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.

Boys and Girls Club Thrift Store

In my punk rock days, I had several friends who would rummage through thrift stores to find old clothes. I never had the patience for that sort of thing, though I did have a girlfriend who would take me along to the "Vintage Clothiers" (Think Aardvark's Odd Ark) and I'd find stuff at those places.

The shirt that started it all

But when I moved to Ventura a few years back, I discovered a few thrift stores by the Mission that I would find used paperbacks and DVD's in, and got in the habit of checking them out. Then, in my search for good tacos, I had discovered the Gallery Car Wash, sadly now closed, which I'd go to when I needed to wash my car and didn't feel like doing it on the front lawn. It was while washing my car that I found the Boys and Girls Club Thrift Store. Going in after my car was clean,  noticed several Aloha shirts on the rack, and bought one that still had dry cleaning tags on it. Since then, I find I go into this particular thrift store on a somewhat regular basis.

I now WON the Rincon Classic!

A few weeks back I bought a drum for $40 after noticing that it was first prize for the pro division of the Quicksilver Rincon Classic, which from this point forward was won by me. But in the Rincon website, Ventura resident and Pro Surfer Dane Reynolds won, and there's a picture of him with the drum. I've actually always wanted a doumbek, and this medium size ceramic one, made by Full Circle Drums in Santa Barbara, is really nice. It even still has the tag on it, and on the inside is the inscription "Surf Happens, Professional Division, Full Circle Drums." I could never quite justify the price of one new, with all the other instruments I have laying around the house that I don't play well. $40 with a story, though,  that worked for me. I started banging on it as soon as I saw it on a shelf, and I got compliments on the drum (or maybe my playing) before I even got out of the door.

Aloha from Hawaii

Unfortunately the guitar was gone.

Other things I've picked up here include a sweet Roadshow Revival Bandana that they had a box full of (see my July 31, 2013 post), a Fender guitar case (but not the Fender guitar), some great sea shells, a cool crossword puzzle clock and other random odds and ends. 

They have lots of furniture in their parking lot and seem to turn over inventory pretty quickly. The employees are a quirky bunch that always seem to be in a good mood, and I've had some interesting, friendly chats when I'm checking out. For whatever it's worth, it doesn't smell the way some thrift store do, either.  

Actually, maybe I shouldn't post this-you might go in and pick up something that I want! 

Visiting Downey, Exotical and Bionicos Natural

            In 1977, when I was 14, I thought my family had arrived. We moved from Bell, which was definitely on a downward spiral, to Downey.

            At the time, Downey was the home of white, middle class, suburbia, a marked difference from Bell, and the idea of going to Downey High School excited me to no end. I liked living in Downey and what it meant.

            Still, when my parents divorced and moved away in about 1985, I didn’t go back into Downey very much. Most of my friends had moved away, and without my parents there I had no place to stay. I almost got a job teaching at Downey High in 1995, but had already accepted one in San Gabriel before Downey came through. And again, Downey is a suburb, not really a destination, a place passed on the freeway.

            Tonight, though, I was back in Downey for the Oxnard/Downey football game. I arrived early to look around the city and see how it had changed. Now Downey is crowded, lots of cars, lots of stores, a growing suburb of Los Angeles. The ethnicity has changed as well, with only a handful of white people around. I remember white flight beginning as my brown family moved in, and now it seems fully in effect. The size of Downey High’s enrollment has almost tripled since I was attended, to 4400 students, a huge school population.

            It was interesting to see what was still around, too. A random hair salon would trigger a memory, as did Golf ‘n’ Stuff or the liquor store that was around the corner from my old house.

            I actually went into Exotical, which I remember as kind of a tacky Hawaiian store. It had Hawaiian shirts and bamboo furniture and took up several store-fronts back in the 70’s, but now had shrunk and carried mostly Hawaiian clothing, shirts, dresses, skirts, and hula dancing supplies.

            Looking at the rack, I found not one but several “Go Barefoot” brand Primo Beer Hawaiian shirts that looked exactly like I remember them in the 70’s! They were brand new and only $49! Generally, that would be more than I would be willing to spend, but I’ve been eyeballing the Primo shirts when they come up on eBay, and used ones are going for that price.

            The kid at the counter, (a Warren High graduate, but still nice enough) who had greeted me with a hearty “Aloha,” when I walked in, came over and asked how I was doing, and I told him that I remembered the shop when I lived in Downey 30 years ago, and I thought the Primo shirts were out of print.

            He said that they were, and his grandfather, who had owned the shop, would buy dead stock when it was available and so they had several new old stock shirts. We chatted about the shop and how Downey had changed and how excited I was to get the shirt. With a little nudge from the kid I went with the brightest color they had, a chartreuse over the blue, (which I still might buy at some future date), and left the store a happy camper, with the sound of "mahalo" ringing in my ears.

            If you’re in Downey and need a Primo Beer shirt-or some other Hawaiian shirt that isn’t one you’d find at Macy’s, swing by.

             Across the street from Exotical is Bionicos Natural, a Mexican juice bar. I wasn't going to get anything, but when I paused to take the above picture across the street from Exotical, I noticed they were open. It was very hot in Downey, and the idea of a fresh smoothie suddenly was very appealing.  I had the coconut-pineapple smoothie that was just fresh coconut, fresh pineapple (not canned), ice and cream, I think. The woman who was running the place didn’t seem to speak much English, and my Spanish is hit and miss. She said cream, but it could have been yogurt. It was $3.50 and delicious, cold and fresh on a very warm night.

             A nostalgic night in Downey; too bad Oxnard lost.