The Mai Kai restaurant opened in the late 1950s. It is about three miles from downtown Fort Lauderdale. When it opened this was the boonies. In the main dining room every table has a view of the stage to watch the Polynesian show. I took my Dad and step-mother to dinner there. Despite it being a weeknight, and it being August (a slow hot month in South Florida), the Mai Kai was full. I lost count of the number of birthdays, anniversaries and honeymoons the Master of Ceremonies announced we were celebrating. It was a big party on a Wednes
day night, on an otherwise hot, muggy, uneventful day. I enjoyed myself more than I thought I would. When I got home it struck me the Mai Kai was important to my very existence.

My mother was raised in an unusually privileged childhood. She was an only child, and her mother was also an only child. My mother and her parents lived with my grandmother’s parents. They migrated between three different homes and my mother attended three different schools annually.

My mother’s grandmother encouraged her to learn and participate in activities she enjoyed. Her grandmother might take her to the ballet and ask if she wanted to do that. My mother would tell her no, she had no interest in ballet.

One night they were at a party in Detroit when a woman, Naomi, with her sister, Leilani, performed Polynesian dance. My mother grabbed her grandmother’s arm and told her, “I want to do that.” Rossie Eggert, the doting grandmother she was, hired Naomi to teach Pammie to dance. Island dancing became Pammie’s thing.

My Dad’s background was not privileged, but he also grew up with grandparents. Dad’s mother died giving birth to him. He is an only child. After his wife died, Dad’s father moved in with his parents. When my Dad was 14, his father died.

Growing up, Dad’s best friend was Ralphie, who was of Polynesian descent. When Dad was 16, Ralphie’s family moved to Fort Lauderdale to work at the Mai Kai. Dad decided to try his luck in Lauderdale. He came with Ralphie’s family.

When the Mai Kai opened, the Eggerts had been wintering in Fort Lauderdale for a decade. As Polynesian dance was Pammie’s “thing” they were fully entrenched in the Polynesian community. There was no question Ralphie’s family would enter Pammie’s orbit.

My mother told me she met my father at a drag race. It was really hot and my father said, “I told Ralphie it was too hot to come here. We should have gone to the beach.” This made my mother think my father was really smart, which he is. While my father acknowledges seeing my mother at the drag race, he recalls meeting her earlier.

The Eggerts grew up in real poverty. They opened a window cleaning company in Detroit which prospered cleaning windows for auto factories. Rossie and Larry Eggert rejoiced in their wealth. Ralphie told my father the Eggerts were having a party where the food and drink flowed freely. The Eggerts had a house across the street from the beach, and a motel within walking distance to the house. The party made a great impression on my father, and he learned there was always a party at the Eggerts. Dad also noticed the Eggerts had a granddaughter. And now you know, the rest of the story….