– 2022

Looking for a special holiday breakfast? Try Toast Hawaii!

One of my favorite breakfast treats (one I never experienced on the Islands) is Toast Hawaii or Hawaii Toast. Easy to prepare and delicious this savory dish is a real people pleaser! So perhaps this Christmas or New Year’s morning, why not skip the Cinnabon’s (gag), Tea & Toast (boring), or eggs & bacon (ho…

by Lou Armagno

Get a letter from Santa Claus postmarked at the North Pole!

With the holiday season just around the corner Detective Charlie Chan and family are trying to get ahead of the game. And with eleven children in the Chan household I asked him, “How do the Chans get through the holiday with so many young hearts to please?” Here is what he told me: “Ah, best…

by Lou Armagno

BOO! Attend the Charlie Chan virtual Halloween Party!

October 31st is near at hand (where did the year go?) and as he does every year, Webmaster Rush Glick will host his annual “Virtual” Halloween Party on Monday, October 24th! Here’s how it works: Chat participants can give clues or suggestions, or just try to remain incognito as they Chat. Most party goers are…

by Lou Armagno

The Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan celebrates 50 years!

This month marks fifty years of The Amazing Chan and The Chan Clan; sixteen cartoon episodes that first aired on television from September 9th – December 30th, 1972. Reruns continued through the summer of 1973 and syndication from 1976 to 1982. If you’ve never seen the cartoon, a Hanna-Barbera Production, basically Detective Charlie Chan is…

by Lou Armagno

Ah yes, those Chinese Fortune Cookies…or are they Japanese?

July 20th is National Fortune Cookie Day, yummy! Who hasn’t eaten at a Chinese Restaurant, or picked up some take-out, without looking forward to that delectable treat filled with words of wisdom–the fortune cookie? Could it be these strange configurations we have grown to know and love are not what we think? But first, in…

by Lou Armagno

The Chinese Cat (1944): a nod to The Maltese Falcon (1941)?

Cats are famous (or infamous depending on your point of view) for chasing birds. With stealth-like prowess the cat remains still as a statue until the unsuspecting bird, detecting no movement, feels safe. Then…they pounce! So is the case we have here with the Charlie Chan film The Chinese Cat (1944), Monogram Pictures Corporation. Here…

by Lou Armagno

May Day is Lei Day in Hawai’i.

May Day (May 1st to celebrate spring) holds a special significance in the Land of Aloha. Because May Day is Lei Day in Hawai’i! A holiday to honor the tradition of sharing or giving a lei was the brainchild of poet Don Blanding, known as the “Poet Laureate of Hawai‘i.” In 1927 he came up with…

by Lou Armagno

Tall, shy and worth $1 Billion, “The Richest Little Girl in the World” walked into a Charlie Chan novel!

March is Women’s History Month. So today we look at real-life socialite Doris Duke, who found herself inside Author Earl Derr Biggers’ 1926 novel, The Chinese Parrot. The Chinese Parrot (1926). In the second Charlie Chan novel Parrot, Detective Chan is asked a personal favor by his past employer and longtime friend Sally Jordan (née:…

by Lou Armagno

Do not challenge supernatural unless armed with sword of truth.

“Kung Hei Fat Choi!” Today, according to the Chinese Lunar Calendar begins THE YEAR OF THE TIGER (February 1st, 2022 – January 31st, 2023.) And since our Detective Charlie Chan was of Chinese ancestry, I thought it appropriate to post about that today! Tradition tells us to first visit the eldest seniors in the family…

by Lou Armagno