Hawaii Prices Then and Now

[Pomai]

Cost of housing. Cost of gas. Cost of food like a plate lunch or a can of SPAM. You name it. Tell us what you remember about consumer prices when you grew up here in the islands then, compared to how much it costs today.

This will be interesting!

My sister used to own and operate a lunch wagon back in the early 80's. She just forwarded me their original menu, with prices that threw me on the floor!

Check this out!

Rewind back to 1981, Honolulu, Hawaii, market price for lunch wagon grinds and other goodies, this was the going rate:
• Plate Lunch (including 2 scoops rice and mac salad): Choice of beef stew, shoyu chicken or sweet & sour spare ribs - $2.00
• Hamburger - 65 cents
• Pack of Cigarettes - 75 cents

:eek:

[Pomai]

Back in the late 60's, my folks paid about $21K for our home in Kaneohe. At today's market price, that same home is valued over $700K.

Outrageous.

The 80's...
• TheBus was 25 cents. Today it's $2.00.
• Big name concert tickets typically ran about $15 to $20. Today they're going $60 and up.
• Zippy's ZipPac was $4.00. Today it's $7.40. (it was relatively EXPENSIVE back then, and remains so today!)

[tikiyaki]

Hell, nevermind 1981...look at the amount of inflation in the past 5 years :eek:

I don't know about Hawaii, but my frame of reference is this.

When I moved to LA in 1995, my friend was renting a one bedroom for $550...He charged me $250 for sleeping in the living room.

Then, a few months later, I got a 2 bed 2 bath apartment in Hollywood for $720 a month...that's $360 for my half.

Now, apartments in that building are easily more than double the price.

My 3 bedroom townhouse in Burbank is $2400 a month :eek:

That means, I'm paying 10x the rent than when I moved here, granted, I'm in a much bigger place (2 bedroom and a den/office/studio, as well as laundry/utility room, underground parking etc) , and I'm paying the entire rent myself. Still, the idea of me paying 10x as much in rent than when I first moved here just boggles my mind !

Also, I noticed that, pretty much ALL the restaurants have increased their prices probably 25% in the past 2 years. I'm sure this has to do with the price of gas.

Hey, at least you can still get a Bean burrito at El Pollo loco for like $1.29. :D

[Creative-1]

When I was going to UH in 1973, I lived on $350 a month. My inflation calculator says that's about $1600 today.

My rent for sharing a 3 bedroom house in Punchbowl was $90.

Gasoline was 40-50 cents a gallon, as I recall.

I used to get $20 from the bank for a weekend's worth of expenses. There were no ATMs then.

When cable TV came to Hawaii around 1980, basic cable was, I think $4 a month for about 30 channels. HBO was another $4.

I remember eating at Tasty Broiler downtown on Nimitz. Soup, salad, entree, drink and desert was about $3.50.

[tutusue]

[...]
When cable TV came to Hawaii around 1980, basic cable was, I think $4 a month for about 30 channels. HBO was another $4.[...]
That reminds me that MTV, a new phenomenon around that time, was either $1 or $2 a month. My kids, who were young teens then, wanted it so bad they offered to pay for it. I let them!

[kamuelakea]

In the 1950's, roundtrip airplane tickets to the west cost were around $350.00.

In the 1960's, roundtrip airplane tickets to the west cost were around $350.00.

In the 1970's, roundtrip airplane tickets to the west cost were around $350.00.

In the 1980's, roundtrip airplane tickets to the west cost were around $350.00.

In the 1990's, roundtrip airplane tickets to the west cost were around $350.00.

In the 2007's, roundtrip airplane tickets to the west cost were around $350.00.

How U Feegah?

[i-hungry]

I remember the bus fares for children being 10 cents. 1970s.

[Honoruru]

I remember eating at Tasty Broiler downtown on Nimitz. Soup, salad, entree, drink and desert was about $3.50.

Speaking of Tasty Broiler, here's an old menu (http://library.kcc.hawaii.edu/external/food-srv/tasty.html)from the Rusty Menu Collection at Kapiolani Community College. Small steak, $1.50. I'm not sure when the menu is from, though, probably the 50's or 60's.

Click on the Return to "Rusty Menu Collection" and look at menus of other familiar eateries, including Coco's, KC Drive Inn, and Tahitian Lanai.

[Pomai]

When cable TV came to Hawaii around 1980, basic cable was, I think $4 a month for about 30 channels. HBO was another $4.From what I remember, it was Always Oceanic. They were always THE cable company on Oahu, and still is today, although now adding Time Warner to the name. If you put that $4/month into perspective, today it costs $39/month for basic Oceanic cable.

Our subdivision in Kaneohe got Oceanic cable from the get-go, so I grew up watching MTV when MTV was MTV. Not teen-trash-show TV.

I never saw our family bills (and my mom wasn't the money manager), but I assume monthly telephone rates back then from Hawaiian Tel was also very cheap. It still is today. My monthly landline rate is an easy-to-breath $28/month. I don't know why I keep it though, as we only use our cellphones.

According to mom, back in the early 60's, luxury Ford automobiles were under $2,000. Nice. Gosh, even a YUGO (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yugo) was never that cheap.

Oh, oh, speaking of utility costs, I remember my first internet carrier being AOL all the way back in the 90's. That's "way" back. lol Dial-up was $24/month. What a rip-off!

[joshuatree]

In the 1950's, roundtrip airplane tickets to the west cost were around $350.00.

In the 1960's, roundtrip airplane tickets to the west cost were around $350.00.

In the 1970's, roundtrip airplane tickets to the west cost were around $350.00.

In the 1980's, roundtrip airplane tickets to the west cost were around $350.00.

In the 1990's, roundtrip airplane tickets to the west cost were around $350.00.

In the 2007's, roundtrip airplane tickets to the west cost were around $350.00.

How U Feegah?

Air travel transformed into a commodity. There was deregulation, the price of oil actually dropped when adjusted for inflation until recently, service got pulled back (web check-in, self check-in, etc), planes got more efficient and more capacity so cost per passenger mile dropped.

Not everything went up, PCs actually dropped in price. Long distance phone charges dropped and thus so did companies like MCI. Cell phones became affordable to the average bloke.

[tikiyaki]

Oh, oh, speaking of utility costs, I remember my first internet carrier being AOL all the way back in the 90's. That's "way" back. lol Dial-up was $24/month. What a rip-off!

AOL was king of the hill for internet for a while, and they were twisting people in a big way....It was nice to see them flounder when people started offering free email accounts. Now AOL is a 4th string player at best in the internet world. Hey Steve Case...Kharma is a be-otch sometimes.. :rolleyes:

[Composite 2992]

A can of soda out of a vending machine in 1969 was 15 cents.
In 1976, gas on Kauai at 77 cents a gallon was considered expensive.
In 1970 a Big Mac was 65 cents.
School lunches in the 1960's were a quarter.

[Kalihiboy]

Today's double cheeseburger at McDonalds is 99 cents and I think you can get two tacos for 99 cents at Jack in the Box. For today's prices that isn't too bad.

Aj

[tikiyaki]

Today's double cheeseburger at McDonalds is 99 cents and I think you can get two tacos for 99 cents at Jack in the Box. For today's prices that isn't too bad.

Aj

Amazingly, fast food has managed to stay fairly cheap....the reason.....
They make ALL the money on the beverages. They don't really profit on the foood, but the beverage markup is so high that is makes up for everything.

[zztype]

Record album on sale at Holiday Mart, 1969, $3.50.

[Pomai]

Today's double cheeseburger at McDonalds is 99 cents and I think you can get two tacos for 99 cents at Jack in the Box. For today's prices that isn't too bad.

AjBack in the early 90's, Kenny's Burger House "At the Kam Shopping Center in Kalihi" (remember that jingle?) still sold teriyaki burgers at just 10 cents each! They were like local style "sliders". Ono! At that price, we'd buy like 10 or 20 and pound 'em. lol.

Now it's a McDonald's. Eh.

[craigwatanabe]

Today's double cheeseburger at McDonalds is 99 cents and I think you can get two tacos for 99 cents at Jack in the Box. For today's prices that isn't too bad.

Aj

They're called "Loss-Leader" products. They know they'll take a loss but will figure you'll buy a large drink and fries to compensate, unless you're like me and order 50 double cheeseburgers for the Saturday afternoon little league pot luck!:D

[tutusue]

They're called "Loss-Leader" products. They know they'll take a loss but will figure you'll buy a large drink and fries to compensate, unless you're like me and order 50 double cheeseburgers for the Saturday afternoon little league pot luck!:D
<tee hee> Or me, who also orders a 60¢ senior diet coke!!! McD might make a little extra on me when I order from their dollar menu. I tend to order the salad and not the double cheeseburger!

[johmbolaya]

I remember eating at Tasty Broiler downtown on Nimitz. Soup, salad, entree, drink and desert was about $3.50.

To this day, if I go somewhere to eat and it's not as good as I hoped, I will say to myself "we shoulda gone to Tasty Broiler", as I did when I was a kid. Good food (breakfast, lunch, and dinner) and good service. That was one place I wish never left.

[Random]

Today's double cheeseburger at McDonalds is 99 cents and I think you can get two tacos for 99 cents at Jack in the Box. For today's prices that isn't too bad.
Except they look smaller compared to mainland serving portion.