Spirit Magazine - September 2013 - (Page 68)

AlohA. One Of the wOrd’s many meanings is “sharing the breath of life.” And in a traditional Hawaiian greeting, two people lean into each other, gently touch their foreheads and noses together, and inhale the same “ha,” or breath. It’s an exquisitely intimate exchange of friendship, but it’s not how Wally Amos enters a scene. Pulling out of his high-rise apartment building a block from Waikiki Beach, the man universally known as Famous Amos announces his presence with the chimes of a Good Humor truck. Fixed beneath the hood of his SUV are speakers that, at the flip of a switch, fill the palm-lined streets with the plink-plink of Disney’s “It’s a Small World (After All).” Heightening the head-turning spectacle are the car’s vanity plates—WALLY1—and the large images of a beaming Amos plastered to 68 spirit september 2013 its side panels. The badly scraped front-left and rear-right wheel wells aren’t intended to impress. “Twice I’ve run into a pillar in my parking lot,” the 77-year-old entrepreneur says with a laugh. “And last week I got sideswiped by a bus. I’m supposed to take that up with the city, but the truth is I’ve been more harmful to my car than anyone else.” The elaborately adorned ride functions as a rolling billboard, and an effective one at that. Arguably, Amos is the most well-known face on Oahu, challenged only by the temporary appearance, a few years ago, of some guy named Clooney. (The Oscar-nominated film The Descendants was shot here.) To be accurate, it’s not Amos’ face that sparks recognition, it’s his Technicolor uniform: standard-issue flip-flops and shorts topped by an Aloha shirt, a lei of braided ribbons, and a lid wor-

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Spirit Magazine - September 2013

Contents
Gary's Greeting
Gary's Greeting en Español
Star of the Month
Freedom Story
From the Editor
Your Words
Your Pictures
Media Center
Eat Drink Sleep
The Numbers
Business
Chomp, Chomp
"Are You Famous Amos?"
Health
Calendar
Fun!
Spotlight
Community Outreach
Products and Services
Flight Service
Terminal Maps
Information
Rapid Rewards Partners
Route Map
The "If" List

Spirit Magazine - September 2013