George, Kai Watanabe spread the Hawaii beach boy aloha spirit
George Watanabe and son Kai.
Long time Hermosa Beach public works employee, and Cantina Real restaurant host George Watanabe died March 11, as a result of medical complications. He was 68.
Three weeks later, on April 3, George’s son Kai died, following a 4-1/2-year battle with brain cancer. George devoted the final years of his life to caring for Kai, who had suffered since birth from neurofibromatosis, a genetic disorder that causes tumors to grow on the nerves.
The “George and Kai Watanabe Memorial Fund” has been established to raise funds for a park bench in George’s name and a tree in Kai’s name, to be placed in one of Hermosa’s city parks.
George Watanabe (back row, fourth from right) with barefoot classmates at Aliiolani Elementary in Honolulu.
George Akau Jeremiah Watanabe was born December 20, 1944, in Honolulu, Hawaii. He played football for the Kaimuki High School Bulldogs and worked as a Waikiki Beach Boy, taking tourists for rides on outrigger canoes and giving surf lessons.
While still in school, Watanabe lived on the ranch of the late Hawaii historian June Gutmanis, where he cared for, as he liked to recount, “19 dogs, 23 cats, a horse, a billy goat, a spider monkey, a rooster that chased the mailman, chickens, pigs, and a cow named Lani Moo.”
George Watanabe in Vietnam on his 21st birthday.
George set out for California when he was 18 years old to live the carefree life of a surfer in Malibu. Three years later, in June 1965, he was drafted into the U.S. Army and assigned to a demolition squad with the 1st Air Mobile Cavalry Division, 8th Combat Engineers Battalion. Upon arriving in Vietnam, he was given an M-16 that he had never fired and was told to learn to use it or die. He turned 21 fighting in the An Khe District. After being named battalion artist, In Vietnam, he coordinated creation of a massive 1st Cavalry insignia on a cleared mountainside that could be seen for 40 miles. The success of the project lead the Army to create others for use as psychological warfare.
Following his discharge in November, 1966, George returned to Southern California and adopted a Chow-Sheltie mix named Smokey from the SPCA in Hawthorne. The two hitchiked across the country. Smokey lived to be 19 years, eight months old, and became a well-known resident in his own right when George settled in Hermosa Beach in the mid 1970s. Smokey was often seen riding shotgun with George in the city street sweeper.
From mid the 1970s to the late 1990s, George paddled with the Lanikila Outrigger Canoe Club and designed their T-shirts. In addition to his love of the ocean, surfing and paddling, George was a gifted artist. In the mid to late ‘60s, he illustrated children’s stories for Tiny Tots magazine. In 1998 he won Easy Reader’s annual cartoon contest. He also designed the T-shirts for the 1994 and 2013 Manhattan Beach Old Hometown Fair using his then young son Kai’s felt-tip markers. He also designed T-shirts under his own label Kai Kreations.
During his two decades with Hermosa’s public works department, from 1978 to 2000, he designed city signs, including the no overhead casting sign that is now used on piers throughout California. His No Dog Poop signs are not longer used because they were so popular they were regularly stolen. After George’s retirement from the city, he worked as a weekend host for the Cantina Real restaurant on PierPlaza in Hermosa Beach, where his good humor drew people into the establishment. While sharing jokes with passers by, he made sure patrons’ dogs, which were left outside, had dog treats and fresh bowls of water.
Kai Watanabe training his pet squirrel Rodney
Kai, the squirrel whisperer
Kai attended schools in El Segundo, Redondo Beach, Culver City and Torrance, but spent his last several years of school on home-hospital placement. Despite the many challenges that life presented, Kai maintained a kind and compassionate heart, as well as an unyielding determination to overcome obstacles.
He shared his father’s love of animals, and artistic talent. Friend’s Kai called him the squirrel whisperer. He delighted in feeding and photographing squirrels, and the squirrels seemed to enjoy Kai’s presence as much as Kai enjoyed theirs. Kai’s other loves included the beach, music, camping, attending air shows, collecting foreign coins, eating ethnic foods, and playing video games.
Despite his many interests, he often felt his life was consumed by hospitals and medical appointments. But he faced each of his 10 hospitalizations and five brain surgeries bravely, with the hope of healing and recovery. Even while dealing with his own debilitating illnesses, Kai was concerned about social inequalities. He often expressed compassion for the homeless, never hesitating to give them the few dollars in his pocket. Kai maintained his mischievous sense of humor throughout his life, and he especially enjoyed playing practical jokes on his mom.
When Kai was little, George took him to monster truck shows, air shows, camping, and to to Hawaii. In recent years, when Kai could no longer tolerate lengthy outings, George became an ever-present home companion to Kai, doing all he could to raise Kai’s spirits in the face of his declining health.
The words that late author James Michener used to describe the Waikiki Beach Boys in his book Hawaii sum up George’s nature: “Without these remarkable people the island would be nothing. With them, it is a carnival. They are generous, courageous, and comical. They are the perpetual adolescents of the ocean . . ..”
Anyone wishing to contribute may send a check or money order, payable to the “George and Kai Watanabe Memorial Fund,” to: George and Kai Watanabe Memorial Fund, MMHP Office, 531 Pier Av., #3, Hermosa Beach, CA90254. ER