THE COMPANIES WE KEEP

by Bob Sigall

The most interesting book about Hawaii companies, organizations, and schools ever! Includes quizzes, time line, hidden meaning, company name meanings, signature dishes of restaurants and bakeries, and... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0972450408
• ISBN13: 9780972450409
• Release Date: January 2004
• Publisher: Small Business Hawaii
• Length: 408 Pages
• Weight: 1.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Informative and entertaining read.......

I found The Companies We Keep written by Professor Bob Sigall and his students to be a highly entertaining and informative book that deals with the tidbits history of many of the businesses that were started in Hawaii. Within these pages lies many information about many of the Hawaiian based businesses that will definitely surprised any natives of that state. In some cases, origins and meanings of some of the more recongizable logos were clearly explained like the bunny waving his paw drawn in the rear of all Roberts Tour buses. According to the book, this bunny was waving good-bye to the Greyhound Bus Company who abandoned Hawaii to the Roberts back in the 1970s. I have talked with people who used to work for Roberts and none of them knew this information. One man who definitely end up looking good in this book is Lex Brodie, a well known local business man. If there was a weakness in this book, it may be that many of the real home grown Hawaiian businesses did not get mention or were just a mere footnote compared to some mainland companies who got a bigger spread. I mean I can understand Sears since it anchored Ala Moana Shopping Center for decades but Starbucks?? Still, Professor Sigall definitely got something going here. If he could come up with Volume Two of this book with more details on local businesses like Kaimuki Camera or Island Triathon or his local bookstore, Bookends in Kailua, I am almost sure that it should sell pretty well with the locals as well as with interested readers like myself. Overall, a great book that in reality, tells the history of Hawaii through the growth and lives of local business, I can cheerfully recommended this book to anyone who have any interest in Hawaii.