Hooligan Hearts

For all of my life, most of my relatives lived on the Mainland and I lived in Hawai‘i. I never really knew them and as a result have very little in the way of family history and stories, or little sense of belonging to an extended family. But I have my own history, story, and place where I belong. I’ve always believed I was damn lucky to have grown up on the Big Island of Hawai‘i back in the days of the sugar plantations; I’m grateful I was there and was a part of that way of life before it was gone. I never saw myself as an instigator in those days, but you’ll see from these stories that I certainly was a willing henchman and collaborator.


Author John G. Walters (“Waltah Boy”) grew up on sugar plantations on the Big Island of Hawai‘i, including plantations in Hilo and Pāpa‘ikou. But the place closest to his heart is his last home on the Big Island—the town of Pāhala. In Hooligan Hearts, Walters chronicles these barefoot days, Island nights and his boyhood adventures, coming of age in yesterday’s Hawai‘i.