I recently talked with a several old-timers at PCC, who shared a few of their favorite food anecdotes from the “good old days.” For example:
25-cent dinner leftovers: In the 1960s, when the PCC served its Polynesian dinner in what is now called the Hale Kuai, employees were allowed to eat there after regular dinner service for $.25, or until the food items on the line were finished and they were ready to close. It was a SWEET all-you-could-eat deal.
One person said, for example, “PCC guests always left plenty of the best dishes behind. I’m talking local food, such as squid-lū’au, poi, teriyaki chicken, Sāmoan sapasui (“long noodle chop suey”). Yummy!”
Remember, in those days, there used to be an American dinner buffet that was served in the A-frame dining restaurant across the Kahuku end of the parking lot, opposite the Laniloa Lodge. Guests could use the dinner portion of their tickets at either the PCC Polynesian buffet or the American buffet that Aunty Emily Enos used to run in the A-frame.
The American buffet was busy, and also very good, but they didn’t offer a left-over deal for the employees like the PCC buffet did.
That A-frame restaurant, by the way, eventually became the first McDonald’s restaurant in Laie, which started up in the first half of the 1980s and continued operations there until the Laniloa Lodge was demolished in 1992.
Speaking of leftovers: Another old timer remembers when employees could buy food left over from the dinner buffet at a discount from the back-gate. However, that practice was soon discontinued when management soon figured out there were just too many leftovers:
Someone was asking the cooks to make more of popular dishes than was actually needed, “guaranteeing” thereʻd be leftovers that evening.
The employee lunchroom:Did you know PCC employees used to have their own lunchroom in the 1980s on the second floor of the laundry building (now used by the Cultural Presentations office suite)?
Monday through Friday, PCC Food Services would prepare a plate lunch that initially sold for $2 each, which by the time the service ended had incremently increased to $3, which was still a great deal. Nothing fancy: paper plates, plastic utensils, etc., but very ONO . . . and POPULAR! Food Services usually brought a boom box for background music.
The menu sometimes consisted of only one entrée, occasionally a choice between two entrees, and even occasionally Gateway leftovers, as long asthey lasted — as well as a veggie salad or cooked veggies (e.g., corn, beans, etc.) and dressing, rice and gravy, rolls and butter, a dessert, and ice water or a limited-choice can of cold soda.
A local Korean lady, Aunty Mildred Cashman, was the main supervisor, and the weekly PCC employee newsletter used to list the daily menu, or else some departments would call ahead to find out what the menu was for the day.
On special occasions, Food Services prepared Samoan, Tongan, or Hawaiian plates — e.g., faʻalifu faʻi, kalo, lupulu, fish and poi, sapasui, BBQ, corned beef, etc., which were always very popular.
Tables and chairs were set up to eat there, but some employees covered their plates with foil-wrap and hand-carried them to their work areas. The management team would also sometimes pre-order special-order plate lunches to eat while their meetings continued in the PCC board room, which, in those days, was located on the second floor of the joint BYUH/PCC Snow Administration Building.
Employee discount at the Banyan Tree snack bar: After the employee lunchroom phased out, the Banyan Tree snack bar started offering employee discounts off the regular menu in the early hours of operation.
One day years ago, employees who wanted to take advantage of that perk were shocked to discover the namesake banyan tree that had shaded the snack bar area since the Center opened in 1963 had toppled in one of the periodic windstorms that strike O‘ahu. (Weʻre not sure if the discount policy is still in place.)
