writing and editing
"A Whole Lotta Aloha in SF's Japantown"
Published in the Nichi Bei Times, January 1, 2006.
When the Dang family decided to open their own business, it made sense to incorporate the two places where they grew up: San Francisco's Japantown and Hawai'i.
In an area that celebrates its 100th anniversary this year, Aloha Warehouse, located in Buchanan Mall and selling a comprehensive list of things Hawaiian — including hard-to-find-on-the-mainland fresh flower leis and their own handmade bath products — is the baby of the businesses, having opened less than a year ago in April.
The Dangs, however, have been part of the Japantown community for more than 40 years.
The story begins with Albert Ah Wah Dang, a third-generation Chinese American from Hawai'i who, as a Merchant Marine, traveled the world and met his wife, Hsing, in Japan. Hsing Tzu Wu's Taiwanese father was an import/export businessman who moved his family to Kobe, Japan, where Hsing was born and raised.
There, Albert and Hsing had two children — first Edgar, and then Leah.
Despite being from Hawai'i, Albert moved his family to San Francisco in the mid-1960s because, says Leah, "He liked San Francisco the best…and he hated hot weather."
The couple had another daughter, Ina.
With Albert employed as a station engineer for the city and Hsing a full-time mother, Japantown quickly became home to the three children.
"(My mother) didn't speak English. Her first language is Japanese so she was attracted to Japantown because she was comfortable here," says Leah. "They spoke her language, she could find the books and the food, so she used to drag us to Japantown all the time."
When they weren't in San Francisco, they were in Hawai'i for summers.
When they grew up, Leah and Ina moved out of the country, but they soon returned to the Bay Area.
"If you ask my mother, it's because we came back to torture her," laughs Leah.
"But you want to be where your family is," she continues thoughtfully. "I think, for people from Hawai'i and Asian cultures in general, ohana (family) is everything."
So it was together as a family that their business had its beginnings.
"We would do craft fairs, as many as we could cram in," says Ina. "We would drive to Vegas; selling our crafts helped pay for our hotel and the drive down there."
They eventually began selling their products at their own events, every other Sunday in a warehouse South of Market owned by friends.
"We'd hire musicians and we had craft booths and we got a permit to sell food," says Ina. "We would pretty much just break even…we used to call those Kanikapila (hang out and play music) Sundays and we would just have fun doing that."
Their present location in the heart of San Francisco's Japantown is a permanent version of those days.
"From our own experience, there's nowhere really to walk in and find a whole huge selection of music and food and everything all in one place, so we thought it would be a nice idea," says Leah.
Although the concept had been a long time in the making, the actual process once they began actively searching for a place, moved quickly.
"By chance, it turned out that we knew the landlady…she was a friend of a friend," says Leah. "And we were like, 'Wow, right in the middle of Buchanan Mall.' We know a lot of the merchants around here already, so… In February we were like, 'Ooh, that place is empty, that would be a nice store, and by April 16 we were open."
"It just kinda made sense," says Ina.
"If you were to pick a community to be part of, because San Francisco's so diverse and depending where you are, you cater to specific people, there's really no center of Hawaiian community," explains Edgar. "So if you're gonna blend into a community at all, logically, it makes sense that it's the Japanese."
Continues Leah, "A lot of people from Hawai`i, not just Japanese people, tend to like Japantown. They like their noodles, they can get a plate lunch at May's Coffee Shop, they can get a Spam musubi."
Walk into the store and you're sure to see a member of the Dang ohana, from any of three generations.
Matriarch Hsing, 71, is there "all the time," as is her daughter Leah. Edgar, who Ina jokingly describes as "older than the wind," is in his mid-40s and a regional manager for Sprint/Nextel. Ina, the youngest in her "late, late" 30s is employed at the Westin St. Francis. The two join Hsing and Leah in the evenings and weekends.
The new generation of Dangs also spend much of their waking hours at the store.
"The kids catch the school bus," says Leah. "Now they're growing up in Japantown."
Edgar's 15-year-old daughter Cidney works at the store most days after school and on weekends. The five other children assist by labeling packages and merchandise and "they run to Benkyodo when we need tea or soda," says Leah.
Soon after opening, the store became known for its fresh flower leis, in demand by customers looking to uphold the Hawai`i tradition of presenting graduates with the floral garlands. It was "crazy," recounts Leah. "I don't know how it happened, all of a sudden people were calling me, 'I need 20 leis, do you do leis?'"
Another specialty is their handmade on-site by Ina line of bath and body products, dubbed Spa-loha Bath Works.
"If you look at the labels, they're all named after our friends and family," says Leah.
There is even a "Uncle Bobby's Orange Freeze," a soap named after their neighbor, Benkyodo manju shop's Bobby Okamura, and the store's "best orange freeze in the city."
The family is proud of the products they offer, and their support of small businesses.
Uli ulis (musical instruments), which have been ordered by Bay Area hula halau (hula schools), are handmade on Maui, from bamboo grown on the island. Crackseed — a Chinese-style preserved fruit popular in the islands — is acquired from an actual store in Hawai`i, not wholesalers.
"It's what people miss, it's what people want," says Edgar. "We try to offer stuff like that."
The store has also gained popularity for its large and constantly updated selection of books and music.
"If you have a book that you're looking for…we'll make the effort to find it for you," says Leah, adding that they are usually successful due to their "phenomenal" vendors.
While they love what they're doing, they concede that there are some difficulties.
Weather, which directly impacts the number of customers they receive at their location in the open-air Buchanan Mall, and shipping costs are two problems that they admit cannot be helped.
And "it's always a challenge to try to balance your family life with the business," says Leah. "My son's always like, 'When's your day off?'"
Still, they say, they enjoy the opportunity to play a role in revitalizing Japantown.
"We want to see Japantown grow again. People our age who grew up in Japantown…there's nowhere for them to hang out anymore," says Ina.
They organized a Labor Day weekend concert called the Japantown Island Jam in the Peace Plaza, and they continue to discuss ways of bringing more entertainment from Hawai'i to the area.
It is part of their goal to make the area feel more like home.
"Of course, it's a business," says Edgar, "But at the same time, it's more rewarding seeing people come in, they pick up (something) and they start laughing and you know what they're laughing about."
Says Ina, "We wanted to make an atmosphere where people were comfortable to just walk in and talk story and hang out."
Aloha Warehouse is located in the Buchanan Mall at 1731 Buchanan St. in San Francisco's Japantown. They are opened seven days a week from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. For more information, call (415) 346-7553, e-mail alohawarehouse@sbcglobal.net or check the Website at www.alohawarehouse.com.