Yes, and the way that worked, primarily the San Diego Zoo was essential. 80% of everything I did with mainland zoos was the San Diego Zoo. They were my friends, I was low on funds among other things, so I stayed as a house guest at Chuck Shaw’s, the reptile… Read More
And all of a sudden, instead of having… if you’re shipping baby elephants, orangs, tigers, all of the monkeys, all of the animals from Southeast Asia, no longer had to get on a ship and have a long circuitous route from Singapore, Sydney, Tokyo, wherever they were originating. They had… Read More
The airlines were growing like mushrooms across the Pacific. And that demand was being met by shipments by dealers. But primarily the ones that I was involved with were mostly with friends that had zoos and almost entirely the San Diego Zoo and the Sydney Zoo. And I want to… Read More
Yes, one of the unique things that we had going for us, a very special condition was occurring. Remember the timeframe here, it’s right after, it’s the year after World War II is over. All of a sudden, those penned-up demands of those five, four war years where zoos could… Read More
And does that mean you’re traveling to the mainland?… Read More
And where did you go and why?… Read More
So I had to be very cautious. Cautious is the wrong word. I had a plan as well as possible to get animals that were hardy, the really delicate forms, Rarity wasn’t a critical thing. I wanted to get hardy adaptable animals that would do well. That wouldn’t have a… Read More
I’d go down and fly down and do quick visits to, on my own money, our own money, family money, our salary, to familiarize myself with, essentially a crash course how to run a zoo, build a zoo. Okay, we’re talking about with your own money, you started to get… Read More
So they did great coverage, not only for the Honolulu papers, but for the San Diego Union. And an answer to your question, I think that one sentence is the best answer. The credibility, the integrity, the fact that, essentially, we were filling a need that was favorable. It was… Read More
But in terms of building the zoo, one technique, Mark, the humane society here was a reasonable group compared to many of the animal activists, by here, I mean in Honolulu, of course. They were long established, they were run and wealthy run by, and managed by a pair of… Read More
So I went out with the reporters and on the way out, this is typical, Mark. I told the reporters, “Okay.” They said, “What are you doing here, essentially?” And I said, “Well, I’m meeting this guy from San Diego who’s gonna design the zoo so we’ve got a place… Read More
Did you have any idea of how you’re gonna actually get money now to build what he is giving you?… Read More
Actually, as you well know nothing succeeds like success. And every time there was a favorable announcement, and any time anything happened, we made stories, newspaper stories. I went out on a tug boat, nobody knew this hardly, but there was a special tug that met the passenger liners offshore. Read More
Did you have any idea?… Read More
Now tell me about… He’s there, he’s helping you out. Read More
And then I went to another guy that was a developer and later bought huge area, he actually bought the Ilikai Hotel, they built it. That’s a hotel that in Hawaii Five-O, Steve McGarrett, that’s his hotel. But anyhow, so that friend was building a resort on a walk. So… Read More
Yeah. To come back into Honolulu to build your master planner development so forth. Read More
I will, Mark. That was ’47. The mayor died a few years later. That was his last term in office. According to his biographer, he had 37 cents in his pocket. He was always giving, both of himself and of his money. His widow, he never had any children, his… Read More
She was essentially being evicted. So The mayor’s friends after he died called me and said, “Paul, you know Aunt Jenny’s got those 30-something peacocks out there. Will you buy them for the zoo?” And I said to the mayor’s friend, Arthur, I said, “Arthur, I’d like to, but I… Read More
I called Mrs. Benchley and said, “Tell Ralph to buy his tickets and get on the first ship.” Now, can I jump ahead for a bit?… Read More