner, like the others . . . other Masons, would be.
WR: The reason I asked that question I was interested in your impressions of island travel. How it has changed over the years.
VK: Oh, yes. The Mauna Kea and the Mauna Loa, those boats, you know. It was good fun in those days. We were very close together, you know. The Shriners all together and they are not so eager to meet each other anymore. You know what I mean. You’d go up and say, “My name is so-and-so, how long have you been a member?” They don’t do that so much anymore,
WR: When I was a youngster growing up in Hilo, I can remember travelling on some of those old boats, the Haleakala, the Waiaieale, the Humuula. I think my first plane trip was not until the late thirties. Prior to that it was always the Inter-Island steamers. Well, Vic, we’ve covered a lot of things, is there anything else you can think we might add to the recollections?
VK: No, only that the Outrigger was always active in sports, and I have some wonderful memories here.
WR: What’s your, impression of the Club’s current athletic program?
VK: I don’t follow it.
WR: Well, we’re still championship caliber as far as volleyball and…
VK: Are they still active, I mean, are they still eager to…
WR: Yes, very. I think this past season has been a particularly active season in terms of spirit and . . .
VK: We used to go along the same as the Elks, we’d even go down to the prison and play mountainball against the prisoners.
WR: That was a Club function.
VK: A Club function, yes. Most of my memories are rather vague now, you know, so many years . . .
WR: Well, you’ve added a lot to the…
VK: I used to be active and I used to lead . . . I mean, whenever… in those days when I was in my twenties they automatically used to come to me and say, ’’Vic, when are you going to start a mountainball team?” and I would kind of get the thing going, you know, and I used to enjoy doing it. I automatically used to do it.
WR: That reminds me, one of the things, if my memory serves me correctly that you were instrumental in organizing was the Kamaaina Hui.
VK: Oh, yes. Yes, I remember starting that…Are they still functioning?
WR: Yes, they met this year. They had a reunion this year and I think prior to this year the last time they met was two years ago, I believe.
VK: They should keep that up.
WR: Tell me, how did you get involved in the Kamaaina Hui?
VK: Well, through being a member of the old clubs. I was a member of the old Healani Club, and I was a member – a Life Member, now – of the Outrigger Canoe Club and I was active in the Elks so they automatically said, ’’Now, let’s form this Hui – let’s get together”.
WR: You were one of the organizers.
VK: Yeah.
WR: Weren’t you President of the Club?
VK: I don’t remember that.
WR: If memory serves me correctly when I first became a member of the Hui you were President.
VK: I think so, but I don’t want to say anything that may not be so, I don’t remember. At my age, my goodness, I am in the eighties you know, and I can’t remember these things.
WR: Eighty years young.
VK: Eighty-seven,
WR: Eighty-seven! Are you really eighty-seven?
VK: That’s the reason I say I am rather vague.
WR: Well, it’s on tape now, we’ve got you. (Laughter)
VK: Really? All of this?
WR: Sure. Now what we’ll do is after we have recorded this interview it will be transcribed and you’ll have an opportunity to go over it and edit it.
VK: Everything I say now is being recorded?
WR: Uh-uh.
VK: I didn’t know that.
WR: Don’t worry. It is your property. You will have a chance to review it and anything that goes into the final draft for the Club’s records will be what you want to go into the Club’s records.
VK: I don’t want the public to know all of these . . .
WR: We won’t tell everybody how old you are. I think you should be very proud of your age, you are in such beautiful physical shape.
VK: But at the same time, I am going to shut up if this is going to go on there,
WR: No, please don’t, worry, its perfectly OK. Well, what else can we say? I think you have done an excellent job. I was particularly interested in the Kamaaina Hui and as you say, it is one of the things that we should continue.
VK: A name that you don’t even hear any more, but in the old days we used to have a lot of time, Panama Dave. Panama Dave, I never forget we were sitting out here on the beach one day and there was a boat coming in on the horizon. He talked pidgin, and said, “Heh , look at that big boat on the horizontal.”
WR: He really massacred the King’s English.
VK: Yes. He really did. He was a good old soul and “Dad” Center also, you know,, used to be very active. Ben Hollinger „ .they are all gone now.
WR: You knew all the beach boys.
VK: Oh, yes.
WR: Do you remember some of the names of…
VK: Well, Pua Kealoha, I mentioned him. Pua Kealoha was a wonderful swimmer you know and he and Kahanamoku were on a par. Well, there’s so many, I’d have to.,. .I have a picture of a group taken in 1944 and that would bring back the memories of a lot of names.
WR: All right now. We are going to arrange to look at some of those pictures because I think some of those we would like to keep in the Club’s archives. I think this has been a most productive interview.
VK: Well, if I can help – like I said.
WR: There are a lot of things that you reminded me of and there are a lot of things you talked about that will be of interest to people who, in future years, will want to do a little research into the history of the Club.
VK: Well, I’ve been a member of this Club . . . well, I’m a Life Member and that’s sixty years.
WR: Well, let’s see. The fact that we’ve had one interview doesn’t preclude us from having another. Maybe one of these days, if you think of more things you want to tell us, we’ll have chapter two of this interview. Vic, thank you very much.