04-20-2008, 12:08 PM
i dont think i qualify as an "old timer" but i can say when i first came in the late 70's this was one quiet island. i used to walk from oshiro road to the mountain view postoffice about 3 miles i think and not see a single car... sometimes it would be spooky with the wind whistling in the trees. sometimes i could drive all the way to keaau and not pass another car. once my dad and i drove down by HPP we started to go in but decided it was too spooky and unsafe and full of "jungle-bunnies" as my dad called the people who squatted on the land out there. my fondest memory of hilo town was this old black witch that would put a hex on you if you didnt give her money.. she hung out at the old liberty store which is now down to county offices. she was quite the character. and kalapana if you drove all that way which you didnt do very often, well you could buy ocean front acreage for about 5 thousand dollars. of course that is all gone now. i loved it when 45 mph speed limit was island wide, people drove with aloha and no one was in a hurry... of course there were no jobs to hurry off too.....[
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