Hawaii Five-O: Any Fans?

[ZelenskyTheValiant (Ivan)]

Pahonu,
In one recent one with Hillerman getting a massage seaside at his Pahonu home, in the same episode a different part of the estate is said to be another character's home.

You know, you're absolutely right. I just remembered that when they show Hillerman getting his back walked on by the chick (LOL!) he's laying next to the sea wall (or on the sea wall maybe?) closest to the main house. But at the end you see the baddie Andrew Prine leaving his residence and it's actually the entrance to that same main house, from the driveway side. So you don't see the lawn of the main house or the sea wall. Those who don't know the estate like we do would just think this is a difference place. Pretty clever.

Is this the episode where they put up a bunch of wood rail fencing along the driveway and treat the garage wing as if it were a stable? We’re lead to believe it’s a big ranch, if I recall.

The episode is "A Stranger in His Grave". Season 10, episode 23. The only reason I remember is, as I go thru the last 3 seasons of the series I jot down the titles and anything of interest in that episode.
As noted above the last seasons aren't that great, a few days after viewing a episode they are forgotten, so I keep a scratch tablet. As I keep looking for any in jokes, mistakes, reflections of camera
crews etc. It would be fun if they ever included a shot of the actual Wo Fats restaurant.
Speaking of which, if anyone here ate there or took a pic of it or has a souvenir, perhaps you might share the details? It did appear in a couple of Hawaiian Eyes.

Hey Dobie, I do have a pic of the Wo Fat Chop Suey restaurant that I took as I drove past it. I just had to take the pic. That was back in 2008. But I never went inside or ate there.

[Pahonu]

Pahonu,
In one recent one with Hillerman getting a massage seaside at his Pahonu home, in the same episode a different part of the estate is said to be another character's home.

You know, you're absolutely right. I just remembered that when they show Hillerman getting his back walked on by the chick (LOL!) he's laying next to the sea wall (or on the sea wall maybe?) closest to the main house. But at the end you see the baddie Andrew Prine leaving his residence and it's actually the entrance to that same main house, from the driveway side. So you don't see the lawn of the main house or the sea wall. Those who don't know the estate like we do would just think this is a difference place. Pretty clever.

Is this the episode where they put up a bunch of wood rail fencing along the driveway and treat the garage wing as if it were a stable? We’re lead to believe it’s a big ranch, if I recall.

Yep I believe it was supposed to be a ranch. And the garage wing was probably meant to be the horse stables. I don't recall a wood railing fence. It's been a while since I've seen it. It's the only season I don't own since it was the only season that wasn't remastered. As I understand it they went back and remastered it when they released the entire box set. But when these DVD sets were released separately (and that's how I purchased them) they didn't bother remastering season 10. Probably to save money. Maybe they didn't think too many would buy that season since that's when the decline started. Maybe the season 9 sales fell below expectations. Not sure. But there were enough complaints that they went ahead and remastered seasons 11 and 12 when they released those.

EDIT: I just remembered that the entire series is free on FreeVee on Amazon and I just checked out the ending at the estate and I didn't see any wood railing fence. You can see them walking through the portico (is that what it is?) or the hallway-looking thing (which is outside) towards the main door that leads to the driveway.

I just looked for the scene on FreVee and it was what I was thinking. About 11 or 12 minutes in, or so, McGarrett and Dano are driving on the highway, with horses in the background and white posts from a fence going by behind them. The scene then show the couple riding up to the garage of Pahonu and a shot through the garage tunnel that depicts it as a stable. It then cuts to McGarret and Dano driving up Pahonu’s driveway with similar white fence posts on the left side to give the impression that their long drive was all on a large ranch. Pretty well done in its effect.

[ZelenskyTheValiant (Ivan)]

Pahonu,
In one recent one with Hillerman getting a massage seaside at his Pahonu home, in the same episode a different part of the estate is said to be another character's home.

You know, you're absolutely right. I just remembered that when they show Hillerman getting his back walked on by the chick (LOL!) he's laying next to the sea wall (or on the sea wall maybe?) closest to the main house. But at the end you see the baddie Andrew Prine leaving his residence and it's actually the entrance to that same main house, from the driveway side. So you don't see the lawn of the main house or the sea wall. Those who don't know the estate like we do would just think this is a difference place. Pretty clever.

Is this the episode where they put up a bunch of wood rail fencing along the driveway and treat the garage wing as if it were a stable? We’re lead to believe it’s a big ranch, if I recall.

Yep I believe it was supposed to be a ranch. And the garage wing was probably meant to be the horse stables. I don't recall a wood railing fence. It's been a while since I've seen it. It's the only season I don't own since it was the only season that wasn't remastered. As I understand it they went back and remastered it when they released the entire box set. But when these DVD sets were released separately (and that's how I purchased them) they didn't bother remastering season 10. Probably to save money. Maybe they didn't think too many would buy that season since that's when the decline started. Maybe the season 9 sales fell below expectations. Not sure. But there were enough complaints that they went ahead and remastered seasons 11 and 12 when they released those.

EDIT: I just remembered that the entire series is free on FreeVee on Amazon and I just checked out the ending at the estate and I didn't see any wood railing fence. You can see them walking through the portico (is that what it is?) or the hallway-looking thing (which is outside) towards the main door that leads to the driveway.

I just looked for the scene on FreVee and it was what I was thinking. About 11 or 12 minutes in, or so, McGarrett and Dano are driving on the highway, with horses in the background and white posts from a fence going by behind them. The scene then show the couple riding up to the garage of Pahonu and a shot through the garage tunnel that depicts it as a stable. It then cuts to McGarret and Dano driving up Pahonu’s driveway with similar white fence posts on the left side to give the impression that their long drive was all on a large ranch. Pretty well done in its effect.

Yep, you're right. I just went back and noticed the same. Well done indeed.

[Mr. Mike]

I have rediscovered this French site which is mainly for The Avengers (Macnee/Rigg), but it also reviews tons of other TV shows, including Classic H50. Some of the opinions will make your eyes pop, though. (I don't think they have reviewed Magnum.)

Unless you speak French, if you want to translate stuff to English, you must use a browser which has a "Translate (to English)" prompt found by right-clicking on the pages; choose this prompt, which will change everything to English (or your preferred language).

At the top of the page for each season, there are large arrows. Click on the right pointing arrow to go to the next season, or the left arrow to go back.

Note that for H50, there is an error. If you click on the first thing in each season's list, it will not work (this has been reported); if you click on the second show, you can then scroll backwards to the first show.

If you want to see other series that have been reviewed, click on the link that says HORS SÉRIE at the top of the page, which will produce a drop-down menu.

To see the H50 section of the site, go to this link:

https://lemondedesavengers.fr/hors-seri ... ice-d-etat

[ZelenskyTheValiant (Ivan)]

I have rediscovered this French site which is mainly for The Avengers (Macnee/Rigg), but it also reviews tons of other TV shows, including Classic H50. Some of the opinions will make your eyes pop, though. (I don't think they have reviewed Magnum.)

Unless you speak French, if you want to translate stuff to English, you must use a browser which has a "Translate (to English)" prompt found by right-clicking on the pages; choose this prompt, which will change everything to English (or your preferred language).

At the top of the page for each season, there are large arrows. Click on the right pointing arrow to go to the next season, or the left arrow to go back.

Note that for H50, there is an error. If you click on the first thing in each season's list, it will not work (this has been reported); if you click on the second show, you can then scroll backwards to the first show.

If you want to see other series that have been reviewed, click on the link that says HORS SÉRIE at the top of the page, which will produce a drop-down menu.

To see the H50 section of the site, go to this link:

https://lemondedesavengers.fr/hors-seri ... ice-d-etat

I just did a quick scroll through season 1 and my eyes popped out when he gave "No Blue Skies" and "Not That Much Different" 4 stars (or boots, as he does) but a classic like "King of the Hill" only 2 stars. I'm sorry but the former 2 are the 2 worst episodes of the first season and nowhere near deserving of 4 stars. How can anyone prefer those episodes over classics like "Deathwatch" or "Tiger by the Tail" or "One for the Money"? He even gives "Cocoon" only 2 stars. Crazy!

[Luther's nephew Dobie]

Pahonu,
In one recent one with Hillerman getting a massage seaside at his Pahonu home, in the same episode a different part of the estate is said to be another character's home.

You know, you're absolutely right. I just remembered that when they show Hillerman getting his back walked on by the chick (LOL!) he's laying next to the sea wall (or on the sea wall maybe?) closest to the main house. But at the end you see the baddie Andrew Prine leaving his residence and it's actually the entrance to that same main house, from the driveway side. So you don't see the lawn of the main house or the sea wall. Those who don't know the estate like we do would just think this is a difference place. Pretty clever.

Is this the episode where they put up a bunch of wood rail fencing along the driveway and treat the garage wing as if it were a stable? We’re lead to believe it’s a big ranch, if I recall.

The episode is "A Stranger in His Grave". Season 10, episode 23. The only reason I remember is, as I go thru the last 3 seasons of the series I jot down the titles and anything of interest in that episode.
As noted above the last seasons aren't that great, a few days after viewing a episode they are forgotten, so I keep a scratch tablet. As I keep looking for any in jokes, mistakes, reflections of camera
crews etc. It would be fun if they ever included a shot of the actual Wo Fats restaurant.
Speaking of which, if anyone here ate there or took a pic of it or has a souvenir, perhaps you might share the details? It did appear in a couple of Hawaiian Eyes.

Hey Dobie, I do have a pic of the Wo Fat Chop Suey restaurant that I took as I drove past it. I just had to take the pic. That was back in 2008. But I never went inside or ate there.

Hi Ivan,
Sorry to be tardy in responding, I have had a lot on my plate of late. Ivan, any chance of you posting your photo of Wo Fat Chop Suey joint?
I watch Hawaiian Eye reruns on late Sunday nights on MeTV+.
There is a good shot of Wo Fat's exterior in season one's "The Kikiki Kid" (kikiki means phony, fake). In season four's "Day in the Sun" Troy Donahue and Elizabeth "Gomer Pyle" MacRae
are shown dining there but its actually a sound stage at Warner Brothers in California.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Without teachers every generation would have to start by discovering fire and inventing the wheel"...Paladin

[ZelenskyTheValiant (Ivan)]

You know, you're absolutely right. I just remembered that when they show Hillerman getting his back walked on by the chick (LOL!) he's laying next to the sea wall (or on the sea wall maybe?) closest to the main house. But at the end you see the baddie Andrew Prine leaving his residence and it's actually the entrance to that same main house, from the driveway side. So you don't see the lawn of the main house or the sea wall. Those who don't know the estate like we do would just think this is a difference place. Pretty clever.

Is this the episode where they put up a bunch of wood rail fencing along the driveway and treat the garage wing as if it were a stable? We’re lead to believe it’s a big ranch, if I recall.

The episode is "A Stranger in His Grave". Season 10, episode 23. The only reason I remember is, as I go thru the last 3 seasons of the series I jot down the titles and anything of interest in that episode.
As noted above the last seasons aren't that great, a few days after viewing a episode they are forgotten, so I keep a scratch tablet. As I keep looking for any in jokes, mistakes, reflections of camera
crews etc. It would be fun if they ever included a shot of the actual Wo Fats restaurant.
Speaking of which, if anyone here ate there or took a pic of it or has a souvenir, perhaps you might share the details? It did appear in a couple of Hawaiian Eyes.

Hey Dobie, I do have a pic of the Wo Fat Chop Suey restaurant that I took as I drove past it. I just had to take the pic. That was back in 2008. But I never went inside or ate there.

Hi Ivan,
Sorry to be tardy in responding, I have had a lot on my plate of late. Ivan, any chance of you posting your photo of Wo Fat Chop Suey joint?
I watch Hawaiian Eye reruns on late Sunday nights on MeTV+.
There is a good shot of Wo Fat's exterior in season one's "The Kikiki Kid" (kikiki means phony, fake). In season four's "Day in the Sun" Troy Donahue and Elizabeth "Gomer Pyle" MacRae
are shown dining there but its actually a sound stage at Warner Brothers in California.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Without teachers every generation would have to start by discovering fire and inventing the wheel"...Paladin

Sure thing, Dobie. Here's Wo Fat's Chop Suey: https://ibb.co/K2F9Xhz and https://ibb.co/zrgQPb6

Sorry if some of the angles look a bit askew. I was snapping these pics as I was driving by in my convertible rental. I didn't stop. For some reason it didn't occur to me to stop and go inside and have a bite. I knew it wasn't a location from the show so I just kept driving. Also I think I was actually on my way to Pearl Harbor by way of Chinatown that day so I just kept going. This is at the intersection of Maunakea and Hotel St. Interestingly enough just down the street (at Maunakea and Pauahi) is where the iconic showdown happened between McGarrrett and Hookman in the finale of that classic episode. I didn't know this at the time (back in 2008) but when I went back in 2018 I made sure to stop by there and snap some pics. The building hasn't changed much. It's easy to recognize. The stairwell on the outside of the building is still there - that Hookman used to get up on the roof and then fall from that roof. I'll try to post some pics of that too.

[Luther's nephew Dobie]

Is this the episode where they put up a bunch of wood rail fencing along the driveway and treat the garage wing as if it were a stable? We’re lead to believe it’s a big ranch, if I recall.

The episode is "A Stranger in His Grave". Season 10, episode 23. The only reason I remember is, as I go thru the last 3 seasons of the series I jot down the titles and anything of interest in that episode.
As noted above the last seasons aren't that great, a few days after viewing a episode they are forgotten, so I keep a scratch tablet. As I keep looking for any in jokes, mistakes, reflections of camera
crews etc. It would be fun if they ever included a shot of the actual Wo Fats restaurant.
Speaking of which, if anyone here ate there or took a pic of it or has a souvenir, perhaps you might share the details? It did appear in a couple of Hawaiian Eyes.

Hey Dobie, I do have a pic of the Wo Fat Chop Suey restaurant that I took as I drove past it. I just had to take the pic. That was back in 2008. But I never went inside or ate there.

Hi Ivan,
Sorry to be tardy in responding, I have had a lot on my plate of late. Ivan, any chance of you posting your photo of Wo Fat Chop Suey joint?
I watch Hawaiian Eye reruns on late Sunday nights on MeTV+.
There is a good shot of Wo Fat's exterior in season one's "The Kikiki Kid" (kikiki means phony, fake). In season four's "Day in the Sun" Troy Donahue and Elizabeth "Gomer Pyle" MacRae
are shown dining there but its actually a sound stage at Warner Brothers in California.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Without teachers every generation would have to start by discovering fire and inventing the wheel"...Paladin

Sure thing, Dobie. Here's Wo Fat's Chop Suey: https://ibb.co/K2F9Xhz and https://ibb.co/zrgQPb6

Sorry if some of the angles look a bit askew. I was snapping these pics as I was driving by in my convertible rental. I didn't stop. For some reason it didn't occur to me to stop and go inside and have a bite. I knew it wasn't a location from the show so I just kept driving. Also I think I was actually on my way to Pearl Harbor by way of Chinatown that day so I just kept going. This is at the intersection of Maunakea and Hotel St. Interestingly enough just down the street (at Maunakea and Pauahi) is where the iconic showdown happened between McGarrrett and Hookman in the finale of that classic episode. I didn't know this at the time (back in 2008) but when I went back in 2018 I made sure to stop by there and snap some pics. The building hasn't changed much. It's easy to recognize. The stairwell on the outside of the building is still there - that Hookman used to get up on the roof and then fall from that roof. I'll try to post some pics of that too.

Ivan,
Thank you for sharing the photo, bra. I really look forward to seeing the other pics. I prefer seeing shots by we hoi polli than the carefully staged ones a tourist site puts out, they seem
more real and interesting. Apparently everybody on the island at one point ate at Wo Fat's, when I was looking it up a year or two ago a poster on another site shared how she waited on
James Arness and some admiral. Too bad it went out of business but at least the building was saved.
Is the Hotel street area more upscale now or still catering to sailors and the college kid crowd looking to raise hell? I wonder if any of the restaurants or bars there have Magnum/Hawaii Five-O
photos on the wall from when segments were filmed there. It would be fun to eat at some joint and then to spot it on a Magnum episode.
I fondly recall eating at the snooty - specializing in roast beast - Simpsons on the Strand in London. Then seeing it in the most excellent Michael Caine mini-series "Jack the Ripper" as the
whole joint was apparently dipped in amber in the 1880's and hasn't changed a whit so where Caine was situated I had eaten maybe 10 feet away. Great roast beef by the way, the best I have ever eaten,
they wheel out a haunch the size of Ernest T. Bass and you point to the section you want meat from. That meat melted in your mouth, it was so damn flavorful that if it actually had been Ernest T they
wheeled out we wouldn't have cared and gone the full cannibal.
But I digress.

[ZelenskyTheValiant (Ivan)]

The episode is "A Stranger in His Grave". Season 10, episode 23. The only reason I remember is, as I go thru the last 3 seasons of the series I jot down the titles and anything of interest in that episode.
As noted above the last seasons aren't that great, a few days after viewing a episode they are forgotten, so I keep a scratch tablet. As I keep looking for any in jokes, mistakes, reflections of camera
crews etc. It would be fun if they ever included a shot of the actual Wo Fats restaurant.
Speaking of which, if anyone here ate there or took a pic of it or has a souvenir, perhaps you might share the details? It did appear in a couple of Hawaiian Eyes.

Hey Dobie, I do have a pic of the Wo Fat Chop Suey restaurant that I took as I drove past it. I just had to take the pic. That was back in 2008. But I never went inside or ate there.

Hi Ivan,
Sorry to be tardy in responding, I have had a lot on my plate of late. Ivan, any chance of you posting your photo of Wo Fat Chop Suey joint?
I watch Hawaiian Eye reruns on late Sunday nights on MeTV+.
There is a good shot of Wo Fat's exterior in season one's "The Kikiki Kid" (kikiki means phony, fake). In season four's "Day in the Sun" Troy Donahue and Elizabeth "Gomer Pyle" MacRae
are shown dining there but its actually a sound stage at Warner Brothers in California.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Without teachers every generation would have to start by discovering fire and inventing the wheel"...Paladin

Sure thing, Dobie. Here's Wo Fat's Chop Suey: https://ibb.co/K2F9Xhz and https://ibb.co/zrgQPb6

Sorry if some of the angles look a bit askew. I was snapping these pics as I was driving by in my convertible rental. I didn't stop. For some reason it didn't occur to me to stop and go inside and have a bite. I knew it wasn't a location from the show so I just kept driving. Also I think I was actually on my way to Pearl Harbor by way of Chinatown that day so I just kept going. This is at the intersection of Maunakea and Hotel St. Interestingly enough just down the street (at Maunakea and Pauahi) is where the iconic showdown happened between McGarrrett and Hookman in the finale of that classic episode. I didn't know this at the time (back in 2008) but when I went back in 2018 I made sure to stop by there and snap some pics. The building hasn't changed much. It's easy to recognize. The stairwell on the outside of the building is still there - that Hookman used to get up on the roof and then fall from that roof. I'll try to post some pics of that too.

Ivan,
Thank you for sharing the photo, bra. I really look forward to seeing the other pics. I prefer seeing shots by we hoi polli than the carefully staged ones a tourist site puts out, they seem
more real and interesting. Apparently everybody on the island at one point ate at Wo Fat's, when I was looking it up a year or two ago a poster on another site shared how she waited on
James Arness and some admiral. Too bad it went out of business but at least the building was saved.
Is the Hotel street area more upscale now or still catering to sailors and the college kid crowd looking to raise hell? I wonder if any of the restaurants or bars there have Magnum/Hawaii Five-O
photos on the wall from when segments were filmed there. It would be fun to eat at some joint and then to spot it on a Magnum episode.
I fondly recall eating at the snooty - specializing in roast beast - Simpsons on the Strand in London. Then seeing it in the most excellent Michael Caine mini-series "Jack the Ripper" as the
whole joint was apparently dipped in amber in the 1880's and hasn't changed a whit so where Caine was situated I had eaten maybe 10 feet away. Great roast beef by the way, the best I have ever eaten,
they wheel out a haunch the size of Ernest T. Bass and you point to the section you want meat from. That meat melted in your mouth, it was so damn flavorful that if it actually had been Ernest T they
wheeled out we wouldn't have cared and gone the full cannibal.
But I digress.

Ha-ha! Eating Ernest T. Bass!! Well, talk about things you'd never think you'd hear anyone say!! Anyway that was an interesting London story. I spent 2 days in London just taking in some of the major sights back in 2005 when I was coming back to the states from Ukraine with our church group. We just decided to stop over for 2 days since we were changing planes in London anyway. Fish and chips - had to try those. No roast beef as I recall. Or Ernest T. Bass.

As for the Hotel Street area in Honolulu I definitely didn't go into any of the bars or hangouts over there (not a bar guy) but just driving through it definitely feels less seedy than what we saw on Five-O or MPI. Actually it really doesn't feel seedy at all. Lots of outdoor corner produce markets and stuff like that, Chinese shops, etc. No Clubba-Hubba's or whatever we saw on the show. I'm sure things got cleaned up big time since those bawdy days. I mean the 70s and 80s was just a different time. Compare NYC then and now. When I think of NYC of the 70s all I can think of is blaxploitation cinema. I'm sure a lot of that was based on how dangerous the city was back in those days. Things have changed a lot since then. I'm sure the same is true of Honolulu today vs. then.

And here are some pics from my 2018 visit. I actually didn't realize that I also took a pic of the Wo Fat joint on this last visit too: https://ibb.co/yfcffPK

Here is the building from the Hookman finale on the corner of Maunakea and Pauahi (just down the street from the Wo Fat joint): https://ibb.co/WsXkx34 and https://ibb.co/Qmt1JnH.
You can see that staircase on the outside of the building which leads to the roof - that's the one that Hookman used to go up on the roof. And then he had a shootout from the roof at McG and Danno below across the street. The roof still has those curvy tiles (not sure what they're called). Basically the building still looks the same except it's been repainted. On the show it was a reddish/brownish color with green trimming. Now it's all white except those roof tiles are now blue (they were reddish/brownish on the show like the rest of the building). It's really cool to stand there and see the building as it was then in 1973. Across the street from this building now are some small shops, where there used to be an empty lot where McG and Danno were positioned during the shootout with Hookman: https://ibb.co/X7SXpDG and https://ibb.co/J2PFy76 and https://ibb.co/hfmbBg6 (small shops on the left, white and blue Hookman building on the right). Those small shops was an empty lot in 1973 with what looked like some kind of warehouse there too.

[Luther's nephew Dobie]

Hey Dobie, I do have a pic of the Wo Fat Chop Suey restaurant that I took as I drove past it. I just had to take the pic. That was back in 2008. But I never went inside or ate there.

Hi Ivan,
Sorry to be tardy in responding, I have had a lot on my plate of late. Ivan, any chance of you posting your photo of Wo Fat Chop Suey joint?
I watch Hawaiian Eye reruns on late Sunday nights on MeTV+.
There is a good shot of Wo Fat's exterior in season one's "The Kikiki Kid" (kikiki means phony, fake). In season four's "Day in the Sun" Troy Donahue and Elizabeth "Gomer Pyle" MacRae
are shown dining there but its actually a sound stage at Warner Brothers in California.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Without teachers every generation would have to start by discovering fire and inventing the wheel"...Paladin

Sure thing, Dobie. Here's Wo Fat's Chop Suey: https://ibb.co/K2F9Xhz and https://ibb.co/zrgQPb6

Sorry if some of the angles look a bit askew. I was snapping these pics as I was driving by in my convertible rental. I didn't stop. For some reason it didn't occur to me to stop and go inside and have a bite. I knew it wasn't a location from the show so I just kept driving. Also I think I was actually on my way to Pearl Harbor by way of Chinatown that day so I just kept going. This is at the intersection of Maunakea and Hotel St. Interestingly enough just down the street (at Maunakea and Pauahi) is where the iconic showdown happened between McGarrrett and Hookman in the finale of that classic episode. I didn't know this at the time (back in 2008) but when I went back in 2018 I made sure to stop by there and snap some pics. The building hasn't changed much. It's easy to recognize. The stairwell on the outside of the building is still there - that Hookman used to get up on the roof and then fall from that roof. I'll try to post some pics of that too.

Ivan,
Thank you for sharing the photo, bra. I really look forward to seeing the other pics. I prefer seeing shots by we hoi polli than the carefully staged ones a tourist site puts out, they seem
more real and interesting. Apparently everybody on the island at one point ate at Wo Fat's, when I was looking it up a year or two ago a poster on another site shared how she waited on
James Arness and some admiral. Too bad it went out of business but at least the building was saved.
Is the Hotel street area more upscale now or still catering to sailors and the college kid crowd looking to raise hell? I wonder if any of the restaurants or bars there have Magnum/Hawaii Five-O
photos on the wall from when segments were filmed there. It would be fun to eat at some joint and then to spot it on a Magnum episode.
I fondly recall eating at the snooty - specializing in roast beast - Simpsons on the Strand in London. Then seeing it in the most excellent Michael Caine mini-series "Jack the Ripper" as the
whole joint was apparently dipped in amber in the 1880's and hasn't changed a whit so where Caine was situated I had eaten maybe 10 feet away. Great roast beef by the way, the best I have ever eaten,
they wheel out a haunch the size of Ernest T. Bass and you point to the section you want meat from. That meat melted in your mouth, it was so damn flavorful that if it actually had been Ernest T they
wheeled out we wouldn't have cared and gone the full cannibal.
But I digress.

Ha-ha! Eating Ernest T. Bass!! Well, talk about things you'd never think you'd hear anyone say!! Anyway that was an interesting London story. I spent 2 days in London just taking in some of the major sights back in 2005 when I was coming back to the states from Ukraine with our church group. We just decided to stop over for 2 days since we were changing planes in London anyway. Fish and chips - had to try those. No roast beef as I recall. Or Ernest T. Bass.

As for the Hotel Street area in Honolulu I definitely didn't go into any of the bars or hangouts over there (not a bar guy) but just driving through it definitely feels less seedy than what we saw on Five-O or MPI. Actually it really doesn't feel seedy at all. Lots of outdoor corner produce markets and stuff like that, Chinese shops, etc. No Clubba-Hubba's or whatever we saw on the show. I'm sure things got cleaned up big time since those bawdy days. I mean the 70s and 80s was just a different time. Compare NYC then and now. When I think of NYC of the 70s all I can think of is blaxploitation cinema. I'm sure a lot of that was based on how dangerous the city was back in those days. Things have changed a lot since then. I'm sure the same is true of Honolulu today vs. then.

And here are some pics from my 2018 visit. I actually didn't realize that I also took a pic of the Wo Fat joint on this last visit too: https://ibb.co/yfcffPK

Here is the building from the Hookman finale on the corner of Maunakea and Pauahi (just down the street from the Wo Fat joint): https://ibb.co/WsXkx34 and https://ibb.co/Qmt1JnH.
You can see that staircase on the outside of the building which leads to the roof - that's the one that Hookman used to go up on the roof. And then he had a shootout from the roof at McG and Danno below across the street. The roof still has those curvy tiles (not sure what they're called). Basically the building still looks the same except it's been repainted. On the show it was a reddish/brownish color with green trimming. Now it's all white except those roof tiles are now blue (they were reddish/brownish on the show like the rest of the building). It's really cool to stand there and see the building as it was then in 1973. Across the street from this building now are some small shops, where there used to be an empty lot where McG and Danno were positioned during the shootout with Hookman: https://ibb.co/X7SXpDG and https://ibb.co/J2PFy76 and https://ibb.co/hfmbBg6 (small shops on the left, white and blue Hookman building on the right). Those small shops was an empty lot in 1973 with what looked like some kind of warehouse there too.

Thank you for sharing those pics! And "Hookman" for my money was one of the best episodes(the guy playing him was actually a famous Mannix like PI, according to someone here at MM).
When I finish season 12(the episodes seem new to me as it's been 40 years since I saw them) I am going to watch Hookman again along with your pics.
I am curious, going by the Maunakea and N.Pauahi street signs, do all street signs feature Chinese - or is that Japanese - characters?
Also, how hard or easy is it to get used to and pronouncing Hawaiian words? I think I would be intimidated trying to pronounce many of them, the locals would probably tag me as a haoli in about 4 seconds
though the NJ Devils shirt, plaid shorts, black socks and sandals might clue them in as well.
One more question, I asked it somewhere on these boards years ago but I forgot the answer - thanks COVID - but is the term "haoli" meant as an insult?
I would take offense if it was a veiled way to insult someone merely because they hail from the 49 other states, I wouldn't do that.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Naked City Episode 29 "Baker's Dozen"
Detective Jimmy Halloran has been disarmed and handcuffed to a pipe by hit man Count Baker.
Halloran: You don't want to live do you?
Baker: Kid I ain't got the words. And the two of us we ain't got the time so's I could make you understand. Anyway like a guy said,
"Man you got to ask what it is, you'll never get to know".

[ZelenskyTheValiant (Ivan)]

Hi Ivan,
Sorry to be tardy in responding, I have had a lot on my plate of late. Ivan, any chance of you posting your photo of Wo Fat Chop Suey joint?
I watch Hawaiian Eye reruns on late Sunday nights on MeTV+.
There is a good shot of Wo Fat's exterior in season one's "The Kikiki Kid" (kikiki means phony, fake). In season four's "Day in the Sun" Troy Donahue and Elizabeth "Gomer Pyle" MacRae
are shown dining there but its actually a sound stage at Warner Brothers in California.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Without teachers every generation would have to start by discovering fire and inventing the wheel"...Paladin

Sure thing, Dobie. Here's Wo Fat's Chop Suey: https://ibb.co/K2F9Xhz and https://ibb.co/zrgQPb6

Sorry if some of the angles look a bit askew. I was snapping these pics as I was driving by in my convertible rental. I didn't stop. For some reason it didn't occur to me to stop and go inside and have a bite. I knew it wasn't a location from the show so I just kept driving. Also I think I was actually on my way to Pearl Harbor by way of Chinatown that day so I just kept going. This is at the intersection of Maunakea and Hotel St. Interestingly enough just down the street (at Maunakea and Pauahi) is where the iconic showdown happened between McGarrrett and Hookman in the finale of that classic episode. I didn't know this at the time (back in 2008) but when I went back in 2018 I made sure to stop by there and snap some pics. The building hasn't changed much. It's easy to recognize. The stairwell on the outside of the building is still there - that Hookman used to get up on the roof and then fall from that roof. I'll try to post some pics of that too.

Ivan,
Thank you for sharing the photo, bra. I really look forward to seeing the other pics. I prefer seeing shots by we hoi polli than the carefully staged ones a tourist site puts out, they seem
more real and interesting. Apparently everybody on the island at one point ate at Wo Fat's, when I was looking it up a year or two ago a poster on another site shared how she waited on
James Arness and some admiral. Too bad it went out of business but at least the building was saved.
Is the Hotel street area more upscale now or still catering to sailors and the college kid crowd looking to raise hell? I wonder if any of the restaurants or bars there have Magnum/Hawaii Five-O
photos on the wall from when segments were filmed there. It would be fun to eat at some joint and then to spot it on a Magnum episode.
I fondly recall eating at the snooty - specializing in roast beast - Simpsons on the Strand in London. Then seeing it in the most excellent Michael Caine mini-series "Jack the Ripper" as the
whole joint was apparently dipped in amber in the 1880's and hasn't changed a whit so where Caine was situated I had eaten maybe 10 feet away. Great roast beef by the way, the best I have ever eaten,
they wheel out a haunch the size of Ernest T. Bass and you point to the section you want meat from. That meat melted in your mouth, it was so damn flavorful that if it actually had been Ernest T they
wheeled out we wouldn't have cared and gone the full cannibal.
But I digress.

Ha-ha! Eating Ernest T. Bass!! Well, talk about things you'd never think you'd hear anyone say!! Anyway that was an interesting London story. I spent 2 days in London just taking in some of the major sights back in 2005 when I was coming back to the states from Ukraine with our church group. We just decided to stop over for 2 days since we were changing planes in London anyway. Fish and chips - had to try those. No roast beef as I recall. Or Ernest T. Bass.

As for the Hotel Street area in Honolulu I definitely didn't go into any of the bars or hangouts over there (not a bar guy) but just driving through it definitely feels less seedy than what we saw on Five-O or MPI. Actually it really doesn't feel seedy at all. Lots of outdoor corner produce markets and stuff like that, Chinese shops, etc. No Clubba-Hubba's or whatever we saw on the show. I'm sure things got cleaned up big time since those bawdy days. I mean the 70s and 80s was just a different time. Compare NYC then and now. When I think of NYC of the 70s all I can think of is blaxploitation cinema. I'm sure a lot of that was based on how dangerous the city was back in those days. Things have changed a lot since then. I'm sure the same is true of Honolulu today vs. then.

And here are some pics from my 2018 visit. I actually didn't realize that I also took a pic of the Wo Fat joint on this last visit too: https://ibb.co/yfcffPK

Here is the building from the Hookman finale on the corner of Maunakea and Pauahi (just down the street from the Wo Fat joint): https://ibb.co/WsXkx34 and https://ibb.co/Qmt1JnH.
You can see that staircase on the outside of the building which leads to the roof - that's the one that Hookman used to go up on the roof. And then he had a shootout from the roof at McG and Danno below across the street. The roof still has those curvy tiles (not sure what they're called). Basically the building still looks the same except it's been repainted. On the show it was a reddish/brownish color with green trimming. Now it's all white except those roof tiles are now blue (they were reddish/brownish on the show like the rest of the building). It's really cool to stand there and see the building as it was then in 1973. Across the street from this building now are some small shops, where there used to be an empty lot where McG and Danno were positioned during the shootout with Hookman: https://ibb.co/X7SXpDG and https://ibb.co/J2PFy76 and https://ibb.co/hfmbBg6 (small shops on the left, white and blue Hookman building on the right). Those small shops was an empty lot in 1973 with what looked like some kind of warehouse there too.

Thank you for sharing those pics! And "Hookman" for my money was one of the best episodes(the guy playing him was actually a famous Mannix like PI, according to someone here at MM).
When I finish season 12(the episodes seem new to me as it's been 40 years since I saw them) I am going to watch Hookman again along with your pics.
I am curious, going by the Maunakea and N.Pauahi street signs, do all street signs feature Chinese - or is that Japanese - characters?
Also, how hard or easy is it to get used to and pronouncing Hawaiian words? I think I would be intimidated trying to pronounce many of them, the locals would probably tag me as a haoli in about 4 seconds
though the NJ Devils shirt, plaid shorts, black socks and sandals might clue them in as well.
One more question, I asked it somewhere on these boards years ago but I forgot the answer - thanks COVID - but is the term "haoli" meant as an insult?
I would take offense if it was a veiled way to insult someone merely because they hail from the 49 other states, I wouldn't do that.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Naked City Episode 29 "Baker's Dozen"
Detective Jimmy Halloran has been disarmed and handcuffed to a pipe by hit man Count Baker.
Halloran: You don't want to live do you?
Baker: Kid I ain't got the words. And the two of us we ain't got the time so's I could make you understand. Anyway like a guy said,
"Man you got to ask what it is, you'll never get to know".

Yep, Jay J. Armes who played Hookman was a real-life detective with artificial hook hands (those really were his own) who I think lost his hands when he was young playing with cherry bombs (don't quote me on that but I seem to remember that's how he lost them). But he wasn't just any ordinary PI. He was actually a PI who solved some big cases for some big celebrities. He had a whole detective agency that he ran. He basically became a CEO of this detective agency (I'm thinking like Lew Wickersham who ran Intertect in the 1st season of Mannix). So this is a guy who definitely didn't let his handicap limit him in anyway. He was more effective than most able-bodied PI's could ever hope to be. Impressive!

As for the Chinese or Japanese letters on street signs I think that's only in Chinatown. I just did a Google Maps of Kalakaua Ave. in Waikiki and those signs don't have any Chinese or Japanese letters.

As for the word "haole" I don't think it's really all that derogatory. I grew up hearing it on Five-O all the time. I suppose it would be like calling Irish a "Mick" or something like that. Don't think it's racist in any way. Just slang. I'm pretty sure I heard it being used at luaus and other entertainment venues on the island where the locals entertained us "haoles". But whatever it is it doesn't bother me because I'm not one easily offended. In fact racial jokes have always been my favorites and comedians used to be able to make jokes about any race or group of people. We used to be intelligent enough to appreciate those. But nowadays everyone is too sensitive so we can't do that anymore. Nowadays we need to resort to potty humor because that's about all that's acceptable. Except I don't find stuff like that funny in the least. That's why a show like ALL IN THE FAMILY or SANFORD AND SON could never be done today.

[Pahonu]

Hi Ivan,
Sorry to be tardy in responding, I have had a lot on my plate of late. Ivan, any chance of you posting your photo of Wo Fat Chop Suey joint?
I watch Hawaiian Eye reruns on late Sunday nights on MeTV+.
There is a good shot of Wo Fat's exterior in season one's "The Kikiki Kid" (kikiki means phony, fake). In season four's "Day in the Sun" Troy Donahue and Elizabeth "Gomer Pyle" MacRae
are shown dining there but its actually a sound stage at Warner Brothers in California.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Without teachers every generation would have to start by discovering fire and inventing the wheel"...Paladin

Sure thing, Dobie. Here's Wo Fat's Chop Suey: https://ibb.co/K2F9Xhz and https://ibb.co/zrgQPb6

Sorry if some of the angles look a bit askew. I was snapping these pics as I was driving by in my convertible rental. I didn't stop. For some reason it didn't occur to me to stop and go inside and have a bite. I knew it wasn't a location from the show so I just kept driving. Also I think I was actually on my way to Pearl Harbor by way of Chinatown that day so I just kept going. This is at the intersection of Maunakea and Hotel St. Interestingly enough just down the street (at Maunakea and Pauahi) is where the iconic showdown happened between McGarrrett and Hookman in the finale of that classic episode. I didn't know this at the time (back in 2008) but when I went back in 2018 I made sure to stop by there and snap some pics. The building hasn't changed much. It's easy to recognize. The stairwell on the outside of the building is still there - that Hookman used to get up on the roof and then fall from that roof. I'll try to post some pics of that too.

Ivan,
Thank you for sharing the photo, bra. I really look forward to seeing the other pics. I prefer seeing shots by we hoi polli than the carefully staged ones a tourist site puts out, they seem
more real and interesting. Apparently everybody on the island at one point ate at Wo Fat's, when I was looking it up a year or two ago a poster on another site shared how she waited on
James Arness and some admiral. Too bad it went out of business but at least the building was saved.
Is the Hotel street area more upscale now or still catering to sailors and the college kid crowd looking to raise hell? I wonder if any of the restaurants or bars there have Magnum/Hawaii Five-O
photos on the wall from when segments were filmed there. It would be fun to eat at some joint and then to spot it on a Magnum episode.
I fondly recall eating at the snooty - specializing in roast beast - Simpsons on the Strand in London. Then seeing it in the most excellent Michael Caine mini-series "Jack the Ripper" as the
whole joint was apparently dipped in amber in the 1880's and hasn't changed a whit so where Caine was situated I had eaten maybe 10 feet away. Great roast beef by the way, the best I have ever eaten,
they wheel out a haunch the size of Ernest T. Bass and you point to the section you want meat from. That meat melted in your mouth, it was so damn flavorful that if it actually had been Ernest T they
wheeled out we wouldn't have cared and gone the full cannibal.
But I digress.

Ha-ha! Eating Ernest T. Bass!! Well, talk about things you'd never think you'd hear anyone say!! Anyway that was an interesting London story. I spent 2 days in London just taking in some of the major sights back in 2005 when I was coming back to the states from Ukraine with our church group. We just decided to stop over for 2 days since we were changing planes in London anyway. Fish and chips - had to try those. No roast beef as I recall. Or Ernest T. Bass.

As for the Hotel Street area in Honolulu I definitely didn't go into any of the bars or hangouts over there (not a bar guy) but just driving through it definitely feels less seedy than what we saw on Five-O or MPI. Actually it really doesn't feel seedy at all. Lots of outdoor corner produce markets and stuff like that, Chinese shops, etc. No Clubba-Hubba's or whatever we saw on the show. I'm sure things got cleaned up big time since those bawdy days. I mean the 70s and 80s was just a different time. Compare NYC then and now. When I think of NYC of the 70s all I can think of is blaxploitation cinema. I'm sure a lot of that was based on how dangerous the city was back in those days. Things have changed a lot since then. I'm sure the same is true of Honolulu today vs. then.

And here are some pics from my 2018 visit. I actually didn't realize that I also took a pic of the Wo Fat joint on this last visit too: https://ibb.co/yfcffPK

Here is the building from the Hookman finale on the corner of Maunakea and Pauahi (just down the street from the Wo Fat joint): https://ibb.co/WsXkx34 and https://ibb.co/Qmt1JnH.
You can see that staircase on the outside of the building which leads to the roof - that's the one that Hookman used to go up on the roof. And then he had a shootout from the roof at McG and Danno below across the street. The roof still has those curvy tiles (not sure what they're called). Basically the building still looks the same except it's been repainted. On the show it was a reddish/brownish color with green trimming. Now it's all white except those roof tiles are now blue (they were reddish/brownish on the show like the rest of the building). It's really cool to stand there and see the building as it was then in 1973. Across the street from this building now are some small shops, where there used to be an empty lot where McG and Danno were positioned during the shootout with Hookman: https://ibb.co/X7SXpDG and https://ibb.co/J2PFy76 and https://ibb.co/hfmbBg6 (small shops on the left, white and blue Hookman building on the right). Those small shops was an empty lot in 1973 with what looked like some kind of warehouse there too.

Thank you for sharing those pics! And "Hookman" for my money was one of the best episodes(the guy playing him was actually a famous Mannix like PI, according to someone here at MM).
When I finish season 12(the episodes seem new to me as it's been 40 years since I saw them) I am going to watch Hookman again along with your pics.
I am curious, going by the Maunakea and N.Pauahi street signs, do all street signs feature Chinese - or is that Japanese - characters?
Also, how hard or easy is it to get used to and pronouncing Hawaiian words? I think I would be intimidated trying to pronounce many of them, the locals would probably tag me as a haoli in about 4 seconds
though the NJ Devils shirt, plaid shorts, black socks and sandals might clue them in as well.
One more question, I asked it somewhere on these boards years ago but I forgot the answer - thanks COVID - but is the term "haoli" meant as an insult?
I would take offense if it was a veiled way to insult someone merely because they hail from the 49 other states, I wouldn't do that.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Naked City Episode 29 "Baker's Dozen"
Detective Jimmy Halloran has been disarmed and handcuffed to a pipe by hit man Count Baker.
Halloran: You don't want to live do you?
Baker: Kid I ain't got the words. And the two of us we ain't got the time so's I could make you understand. Anyway like a guy said,
"Man you got to ask what it is, you'll never get to know".

It’s use and meaning is really contextual. It can be simply descriptive.

Example: “My best friend growing up was a haole girl from the mainland.”

It can also be pejorative.

Example: “Go back where you came from haole!”

Many also use it as a way to describe ones behavior or mentality, not in a bad or derogatory way, but describing one’s thinking as not being in line or sensitive to cultural issues.

Example: “That’s a pretty haole view.”

Adding to the complexity are the terms “local haole” and “hapa haole” describing a non-ethnic Hawaiian person born and raised in the islands, and a person of mixed Hawaiian and other ancestry. A friend of mine in high school was born and raised in Hawaii-Kai neighborhood on Oahu until spending her junior and senior year in SoCal. She first explained the term “local haole” to me as she was of Chinese ancestry.

I think it’s safe to say, like much language, it’s complicated.

[Luther's nephew Dobie]

Sure thing, Dobie. Here's Wo Fat's Chop Suey: https://ibb.co/K2F9Xhz and https://ibb.co/zrgQPb6

Sorry if some of the angles look a bit askew. I was snapping these pics as I was driving by in my convertible rental. I didn't stop. For some reason it didn't occur to me to stop and go inside and have a bite. I knew it wasn't a location from the show so I just kept driving. Also I think I was actually on my way to Pearl Harbor by way of Chinatown that day so I just kept going. This is at the intersection of Maunakea and Hotel St. Interestingly enough just down the street (at Maunakea and Pauahi) is where the iconic showdown happened between McGarrrett and Hookman in the finale of that classic episode. I didn't know this at the time (back in 2008) but when I went back in 2018 I made sure to stop by there and snap some pics. The building hasn't changed much. It's easy to recognize. The stairwell on the outside of the building is still there - that Hookman used to get up on the roof and then fall from that roof. I'll try to post some pics of that too.

Ivan,
Thank you for sharing the photo, bra. I really look forward to seeing the other pics. I prefer seeing shots by we hoi polli than the carefully staged ones a tourist site puts out, they seem
more real and interesting. Apparently everybody on the island at one point ate at Wo Fat's, when I was looking it up a year or two ago a poster on another site shared how she waited on
James Arness and some admiral. Too bad it went out of business but at least the building was saved.
Is the Hotel street area more upscale now or still catering to sailors and the college kid crowd looking to raise hell? I wonder if any of the restaurants or bars there have Magnum/Hawaii Five-O
photos on the wall from when segments were filmed there. It would be fun to eat at some joint and then to spot it on a Magnum episode.
I fondly recall eating at the snooty - specializing in roast beast - Simpsons on the Strand in London. Then seeing it in the most excellent Michael Caine mini-series "Jack the Ripper" as the
whole joint was apparently dipped in amber in the 1880's and hasn't changed a whit so where Caine was situated I had eaten maybe 10 feet away. Great roast beef by the way, the best I have ever eaten,
they wheel out a haunch the size of Ernest T. Bass and you point to the section you want meat from. That meat melted in your mouth, it was so damn flavorful that if it actually had been Ernest T they
wheeled out we wouldn't have cared and gone the full cannibal.
But I digress.

Ha-ha! Eating Ernest T. Bass!! Well, talk about things you'd never think you'd hear anyone say!! Anyway that was an interesting London story. I spent 2 days in London just taking in some of the major sights back in 2005 when I was coming back to the states from Ukraine with our church group. We just decided to stop over for 2 days since we were changing planes in London anyway. Fish and chips - had to try those. No roast beef as I recall. Or Ernest T. Bass.
As for the Hotel Street area in Honolulu I definitely didn't go into any of the bars or hangouts over there (not a bar guy) but just driving through it definitely feels less seedy than what we saw on Five-O or MPI. Actually it really doesn't feel seedy at all. Lots of outdoor corner produce markets and stuff like that, Chinese shops, etc. No Clubba-Hubba's or whatever we saw on the show. I'm sure things got cleaned up big time since those bawdy days. I mean the 70s and 80s was just a different time. Compare NYC then and now. When I think of NYC of the 70s all I can think of is blaxploitation cinema. I'm sure a lot of that was based on how dangerous the city was back in those days. Things have changed a lot since then. I'm sure the same is true of Honolulu today vs. then.

And here are some pics from my 2018 visit. I actually didn't realize that I also took a pic of the Wo Fat joint on this last visit too: https://ibb.co/yfcffPK

Here is the building from the Hookman finale on the corner of Maunakea and Pauahi (just down the street from the Wo Fat joint): https://ibb.co/WsXkx34 and https://ibb.co/Qmt1JnH.
You can see that staircase on the outside of the building which leads to the roof - that's the one that Hookman used to go up on the roof. And then he had a shootout from the roof at McG and Danno below across the street. The roof still has those curvy tiles (not sure what they're called). Basically the building still looks the same except it's been repainted. On the show it was a reddish/brownish color with green trimming. Now it's all white except those roof tiles are now blue (they were reddish/brownish on the show like the rest of the building). It's really cool to stand there and see the building as it was then in 1973. Across the street from this building now are some small shops, where there used to be an empty lot where McG and Danno were positioned during the shootout with Hookman: https://ibb.co/X7SXpDG and https://ibb.co/J2PFy76 and https://ibb.co/hfmbBg6 (small shops on the left, white and blue Hookman building on the right). Those small shops was an empty lot in 1973 with what looked like some kind of warehouse there too.

Thank you for sharing those pics! And "Hookman" for my money was one of the best episodes(the guy playing him was actually a famous Mannix like PI, according to someone here at MM).
When I finish season 12(the episodes seem new to me as it's been 40 years since I saw them) I am going to watch Hookman again along with your pics.
I am curious, going by the Maunakea and N.Pauahi street signs, do all street signs feature Chinese - or is that Japanese - characters?
Also, how hard or easy is it to get used to and pronouncing Hawaiian words? I think I would be intimidated trying to pronounce many of them, the locals would probably tag me as a haoli in about 4 seconds
though the NJ Devils shirt, plaid shorts, black socks and sandals might clue them in as well.
One more question, I asked it somewhere on these boards years ago but I forgot the answer - thanks COVID - but is the term "haoli" meant as an insult?
I would take offense if it was a veiled way to insult someone merely because they hail from the 49 other states, I wouldn't do that.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Naked City Episode 29 "Baker's Dozen"
Detective Jimmy Halloran has been disarmed and handcuffed to a pipe by hit man Count Baker.
Halloran: You don't want to live do you?
Baker: Kid I ain't got the words. And the two of us we ain't got the time so's I could make you understand. Anyway like a guy said,
"Man you got to ask what it is, you'll never get to know".

Yep, Jay J. Armes who played Hookman was a real-life detective with artificial hook hands (those really were his own) who I think lost his hands when he was young playing with cherry bombs (don't quote me on that but I seem to remember that's how he lost them). But he wasn't just any ordinary PI. He was actually a PI who solved some big cases for some big celebrities. He had a whole detective agency that he ran. He basically became a CEO of this detective agency (I'm thinking like Lew Wickersham who ran Intertect in the 1st season of Mannix). So this is a guy who definitely didn't let his handicap limit him in anyway. He was more effective than most able-bodied PI's could ever hope to be. Impressive!
As for the Chinese or Japanese letters on street signs I think that's only in Chinatown. I just did a Google Maps of Kalakaua Ave. in Waikiki and those signs don't have any Chinese or Japanese letters.
As for the word "haole" I don't think it's really all that derogatory. I grew up hearing it on Five-O all the time. I suppose it would be like calling Irish a "Mick" or something like that. Don't think it's racist in any way. Just slang. I'm pretty sure I heard it being used at luaus and other entertainment venues on the island where the locals entertained us "haoles". But whatever it is it doesn't bother me because I'm not one easily offended. In fact racial jokes have always been my favorites and comedians used to be able to make jokes about any race or group of people. We used to be intelligent enough to appreciate those. But nowadays everyone is too sensitive so we can't do that anymore. Nowadays we need to resort to potty humor because that's about all that's acceptable. Except I don't find stuff like that funny in the least. That's why a show like ALL IN THE FAMILY or SANFORD AND SON could never be done today.

Ivan,
Jay J. Ames sounds like he warrants his own detective show, in the vein of the old "Longstreet" series where the lead was blind.
Between your and Pahonu's explanations I 'get' it now, haoles use is all in the context, like Aussies using 'bastard'.
As in 'he's a proper bastard' is a bad guy versus "hey ya old bastard" is a warm greeting.

Pahonu wrote -
Adding to the complexity are the terms “local haole” and “hapa haole” describing a non-ethnic Hawaiian person born and raised in the islands, and a person of mixed Hawaiian and other ancestry. A friend of mine in high school was born and raised in Hawaii-Kai neighborhood on Oahu until spending her junior and senior year in SoCal. She first explained the term “local haole” to me as she was of Chinese ancestry.

Pahonu,
Thank you so much for that explanation. I remember a slightly drunk Bob Shane of the Kingston Trio was introducing a Hawaiian song and said the native singers refused to sing them in English
as they didn't want the haoles to know the words but as a 3rd generation hapa haole his friends taught them to him growing up - "so I'm not going to tell you what the words mean either" which
got a laugh as he joked they were all dirty. I always remembered that so now I know what hapa haole means, thank you.

[Luther's nephew Dobie]

I hadn't seen the last two seasons of Hawaii Five-O since it went off the air 40 years ago. Thankfully freevee is now running them.
I have previously seen the last episode "Death to Wo Fat" in the abbreviated TV package that airs on H & I network, so I am all caught up now after watching
the next to last (18th) episode, "The Moroville Covenant".

 I was hoping "The Moroville Covenant" would disprove  Ivan's poor opinion of season 12  but no go.
As well Mike Quigley's fiveohomepage.com gave it no stars.

However I was floored to find in the end credits that the frumpy bag of bones 'Eva' character was played by one time sexpot Diane McBain of Surfside 6 fame
who wasn't even 40 when this was filmed. 
The make up guy must be a master at his craft to make Diane look like something the dog dragged in.

As well the Hawaiian Eye, Hawaii Five-O and Magnum PI veteran Paul Burke guest stars, he was also the lead on the overlooked gem 12 O'Clock High.

Paul Burke was the star from the 2nd season on of Naked City, one of the finest written series of all time, it's "Sweet Prince of Delancey Street" episode
is on TV Guide's 100 Best Episodes of All Time list.
His love interest co-star on that series was  -  the often confused with Lois Nettleton - Nancy Malone.
In later years she was best known for marrying Bob Hope's daughter Linda.


This Friday April 5th is the  44th  anniversary of "Death to Wo Fat", it aired at 9 PM on a Thursday.
That last episode seems to me to be a take off on 1930's movie staple Fu Manchu, and on that level with it's lowered expectations it works.
It's supposed to be tongue in cheek.
After all,the cartoonish Wo Fat from the very start was an update of Fu. 
While this episode isn't worthy to be the send off of a beloved series,  I can live with it's silly elements and how it builds to a denouement
that any ten year old kid in a 1930's cinema would recognize. And no doubt one the writers of this episode were harkening back to.

[ZelenskyTheValiant (Ivan)]

I hadn't seen the last two seasons of Hawaii Five-O since it went off the air 40 years ago. Thankfully freevee is now running them.
I have previously seen the last episode "Death to Wo Fat" in the abbreviated TV package that airs on H & I network, so I am all caught up now after watching
the next to last (18th) episode, "The Moroville Covenant".

 I was hoping "The Moroville Covenant" would disprove  Ivan's poor opinion of season 12  but no go.
As well Mike Quigley's fiveohomepage.com gave it no stars.

However I was floored to find in the end credits that the frumpy bag of bones 'Eva' character was played by one time sexpot Diane McBain of Surfside 6 fame
who wasn't even 40 when this was filmed. 
The make up guy must be a master at his craft to make Diane look like something the dog dragged in.

As well the Hawaiian Eye, Hawaii Five-O and Magnum PI veteran Paul Burke guest stars, he was also the lead on the overlooked gem 12 O'Clock High.

Paul Burke was the star from the 2nd season on of Naked City, one of the finest written series of all time, it's "Sweet Prince of Delancey Street" episode
is on TV Guide's 100 Best Episodes of All Time list.
His love interest co-star on that series was  -  the often confused with Lois Nettleton - Nancy Malone.
In later years she was best known for marrying Bob Hope's daughter Linda.


This Friday April 5th is the  44th  anniversary of "Death to Wo Fat", it aired at 9 PM on a Thursday.
That last episode seems to me to be a take off on 1930's movie staple Fu Manchu, and on that level with it's lowered expectations it works.
It's supposed to be tongue in cheek.
After all,the cartoonish Wo Fat from the very start was an update of Fu. 
While this episode isn't worthy to be the send off of a beloved series,  I can live with it's silly elements and how it builds to a denouement
that any ten year old kid in a 1930's cinema would recognize. And no doubt one the writers of this episode were harkening back to.

"The Moroville Covenant" is an absolute dog of an episode. A sure cure for insomnia. Just dull as dishwater. Bottom 2 of the entire series (the other being either S12's "The Kahuna" or S10's "Tread the King's Shadow"). But you're right about Diane McBain - never in a million years would I have guessed that she wasn't even 40 yet. I thought she was in her 50s or older for sure! I sure was repulsed by her. The make-up guy must have earned his paycheck there.

"Woe to Wo Fat" is a better episode than I originally thought. It's comic-book alright but in that realm it works pretty well. At least it's not dull like the preceding "Morbid-ville Covenant". The Morton Stevens score helps and the Robin's Nest locale is a major plus.