The Hawaiian gazette., 1908-07-24
SAILORS LEFT
MONEY IN TOWN

tAOh lhtht hdtuttH III entertaining tue
boys Of the battleships, the visit of the
Atlantic feet to Honolulu has been
big thing. Everywhere one goes about
the city, be it bank, store OF barber
shop, the same report is heard of good
business and unstinted praise for the
sailors. According to the estimate of
the secretary of the Chamber of Com
meree, each day the sailors were ashore
the- spent from twenty to twenty-five
thousand dollars, total of over one
hundred thousand dollars IN good Amer
lean gold. This money was spent UNI
grudgingly and more than one sailor was
heard to regret that the boys had not
more money to leave here, where the
people treated them as friends and not
as strangers TO be fleeced at every turn,
such as had been their experience in
some of the ports visited so far on the
cruise.
In addition to the sailors who left
money in the city, there were out.of.
town folk from the other islands. the
number of such visitors having been
very large, although their presence was
not noticed as much as would have been
the case had. the city not had ten thou
The hotels and restaurants were nat
urally the first to feel the sudden in.
crease of business brought about by the
coming of the ships. At the Alexander
Young Hotel their record was broken,
for, for the first time since the big
hostelry opened its doors to the public,
every room was filed for two nights
running. Had the sailors been allowed
to spend their nights ashore the pres
sure on the Young would have been
greater, but as it was, Manager
Hertsche reports magnificent bust,
ness" The same, on smaller scale
he reports from the Moana, which was
well filed with naval and other guests,
while in the Alexander Young Cafe, the
business of the week was the best ever
done there. The sailors SHE'D off to a
large extent from the glitter of this
place, preferfing the palmer down town
cuped every table.
The Seaside was another busy spot,
the crowds that filled its beautiful
grounds every day patronizing the
house literally, so literally in fact that
time after time the place was swamped
with business and the small force of
Further down the line the Waikiki Inn
entertained it's hundreds of guests a
day, this place having established itself
as favOrite resort at once with the
sailors, who went out there in droves.
| The regular boarding houses did not
benefit greatly, the order taking the
men aboard each night at midnight
making the elaborate sleeping arrange
ments provided ashore unnecessary.
The restaurants did a roaring bust
ness. At the Union Grill it is estimated
by the manager that ten thousand meals
were served during the five days the
sailors had shore liberty and the great
majority of these meals were served to
the men in uniform. And all the
time the sailors were here, crowded and
jammed as this place was all the time,
4 j do not believe that we lost one TWEEN
ty-fve cent piece through any man not
coming to the counter with his ticket, =
says the Grill manager, who cannot
praise the battleship men too highly
for their excellent conduct. There was
not one row in this place during the
fleets stay and not dispute over pay.
ment
The men bought very little intoxicat-
ing liquor, the Grill sales, for instance,
being surprisingly small, considering
the great crowds catered to. There
were no late hour drinking bouts, no
orgies.
The men went to the restaurants to
get something to eat, not to drink, az
they patronized the temperance Palm
restaurant quite as literally as they did
the licensed Grill or the licensed Palace.
"We did just as big business as we
could conveniently handle, says Man.
ager Ludwigsep, of the Palm, "a very
satisfactory business indeed. Not only
were we busy at all times in the restau-
rant, but we had orders from outside
that kept us hustling in the kitchen.
We did the catering for the two lunch
cons served at the officers excursions
at Pearl Harbor, for the reception and
ball given Admiral Sperry and the Of
ficers at the Seaside and for the recep.
ton given aboard the flagship. Oh, we
: were busy, all right"
And the same report comes from all
the smaller cafes, the Palace Grill, the
California and the others. Wherever
there was good substantial food served
the sailors were to be found and every.
where they appeared to be satisfied.
"This place is all right, T" one of the
gun pointers with a Wisconsin cap
band. ''In Frisco they charged me six
bits for tough steak; here / got one
l could eat for four bits; here l had
two bottles Of beer at dinner, while in
/ Frisco one bottle would have made me
. drunk" And this is a sample of the
satisfaction the men expressed with
things as they found them.
. Naturally there was much doing
about every saloon, but there were few
A men drunk. There were enough sailors
with reasonable thirsts to keep the va
rious beer pumps going, but few of then
INDUCED too. deeply, making the worl
of the patrol very light.
i About the only complaint, and tina
is not really complaint, heard yester
day was at Notes. This place seemed
TO be too close to the waterfront. A
( any rate the sailors with libert,
streamed past the Beaver, making
Decline for the corner of King an,
Fort before deciding what to do. A few
strangers of naval rank broke into tn
m malihini circles, but they were neve
i mn tbuf OF