Back to photos

Action Sundries

Heather Hahn, Kim Masters, and John Milan

Around 1985, Barry Freeze ran Action Sundries, a shop on Kapahulu Avenue. Barry's Grandmother and Mom had run a sundries shop by Ala Moana for years. I remember going there and seeing that Barry had set up a little room in the back where he would listen to punk tapes on his breaks. When Barry finished highschool, his family helped him set up his own shop. It lasted less than a year, but it was a fun place to go when I was supposed to be looking for a job. Francis Sippin worked there sometimes, but Barry couldn't really afford to pay him all the time.

It was a weird shop that had shave ice, snacks, a "Food Fight" video game in the corner, and lots of loitering punky new wave kids who came in from all corners of the island. The store also had "Manic Panic" hair dye.

You could find the best punk and death rock albums on the island there. I remember getting the Misfits Earth A.D.(original purple vinyl) there, and the Virgin Prunes "If I Die, I Die." I was learning about new music almost daily at this point. Barry ordered a lot of stuff from Rough Trade.

Laurie Saike

Francis Sippin, Dave Carr, Kim, and John

Mike Mackelhaney smokes a clove in a box

That New Order Fact 50 shirt was silk screened by Peter Fitzgerald

At one point, I brought in a weird little fortune dispensing machine. You would put a penny in and ask a question, and a cryptic response would come out. The thing must have been from the 1950s. Once we ran through the actual fortunes, I hand wrote a bunch of vicious fortunes that ridiculed the questioner or their relatives, or foretold horrible accidents or death would befall the person. We had a lot of laughs with that one.

The only celebrity visitor I know of was Jim Neighbors of Gomer Pyle fame. He came in when Francis was there alone and bought a "mud pie." Francis retrieved the wrapper from the trash and put it up on the wall with a note taped next to it that read "Jim Neighbor's Mud Pie wrapper."


John Milan observes as Seth takes part in a stop motion study

John Kroll and Rich Tarantino (Carlos hiding behind the counter)

At this time, Barry had already been in the Sharx, but a lot of the new bands, like the Vacuum, Cringer, Free Will, JIF, Hypodepression, Whirling Dervishes, were on their way, and Devil Dog, MUG, Hat Makes the Man, Scarred For Life, and lots of others were still going. 1985 was a definite high point for our music scene. A lot of people were busy doing things they really wanted to do.Action Sundries was somewhere to go before the night time festivities began