The Vintage T-Shirts Expedition

Time flies. It’s already been over a month since our scouts were on Oahu looking for the top landmark establishments on the island. Until recently, our Hawaiian t-shirt collection has been predominantly from Kona on the Big Island. But our scouts finally had time to do a little island hopping, and we’re slowly rolling out the new designs.

Our latest additions include: Honolulu Scuba Co., Matsumoto Shave Ice, Like Like Drive Inn.

And coming soon to a t-shirt near you:

• Kualoa Ranch
• Rainbow Drive-In
• Waiola Shave Ice
• Lulu’s Waikiki Surf Club

A question our Kona staff heres over and over again is, “Do you guys have hats for these places too?” And now we do. Well, almost anyway. We currently have five of our favorite Hawaiian Destee-Nation designs (plus a couple from our store) embroidered on quality baseball caps, and more are on the way for many more of our member businesses.

Yet another way to show your local pride!

Back in December while on a scouting mission with his family in tow, Matt stopped in at Tex Drive-In for a bite and ended up having an impromptu meeting with the owner. He was totally into our concept but just needed to go over it with his mother and get back to us. Meanwhile, Matt’s daughter was enthralled throughout their entire meeting, standing on a chair by the kitchen window watching the baker make their famous malasadas.

Malasada (n) : a puffy donut without a hole that is deep-fried, rolled in sugar and best eaten while hot. Malasadas are a Portuguese snack introduced by workers imported for cane and pineapple production.

Tex’s was founded by the Texieria’s, a portugese family who opened up shop in the late 60s. It’s been a favorite local haunt ever since, and they make what are arguably the best malasadas on the island as well as some great burgers and true ‘ono grinds’.

With a couple hours to kill before hopping on his plane bound for the mainland, Matt stopped in to check out the Hawaiian Lifeguard Surf Instructors head quarters. He was fortunate to meet much of the family behind the operation, and Rick, the owner, pulled in just in time to seal the deal.

What better way to learn to surf than from this group of super-cool, laid-back lifeguards…

These lifeguard t-shirts are going to look great up on the wall in the Kona Store.

Matt spent some more time in Honokohau Harbor this afternoon and walked off with a couple more charter boat t-shirts for our collection. Will from Golden Dragon Sport Fishing signed up on the spot, and Neil from another popular charter, Anxious, is almost a done deal*. So far our list of Kona sport fishing charter boats includes:

• Ho’okele with Captain Guy Terwilliger at the helm
• Catchem with Captain Chuck Haupert
• Foxy Lady with Captain Boyd DeCoito
• Marlin Magic with Captain Marlin Parker and lure master Gary Eoff
• Alibi with Captain Tony Clark
• Reel Class with Captain Harley Sellers
• Golden Dragon with Captain Will Lazenby
• Anxious with Captain Neil Isaacs*

We’ve got a t-shirt love fest going on down on the docks.

Fishing boat t-shirts have been selling like crazy at the Kona store. So, Matt spent some time at Honokohau Harbor today, talking story with the fishermen and signing up a couple more fishing boats: Alibi and Reel Class Sport Fishing. We hear he scored some fresh ono too, lucky bastard.

After all that excitement, Matt headed over to talk with his new buddy Uncle Bo from Kai’Opua. We’re excited to report that we are now an official sponsor of the most prestigious canoe club on the Big Island, Kai’Opua Canoe Club. The Desteenation Kona Store will soon become the new Kai’Opua gear shop, where new members go to get all their canoe club merchandise. So, look for their awesome t-shirts and gear in our stores and online soon.

Local, Hawaiian celebrity, Sam Choy, who also happens to be a family friend, has offered to star in our little commercial. For those of you not familiar with his charisma and celebrity status in the islands, all we can say is ‘This is BIG’.

Sam Choy is a Hawaiian icon and a local treasure, and we’re so grateful for his generosity. We’re also dying to see how this is going to turn out.

Every few months we evaluate our t-shirt designs to see which ones people seem to like (read: buy), and which ones they aren’t so into. Catechem Sport Fishing has been on our list for a while, and we’re really excited with the new design.

The hits just keep on coming from Kona this month. Matt has been meeting with business owners daily, telling them about what we do and adding more cool t-shirts to our Hawaiian collection by the minute.

Climbing on board last week:

• Winnie & Brian, the brother and sister team at Kimura’s Fabrics, a legendary family-owned establishment up mauka in Kealakekua that has been passed down through the generations.
• Tom at Greenwell Farms, one of the original coffee farms in Kona and one that is still in the family after 160 years!
• Ed from Jameson’s by the Sea, the venerable Magic Sands Beach restaurant with fantastic people watching and sunset views.
• And, Bobby from the beloved Keei Café. Not only do they have a spectacular view of the Kona coast and serve some of the best food on the island, the entire restaurant is made out of koa: the tables, the chairs, the artwork, you name it. Matt has a ‘thing’ for koa. There was no way he wasn’t going to sign these guys up after walking in that room.

Our printing press is working overtime to get all our existing and new t-shirts over to Hawaii in time for our grand opening in Kona next month, and the designs just keep on coming. The lastest list of sign-ups includes:

• Oshima’s Dry Goods—age-old general store in Kealakekua
• Kona Canoe Club—awesome shirt for this new cafe
• Lulu’s—one of the hottest clubs in the islands
• Paniolo Country Inn—old fashioned, cowboy restaurant
• Big Island Divers—one of the best dive shops on the Kona Coast
• Jackie Rey’s Ohana Grill—an awesome new restaurant in Kailua