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I know that thereís other native Hawaiian business owners out there, but our claim to
fame is that weíve been in business for over sixty years. And my mom and dad always stressed
that youíre Hawaiian, you and your sisters are Hawaiian, you know, and you need to make
us proud.
Food keeps us connected with our cultural traditions, and an enduring example is the
culinary legacy of Hailiís Hawaiian Foods. Rachel Haili and Lorraine Haili Alo, next
on Long Story Short.
Long Story Short with Leslie Wilcox is Hawaiiís first weekly television program produced and
broadcast in high definition.
Aloha mai kakou, and welcome to Long Story Short. Iím Leslie Wilcox. Since the 1950s,
Hailiís Hawaiian Foods has made mouths water for steaming laulau, chicken long rice, poi,
and delicious poke. Founded by the late Rachel Ching Haili and husband, Peter Davis Haili,
the family-run enterprise continues to offer authentic and hard to find traditional Native
Hawaiian dishes. Growing up in this Hawaiian-Chinese family meant that every family member was
expected to contribute their time to help with the family business, located at the Ala
Moana Farmerís Market across from where Ward Center stands today. The second generation
of Hailiís to take over the business are Rachel Haili and her sister, Lorraine Haili
Alo. Theyíre Daughters Number 4 and 5 from a family of six girls. They credit the continuing
success of the business to family teamwork, determination, and the business savvy inherited
from their mother.
Yeah; my father was the silent partner. Whatever my mother said, it was, Oh, okay, honey.
My mother was pure Chinese, and my father was pure Hawaiian. So, you had these opposite
personalities. My father was happy-go-lucky, and you know, very outgoing. My mother was
outgoing too, but in a different way. And my mother was very task-oriented. But they
were both very family-oriented. Like, even though they were busy working, they always
made time for us on Sundays. Weíd all get into our um, station wagon. We had one of
those green banana station wagons.
It was a ***.
A ***; yeah. [CHUCKLE]
With the wood panels.
Green, with wood panels, yeah. So, our job was, while they were working in the morning,
we had to get baskets of clothes ready, baskets of food ready, so by the time they came home,
we loaded everything up and we went to our auntieís house in Kaaawa. And weíd spend
the day there with our cousins. Weíd go on a boat to catch squid.
Was the squid for the restaurant, or for fun?
For the store. [CHUCKLE]
Oh, so you were gathering supplies.
We were just talking about that. I remember being in the boat with my dad, my younger
sister and I, and heíd have the squid box. And weíd be sitting in the boat watching
him dive down there. And you know, we were like five, six years old, we donít really
know how to swim, but weíre in the boat with our dad, and weíre just kinda looking over,
watching him go down for squid and come back up with it. And you know, it was these long
tentacles moving around. Yeah.
To make squid luau.
And raw squid.
Raw squid.
Back then, yeah, it was a lot of raw squid. And then, weíd have to learn how to dry it
too, so weíd have to learn to pound it. So, even though we enjoyed the beach a lot, we
also had to learn to go pick limu. Because that was another thing we needed for the store.
The store went seven days a week, so we never really had family vacations, how people would
pack up and fly, and go somewhere, go to the outer islands. It was always a Sunday outing
with our parents, so you know, we never really felt like we were being deprived. Because
my mom and dad always had time for us. I remember my mother and father taking us to, like, roller
derby and wrestling on Wednesday nights. We did a lot of fun things. My mom would just
close the business down at five oíclock in the afternoon, be home in time. Sheíd call
us and say, Okay, weíre going to wrestling tonight, or weíre going to the roller derby.
Oh, how fun.
If you want to go, have the rice cooked.
Live action.
Yeah; yeah.
At the Civic Auditorium?
Civic Auditorium.
You know, they used to have the football games at the stadium over on Isenberg. Back then,
we had to make our laulauís at home. So it was the same thing. You know, my mother said,
You folks have to get everything ready, because before we can go to the football game, we
have to make all the laulauís. So, after school, weíd come home like on a Friday night.
Okay, you know, you set the tables up, you start washing the luau leaves, you start cutting
the pork.
How many did you have to make?
Five bags of taro leaves everyó
Thatís a lot.
You know, thatís like twenty-pound bags. So, thatís a hundred poundsó
Wow!
--of taro leaves that weíd have toó
And back then, you had to peel all the taro leaves too. So, it was like, Okay, we gotta
get organized or we canít go to the game.
Your reward was the game. Did you resent doing all that work?
No, ëcause we had to do it.
It was just part ofóthat was us, that was part of what we needed to do.
And it was fun too, because weíd have friends come over and help us. Weíd have our cousins
come over and help us.
And aunties, and everybody knew theiró
And we had cake afterwards.
--position at the table.
And so, what happened on school days? I mean, you went to Kamehameha, and you went to Punahou
and Kamehameha, right?
On school days, my sister Carol and I, it was after school, we got on the bus and we
went straight down to Ala Moana Farmerís Market. And we needed to be thereówhen we
were teenagers. When we were little, we went to school right across the street from our
house. We grew up on Gulick in Kalihi. And weíd come home, and weíd have to do our
chores, you know, at home. Take care of the dog, sweep up the yard, get the garage ready
because everybodyís gonna come home and make laulauís tonight, and you know, weíd have
to have the rice cooked. We had chores to do. Yeah.
And then later, you would go to the store.
Later, yeah. Later, when we were teenagers, we didnít have time to participate in club
sports, or do things after school on campus. We just needed to get down to the store to
help our mom and dad close up, clean up.
It was very clear that it was a family enterprise.
Oh, yeah.
And everybody got counted in.
Right.
And Saturday and Sundays, there wasnít any beach time or hanging out time with your friends.
I needed to be at work.
And that was life? You didnít say, you know, Just one time, I want to go hang out ató
Oh, we tried. [CHUCKLE]
Didnít work?
It didnít work. [CHUCKLE]
Well, when I was boarder at Kamehameha Schools, so I lived on campus. And then Saturdays,
I got to come out for the day. And I went to the market and worked, because that was
what I was supposed to do. And I didnít resent it. It was good. And then, plus, I was like,
really popular because I got to go out and bring all the food in to my friends who didnít
go out, you know, from the outer islands. So, it was no resentment. It was fun.
The Haili familyís first business venture was a bar and grill called Family Inn. As
the matriarch watched her family grow, she decided a liquor business was not an appropriate
setting for her daughters. In the late 1940s, she started a fish market that evolved into
something else. Established in the 1950s, Hailiís Hawaiian Foods became a kind of second
home for the Haili family, and a fixture at Ward Farmerís Market. Among the many vendors
offering an array of food items, Hailiís specialized in traditionally prepared Hawaiian
cuisine, and it was one of the first places to offer poke to go.
My fatherís specialty was aku, because he was Hawaiian. Way back when, aku was like
a rubbish fish. People didnít eat that; that was like the lowest thing, and it was very
cheap. So, he specialized in that, because he learned to do all the different things,
like dry it, you know, make it raw, or they could fry it. So, before, you couldnít go
to the store and buy one pound of poke; you had to buy the whole fish. And then, the vendor
would clean it for you, and theyíd prepare it how you wanted. So, like, weíd have this
lady come in from Waimanalo every week. Sheíd buy three twenty-pound akuís, and that was
for her family for the whole week. And sheíd say, Okay, cut one aku for me for frying.
So heíd cut it all into steaks. And then the other aku, I want you to cut for drying.
So heíd have to cut it. And then she said, And then make me poke on the last aku. Well,
my father got to where he was so busy, we couldnít keep up, and so we had to learn
how to clean fish. Then, he figured out, well, letís just pre-make some of these things.
So, heíd have a batch of fish already cut in chunks, so people could come in and say,
Okay, I just want poke, you know, I donít want fish for drying this week. Thatís how
it kind of evolved. And then, people would say, Oh, I want my poke made with shoyu.
And so, that wasnít available other places at that time? ëCause now, we see it inó
Itís so common.
In every supermarket, grocery store, you know, anyplace.
Weíd buy all these different other kinds of fish, and heíd say, Okay, you know, make
some of that for poke. And weíre like, Oh, you can eat this for poke too? And heíd say,
Oh, yeah, you know, the old Hawaiians, this is how they ate it. You know, you put a certain
kind of limu. The combinations with the fish were different. So we had to learn how to
do all of that. But nowadays, most people just eat the aku and the ahi and the swordfish.
But back then, you did the oio, the awa, you know, the uhu. And so then, heíd have to
learn how to do all these different things. Like save the liver from the uhu to mix in
with your poke.
When I was little, I would watch my dad clean the aku. And then, heíd save the head for
aku palu. And back then, people would use the eyeballs of the fish, and the stomach
and the intestines, and the heart of the aku, and you know, the liver. And I would be like,
How can anybody eat that? [CHUCKLE] But anyway, all along the intestines, there would be like,
little Ö pockets of the fat of the fish. And that was a delicacy. And my dad would
take the time to clean it, and just, you know, slide all of that out. And he would keep it
in a jar in the refrigerator, and heíd only bring it out when his good really, really
good friends came, which was Pops Pahuinui, and all of the guys from, you know, Refuse.
They would be off of work early in the morning, and theyíd come over and, you know, theyíd
talk story with my dad, and heíd bring out this jar of fish guts.
And they would love it.
Yeah, they would love it. And theyíd be playing music out in the back, and my father would
be sneaking out in the back. And my mom is like, Whereís your father? [CHUCKLE]
And at the time, was Gabby Pahinui a renowned Ö
No.
No.
--slack key guitar guy?
No, not yet.
And singer.
He was already, you know, a knownó
With the locals and his friends, yeah, he was like the person they all painaíd with,
and stuff.
But he hadnít gone viral yet.
He didnít go viral yet. Yeah.
Wow. Who else came to the shop, that other folks would know?
Auntie Lena Machado. Well, my fatherís grandaunt is Clara Inter Haili, also known as Hilo Hattie.
And she was always there at the store, coming by to say hello.
What did she like to eat?
Everything.
Ake was her favorite.
What is ake?
Itís raw liver; raw beef liver. And weíd have to flush all of the blood out, and then
you de-vein it. Then you salt it, and you mix it with kukui nut and some limu, and chili
pepper, and you ate it like that. So you know somebodyís really Hawaiian if they can eat
ake.
Thatís a lot of work, too.
Yeah, it is.
Itís very time consuming.
De-veining it.
Yes, itís all done by hand, so Ö my mother was an expert at that.
Do you still do that?
You still do that at the shop?
We still do that; yes.
Wow Ö
Thereís no machine that does that. [CHUCKLE]
And how many people ask for it?
A lot. Thereís a lot of people that come in and ask for it. Thatís one of our specialties
that we still do. Yeah.
Because a lot of people donít serve it anymore.
No.
Because of the labor.
Itís a lost art, actually. Not even my children know how to do it.
We make loko too. And you know, not to waste all of the kalua pig when they kalua the pig,
so weíd have to learn how to clean the liver. Yeah; and then you saved the blood from the
pig also. And then, you had to cook it up with the kalua pig. So thatís like one thing
that not too many people eat, that we still do also. And the naau, we still do that. Itís
the Ö
The pig intestines. But now, everything needs to be certified.
Yeah.
Weíre culturally certified, so we donít have any homemade or home slaughtered pork,
pork parts.
Organs; yeah You buy it and you cook it.
I see.
Everything needs to come in from the mainland. Weíve seen a lot of government regulations
put on the foods that native Hawaiians are used to eating, so the generation now, theyíre
missing a lot of the traditional ways of preparing things. But I think health wise, and for the
safety of everyone, you know, something needed to be done.
People who love Hawaiian food donít know some of these Hawaiian foods, because theyíre
not available in any quantity elsewhere.
Yeah. Like dried fish. You know, before, on the Big Island, all of the dried akule, everything
came from the Big Island, milolii, akule, opelu. Now, there isnít any, so a lot of
the fish that needs to be, you know, sold, itís imported fish from Asia, and then you
improvise.
So, you buy the dried fish, and then you do alló
Right. You buy it frozen.
Yeah; you buy it frozen, and then we dry it. Process it in our way. Yeah.
In our parentsí generation, my dad would buy by the pounds. And back then, it was called
kau. The Hawaiian way of measuring was the kau.
K-A-U?
K-A-U; yeah.
And what was that?
It was like, so many pieces of dried opelu or dried akule was one kau. So, when you ordered
it from the fisherman, youíd say, I want three kauís of dried opelu. And they knew
what you were talking about.
Rachel and Lorraine Hailiís mother was of Chinese ancestry, and she encouraged her children
to take pride in their Hawaiian and Chinese heritage. After the birth of each of her six
children, the matriarch would visit a Chinese temple to ask the fortuneteller to bestow
a Chinese name on each daughter, according to the time and day of her birth. All of the
girls were given Hawaiian names as well. The Haili family continues to honor this practice.
ëTil today, we still do a lot of the things that my mother respected and taught us to
do. You know, like, we still go to the cemetery for Ching Ming, and we do it for my father,
my mother, my sister, and my aunties, just because itís something my mother taught us
that we should do for our ancestors.
Do you think your children will do it?
M-hm. My children, yeah. Theyíre very involved with the cultural things that we do.
So, youíre pretty sure thatíll be continued.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I think so.
Lorraine is very culturally in tune. You know, sheís a grandmother, and for a young generation
grandmother, she wants to be called Popo, you know, which is the Chinese name for grandma.
So, yeah, my grandchildren call me Popo, and my grandchildren are multicultural. Theyíre
Tongan, Samoan, Hawaiian-Chinese, and then, you know, my granddaughter is Hawaiian-Chinese,
Caucasian. And you know, itís like a melting pot at home.
Now, why did you choose Popo? Is that because your mom was Popo? Because you could have
said Tutu, or Puna for Kupuna.
Puna; right. When my first grandson was born, I said, No, I waited this long, and my children
grew up with a Popo. My mother was Popo to all of the grandchildren.
But your father was not Gung Gung.
He was Gung Gung?
He was Gung Gung.
He was a Hawaiian Gung Gung.
Yes.
Yup.
Yeah.
He was Gung Gung. And thatís what my grandkids call my husband.
Oh Ö
Gung Gung.
In the late 1960s, Rachel Haili had just graduated from college in Ohio. When she returned home
to help run the family business, her mother, at age forty-eight, had suffered the first
of a series of debilitating strokes, and only a few years later, Rachelís father died at
age fifty-three. Rachel took on the job of supervising her sisters and the other relatives
who worked at the store. Itís now her younger sister Lorraineís turn to carry on with the
family business that presents challenges each year.
When I was young, I always said to myself, Youíre going to study really hard, and youíre
going to go away to college, and youíre going to get a good job. Youíre gonna be like a
college administrator or something.
Youíre never gonna de-vein another liver in your life.
Iím never gonna clean another aku. You know, Iím never gonna do that again. And, it turns
out, you know, I had to come back and do exactly what I had said I wasnít going to do. But,
luckily, my family had prepared me for that. They had taught me how to do everything that
was necessary to run the business, and then I think going away to college, I learned to
be a little more independent and to make decisions. And you know, I had been taught all my life
that family is first and you need to take care of your family, so it was a no-brainer
for me. I had to get everybody set. Like, I thought, well, by the time my younger sisters
graduate from school, I can go back to school. And you know, time just kinda went along,
and I was enjoying doing what I was doing, and Ö it just flowed, you know. So, I was
like Ö by then, I was like forty, and I was like, well, do I want to start from the bottom
all over and, you know, go get a job and work for somebody else? I had already worked for
myself.
And look whoís running the business now.
Iím glad she hasó
Itís my turn. [CHUCKLE]
I think itís so wonderful that one sister has passed the baton to another, and now,
you are the only sister working in the shop after six did.
But I also have my nephew, Kaulana, who is the son of our youngest sister, Carol. And
so, heís stepping in and learning the ropes. And then, my children come in. My two sons
are firefighters, by the way, so they come whenever I need help. And my daughter teaches,
sheís a schoolteacher, so sheíll come on weekends or special events. And you know,
all of the other grandchildren, whenever we need help, they all step in. And you know,
business now, itís so different as far as the way things are done. Like, thereís no
garage laulau making nights. You know, everything needs to be on a schedule. You have employees,
you need to make sure that you have all your materials and supplies there when your employees
come in, otherwise itís wasted time. And time is money when youíre running a business,
so thatís what, you know, I need to get my children to understand.
And youíve learned all that on the job. Youíve seen all the transitions.
That was the difference; we learned it on the job.
Well, I chuckle now, because you know, back then, I used to tell Lorraine these things,
and sheíd just say, Yeah, yeah, yeah. Or I tell my sister them these things, and they
say, Yeah, yeah, yeah. And so now, I hear Lorraine almost echoing me.
And the kids are saying, Yeah, yeah, yeah. [CHUCKLE]
Yeah, yeah, yeah. [CHUCKLE]
But youíve done this for a long time, and you have the energy and the spirit to keep
going.
You know, this is what we know. And I still have a passion for it. I credit my mom and
my father for allowing us, or letting us Ö fly out of the nest for a little while. Rachel
got to go away and go to college, she got her degree. My sisters, you know, they all
held other jobs. I was able to go to live in Chicago and New York, because I was a flight
attendant for United Airlines, and decided this is not for me. I didnít feel like I
belonged there. It was a fun job. When youíre young and youíre in your twenties, itís
exciting, you know. But then, you come back home to Hawaii, and itís like, mm, I really
donít want to go back to the mainland, I want to stay here.
And so, what made you decide to go back to the family business?
Because at that time, there was a need for me to be there. And my obligation to my family
was very strong.
And my mother always stressed that even though she was pure Chinese, she she always told
us, you know, Youíre half Hawaiian, and you need to be proud that youíre Hawaiian. And
that was a time when, you know, you didnít speak Hawaiian, and being Hawaiian wasnít,
you know, something that you kind of touted, I guess. So, she always told us that. You
know, be proud of who you are. In a way, our family has made a little bit of contribution
to helping to preserve this Hawaiian culture, you know, by offering Hawaiian food, good
Hawaiian food.
We never thought tható
Yeah; we had no intentionó
--Hawaiian food was so important. Any kind of food to a culture, itís important. Itís
very important, because people will sit and share the food, and share conversation. And
you know, itís always like when you parties.
We always gather around the table.
What kind food did you have?
Right; itís like a language.
Right.
Food.
Yeah, itís a coming together. You know, like they say paina, and you come and you share.
You not only share food, but you know, you share good times, and you know, camaraderie,
and everything. But we never thought when we were doing this that, oh, weíre learning
this because we want to be able to preserve the limu culture, or whatever.
Right.
You know. And itís just kind of like, when you look back and you say, like, Wow, when
I say limu lipepe, everybodyó
People look at you and go, What is that? [CHUCKLE]
Do you have regulars who come for the kind of foods that they donít see other places,
and they come regularly to you for it?
For ake and raw squid.
And you know when they walk up, you know what they want.
Yeah, I already know what they want. Thereís a man thatíll come for lomi oio once a week.
I have to make sure that itís there on Fridays. And if I donít have it, heíll give me scoldings.
Isnít oio really bony?
Yeah, but the way that the lomi oio is prepared is, itís scraped, and then Ö by hand, all
of the pin bones are pulled out of the fish.
Yeah. Thatís why you have to learn how to clean the fish correctly, so when you cut
it, the bone stays on one side, and when you scrape the meat off, itís easier.
Ah Ö
Rather than getting everything in there.
And youíve got all these other things going on in the shop, but youíre basically making
sure the bones donít go in the meat in this one oio fish.
M-hm.
Wow.
I really valued what my family had built up, what my parents had established. And Iím
hoping that along the way, somebody else in our family is going to recognize, you know,
what this is, and what it could be, and what opportunities their grandparents and their
parents, and their aunts and uncles have created, and can perpetuate some of this. Because there
is value to their lives, you know, if they could just recognize and accept it.
In 2009, after nearly sixty years as a tenant at the Ward Farmerís Market, the Hailiís
Hawaiian Foods family operation lost its lease. The business went through a spell as a lunch
wagon, and then found a modest new home in Kapahulu. With its sit-down restaurant atmosphere
near Waikiki, a now expanding tourist clientele can experience a first taste of authentic
Hawaiian cuisine. And of course, Hailiís continues to be a favorite gathering spot
for local people to enjoy traditional Hawaiian foods like lomi oio, ake, and raw squid, coming
not from a recipe book, but from the heart. Thank you, Rachel Haili and Lorraine Haili
Alo for sharing your long story short. And thank you, for watching and supporting PBS
Hawaii. Iím Leslie Wilcox. A hui hou. ëTil next time, aloha.
For audio and written transcripts of this program, and all episodes of Long Story Short
with Leslie Wilcox, visit pbshawaii.org.
God, I remember when all the whole beach was covered with seaweed, and you just have to
walk on the shore and pick it. We should be concerned about too, is how can we bring back
all of these limuís and preserve our culture. ëCause nobody knows now when you say huluhulu
waena, or lipoa, you know, what those limuís taste like.
Where do you get your limu now?
Commercially, we have to buy ogo. We get ours from the farms, the limu farms. And then,
thereís still limu kohu in the ocean, so whenever thereís fishermen that come, you
know, into our store and they say that they have limu kohu, Iíll buy it from them. Because
a lot of the fishermen are still dependent on the ocean for their livelihood.
[END]
Rachel Haili & Lorraine Haili Alo Page 14 of 14