12/06/2019
This match book's business has a story behind it. It was a brothel on the boundary of Honolulu's WWII red-light district. The women working here were not allowed on the other side of the street! At least the white women weren't; Honolulu was worried about social quarantine and tried to keep the white prostitutes as separate from polite society as possible (they also weren't allowed at golf courses).
Anyway, a man named Ted Chernin wrote a great article about his time in Honolulu during WWII. He spent two years visiting his favorite gal, Bobbie, at the Cottage. She was said to be soft spoken and liked him back. He says he always regretted not saying goodbye to her when he left.
In case you were wondering, Ted Chernin made about $2,000 a year as a junior radion engineer for the US Navy. As a prostitute Bobbie would've made over $20,000 a year. Sorry for the long tangents!
EDIT: Ok, so, I just confirmed that Lauren Bruner's girlfriend worked out of here too! He worked Shore Patrol, if one of the prostitutes was having trouble with a client she could press a buzzer and summon Shore Patrol. That's how Lauren met June, his first girlfriend.
Lauren Bruner was on the USS ARIZONA, December 7th, 1943. The way he survived is incredible, he ended up going hand over hand on a rope from the sinking USS to the USS VESTAL. Someone had thrown that rope to him from the other ship. He was the the last man to leave the ARIZONA and live.
He passed away in September. Tomorrow at sunset navy divers will place his ashes alongside his fallen crew mates in the Arizona memorial. Sorry for the tangent. I met him and was very fond of him. We really feel his loss here in Chinatown, Honolulu.