PBS Hawaiʻi Classics is sponsored by the Olson Trust.

Pau Hana Years, a new day for older Americans,  a time for living.

Your host, Bob Barker.

Bob Barker: Hi, and welcome to the program for  and by the senior citizens of Hawaiʻi.

Today, on Pau Hana Years, our guest is Fritz Sydow; an  artist who for Several years has been recording, in oil on canvas, Oʻahu scenes and old buildings,  some long gone, and others about to disappear.

In fact, it looks a little bit like a  gallery here in our studio.

Well, Fritz, how long have you lived here in Honolulu?

Fritz Sydow: About 10 years.

BB: 10 years.

Where were you born and raised?

FS: I was born in Dusseldorf, near Cologne, on the Rhine River in Germany.

BB: Oh yes, you, when was it you became interested in art?

FS: I became interested in art after World War Second, in Hamburg.

I got a grant from  the British government so I could study for two and a half years, as with the academy, with the  Teachers Academy in Hamburg.

And my main subject was Art and Geography.

BB: Geography?

FS: Yes.

BB: Did this training involve a particular, was it oils?

Or you, were you, start out training in oils?

FS: Well, at that time, there was not  people were not much talking about acrylic that has developed in the last years.

In  particular, there was more oil paintings.

BB: Do you always work in oil?

Or do you work?

FS: Yes, always oil.

BB: How about other subjects?

Most of what  we see here is buildings and scenes.

Do you get into things like still life or people?

FS: Yes, I did.

The last three, four years, I was actually interested in painting historical  buildings of Honolulu, because the city, as I came to the city 10 years ago, there you could see, see  still the old buildings who now slowly, not slow, fast, disappear.

So in the last three years, I  went downtown and made almost every day sketching, did sketching and made photos from from these old  buildings, and then I tried to put them on canvas, which was not easy.

Sometimes I had only small  little photos, and later I, just the last year, I thought to go back and paint the past.

So I was  searching for old buildings well who were gone in the turn of the century already, went to Bishop  Museum and to libraries and picked up these photos and sketched them right away on Canvas.

BB: You said you were in Germany during World War Two.

Did you serve in the war?

FS: Yes, I did.

I became a soldier and had to go to Russia, and came back with a shot through  my knee in 1943 and then they made out a cook out of me.

So I was a cook.

BB: Oh.

FS: ‘Til the end of the war at the army.

BB: That Russian front was pretty rough, wasn't it?

FS: Very rough, yeah.

BB: Well, why did you leave Germany?

FS: I left Germany because I don't want to go into war anymore.

I didn't like to be a soldier  at all.

I'm I think I'm not made for that so.

But at that time, it wasn't easy to go away from from  Germany.

No, I couldn't go to the United States.

You need an affidavit of support.

We had no  relatives in the United States.

So, I went to Canada first.

When was this?

That was in 1951.

BB: You went to Canada?

FS: Yes.

BB: What did you do there?

FS: Well, it was, if you know Saskatchewan,  that's in the middle west, the prairie province, bitter cold in the winter.

BB: Oh, yes.

FS: You can almost count on a nine-month  winter, three months summer only.

The winters are terrible, 20, 30, 40, 50, below zero.

And  so, one day after nine years, I decided to go to Milwaukee.

Oh, so I was in Milwaukee for four  years.

I established a travel agency there.

And with this opportunity, I could do a lot of  traveling.

And then I became interested in in these old buildings in Italy, in Spain,  Austria, Switzerland, Germany.

And there I made, already, my sketches.

I made photos,  and they are, I use them now frequently.

BB: So, you actually got started in  that type of work then over in Europe?

FS: Yes, I did, and fortunately, last year,  Christmas time, I went to Germany again, and I became very interested in the in Oscar Kokoschka,  a well-known, famous painter in Germany.

And as I came back, I painted, right away, I start painting  the city of Cologne, Rhine River, which the painting you can see now at the state capital here  in Honolulu.

It was acquired by Ike Sutton, and it's a large painting of Cologne.

He says, I Fred,  I want that painting.

I was in Cologne as General Patton went over the Rhine, right at this place.

BB: Oh, I see.

FS: Then I painted another painting of  Hamburg with the Hanseatic in the harbor.

This painting, I give this as a door  price last October at the Ala Moana Hotel.

BB: Oh, well then what brought you to Hawaiʻi?

FS: My wife got a job here at the University in European language, and so I decided to sell  my business in Milwaukee.

I couldn't do it, so my daughter Sylvia took over the business,  and I came to this island with my family.

BB: You had never been here before.

FS: No.

BB: What was it that actually prompted you  to start the painting the old buildings and old scenes here, your experience in Europe?

FS: Yes, I think that was I had already sketched in Europe, these buildings, and I always thought  I will later, I will paint it.

But when you are an immigrant, it's just an immigrant's life.

You,  you have to see that you make a living and pay your bills.

So I worked in Canada, almost, I did  everything.

I was a construction worker.

I was vulcanizer.

I was a tailor.

I was BB: Oh.

FS: Yes, just to make a living.

Now, later,  here in Honolulu I, as I was settled down, I start painting again, my old dream.

BB: Yes, well, we have quite a few of your paintings here, so let's have a look  at them.

What is this first one we see?

FS: The first painting is an unfinished painting.

I hope to finish it for the bicentennial year.

Oh, that's will be next year.

The, if you look at  this street, I think it is the most it was the most beautiful street in the world.

If you see  these buildings on the left and on the right, they look like king and queens,  but there's not much left today.

BB: What street is this?

FS: This is Bishop Street.

BB: Bishop Street, uh huh.

FS: I call it Bishop Street in the 50s.

BB: Oh, yes.

FS: You will see later a painting Bishop Street in the 60s.

But here the buildings are  left is the second building on the right, that is the First Hawaiian Bank.

Then in the back on the  right is the Alexander Young building, a sandstone building, built out of sandstone in a late  Renaissance style.

And on the foreground, on the left is Alexander and Baldwin.

The rest is gone.

BB: Oh yes, mm hm.

FS: ʻAiea Store.

One day, as I came back from  Pearlridge, my wife said, Fritz, you have to stop here.

This is an old building and it will just  disappear.

It wouldn't stay very long.

So I went out with my camera.

I walked around the building,  and in the back there were about 10 people sitting around a big table and playing, doing something.

So they looked at me very scared, and I said, I'm not from the press and I'm not a policeman, so  just go on.

I I just want to paint this building.

Oh yes.

So the two, two fellows, they said, The  you are not going to paint that building.

He says, Yes, I say I will not with a big brush on Canvas.

So I did here.

You have the old Hackfeld and Co.

building.

It was located on Queen and Fort Street.

BB: And that's Aloha Tower we see there in the background.

FS: In the back it was, it is now Amfac and Co, and it was raised about  eight, nine years ago, or seven years ago.

Wo Fat BB: Oh, Wo Fat.

FS: Yes, everybody knows Wo Fat.

It's  a very colorful painting, building, but if you go inside and ask anybody how of  the history of the building, nobody knows.

BB: And then our next one is?

FS: That is “Hotel Street,” I call it, “After Rain.” On the right, Mendonca building,  built in 1901 with cozy theater.

See people dashing over the street?

BB: Oh, yes, uh huh.

FS: The Halekulani hotel.

The Halekulani hotel is,  I think, the only pre war hotel which has retained his Hawaiian flavor and atmosphere.

BB: Oh, uh huh.

uh huh.

FS: You'll see here, the Moana Hotel.

BB: Oh, with the pier in front.

FS: With the pier in front.

I haven't seen  the pier, and I think many people around here, not either.

BB: This is the case where you went by a photograph?

FS: I took this from an outrigger book.

And many people who saw this painting, they say,  well, it looks exactly how it was.

I went over this pier.

There is this restaurant,  City Hall.

City Hall.

Not everybody, BB: Honolulu Hale.

FS: Yeah, not everybody knows that's the city hall.

Some people  think that is McKinley High School or the Academy of Art or so they say.

It's  amazing how not many people know the city.

BB: Yes, I can imagine that.

FS: Now, here you see first some, how do you call these, hacks?

BB: Hacks?

FS: Yeah, horse.... BB: Horsedrawn hacks FS:...driven hacks, horsedrawn hacks, my wife  said they look like goats.

Later they will they will look like horses.

This is on Merchant Street.

Merchant Street, 1912 it is the old Stangenwald building, now Dean Witter BB: Oh.

FS: It is built with Italian Renaissance details.

And the details and trimmings are all gone.

I think they took them away for security reasons,  but I want to have back.

I want to have I want to paint this particular building as it was the  original Dean Witter.

On the right you see is the former Judd building.

It has changed  over the years.

There's another story on top now.

It is the home of the First Federal  Savings and Loan on Fort and Merchant.

BB: Oh yes.

FS: On the left side is the former Hawaiian printing press, now the, it became,  later the home of the Honolulu Star Bulletin.

BB: Star Bulletin, yes, I used to work there.

FS: And when they consolidated in 1912.

A painting of the Royal Hawaiian  Hotel and The Outrigger.

BB: The old Royal Hawaiian.

FS: Yes, The Outrigger is gone, but the pink queen is still there.

BB: Now there's a busy scene.

FS: Yeah, that is, you will see the sugar mill  in.

Where is that in?

I will get it later.

This sugar mill is still working, while another  sugar mill in ʻEwa is dead.

There are a lot of old buildings around which I want to paint  later, when I find the time to do that.

This is Nuʻuanu Street with the foster building built in  1901, very colorful building.

On the right side, you will have the former Royal Saloon.

Changed  the name quite often to Royal Spaghetti House.

BB: This, uh this one right on the right there?

FS: Right on the right, the Royal saloon.

BB: The Royal Saloon.

FS: That was ready for occupation in the 1890s, I think.

BB: Oh yes.

FS: I think they will preserve it.

This is  the Haleʻiwa Bridge.

Well, many, most of you, maybe, have seen the bridge.

I don't  know how long it will stay.

Now, there's a similar painting as you have seen just  a while ago.

In the foregoing on the left is now it changed the name to, from Territorial  Kitchen to Gloria's Hale, she calls it.

BB: Oh, haha.

FS: It's a nice place to rest and sit down.

I was in there last week  just to, to look the building from the inside.

BB: Oh, yes.

FS: It's all brick inside.

I call this painting, "Once at Portlock."

This  pier was still there six, seven years ago, it disappeared suddenly.

I don't know why.

It was still in good shape.

The newspaper building.

It's hanging now in Haleʻiwa.

And it was businessman from California, bought seven paintings, and he decorated his  factory there, which is called Santa Fe Equipment.

BB: Oh.

FS: The Washington Place since 1921, the home of the governors.

The old jungle church  in Waikīkī.

It was, I think it had a fire last, a few years ago, and it's empty now.

BB: That tower on the, we see on the right there was that wasn't that destroyed in that fire?

FS: Well, it is, not really.

It's only the paint maybe is gone.

BB: Oh, I see.

FS: And it was...The old Pantheon bar.

They say,  well, it's written on the oldest bar in town.

BB: The oldest bar in town.

FS: The oldest bar in Honolulu, established in 1883, I think.

The next is the  McLean building, and further on is the Perry block where Bill Ledos has his, his restaurant.

BB: Oh yes.

FS: That's the ʻIolani Palace.

The brewery,  Royal brewery, the original home of Primo.

Still, the last beer they brewed was 1960.

Aloha  Tower with the Monterey.

That's the immigration building.

Well, it's a little story.

A lady came  to me before Christmas and said, I want to have a painting for my husband as a Christmas present.

So, we agreed to she wants to pay only $350 I painted it four weeks ago, four weeks before  Christmas.

He called.

She called and said, Mr.

Sydow, I'm sorry I cannot buy that painting,  because I talked with my husband, and he said, this is the last thing I want to have in my house.

BB: Oh hahaha.

FS: And he was a director of that building for  some years, so I'm stuck with it.

McKinley High School.

It's a magnificent building.

I painted that last year for the 19, for the reunion of 1944's class BB: Oh, class reunion.

FS: Yes.

The Natatorium.

Well, you don't  hear very much about Natatorium and Royal Brewery these days, but I think there are  people still working on these projects, either to save them or to destroy them.

BB: Yes, mm hm, mm hm.

FS: Waikīkī in the background.

This street,  Merchant Street, the oldest building is the Melcher building.

It was built in 1854.

BB: Oh.

FS: It is built out of coral rock, and  it was acquired by the German Consul, Gunther von Hamm, who knows this family from  Bremen.

On the left, well, you'll see that in a later painting.

This is Bishop Street on the  left is the Bishop Bank, former Bishop Bank.

BB: Oh.

FS: Yes, it was built in 1878.

This is Bishop Street in the 60s.

You have seen Bishop  Street on the, in the 50s.

This painting I got from Alexander and Baldwin, with the courtesy of  Alexander and Baldwin, they have acquired this painting last year, and you can see it in the on  the main floor, on the first floor, Bishop Street.

Nina's cCafe and the Aloha Hotel.

BB: Aloha Hotel.

FS: Aloha Hotel.

I think this was one of  the first hotels, and everybody, I think, would have taken that name Aloha.

Now you cannot  see that sign anymore.

The sign fell down.

BB: Oh, yes.

FS: Saint Philomena in Salt Lake area.

It was destroyed by malicious burning.

BB: Oh, there's a sugar mill.

FS: The sugar mill in ʻEwa.

BB: Oh, the same Sugar Mill?

FS: No, a different one.

BB: Oh, different one.

FS: Yes, this sugar mill is dead.

BB: Well, Fritz, what prompts you to paint a  particular building or a scene?

I mean, do you just walk by it or drive by it and say,  oh, that would that that is something I would like to paint.

Or do you think in terms  of research and, and history and so forth, and look it up and then decide to paint it?

FS: Well, I do all of things, of these things, what you said.

BB: Oh.

FS: But I have to, last year in  particular, and two years ago, I went in the downtown area and made paint  photos from almost every building downtown.

So I have these photos to the hundreds at home, and  I looked through them, and then I decideat home.

BB: Oh, you decide at home.

FS: You cannot do very much these days on the street.

Traffic is too, too rapid, BB: Yes.

FS: And the streets are all covered with big  trucks and cars.

So, I can't do that.

And then, if the if the building is still there, I go  downtown and have a look, make some sketches, and then I go home and sketch it right away on canvas.

BB: Oh, mm hm.

FS: That's the idea.

BB: Do you get commissions to do particular buildings?

FS: I do.

And if a person is interested in something like a home of his father or mother  where he lived, I'll do this kind of paintings from photos.

And if the building is still there,  I go there and sketch there and take some notes.

BB: Do you ever actually do the painting  at the scene, or do you always do the painting at home from sketches?

FS: I went once with a painting that was a view from Punchbowl.

I went with a  whole with my painting.

It was almost finished, only I needed a few details.

I opened my  palette, my paint, and so I was sitting on a little quiet place, and suddenly, after a few  minutes, my whole palette was full of ants and… BB: Oh!

FS: …it was dusty.

The wind was blowing.

So, I thought, that's the last time I went out with  my that's how it is.

I think you can see on that painting still the dust, the sand and the ants.

BB: So now you photograph them and sketch them and then do the... FS: Yes, I do.

BB: ...the painting at home.

FS: And if, as I say, the building is still there, I go to the spot  and but, this I mostly do on Sunday mornings BB: When it's quiet.

FS: Because there is no traffic.

And in the in the daytime there is, BB: Well, Fritz, it's a very commendable endeavor you're involved in now.

And thank you  very much for coming and telling us about it.

FS: Thank you, Bob.

BB: Fritz Sydow, artist of Kuliʻouʻou Valley.

This is Bob Barker leaving you with  this thought, an artist has more than two eyes.

Try to remember when life was so tender  that no one wept except the willow.

Try to remember when life was so tender  that dreams were kept beside your pillow.

Deep in December, it's nice to remember the fire  of September that made us mellow.

Try to remember, and if you remember the follow  (follow) follow (follow).