The USS North Carolina (BB-55) My all-time favorite warship. As an elementary school student in North Carolina, I donated nickels and dimes to save this ship back in the early sixties.

Monday, December 21, 2020

Honolulu's Black Cat Cafe, A Big Navy Hangout-- Part 1: In the Perfect Spot

From Hawaiian Time Machine.

Paul Goodyear of the USS Oklahoma, went here, but would rather go to a small restaurant that he found.  But, the Black Cat was a major destination of U.S. naval personnel when on liberty.

"A river of white flows down Hotel Street..." an observer  poetically described the scene as thousands of off-duty sailors wearing their white uniforms descended on Honolulu's main entertainment drag, quickly filling the shooting galleries pinball palaces and taxi-dance halls, and the cafes with names like the Bunny Ranch and Lousy Liu's.

Nowhere was the hustle and bustle greater than at the Black Cat Cafe.  Ideally situated across from the Armed Forces  YMCA at the corner of  Hotel and Richards  streets --  a stone's throw from the Iolani Palace -- the Cat provided  the men with food, slot machines, and various other types of entertainment.

--GreGen


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