Primo Hawaiian Shirt, Exotical Downey, and Patrick Pangan (and Portos, too)

I've written about Exotical once before, on 9/22/12. I was in Downey for the Downey-Oxnard Football game, which Downey won while on their way to a CIF title.

In it, I refer to a Primo Beer Hawaiian Shirt in chartreuse, which the kid in the store recommended over the blue that I was initially going to buy. I like the chartreuse, so don't get me wrong, but there was something about the blue that I really wanted, and I've been thinking of going back ever since to get it. Finally, I was back in Downey, and after a lunch at Portos, which opened in Downey a few years ago and was as delicious and inexpensive as 1,000 internet reviews say it is, I walked across the street to Exotical, and bought the blue Primo Beer shirt. The price had gone up since last year, but I wanted it.

And now, why did I want it? It all goes back to Patrick Pangan, a Hawaiian kid that I knew back in grade school. I attended St. Rose of Lima in Maywood in the 70's, and Patrick was in my class. On free dress days, which was a major event at a Catholic School, it seemed like he always wore a blue, Primo Beer Hawaiian shirt. I'm not quite sure what I liked about it even then, or why I wanted to look like Patrick Pangan.

If memory serves, though, for some reason I also liked his hair. It was kind of like the old Justin Bieber haircut, where there wasn't any real part, but the hair was combed in such a way that implied being parted. The hair wasn't combed into the face, Bieber style either. Anyway, that's how his was combed, and I remember liking that and trying to comb my hair the same way. In the 70's, it was a look that I could get away with, and it took me a while to perfect that style, but I finally got it.

Why did I want to look like Patrick Pangan? I don't really know. I liked the Primo Shirt, and I liked the hair. He was a nice enough kid, if memory serves, but I don't recall any hero worship type thing at that point in my life. The girls liked him better, but I don't think that was a big concern in the 5th, 6th, or 7th grade. He played basketball well for a grade schooler, but again, I can't believe that was a motivation.

So rather than go all Freudian, I'm just going to say that I liked the shirt, and the hairstyle was something that my dad would let me get away with.

The same kid helped me as helped me last year, and when I started talking, he said that he remembered me, but who knows. On this trip, they had some vintage ukulele's that I don't remember being out the last time I was there, a couple of Kamaka's and a Martin, as well as a couple of off brands, and of course I played them all. Then I found the blue Primo Beer Shirt! They still had one-several, actually, in a variety of colors. It was $69, but a quick internet shirts usually has them between $75 and $125, if you can find them at all.

Then, as I was looking through the clearance rack, I looked at a shirt that was so ugly it was cool. I pulled it out, and the salesguy said the same thing. Green, yellow and brown is not a color palette that I normally work with, but I know that I can pull off most anything. Exceptionally ugly can be a good thing in a Aloha shirt, and it was only $19, so I wore the ugly one out. It's a Jade Fashions Made in Hawaii, and checking their website, I noticed that they had several other ugly yet cool shirts that I might have to buy myself.

Exotical is not the Tommy Bahama store, but there's usually some interesting stuff.