Even with a thousand people milling around the Wiki Wiki One Day Vintage Collectibles & Hawaiiana Show, it’s easy to spot co-founder Ilene Wong. Look for the spry septuagenarian with blue-tinged hair who’s dressed in jeans and a denim shirt dating back to the 1990s.
“I started dyeing my hair just before Halloween many years ago,” Wong said. “I attribute it to ‘temporary’ insanity that has lasted all these years. My go-to places to shop for vintage clothes are garage sales, church rummage sales, the Aloha Stadium swap meet and the Wiki Wiki show. I found my favorite vintage shirt — made from 100% cotton Kokeshi brand rice bags — at Wiki Wiki. We define ‘vintage’ as anything that’s at least 20 years old.”
“We” is Wong and Wayne Maeda, her husband and business partner. Avid collectors themselves, they launched the Wiki Wiki show in October 2002 as a companion to their three-day Hawai‘i All-Collectors Show, which started in 1991. True to its name, the All-Collectors event offered anything collectible, old or new. It ran for 28 years, until 2019. COVID-19 bans prevented a 2020 show from happening, and the couple did not revive it when restrictions were lifted.
“For many years, we had thought about doing a one-day show in Blaisdell Center’s Hawai‘i Suites, next to the much bigger Exhibition Hall, where All-Collectors was held,” Wong said. “Because of the smaller space, we wanted the show to focus on vintage collectibles.”
Wong and Maeda launched their spring Wiki Wiki show in March 2004 and a holiday show in November 2006. To meet COVID requirements for wider aisles and spacing between tables, the show expanded to the adjacent Galleria area in 2022, and a summer show was added that July.
Hawai‘i has been home for Wong since she was 12. Her dad was with the U.S. Army’s Counter-Intelligence Corps during the Korean and Vietnam wars, and he met her mom, a Japanese national, in 1950, while he was stationed in Yokohama, Japan. Wong was born there, and through her elementary school years, she lived on or near Army bases in Japan and across the U.S.
“Mom was a ship-to-shore telephone operator who also strung pearls for Mikimoto’s Ginza store in Tokyo,” Wong said. “She liked to tell the story of how she restrung General Douglas MacArthur’s wife’s pearl necklace while Mrs. MacArthur watched. Ladies during that era, the late 1940s and early 1950s, were impeccable dressers who wore coordinated hats, gloves, handbags and jewelry. There’s always a lot of those kinds of things at Wiki Wiki.”
Wong credits her mother for sparking her interest in curios. “Mom loved going to thrift stores wherever we lived, and I tagged along,” she said. “She collected Chinese and Japanese ceramics, including tea ceremony implements. Japanese superhero toys such as Kikaida and Ultraman and kaiju or monsters from the 1960s and 1970s, including Godzilla and Gamera, are my thing. I love kaiju’s weird shapes and psychedelic colors. They are so ugly, they are cute.”
When Wong’s dad retired from the Army in 1964, he settled his family (Wong has a younger sister) in his hometown of Honolulu. Wong and Maeda met at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa in the 1970s. Both graduated with Fine Arts degrees, hers in ceramics and his in sculpture.
The ceramics and sculpture labs were in adjacent warehouse-type buildings on campus where the Center for Korean Studies is now. Wong and Maeda crossed paths on their way to open-studio sessions and have been together ever since.
During their college years, they both had part-time jobs to pay for their tuition. One of Wong’s gigs was hand-throwing terra cotta Cornish game hen pots — 50 per night on Fridays and Saturdays — in the lobby of the defunct Pottery Steak House in Kaimukī.
“The hens were cooked in my pots,” Wong said. “Every guest who ordered that dish got to take home the recipe for it and the pot their hen was cooked in. I was the evening entertainment; while folks were waiting to be seated, they chatted with me and watched me work.”
After they graduated, the couple made ceramic ware in a 500-square-foot workshop behind Wong’s family’s home in Mānoa. “We managed to fit ourselves, three kilns, an electric wheel for my hand-thrown pieces and a table for Wayne’s custom molds in that tiny room,” she said. “We made enough money to stay afloat — not much more, but we had our freedom.”
Their practical, hand-painted Mejiro Enterprises ceramics featured local themes. Among the top sellers were Spam spoon rests; shave ice toothpick holders; containers in the shape of manapua, kamaboko and cone sushi; and Kahuku watermelon colanders with seed-shaped holes. The Shaka Cat, a “piggy” bank, held a boogie board, wore sunglasses and rubbah slippahs, and made the iconic gesture with its left paw.
Wong is tickled that Mejiro pieces are considered vintage collectibles today. A Bumboocha Shaka Cat, dating back to the early 1980s and measuring 14 inches tall, sold for $1,000 at the fall Wiki Wiki show last year — 10 times its original price.
Japanese superhero and kaiju (monster) toys catch the eye of kids and adults alike. (Ilene & Wayne Productions) 
Among the jewelry you’ll see at Wiki Wiki shows are pieces from Gump’s, Detor Jewelers and Ming’s of Honolulu — all no longer in business in Hawai‘i. (Ilene & Wayne Productions) 
People shop Chinese tables, circa 1950s, made of solid rosewood. (Ilene & Wayne Productions)
Vendors from Japan, the Neighbor Islands, the Mainland and all over O‘ahu will be manning 100-plus tables at the upcoming fall and holiday shows. Thousands of items will be up for grabs, including art; toys; furniture; comic books; vinyl records; musical instruments; milk and soda bottles; and Hawaiiana (coins, stamps, books, dishes, mu‘umu‘u, aloha shirts, etched glassware and much more).
According to Wong, about 85% of the vendors participate in every show. Others come just once to liquidate a relative’s estate or to sell unneeded items they’ve found while decluttering their homes.
She posts a Sneak Peek of some of each show’s treasures on Instagram, Facebook, Craigslist and the website ukulele.com/wikiwiki.html.
“Come early for the best selection,” she said. “Bartering with a smile is OK. Our vendors and Wiki Wiki collectors love to talk about their finds. Many of them have become pals. They thank Wayne and me for providing an opportunity for oldies but goodies to be placed in new homes, and we’re grateful for the opportunity to bring the collecting community together for four special days each year.”
Upcoming shows this fall
The next dates for the Wiki Wiki One Day Vintage Collectibles & Hawaiiana Show are Sunday, Oct. 4, and Nov. 22, at the Neal S. Blaisdell Center’s Galleria and Hawai‘i Suites, 777 Ward Ave. Regular shopping hours are 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Admission is $6; free for two kids 12 and under with each paid adult ticket. Cost for early admission at 10 a.m. is $25. For event updates, visit ukulele.com/wikiwiki.html.
For the latest news of Hawai‘i, sign up here for our free Daily Edition newsletter.
